Everything In Time
Chapter 13
Wednesday, April 25, 2006
1230 Local Time
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, VA
Following her dedicated service and her sacrifice, Naval Commander Mary Grace Fields's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda. It took a lot of lobbying from Admiral John Marshall to the SECNAV and then the President for that to happen. The funeral mass would be at the National Cathedral with interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
Diane had released Gracie's body to the Walter Campbell funeral home on Friday evening. It took the whole weekend to get all of Gracie's family notified and the number of attendees confirmed to attend the funeral and the repast on Wednesday. The one-day wake at Campbell's was on Monday and then the 24 hours "lay in state" at the Capitol was on Tuesday.
On Tuesday the casket was brought into the Capitol and placed on the caisson by the combined Military Honor Guard. John, Meg, Kate, and Jack Keeter, in their Navy Dress Blues and covers, were the first hour's Honor Guard. After they solemnly marched into position at the four corners of the casket, they turned on the silent count and looked onto the casket corners from a 45-degree angle, and stood at "parade rest" with their feet apart at hip width and their white-gloved hands held flat at the small of their backs. The four comrades didn't bother stopping the tears that trickled out and down their cheeks.
Many from ONI, JAG, and NCIS, and other dignitaries including SECNAV Sheffield, President & Mrs. Bush as well as Senators and House Representatives came to pay their respects.
When the hour was up, the four were silently marched to stand at the kneeler. Standing in line they slowly brought their hands to their cover brims into a 10-second salute. Then they turned on silent command and marched from the rotunda.
It was only after the door shut and the four were alone in an anteroom off the rotunda, that Meg and Kate broke down into quiet sobs. Gracie was very well-loved by her colleagues that even as John and Jack brought Kate & Meg into their embrace and let them cry it out; the two men were shedding their own tears as well. Their spouses found them as they were cried out and cleaning their faces of tears.
"Good thing we didn't wear any mascara, Meg. Otherwise, we'd really be a mess," Kate said with a small smile.
"Yeah, at least the rest of our makeup is waterproof," Meg replied helping to lighten the moment.
Everyone smiled at that as the spouses paired up and went out to sit with Gracie's family during this part of the wake.
Now they were sitting with the family at the graveside service. There was the playing of Taps, the 21-gun salute, and the Missing Man Flyover.
The Marine sergeant who was leading the funeral detail took the folded flag and turning to Gracie's husband presented it to him saying "Mr. Fields, on behalf of a grateful nation."
Roger Fields took the flag and placed it on his lap. He brought his three-year-old son Samuel under his arm to hold him close as he cried, wishing that his mommy would come back to him.
Roger was used to his wife working through the night on a case, but he thought that's all Mary did was work from her desk. She had promised him that the 'cloak and dagger' part of her job was in the past. He and everyone never knew about the evil woman in their midst and how much destruction she had caused. He didn't hold Mary's bosses responsible. They couldn't have known; the Chechen bitch and her enablers in Russia and America had done their job too well to set Rasmenovic up as an imposter to take the place of Ravensclaw.
When the service ended, they went to the repast at a restaurant not far from the Pentagon.
During the repast, John Marshall and Meg Pike came over to sit with the widower, "Roger I'm so sorry for your loss. If there is anything, I can do for you and your family, please let me know."
"Thank you, admiral. Mary spoke very highly of you. She loved working for you and Captain Pike."
"And we loved her. She was such a bright ray of sunshine in the office. I'll never forget how thrilled she was when she found that she was pregnant with Sam," Meg replied.
"Yeah, we had been trying for so long, enduring a couple of miscarriages along the way, that when she found out that she was going to be carrying full term, she was ecstatic as well. I'll never forget how everyone in the office took care of her then. She was practically exasperated that you all wouldn't let her lift or carry anything heavier than her purse or walk too long and told you all off.
Flashback – the end of the 1st trimester of Gracie's pregnancy
Mary Grace Fields was feeling happy. She had reached the end of her 1st trimester. She and her obstetrician were very confident that she'd be able to carry this baby full term. Now she was in the ONI break room fixing herself a mug of green tea. Kate Pike came in and saw the green tea envelope and asked offhandedly, "What's up with the tea Gracie, you pregnant?"
Gracie picked up her mug turned to her colleague and smiling with joy replied, "Yes I am."
Kate was at first astonished that she was right and then she smiled joyously herself and opened her arms. Gracie put her mug down and went to her friend and they shared a tight hug.
"Oh, I'm so happy for you and Roger after all the trouble you've been through."
"Yeah, we both are. Do me a favor though."
"Sure, what's that?"
"Let me have the pleasure of telling everyone myself, please? I'll do it a staff call."
"Sure, no problem."
When Gracie announced her news at staff call, first John stood, then everyone stood up and applauded. She was a bit embarrassed at the attention, but she kept her smile on and drank it all in.
After the announcement, everyone went out of their way to help Gracie out, even though she didn't ask them to. They carried heavy things for her, didn't let her walk for too long. Her yeoman always had her first mug of green tea, prepared just how she liked it, ready when she came in to start her day, and went to fetch things for her if Gracie even tried to get up to get them. Gracie welcomed the extra attention. After a while, though she began to feel like she was trapped in her office. Every time she stuck her head out, to even go to the restroom, her yeoman or anyone else walking by, asked her if she needed anything. So, one day she decided to say something about it.
After she came from using the restroom she stood at the edge of the bullpen and shouted, "Attention on Deck!"
After everyone stood and the office was quiet, she said, "I know you're all happy for me as I have this baby and you all mean well wanting to reduce my stress, doing errands for me and what not and I appreciate it. But now I want you all to knock it the fuck off! I'm pregnant, not sick! I know my limitations and what I can and cannot do. So, if I want something, I'll ask for it or get it myself; and if, or make that when, I want to take a walk, let me do it. Okay?"
The staff locked up and gave a very hearty call of "Aye, aye ma'am!"
"Good, as you were."
The staff all applauded at that. Gracie just smiled and gave a dismissal wave before she turned and walked back into her office.
John and Meg had come out of their offices to see what the call to attention was about. They stood in their doorways and listened to Gracie's rant. When she was finished John looked at Meg to say, "I guess we got that message, right XO?"
Putting on an atrocious Scottish accent Meg replied, "Aye Cap'n, I'd say we did."
John bent his head back in laughter and waved Meg back into her office as he went back into his.
He said aloud to himself, "God I love this office and the people in it."
End of flashback
Roger continued, "Still, she also appreciated all that as well and we had a good laugh about it when she came home that night."
Meg and John chuckled at that as they remembered that day.
The repast went on for a while longer before the Fields family said their goodbyes.
Even dealing with the funeral, the wheels of justice still turned. Investigation into Yevgeny Kozyreva and his wife Elena Dudayev yielded no information before their past lives in Indiana, which of itself was confirmation that their identities were false. Even though Marc Sokol turned over Nikolai's name, he was reluctant to verify the Kozyrevas and simply disavowed them.
The Kozyrevas were remanded to federal detention until their trial as they were charged with espionage, accessory to murder, conspiracy to murder, racketeering for facilitating disposal of murder victims, and more charges to come.
The Kozyrevas' computers yielded much information. Like Rasmenovic's, it was encrypted, but once NCIS's computer geeks, Abby Sciutto, and Tim McGee got to it, they were able to break the encryptions and get onto the list of operatives that were embedded at the highest levels of the US Government and the military. It matched up almost completely with the list of operative pedigrees on Rasmenovic's computer.
As a result, NCIS, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staged many raids that resulted in mass roundups of individuals who were actively planning to commit terroristic acts, including bombings of government installations, kidnapping of government officials' family members to use as a ransom for the acquisition of information on various top-secret projects, the assassination of military officials involved in the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and numerous other planned acts.
It would be a long Spring into summer for the bad guys involved with the Chechen conspirators as they were captured and put on trial.
Under the arrangement with the Department of Defense and the Justice Department, Captain Rabb's team of federal prosecuting attorneys in the Falls Church Naval LSO/MCRT would try the case in a civilian court, but it would take place in the Courtroom One in the JAG Headquarters in the Navy Yard. The trial would begin the Tuesday after Memorial Day and it would be televised.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
0800 Local Time
NCIS Headquarters
Washington Navy Yard, SE
The first of those bad guys to be tried was Khalid Fahd. Harm assigned Cmdr. Faith Coleman and Lt. Cmdr. Loren Austin as prosecutors. This case would be the first capital case that would be prosecuted according to the mission the Falls Church JAG/NCIS LSO was set up for and they were ready for it. All the attorneys and investigators at the office had done their due diligence for the investigation.
On the morning of the first day, Loren got to the Navy Yard extra early so that she could prepare in the temporary office General Creswell set up for her and Faith. As Loren was working at her desk, she kept the door open. She was concentrating so hard on her work that didn't hear that someone had walked in. She only became aware that someone was there when a left hand appeared on top of her yellow notepad. What really caught her attention was, what had to be a one or one & half carat round diamond surrounded by at least a caret of smaller blue sapphires on either a white gold or platinum ring.
Loren looked up at the brightly smiling face of her friend Faith. All she could think to ask was, "When did Mike ask?"
"Last night. After his three sisters left the beach house, we went for a walk on the beach. He started talking about how they were always bugging him about him being the last of the four of them to settle down, that he better get off his ass and do something about it."
"So, what happened next?"
"I told him to not do anything because his sisters were pressuring him or giving him a hard time. Well, he said he never cared what his sisters said about his love life and that he had already made up his mind on who he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Then he got down on one knee and pulled out the jewelry box. I barely contained myself enough to let him get the question out before I said yes."
At that Loren got up to hug Faith. "Oh, I'm so happy for you guys. When Mike got the transfer back to the Navy Yard headquarters last New Year's, I had a feeling that he was going to ask."
"Yeah, so did I. We're thinking of the beginning of November so that we can get back from the honeymoon in time for the holidays. We'll sit down before the 4th of July to set a date."
"That's great Faith," Loren replied.
Thank you, Loren."
As Faith sat, Loren also sat to consult her notes. "Captain Rabb says that Khalid hired Larry Kaliski, the senior partner at Ryan, Price, and Sealy as his attorney."
"Isn't a former JAG attorney, Nick Burnby working there?"
Loren smiled at the name mash-up and said, "Yes Mic Brumby worked here a few years ago and now works there. Harm told me that Mic couldn't take the case because of the ethics conflict; his friendship with the Rabbs and Marshalls. They live in Fairfax not far from the Rabbs. Mic's wife Renee and their three kids are always on playdates with them and Mattie Rabb has babysat for the Brumbys' kids on occasion.
"Well, that's one thing that we don't have to worry about. By the way, do we know who the Federal Court Judge is?"
"Judge Deborah Mayfield of the Ninth Circuit Court here in DC." Faith replied.
"Oh, I remember her. She gave Sturgis Turner a hard time when he defended Bud on that phony ass assault charge when that idiot history teacher was lecturing by waving his show in Mike & Bud's faces in the mall."
"Yes, that's right. I found out that the still serving service member that she referred to in that case is her daughter, Lt. Tali Mayfield, one of our lawyers. I spoke with Lt. Mayfield about her mother. Tali told me that her mother will strictly follow the law in making her decisions."
That's good to know. Come on let's get our coffee before we have to be upstairs," Faith said leading the way out of the office to the break room.
0915 Local Time
Courtroom #1
JAG Headquarters
Washington Navy Yard, SE
The trial began with some fireworks. Before Judge Mayfield could start the voir dire to screen potential jurors, Larry Kaliski called for a motion.
"Your honor I would like to call for a change of venue and that Navy not prosecute this case."
Loren jumped to respond, "Objection your honor. What is the basis of the defense's ridiculous motion?"
"Khalid Fahd is a civilian and should not be tried as a soldier. Also, Captain Rabb, the head prosecutor has a vendetta against him; therefore, his office should be recused "
Faith got up to reason, "Your honor it is a fact that the defendant tried to abduct Captain Rabb's daughter and was planning to do more harm to his immediate and extended family. But according to the NCIS the agents' reports that were listening to the conspirators in their apartment, it was Khalid that had the vendetta against Captain Rabb, his wife and sister-in-law, Colonel Sarah Marshall for taking out his brother Sadiq. We argue that Khalid is fully responsible for his actions. Also, the facilitator of his phony identification, the late Chechen spy Karolina Rasmenovic, killed a Navy Officer and Academy candidate, therefore according to the law that established the Falls Church Navy Prosecuting office as prosecutors of those that cause harm to Naval and other Military personnel, we are the appropriate court officers to prosecute this case."
When Faith paused for a breath, Loren got up to add, "Also your honor we are not trying this as a military trial, but as a federal civilian trial, with a civilian, not a military jury."
After Judge Mayfield listened to both sides, she replied, "Yes this is a civilian jury, demonstrated by the fact that I am the presiding judge. We will adhere to all the rules of a federal civilian court. Therefore Mr. Kaliski, your motion for a change of venue and that the Navy not prosecute this case is denied. We will begin the voir dire to impanel a civilian jury. Counselors, please be seated. Corporal, you may bring in the first twelve jury candidates."
The jury selection took the whole of the first day. The panel was racially mixed, evenly divided with six women and six men. Opening arguments began the next day. Numerous witnesses were brought forward by both sides as the trial lasted the whole week. The jury was charged by Judge Mayfield and sent to deliberate late in the day on Friday, June 16.
As they were in their office getting ready to leave, Loren asked Faith, "Think we'll be lucky to hear a verdict tonight?"
"Doubtful, there's a shit load of evidence to wade through. Don't be surprised if the deliberations go into at least Wednesday of next week. I just hope it's over before the 4th of July. Anyway, there's no use dwelling on that tonight. Go home and enjoy the weekend with Bobby and Toni, Loren."
"Okay, you and your fiancé have a good weekend as well."
Faith smiled at that as she replied, "Thanks I will. Then she walked out of the office.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
1100 Local Time
JAG Headquarters
Washington Navy Yard, SE
The verdict for Khalid Fahd came down on Monday, June 5th. Judge Mayfield called the sentencing for the next day at 0900 hours.
After hearing the arguments on sentencing from the prosecution and defense, Mayfield ordered, "Will the defendant and defense counsel please rise." When they did so Mayfield rendered her decision. "Khalid Fahd, you have been found guilty of attempted kidnapping, conspiracy to commit numerous terroristic acts, and espionage. I sentence you to life imprisonment at ADX Federal Prison in Florence, CO. There you will contemplate the course of your vendetta that brought you there. This court is adjourned."
Mayfield rapped her gavel and walked off the bench.
Harm and John were present on the morning of the sentencing, sitting in the first row behind Loren & Faith. As Khalid was led away by the Marine Security detail, he looked toward them. John stared right back and did the "bye-bye" gesture with his hand.
Then John and Harm turned to Faith and Loren to say, "Congratulations commanders. You both did a great job. I'm glad he's going to the Alcatraz of the Rockies."
"Thank you, admiral," Faith said for the two.
"Also, congratulations on your engagement Faith. Mike's a lucky guy," Harm added.
"Thank you, captain."
"Okay, I'm buying lunch at Benzingers to celebrate both the verdict and your engagement Faith. Let's go," John announced.
Everyone acquiesced to that as they walked out of the Courtroom.
Saturday, July 1, 2006
0700 Hours Local Time
Rabb/Marshall Bungalow
Rehoboth, DE
The fact that the Chechens were on the run and /or arrested made it possible for the Rabbs and Marshalls to relax as they looked forward to the summer and their family times; starting with the very long July 4th weekend, at their bungalow in Rehoboth.
Chloe Marshall came into the front door of the bungalow and dropped her bags in front of the couch. She turned to her three companions and said, "Leave your bags with mine. We'll settle where you're gonna bunk later this evening. Come on, I smell coffee, which means either my dad, uncle, or both are out running while Mom, Aunt Diane, and the younglings are still asleep."
The three, two men and one woman, nodded and went to follow Chloe into the kitchen. Before they reached there, they heard a door open. When they looked, they saw three-year-old Davey Marshall come out rubbing his eyes. He didn't see anyone as he went into the bathroom and closed the door. They heard him use the toilet and flush.
When he came out, he looked across the living room, and upon seeing his sister, he exclaimed, "Chloe!"
He took off and ran into her outstretched arms. Chloe picked him up and enveloped her baby brother in a tight hug. She enjoyed hearing him giggle as she rained a lot of kisses on his little head.
During all this, the rest of the Marshall and Rabb family began to stir and come out at hearing Davey's exclamation. They all greeted Chloe with enthusiasm.
Chloe turned to introduce her friends, "Mom, Aunt Diane you know Justin Maxwell, and these are two of our classmates, Andrea Rudolph and Mike Delaney. Mike is Dr. Chegwidden's nephew. His mom, Judge Laura Delaney is her sister. Andrea's is from California in LaJolla near Nana Trish."
Justin had grown into a handsome young man. In the time since the elder Marshalls met him at the 2003-04 New Year's Military Ball, he and Chloe were over to each other's homes as they shared activities in their Civil Air Patrol squadron and dated as teenagers.
Andrea Rudolph was an African American girl about 5'-6" with a pretty face. Mike Delaney was Caucasian about 5'-9" with dark hair and a handsome face. All four were in very good physical shape, showing the rigorous physical conditioning they went through at the Naval Academy.
Mattie led the parade as the rest of the younglings came out of their rooms and greeted the four classmates and demanded breakfast. Sarah and Diane sat back and let Mattie, Chloe, and her friends start cooking bacon, eggs, and toasted English muffins. John and Harm came in amid all the activity. Chloe turned from turning the bacon to greet her father and uncle and introduce them to her friends.
As they all sat eating breakfast Chloe asked, "How're you doing Dad?" She was concerned because he was the one directly dealing with the threats to the family. She knew it was taking a toll on him not having Sarah home all the time.
"I'm fine Chloe. Just trying to keep up with your mother; what with her weekly commute to teach you, unruly midshipmen."
Sarah waved at him dismissively with a "Yeah right!" thrown in. Still, she lovingly grasped his hand under the table
"How are you doing Mrs. Marshall?" Justin asked, being genuinely concerned.
Sarah was touched by his question as because of his many visits to the Marshall home, he was in the know of her continuing treatment to keep the Hodgkin's at bay.
"I'm doing well so far. The latest PET Scan last month showed that I'm still cancer-free. I've started in a new clinical trial immunotherapy treatment that the doctors say is very promising."
"Really what kind of treatment?" Andrea asked.
"PD-L1 treatment."
"What's that?" Andrea asked.
"Well, let see if I can explain it right. PD-L1 is a protein in our body that allows some cells to escape an attack by the immune system. Extending from the cancer cell surface, PD-L1 interacts with a protein called PD-1 on important immune system cells called T cells. This coupling — known as an immune checkpoint — instructs the T cell to leave the tumor cell alone. The "checkpoint inhibitor" drugs that they are giving me block the PD-1/PD-L1 from interacting with the cancer cell, allowing the immune system to fight the susceptible cancer that I have, which is Hodgkin's lymphoma."
"How is it coming along?"
"So far, so good. I have to probably take these drugs for the rest of my life. We'll see. I just have to take it all one day at a time. So far God seems fit to wake me up every day."
"Good to hear," Justin said.
The group ate in silence until Diane asked Chloe, "How long are the four of you here for?"
"Until Monday. Andrea, Mike, and Justin will go back to the academy while we go up to New York to visit Nana and Poppa Jim for the 4th as we planned."
"Have you figured out where you're all going to bunk tonight?" Harm asked.
"Well, Andrea and I will sleep with Caroline, Sam, and Natalie while Justin and Mike will sleep with Trey, Packey, and Davey. The younglings will sleep on the air mattresses while the guys sleep in the beds."
"Can we camp out in the backyard tonight!" Patrick and Trey piped up.
"Yeah, me too," Davey joined in.
"We can all camp out guys," Justin said waving his hand between him, Mike, and the youngsters.
On his frequent visits to the Marshall home to see Chloe, Justin had always gotten along well with Davey and Patrick. Their cousin Trey was also part of the deal.
"Sounds like a plan," Mike replied in agreement.
"Well, we have the tents for it," John said.
"Well, why don't we finish breakfast and enjoy the beach before that, huh," Sarah suggested.
Eventually, breakfast was finished and the family went to enjoy the day at the beach.
At the end of the day after the kids and adults had cleaned off the sand and salt, Harm & John set up the steaks and vegetable kababs on the barbecue while Sarah and Diane made the salads for dinner. After eating with pleasant conversation, Justin and Mike helped the dads erect the pop-up tents for the backyard camp out around the campfire sitting area they had built the previous Spring.
As John lit the fire, the family came out to sit around the campfire for a sing-along. Harm and Les had their guitars, Caroline had her violin, and Trey, Samantha, and Patrick each had a recorder flute while Sarah had her Celtic drum.
The Rabb and Marshall parents strongly encouraged their children's musical education as they were a musically inclined clan. Whenever they got together, they always had their instruments and practiced different songs that were easy to sing along with.
With Davey sitting in Chloe's lap and Natalie in Mattie's lap, they settled on a song that they all knew how to play. Sarah was the leader and counted down as the family began the introduction of their first song, The Irish Rovers', "All Sing Together":
When I was a lad, with the friends that I had
We'd go for a pint every evenin'
Though it's been many years, I still love to hear
The Sound of those harmonies weavin'
When we'll all sing together
May our hearts be there with you whenever you go
Yes, we'll all sing together
'Til it's time to go home
'Til it's time to go home
When I got away, well there's never a day
I don't think of those waitin' for us
'Cuz you know when I'm back, we'll all rise a glass
And we'll lift our voices in chorus
Then we'll all sing together
May our hearts be there with you whenever you go
Yes, we'll all sing together
'Til it's time to go home
(Bridge)
Yes we'll all sing together
May our hearts be there with you whenever you go
Yes, we'll all sing together
'Til it's time to go home
'Til it's time to go home
Yes we'll all sing together
May our hearts be there with you whenever you go
Yes, we'll all sing together
'Til it's time to go home
'Til it's time to go home
They sang many more songs for about an hour until they saw that Natalie and Davey had fallen asleep in their sisters' arms. At that, the moms called it a night. While John and Harm helped get the older boys settled in their camp, Chloe and Mattie carried the three-year-olds into the house.
As Sarah and Diane walked with their arms across each other's back behind their daughters, Diane suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion. She said to her sister in a watery tone, "Sarah I am supremely happy to have you with me right now."
Sarah stopped and turned to her sister ask, "Everything alright Di?"
Diane pulled her sister into a very tight hug that Sarah reciprocated and sniffled a bit before she answered. As she pulled away and wiped some of her happy tears, she replied "Yeah everything is fine. I'm just glad I'm sharing this time with you. I missed this two summers ago when you had to deal with the chemo. I was afraid that I was going to lose you."
"Oh, Di. It was hard for me as well. I was so scared. I even told Vera McCool that."
"Yeah, I went to see her as well for my own counseling. I told her that I was so angry that we didn't get to share a childhood and that your cancer was going to rob me of the time we could spend together. I'm so glad that we have multiple children so that they won't have to go through life alone as we did as kids."
"Yeah, I am too. Getting back to your counseling. You never told me that you went or that my illness was taking that kind of toll on you."
"Well, I didn't want to worry or upset you. I wanted you to get better. So, I just plodded along, giving the blood and the platelets that you needed when I could; telling Harm to help John out and so forth. Just thinking that you almost weren't here now came crashing down on me so hard, that I was overwhelmed with the relief of seeing you and holding you."
Sarah pulled her sister into another tight hug. She sniffled a little and let her happy tears fall as she told Diane, "Don't worry that's all past us now. With the treatments they're giving me, I'm going to be around for a long time."
"Good! I hope God keeps waking us up every morning. I want us to grow old together."
"Yeah, me too."
At that, the sisters went inside to put their family asleep for the night.
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
1130 Local Time
Marshall Cabana
Sun Point Beach Club
Atlantic Beach, NY
As usual, when they visited their grandparents at their beach club, Caroline, Patrick, and Davey ran ahead of Chloe and their parents. The trio came upon the usual doling of hugs and kisses from grandparent to grandchild. Then they received the same greeting treatment from Maureen and Jim.
"So how are you guys doing?" Jim asked.
"We're fine. We just drove up from the bungalow in Rehoboth so we're anxious to sit without moving," Sarah replied.
"Well change into your suits and we'll sit and relax a bit before you go swimming," Maureen instructed.
After the family did that, Chloe, Maureen, and Sarah each took a child and spread the sunscreen on them. Sarah put the sunscreen on Chloe's back where she couldn't reach
Chloe volunteered, "I'll take them to the ocean and get them tired. Then when we come back, we'll relax before we go into dinner in the clubhouse."
"Okay sweetie," Sarah said.
She reached her arms up so that she could hug Chloe in gratitude. Then Chloe lined the kids up and marched them down to the ocean.
After Chloe and the kids were gone, Maureen asked her son and daughter-in-law, "So how's the Navy treating you two?"
"Oh, just great. I'm loving my teaching position at the academy."
"What about you John?" Jim asked his son.
"Well, effective September 1 of this year I'm going to retire from the Navy."