Chapter 29—
A/N: Your reviews are always appreciated, please keep them coming.
Stephanie and Bill spent the next few days together. They talked, laughed, and tears were shed, but unfortunately for Stephanie, Bill eventually had to go home. It almost broke Stephanie's heart when she took her Dad to the airport, but they agreed that they would see each other again soon. The past few days had meant a lot to both; it had given them time to reconnect. Actually there was a sense of relief that Beth was going to be out of their lives. It was not that Stephanie did not want her mother in her life, but it was a matter of Beth not wanting to be a part of Stephanie's life. It was a sad situation for all involved, but life goes on.
Denise was sitting at the kitchen table, when the phone rang. Frank was the closest to the phone, so he answered it,
"Major Sherwood." Frank answered.
"Yes, Sir, two days?" Frank questioned. Denise had been an Army wife for over twenty years, and she had been party to this kind of phone call. She was fully aware of the fact that Frank was going to be leaving yet again for some place, probably in the Middle-East.
"Thank you, Sir, we will be ready." Frank hung up the phone and looked at Denise.
"You do not have to tell me… you are leaving in two days… Iraq? Or back to Afghanistan?" Denise said not even looking up from the textbook she was reading.
"I guess the Army is that predictable… yeah… two days we will be leaving for Iraq." Frank said knowing that Denise did not like to hear it, but he had to go.
"You know I will miss you… and Jeremy too." Denise said.
October 3, 2007 830a
"Are you going to be ok here with Jeremy?" Frank asked. It was not that he feared for Denise's safety like before, the question was more for Jeremy's transportation needs to and from rehab, and those kinds of logistics.
"We should be fine." Denise said calmly. Even though she had been through a number of deployments before it was always a tough situation.
At that point Jeremy was walking down the stairs. Denise and Frank had seen a dramatic change in Jeremy since he had been home. He had become more confident, and more self-reliant. He still had his moments of self doubt, but all in all Jeremy's recovery and rehab time seemed to go more smoothly than at the rehab hospital. It was a well known fact that patients often have faster recovery times when they are at home. Even though Jeremy was doing well… he was still having pain and soreness in his knee. Jeremy and Denise had been told that as a result of both the infections and the subsequent surgeries Jeremy would probably always walk with a significant limp. Unfortunately Jeremy had not been able to get rid of the heavy duty knee brace; as Dr. Bartley and Steve, the Physical Therapist had not seen significant enough progress in the knee's strength and stability to warrant the removal of the brace. It was not that Jeremy was not doing everything he could to improve the situation, but the knee had been through a lot of trauma.
"Good Morning." Jeremy said trying to fake a smile. Denise could see that Jeremy's knee was giving him great grief this morning.
"Good Morning to you, son." Frank said sharing the same look of concern with Denise over the pain that Jeremy was trying to hide.
"Jeremy, how is your knee this morning?" Frank asked, hoping he would get the straight answer. Jeremy did not like to worry his parents, but he did anyway. Denise and Frank were always concerned with Jeremy. They always worried about him getting hurt either because of the knee or because he was still working on maneuvering the world without sight.
"Is it that apparent?" Jeremy asked hoping that he could hide the pain he was feeling in his knee.
"Actually it is…" Denise looked at Jeremy.
"It hurts this morning… I was kind of hoping that if I walked around that the muscles and ligaments would loosen up a bit. And I am sure that when I go to see Steve today, he will help me work on it." Jeremy admitted.
"Oh that is right…. You have a PT appointment at 1300." Frank said.
Frank and Denise looked at each other knowing that Jeremy really did not want to talk about his knee. Jeremy knew that his parents exchanged a lot of looks that he could not see. In the beginning, it would bother him, not seeing the looks, but he now just accepts it.
"I heard the phone ring…" Jeremy mentioned hoping that it was Stephanie. He had not spoken much to her since her Dad left.
"No it was not Stephanie… it was actually for me." Frank said knowing that he had not spoken to Stephanie in the past couple of days.
"How did you know… oh never mind. So when are you leaving?" Actually Jeremy was half joking. It had just assumed that the call was for a scheduled deployment.
"Actually… I am leaving for deployment in 2 days. How did you know?" Frank admitted wondering how Jeremy knew.
"It was just a guess… and you have been home for quite awhile." Jeremy said.
"Oh… I guess I have been home for a while. Do you know how long you are going to be gone?" Jeremy asked, but he knew that soldiers rarely knew how long their deployment would actually last.
"Jeremy you know the answer… you never know." Frank replied. At this point Denise walked out of the kitchen because she knew that Frank and Jeremy needed to talk, and she did not want to be in the middle of it.
"Yeah… I know. I wish you did not have to go." Jeremy felt like a little kid when he said that. He remembered when he was about 6 years old begging his father not to go wherever he was going. At the time Frank promised his then young son that he would be back. That was the promise that Frank made every time… that he would be back safe and sound. However after the last tour when his team was shot down he was not sure that he would be able to make that promise, but he did. Frank looked at his son… seeing the causalities of war. A soldier no matter what the rank could not fully prepare themselves for the death and destruction that war could bring. However, it was different when it was someone else's family.
"Well… it is my job… I have to go." Frank said searching for anything but the blank stare that would forever be in Jeremy's eyes.
"Jeremy… are you going to be ok without me here?" Frank asked tentatively.
"Yeah… if you mean am I going to cause Mom any pain? The answer is No. First, I have come to grips with the fact that I should have never laid a hand on Mom, as Mom did not deserve it, and well… umm… and I realized that kind of anger does nothing but destroy things around me. Secondly, I am not in any physical condition to hurt her at all… believing me I will never do that again." Jeremy said, feeling very remorseful that he ever hurt his mother.
"Jeremy, you are very different man than you were and I know and I can see that… and that is not what I was asking. I know that you have been having some problems with your knee, and I just want to make sure that you are going to be ok…" Frank was confident that the problems that Jeremy had before enlisting in the Army were in the past.
"Dad, I will be fine… my I have come to grips with the fact that my knee will never be back to 100, and that it is going to hurt, but I am going to have to do what I can, and figure it out as I go." Jeremy replied.
The next two days went by quickly. Jeremy and Denise were standing on the tarmac saying good bye to Frank and all the other soldiers deploying. There was an irony at this tarmac Jeremy thought… people come people go… but it is almost the same scene when the soldiers leave. Families are there hoping and praying that their loved ones would come home safely and soon. Right before Frank was about to board the bus, he saw a woman in a wheelchair sitting alone… it was Stephanie. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a white tank top, and a purple collared blouse. Her long brunette hair was tied up into a twist, and she was wearing a pair of sunglasses.
Frank turned his head, and the entire Sherwood clan came walking up to her. Frank spoke first,
"Stephanie… thank you for coming… I am glad that you came to see me off."
"Sir, when Jeremy called to tell me that you were deploying I was very sad, in fact I even cried. But I wanted to wish you the best, and say that I really want you to come home. Please do not come home the way that Jeremy and I did." Stephanie always had away with words.
"I will make every effort I not to." Frank said. Frank hugged Stephanie, kissed Denise. As he kissed Denise, she slipped a special note into the pocket of his jacket. This had been a tradition between Denise and Frank ever since the very first deployment more than twenty years ago. Frank turned and headed to the bus. He looked over his shoulder one more time, and he saw Stephanie and Jeremy in full military salute. Frank saluted them back… and headed to the bus.
Denise, Jeremy, and Stephanie watched as the bus drove away. Finally when the bus was out of sight, Denise turned to Stephanie and Jeremy and said,
"Ok, you two… lets get out of here… before they decide to ship you off too." Denise had been through this so many times, but it was always hard to see Frank leave.
"Yeah… let's get out of here." Jeremy said taking the handles of Stephanie's wheelchair, and letting Stephanie guide him back to the parking lot.
When they reached the parking lot, Denise looked at Stephanie and said,
"What are your plans tonight?" Denise asked because she had missed Stephanie over the last week. Stephanie was very busy getting ready to take the MCAT examine.
"Well… I thought I would go through a couple of more practice exams. Why?" Stephanie would be very happy when the exam was over, and she was making plans to go to medical school.
"How about you coming over tonight… and I will help you study for the exam… or better yet you come over and I will make Jeremy cook and we can watch a movie." Denise said realizing that Stephanie needed a break.
"Yeah… I would like that… but can Jeremy really cook?" Stephanie knew that Jeremy could cook… but she just did not trust his cooking… as she suspected that he could burn water.
"Hey… yeah I can cook." Jeremy said with a laugh. Actually he was a good cook, as he had learned some very good techniques.
"Actually he is…" Denise said.
"But I am much quicker on the dial." Jeremy said whipping out his cell phone. They all started laughing.
"Why do not I meet you at your house in about an hour, as I would like to pick up some things." Stephanie said.
"Yeah that would be great… why don't you bring a change of clothes and you can stay the night." Denise prompted.
"I would like that… thanks" Stephanie said.
"Actually, Mom I think that I will ride with Steph and see if I can help her out." Jeremy said. As it had been a while since he last spoke to her. And he also wanted to see how she was doing since her parent's announcement of their divorce.
"OK… I will see you both later… and I will stop and pick up some DVD's. Yes, Jeremy they are going to be chick flicks!!" Denise said.
"Yuck… but I am out numbered by chicks tonight." Jeremy retorted.
Jeremy got in to the car with Stephanie. It always took time for Stephanie to load herself in to the car, but Jeremy waited patiently.