Mistake
Chapter 4
Three months later, Mike was glad to finally land in New Orleans. Maddie's retirement had gone through the month before but Mike didn't want for it to seem obvious if he made a bee-line to New Orleans. And he had been busy with meetings regarding the sinking of the James and making sure Tom was okay.
He was seriously thinking about retirement himself. It wasn't like he had anything else to do and he and Maddie tended to talk for hours each night. He was glad she had dropped the formality. He got to his hotel and checked into his room before heading to the restaurant. He was glad to not be in uniform and seated himself close to the kitchen. Maddie came around the corner and gave him a huge smile.
"First vacation in years and you come here." Maddie said.
"Well, the food and company is good." Mike answered. He stood up and gave her a hug.
"So, there's fresh seafood gumbo, dirty rice and sweet tea?" Maddie asked.
"All of the above sounds good. Can you take a break and eat with me?" Mike asked. It was not very busy or he wouldn't have asked.
"I think so." Maddie said. She headed back into the kitchen to get their food while Mike waited patiently. A moment later, she came back, carrying a tray with their food and glasses of sweet tea. She settled his plates in front of him and they began eating.
"The dirty rice has a bit of a zing to it." Mike said as he drank his sweet tea.
"Hold up." Maddie said. She showed up a moment later with an ice cold glass of milk. "This will help unless you don't drink milk." Maddie said.
"I do." Mike answered before taking a big gulp of milk.
"I should have warned you about the spice." Maddie said.
"I've gotten used to bland Navy food." Mike admitted.
"The spice can be surprising. So, how long are you off for?" Maddie asked.
"Three weeks. Think you can handle me for that long?" Mike asked.
"Oh, I'm sure I can learn to handle it." Maddie remarked.
"I'm hoping in that three weeks, your mom makes those chocolate beignets again." Mike said.
"Oh, I'm sure I can convince her. She's been busy. She's taken in two foster kids…or I'm assuming foster. She had these kids that would show up at close for any scraps and would sleep in the back alley during bad weather. We had a small cold snap and she took them home with her. Brother and sister. The little boy is adorable. The girl is very quiet." Maddie explained.
"Unfortunately, there's a lot of kids like that." Mike remarked.
"Yeah and no good foster homes so Mom has a house and decided to just take them in. My only concern is she'll get attached and their family will show up. The girl will not talk about her family. Seems very sad. Especially when she sees me. Not sure why. It was worse when I would come home in my uniform." Maddie said.
"Maybe she had a connection to the military?" Mike suggested.
"Possibly. It's a bit better now that I've retired but not entirely. I suspect I look like someone she knew once. She's a sweet girl and loves to help here. She's also wonderful with her brother." Maddie explained.
"What are their names?" Mike asked.
"Hannah and Billy." Maddie said. Mike immediately choked on the rice. "Are you okay?" Maddie asked.
"Yeah, sorry. Hannah was my younger daughter's name." Mike answered.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Maddie said.
"How old is she?" Mike asked.
"She seems older but she doesn't look much older than twelve." Maddie told him.
"My Hannah would be fourteen now." Mike remarked. He could tell Maddie was at a loss.
"Would you want to meet them?" Maddie asked.
"Let me think about it? Meeting another Hannah might be a bit hard." Mike asked.
"Of course." Maddie said. They both grew silent; Mike thinking about his younger daughter and Maddie just thinking in general.