Chapter 6 #2
A haze of applewood smoke and sage clung to the air, making Jerry’s mouth water.
“That’s a beaut,” the man said in an Irish lilt. He wore an apron with a comical turkey face on the front. He wiped his hands on the towel hanging from his waist and extended his hand to Jerry. “Tobias Duncan.”
“Jerry McBride,” he said. “Thank you. My father had it customized for me after I graduated from Ranger school.” He ran his palm over the edge of the windshield. “He built this himself.”
“That is a lovely machine,” Tobias declared. “And such good weather today. Wonderful day for a ride.”
“Yeah, seemed too sunny to waste it on my pickup truck.”
Olive opened the front door. Jerry dismounted from the bike and took an autumn flower bouquet out of the saddlebag, offering it to her as she approached.
As she drew closer, Jerry’s heart leaped like a paratrooper practicing parachute landing falls.
He spent the last four days just waiting for the moment he could see her again.
In thirty years, he’d never felt like this before.
She wore a rust-colored loose top over leggings covered in comical turkeys. For the first time, she had her hair loose instead of in a braid. It cascaded down her back, well below her shoulder blades.
He looked down at his own jeans and black T-shirt, glad he’d chosen to wear casual clothes instead of dressing up.
Her welcoming smile lit up her eyes as she accepted the fall bouquet he offered. “Welcome,” she said. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Thank you for having me.”
A red-haired man who looked close to Jerry’s age joined them outside. Olive gestured toward him. “My big brother, Frederick. Freddy, this is Jerry McBride.”
Jerry shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Freddy.”
“Likewise,” Freddy replied in a southern drawl that echoed Olive’s cadence.
“Nice donor-cycle,” Olive quipped.
“Thanks. It was a gift from my dad,” Jerry responded. He smiled a toothy smile. “You want to ride it, don’t you?”
Freddy laughed, “Oh, he got you, sis!”
Olive joined in the laughter. “Not today. But it is really nice.”
“Thanks.” Jerry secured his helmet to the seat. Glancing at Freddy, he said, “Olive said you came from London. How was your trip?”
“Long flight. But I was able to get a nonstop between Heathrow and Nashville, so it wasn’t terrible.”
Jerry nodded. “That trip does me in on this side.”
“Yeah. I crashed pretty hard yesterday. At least I’m home for a couple of weeks this time. Last time, it was just four days. My brain didn’t know if I was coming or going.”
With a sympathetic chuckle, Jerry said, “Been there, done that.”
“This the Super Chief?” Freddy asked, walking around the bike.
Jerry nodded. “Yeah. Obviously custom. My dad actually makes these windshields.” He indicated the custom acrylic shield. “Makes some crazy amount, like a thousand a year.”
“No kidding?” Freddy asked, folding his arms.
“Well, Sturgis is big in South Dakota.”
“Right!”
Soon, the entire family joined them. He met her sister, Irene, and her mother, Nancy, while he showed her brother and father the bike. Eventually, they all went back inside.
“Where is your family, Jerry?” Tobias asked.
“Uh, South Dakota, sir.”
“That’s right. You said that. Is that where your people hail from?”
He nodded. “My mother. My father’s family originally came from South Carolina.”
Tobias nodded. “Big Scottish settlements in the Carolinas.”
“Yes, sir. But my grandfather was career Army, as was my father. So, I’ve never actually lived in South Carolina.
We just used to go there when we were close enough to drive down for holidays.
” He accepted a glass of iced tea from Olive and sat next to her on the couch. “What about you? Where are you from?”
“I was born in Belfast, but my parents moved to Alabama in 1975. My mother’s Catholic, and my father was Protestant. It made for a rather dangerous situation at the time.”
“The Troubles,” Freddy said in a perfect Irish accent. His father gave him a scolding look.
Olive interjected, “How’s the turkey, Daddy?”
“Your mom’s about to get it out.”
Olive stood. “I’ll get the platter for her.” Irene followed her out of the room, leaving him with Freddy and Tobias.
“Olive tells me you’re a preacher. Did your mom stay Catholic?” Jerry asked.
Tobias gave a small shrug. “She wanted us raised Protestant. I don’t think she ever converted per se, but she was very active in our church lives. And she loves the Lord.”
Freddy held up the remote. “You guys care if I turn the game on? Auburn’s playing”
Jerry shook his head. “Of course not.”
“War Eagle!” Olive shouted from the kitchen.
Jerry enjoyed watching Olive move and talk within her core family.
At first, she seemed a little nervous, a little tense.
By the time the delicious meal of smoked turkey and all the trimmings had disappeared, followed by pies and coffee, she had relaxed, and her laughter sounded lighter, her conversation more ready.
They cleared the table and played dominoes for hours.
Jerry had never enjoyed a Thanksgiving so much.
They laughed and teased each other, tripping over one another as they shared anecdotes and stories, and constantly affirmed each other.
By the time the afternoon ended, Jerry felt as though they had folded him into the fabric of their family.
Olive walked him to his bike, giving them the chance to share a moment alone for the first time that day.
“I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this,” he said, slipping his leather coat on. He gave in to the impulse and reached out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But I have to go to work now.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him. “I’ll admit that I asked you on an impulse and immediately wished I hadn’t.”
He let go of her hair and rested his hand on her shoulder. With a raised eyebrow, he asked, “Oh?”
Red covered her cheeks. “I wanted to see you, but I didn’t want to sign you up for the whole Duncan family experience.”
“I had a wonderful time. You have an amazing family. I’m honored that you gave in to your impulse and shared today with me.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “Honored? I like that.” She looked down, then back up. “I’m happy, too.”
He brushed a finger down her cheek, then swung his leg over and straddled the bike. “Enjoy your folks.” He pulled the helmet down over his face. His voice muffled, he said, “See you Sunday.”
After handing her father the turkey platter, she sank into the kitchen chair and yawned. He stood on the step stool and set it in the cupboard above the refrigerator.
“And, that’s the lot,” he said, draping the dishcloth over the edge of the sink.
She looked around the clean kitchen and thought of all of the leftovers in her refrigerator. The room smelled like dish soap and lingering smoke from the smoker outside the kitchen door. “Another one in the books,” she replied with a slow smile.
He joined her, clasping his hands together and resting them on the table. “I’m glad you invited Jerry. He seems like a man of solid character.”
That uncomfortable cringe she felt for the last few days at inviting him had disappeared.
Instead, she thought of the look in his eyes as he ran his finger down her cheek, the spicy smell of his aftershave in the air, and the way his hazel eyes looked dark brown with the black shirt.
Her own fingers hovered over her cheek, remembering his touch. “He does.”
He looked at his hands, then at her again. “What would that look like for you?”
With a raised eyebrow, she asked, “What would what look like for me?”
After moving his shoulder with a small shrug, he said, “Well, I mean, you’re settled here, right?”
Was she? Settled? She considered the question, not wanting to demur. “You know, God pressed me to get out of the Army. I know we talked about it at the time. It didn’t make sense. I could have gone a few more years and even made it to retirement, but there was this pressing need to get out.”
He nodded. “I remember.”
“At the time I didn’t understand why.” For some reason, she felt tears burn the back of her throat. What about this conversation caused such an emotional response? “What if it was for such a time as this?”
He didn’t answer right away. Finally, he said, “What makes you say that?”
“Well,” she said, drawing out the word, “let’s say I was still in. I’m at chapel last week, and this really handsome soldier invites me out to coffee.”
“You find him handsome, do you?” her father teased.
“Uh, Dad. You saw him, too, right? You have eyes?”
He chuckled. “Go on, then.”
“Okay. So he asks me out, except he’s a sergeant and I’m a captain. That means the answer is no, without exception.”
“Seems early to have this conversation.”
“It is early. Doesn’t mean I’m not thankful I was able to have lunch with him last week, or to have him in my home today. And, I really hope I get to see him again. Soon.” She propped her chin in her hand. “What do you think about that?”
He gave her a small smile. “I think I love you, daughter, and I like this excited energy coming from you right now.” He reached out and squeezed her shoulder.
“Your experience with Bryan was traumatic. What he did to you could have easily ruined your life, but you didn’t let it.
You rose above it.” He tilted his head to look at her.
“I can see that now. But, to be honest, I’ve worried about you for the last ten years.
Not worried about your career choices. Worried that you would never let another man get close enough to you after that heartbreak. ”
Dark memories tried to assault her. Her father had never brought this up before.
Only her parents knew the trauma Bryan put her through and the toll it took on her soul to rise above it.
“It’s my past. I can’t let the past steal my future.
” She rubbed her jaw, remembering the pain of the dislocation caused by Bryan striking her with a closed fist when she dared suggest he’d had too much to drink at a tailgate party.
“There’s strength in that. I respect that,” her father said in his Irish lilt. “And I like your handsome Jerry.”
“He’s a Green Beret.”
“Impressive,” her father said, nodding.
She sat back in her chair. “He’s a sniper.”
Just like that, she set that down in front of her father and gave him time to process it. She could almost see her father integrating that fact with the personality of the man he had just shared Thanksgiving dinner with. Finally, he said, “That must take a terrible toll on him.”
Those tears she’d felt threaten before filled her eyes. “Daddy, how do I –”
When her breath hitched on the end of her sentence, he reached out and took her hand. “How do you reconcile that?”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “Yeah.”
Her father pursed his lips and contemplated the question momentarily.
Then he said, “If God made you for a time such as this—and I’m neither confirming that nor denying that to be the case—but if He did, then He certainly will have equipped you for that.
You consider the man—is he a just man? A righteous man?
Then consider the missions. Are they just missions?
Are they righteous missions? Then you think to yourself, what if he did not do what he does?
What would that look like for the mission?
” He squeezed her hand and let go, sitting back.
“Not everything is a zero-sum. Work it out. Then, only then, you go back to the man you know.”
They sat in silence while she contemplated that. After a full minute, she said, “I really like the man I know.” She smiled and brushed that lone tear away. “Like, really like him.”
“Like, I really like him, too,” he teased. “Trust God’s plan.”
Jerry’s words reverberated in her mind. Trust the plan, Olive.