Chapter 86
Chapter 86
T he plane touched down in Georgia where Camp had a large SUV waiting. As we taxied to the hangar, I had a few lingering questions about Atlas but kept them to myself. Didn’t want to worry Shep. I wasn’t quite sure what Customs would do if they discovered his origins. When the door opened and Customs asked the pilots for passports, Shep wrapped Atlas up in his arms and, escorted by Gunner, marched off the plane like he owned the tarmac. Nobody said a word to him as he crossed the distance and then climbed into the SUV. Confirming the notion that no one in their right mind would challenge a kid, his puppy, and his dog. Watching them disappear, I heard Summer whisper, “Atlas... welcome home.”
The ride to Ashley’s farm was short. We were met by heightened security, though when the guards saw me, they tripped over themselves opening the gate. We rolled down the drive and parked in front of the antebellum house. Summer, Casey, Angel, and Ellie piled out first. It had been several weeks, and Summer and I thought the girls might welcome their presence. Somebody to talk to who wasn’t a therapist and wasn’t their folks. Somebody who’d been through it.
Clay and I exited next. Bones and Lonnie did not.
We were welcomed at the door and ushered inside. The girls upstairs. Clay and I to the office, where we found Aaron staring into the fire. Quietly. What looked like a cold, and full, cup of coffee in his hand. He had shaved and was smartly dressed, but his eyes were dark sockets, sunk in his head. Evidence he hadn’t slept in weeks. Tormented by a memory he couldn’t shake, he’d aged a decade. The moment I looked at him, I knew I couldn’t lift him and carry him to the finish line. That would require something or someone stronger than me.
He tried to speak, but his voice was a raspy whisper. “Hey, Murph, good to see you.”
I put my hand on his arm. “You too, sir.” The fire crackled. “How’re the girls?”
He nodded. “Resilient. But sometimes they scream at night. We lay awake half the night waiting for the next one. Run in there to find they’re still asleep.” He shook his head. “We don’t sleep much.”
Beyond the door, I heard the rhythmic sound of a cane tapping hardwood floors.
Ashley spoke without looking at me. “Murph, if I forgot to thank you...”
“You did, sir. More than once.”
A pause. “They vote in two days. Should be quick.”
“Yes, sir. That’s what I hear.”
“It’s good for the country.”
That was not true, but I didn’t tell him that.
He was staring and slowly started shaking his head. “I just can’t shake the idea that they did all that to my girls while I sat here twiddling my thumbs. One of the most powerful men in the world, powerless to help my own family. What kind of a dad does that make me?”
“It makes you the kind that loves, sir.”
His eyes never left the fire. When the door opened, Ashley continued to stare. He was lost. We’d lost him. When he did speak, I heard the depth of his pain. “We lost. Evil won. On my watch, evil...” He trailed off.
Then a hand touched his shoulder. A voice sounded from the stratosphere. “We don’t fight because we always win, sir. We fight because... who else will?”
Ashley heard the voice, then slowly turned and looked upward. Seeing a ghost, he sat in silence several seconds. Then he stood, put his hand on Bones’s arm as if to test whether it was real, then fell into his arms.
Like the rest of us, my friend Aaron could not control his emotions. Nor did he try. He didn’t have the strength.
We talked for hours. Ashley coming to life before our eyes. His color returned. He even regained a hint of strength in his voice. Bones told his story. Then I relayed mine. Ashley sat shaking his head, staring at Bones as if he could not believe it. Which put him in good company. None of us could. Look up “too good to be true” in Webster’s 1828 and you’ll see a picture of us. Lonnie reminded us Bones needed to get his blood flowing, so we walked Ashley’s pecan orchard and circled the lake. Bones’s strength was returning, but he was by no means strong. He had a long way to go.
Dinner was an amazing moment. All of us, girls too, gathered around a ginormous picnic table. Fried chicken. Mashed potatoes. Sweet tea. I was a stuffed tic at the end. After key lime pie, Bones stood. The day had been long and we could tell he needed rest, but as was his nature, he was pushing through it, which he’d no doubt pay for tomorrow.
“I realize we popped in unexpected. But to be quite honest, this wasn’t entirely a social call.” Miriam, Ruth, and Sadie sat wedged between their mom and dad with Sadie sitting on her dad’s lap. From what little I’d heard, she’d had the roughest go at the cabin. But from what I could tell, whatever had happened had done nothing to diminish her tender affection for her dad. She sat legs across his lap, arms around his neck, eyes trained on Bones. “I realize, maybe as much as anyone, that this is going to come across as insensitive given everything that has happened. But I don’t have the luxury of time that would allow me to be more sensitive. So.” He nodded at Esther as if asking her permission. “Please allow me to be blunt.”
She nodded once. An offering. We all waited.
He turned back to Aaron. “Given my past, I have some idea what you’re going through. Not entirely. Never had girls of my own. But I’ve... endured such hostilities. So I’m somewhat acquainted with the pain. That said, I’m here, we’re here, to ask you, bluntly... to rescind your resignation. The president will gladly accept. The country will understand. Sir, I have information that you need to know. And if we ever needed you, it’s now.”
Bones let that settle and sat. Letting the focus of the room shift to Aaron. Sadie, who’d been resting her forehead on his chest, raised her head and looked at her dad. Finally, she placed a hand on his cheek and turned his face toward hers as only the child of the vice president could.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, angel.”
“Are you quitting because of us?”
He considered this. As he did, I realized he had flinched when she said the word quitting .
Finally, he nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“So the bad guys win?”
Evidently Aaron, whom I’d long thought to be one of the smarter individuals in any room he’d ever entered, had not considered it in those terms. Nor had he heard it communicated with such innocent honesty. “It means I’ll get to be with you more.”
Sadie didn’t budge. “But are there other girls out there going through what we went through?”
Aaron nodded. “Yes.”
“And you’re a fighter pilot? Shot down planes?”
Another nod.
“And if you’re vice president, you can help them?”
A third nod.
“So...” Sadie had always been the sassy one. Right here she was about to show why she’d earned the nickname Sass. “Why are we having this conversation?”
At this point, Esther laughed out loud, releasing an emotion that had been pent up for some time, suggesting she’d been having this same conversation with her husband but getting nowhere. Sadie pressed her forehead to his. “Daddy, we’re safe. We’re okay.”
Ashley shook his head and palmed his face, finally sucking through his teeth. Then he kissed his daughter and quietly motioned to Stackhouse, who seldom left his side. “Call him.”
Stackhouse handed him the phone. Ashley cleared his throat. “Yes, sir, good to talk with you, sir.” A pause. “Yes, sir, they’re doing fine. Healing up. Little by little. Well, yes, sir, I know they intend to vote. That’s actually why I’m calling—”
The president said something that interrupted him. Ashley started again. “Well, sir, I realize this has been a bit of a roller coaster, but if you’d allow me, I’d like to rescind my resignation. Yes, sir. I still think there’s some work yet to be done. Yes, sir, I’d like to continue to serve if you will let me. Yes, sir, I can be there first thing. We’ll do that.” The president said something that took Ashley by surprise. “Well, sir, if you wish, we can do that as well. I know Esther and the girls”—he eyed me and Bones—“along with the rest of my family, will be glad to see you. Yes, sir. See you then, sir. And yes, sir, she’ll have some made for you.”
He hung up the phone and turned to Esther. “The president was hoping you’d cook a key lime for breakfast.”
The room laughed.
“He’s coming here.” He turned to his girls. “Wants to see all of you.”