The Colonel's Daughter (14 page)

Samantha’s coach called his team over for a victory meeting as Javi’s phone buzzed again.

“I gotta take this call.” He said pacing towards a more private area near the restrooms.

Dallas shouted on the other end of the receiver, “Yo, Javi! Man. I thought my calls weren’t getting through.”

“I was a little busy. So did you make it to the sand or what?”

“Better than that brother, mission accomplished. The full bird is safe and on his way to Tampa.”

“Why Tampa, Why is he coming here?”

“That’s where the Colonel wanted to go.” Dallas paused causing the line disturbance to become more audible. “Listen, Javi, you were right to reprimand me about Abby. I was out of line and I want to apologize. The Colonel asked me about his daughter. I told him she was at Fort Sam Houston and that the General would have her flown to Tampa. He’s grateful that I saved his life so I thought maybe there’s a way in for me now. I really like this girl.”

“If you really like her, what can I tell you? This is the Colonel we’re talking about.” Then Javi thought,
why does he want to come to Tampa, what’s the connection?

“Javi, Javi, Javi…did you like my game?” Samantha called out running towards him.

“Wait Samantha, he’s on the phone, honey.” Jasmine sprinted after her.

Javi looked at the two beauties approaching. His heart skipped a beat and he suddenly felt a little compassion towards Dallas. “Listen, I gotta go but I’m here for you bud. Anything you need me to do.”

“Well since you’re in Tampa maybe you could keep an eye on Abby and just make sure she’s safe.”

“Don’t worry about Abigail. I’ll talk to Jasmine and maybe she’ll invite her over or something. We’ll keep an eye on her for you. So don’t tell me you’re staying over there. You’re a glutton for punishment my friend.”

“We got Sushi Intel so I’m leading another team to the Afghan border. I’ll call you again soon.” Sushi was code for Shahrivar.

“I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job, Dallas. Go fry his ass.”

Jasmine looked straight at him and raised an eyebrow. He looked below his chin and shrugged his shoulders at Samantha, “Oops. I said a bad word, didn’t I?”

She smiled.

* * * * *

Jasmine sat by the hospital bed shuffling papers from a file folder on her lap.

“Colonel Johnston, I’ve heard a lot about you. I actually had the pleasure of meeting your daughter. She is a very sweet girl. I’m just going to take a look here at some of the information you have for the rest of your immediate family. Some of these numbers are a little outdated. There’s even information here dating back to the seventies.” Suddenly Jasmine stopped in a panic.

She stared at the name of an emergency contact with a familiar phone number. She excused herself and told the semi conscious Colonel she would be back later. She walked to her desk unable to draw in a full breath. She called Javi.

“I need to see you. Can you meet me for lunch?”

* * * * *

Javi waited for Jasmine outside the Coffee Shop. She ran into his arms in a fright.

“What’s the matter?”

“Javi, I was looking through Colonel Johnston’s paperwork and he has an emergency contact that has been in his file since the seventies. It’s my mother’s name and phone number. Why couldn’t she tell me?” Jasmine sobbed.

“Why don’t you go talk to her?” Javi tightly wrapped her in his arms.

“She won’t even let me mention the subject. She gets so upset every time I try to talk to her about it.” Jasmine sniffled.

“How about you invite her to dinner tonight and then bring up the subject and see what happens. People change you know, maybe she’ll open up this time.”

“Will you be there with me?”

“Of course, if you want me to.”

“Why would my mom keep this from me all my life?” Jasmine began to sob again. “I can’t eat right now, Javi, I’m sorry.”

“How about we go for a walk?” Javi took slow steps with one arm around Jasmine. “You can’t jump into any conclusions until you talk to your mom.”

“It just makes so much sense, Javi. The timelines match and I have his last name.”

Javi stopped walking. “I just got a flashback. Remember those dreams I told you about. The ones I had about the Colonel. They weren’t just dreams. It happened right after he had been severely beaten. He spoke to me almost in a whisper. He told me to come to Tampa and protect his daughter. I thought it had something to do with Abigail. But he was trying to tell me to protect you…in case those bastards got to you.”

“I’m so glad you listened. You came and you saved Samantha’s life. I don’t know where I’d be without you, Javi.” She threw her arms around him. “Thank you!”

“You don’t need to thank me sweetheart.” Javi looked at the sidewalk and remembered his strong words to Dallas, “Ain’t that something, I chewed Dallas out for falling for Abigail and kissing her. I told him that he took advantage of the Colonel’s trust. And here I am in love with the Colonel’s other daughter.” He stared into her eyes.

Jasmine leaned into him and kissed his lips. For a moment suspended in time, they stood in each other’s arms, at the corner of the Coffee Shop, unaware of the noisy traffic zooming by.

* * * * *

“This BBQ chicken is delicious and the potatoes are magnificent. You didn’t tell me he can cook.” Jasmine’s mother looked at Javi and winked. Jasmine’s mother, Chelsea was a middle-aged woman with long braided salt and pepper hair. She wore no make-up and aside from the wrinkles, her skin was flawless. She sat next to Samantha at a small round dining table in Jasmine’s apartment.

Javi stood up, walked a few steps to the kitchen and refilled his glass of iced tea. “My mother used to make BBQ chicken with the potatoes in the same pan, just like this. I remember when I was a kid, I would come home from playing outside all afternoon and I could smell the chicken in the oven. I would grab a fork, sneak it into the oven and pull out a whole drumstick. Then I would run outside the door and eat it in the hallway.”

Samantha licked a finger full of BBQ sauce and asked, “Didn’t you burn your mouth?”

Javi sat down and chuckled. “That’s why I went out into the hallway, for the cold air to cool it.” Javi rubbed Jasmine’s back motioning for her to talk to her mother while he kept Samantha busy. “Hey Sam, did you know there’s a big mall around here?”

“Yeah,” she picked up another napkin.

“Well, I was walking around there while you were in school and…uh…I got you something. Your mom helped me hide it.”

Samantha shrieked, leaped out of her seat and tossed her napkin on her plate. “Can I see now?”

“Sure come on. I can’t believe you didn’t notice it outside behind the planter.”

Samantha ran out the front door and found a shiny new pink bicycle with plastic ladybugs attached to each spoke on the wheels. Glittery ribbons hung at the ends of the steering column. She grabbed the new helmet and tried it on. Javi took one last glance at Jasmine before shutting the front door.

“What did he get her?” Jasmine’s mother asked.

“He bought her a new bike.”

“Well aren’t you going to go out there with them?”

“No, mom, we need to talk.” She placed both elbows on the table. “I was at work today going over the file of a new patient. Colonel Johnston, the one from the news?”

“Jasmine, I’ve told you a hundred times not to bring up that subject.”

“He’s my father isn’t he? Mother, tell me the truth!” Jasmine yelled.

“Yes,” Jasmine’s mother brought her palms to her face.

“How could you keep something like that from me? Why…mom,” Jasmine buried her face in a napkin.

“He was always so reckless. If something were to happen to him on one of those missions he was always on…I wanted to protect you from the pain of having to lose him. And when you got married and lost your husband…I realized that the very pain I had always tried to protect you from…came to you anyway. How could I bring this up and cause you more pain? I’m so sorry.” She sobbed.

“Does he know about me? Does he know who I am?”

“Yes, I’ve told him about you. When you were a bit older than Samantha was and you played softball, he’d go to some of those games and blend in with the crowd. I’d see him watching you…it broke my heart. I knew he’d be gone by the morning…off on another one of his highflying missions. What was I supposed to do?”

“How about telling me the truth? I am so disappointed.” Jasmine turned her face away.

“He has another child, a daughter. I guess he tried to mend his mistakes with her. That poor darling, seeing her father being held hostage like that, wondering if he was ever coming back.” Chelsea tried to regain eye contact with her daughter.

“Yes mother I’ve met his other daughter and she’s a perfectly well rounded young woman just like I could have been had I been told the truth. You were protecting yourself and your own feelings. You weren’t being fair to me!” Jasmine yelled.

“Well I am sorry. I’ve done the best I could Jasmine Johnston. You got his last name didn’t ya?”

“Oh gee mom, that just makes it all better.”

“Well I am not going to sit here and take this abuse from you. You’re not the only one whose feelings are hurt here. Like I said, I did the best that I could under the circumstances and I’m sorry if that wasn’t good enough for you. Maybe someday you will think of the woman who gave you life and raised you when she was just a kid herself and you can find it in your heart to forgive her.” She opened the front door and left.

“Bye grandma!” Samantha called out while riding her new bike.

* * * * *

There was a knock on the hospital room door. A middle-aged woman with long braided salt and pepper hair approached the Colonel.

“James,” with perfect posture, she took a seat.

“Chelsea,” he whispered. His dry lips were scabbed from dehydration.

She leaned close enough to take his hand. “I am so glad you made it out to see another day. I really was worried about you.”

“I know you think I deserve to be where I am. You always thought I was irresponsible…reckless…and you were right. I’m an adrenaline junky, going out there with no regard for my own life.” He recalled his recent days in captivity. “I begged them to kill me…but they wouldn’t…they needed me alive.”

“You were always so courageous…the first one to jump out of a helicopter or…a…moving truck. Everyone that ever met you always said the same thing…that boy doesn’t have a fearful bone in his body…but when Jasmine was born…you ran. Am I the only one that has ever seen you afraid?”

“You did right by not telling our daughter about me. I always hoped you would find a good daddy for her…some company man with a safe job…someone that would take care of the both of you…not that I wouldn’t take care of you or that I couldn’t…but we both know I was no good for you back then, Chelsea. I was a kid…I wasn’t ready.” He paused and drew a deep breath. “Look at me…even now…I’m no good at these emotional reunions.”

“James, you mustn’t think that my only image of you is the one from thirty years ago. I think that you are very good at what you do…and…I feel a lot safer because of you. You are out there fighting them terrorists and it’s like you’re a guardian angel protecting us.”

“You’re right, I ran. That’s why when Abigail’s mother got pregnant I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake all over again. Somehow I can raise these military boys making them some of the finest men…but I lose all sensibilities when it comes to those two girls.”

A nurse entered the room and checked the Colonel’s vitals. Chelsea stayed silent holding his hand. The Colonel’s skeleton-like body trembled sporadically. The nurse injected some medication into the I.V. line and gave Chelsea a warm smile.

The nurse’s smile reminded Chelsea of her daughter, and that she may soon find out where she is. “You have a second chance, James. Jasmine knows you’re her father. She confronted me with it and I told her everything. She’s probably going to come in here and talk to you. I pray that you get your second chance with her, for our granddaughter’s sake.”

“Chelsea,” he paused, “You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”

She gripped his coarse hand and brought her other to his cheek.

“I have to go, James.”

He slowly released her hand as she stood over him. She opened her purse, took out a tissue, and walked out of the room softly dabbing her wet eyes.

* * * * *

Abby dashed out of the hospital elevator weaving around slower paced visitors. She entered Colonel Johnston’s room, throwing her arms in the air as she skipped past a nurse.

“Dad! I’m so happy you’re back! I love you so much. How do you feel? Are you eating?”

“What do you expect? They had me on a stale bread and water diet.”

“Oh dad, that’s awful. I heard you almost died a couple of times from being severely beaten. I was so worried about you, daddy. There were nights I couldn’t sleep at all just thinking about your suffering.” Abby grasped his hand and sat on the bed beside him.