Heaven’s Gate
98 Mama Heaven
The coming weeks were hectic. We tried to get our lives back to some semblance of order. What was normal for us was certainly not normal for most people. We were packed in the big room. The children’s dorm was packed. By necessity, Josh, Mary, Cassie, and the four Whitaker kids moved back to the Clintons’. Hannah, Samantha, and Junior began spending more time at the Cortaleses’ house where Lily doted on her grandson. It was amusing to watch Melanie and Stephanie relate to my son. Melanie was a little overwhelmed by him, but Stephanie was like a loving big sister. She sought every opportunity to ‘baby-sit.’ Doreen and Rhiannon took eight kids back to the Swift house. Jim and Jill went back to Florida with promises to return for Christmas.
Wait. Eight kids? Doreen had three. Rhiannon had four.
“Brian?” Liz said when I came in from the bakery. “You need to have the talk with James and Céleste.”
“What? They’re only six!”
“Yes. Well, I don’t think they are having sex, if that’s your concern,” she answered. Yeah. Like that’s a relief. “Céleste went with the Swift kids when Doreen and Rhiannon moved back to their house. I’m not sure if Rhiannon has noticed yet. But look at their wrists, Brian. Céleste wove them both red and blue bracelets. She says it’s because they are cónyuge.”
“Oh, lord. John warned me. Whatsoever you sow, so shall ye reap.”
When I went to talk to the kids, I called Matthew and Ellie into the meeting with James and Céleste. I carefully explained that the ranch and the clan had always run by a set of rules and that there were reasons for them. I was surprised when Matthew pulled out a sheet of paper with a set of rules neatly printed on it. It was signed by the ten oldest of the clan kids. Even Lionel’s two. They weren’t even on the ranch.
It wasn’t identical to our old agreement. The kids had obviously put some work into it. I choked up when I read the opening. “We are a family. We will always be a family first and will treat each other with love and respect.”
“You have to be able to read and understand it before you can sign it,” Matthew explained. “It’s not that the little kids aren’t part of the family, but they can’t sign it until they can read it.”
Our kids were on the right track.
Jessica did have to go back to New York and I accompanied her for a couple days while she adjusted to the position of being the boss of the company and not just the figurehead model. Amy and I did our best to help her, but the real boost came when her mother and father joined her. I don’t really think Ford had left Indiana many times, but both of them joined Jessica and Amy when they continued on to Paris. Ford made a comment about needing to pay more attention to the important things in life. I had a feeling he wasn’t referring to the business. They were all back in time for Thanksgiving.
Lupe put out an official request that the whole casa gather for Thanksgiving dinner at Jessica’s house. Jessica hadn’t spent a night in the house since the attacks and she wanted to share her home with us. She still planned to be in the big bedroom with us after dinner. Fortunately, Jessica’s house was really big. Much bigger than the big house we all lived in. Even though we had to set a second table for the children, the casa and parents who were with us all managed to sit down to eat together. I don’t think we’d managed to do that in a few years. We all wore gis, even though the children wanted to go naked. After dinner, Rose stood next to me at the head of the table.
“We haven’t had an official adoption in a long time. Mostly we add to the casa by birth now,” she said. “But today, by full agreement of all members of the casa, we would like to welcome Jessica to our midst as one of us.” There was a lot of applause and I hugged Jessica. “Our rules are always changing, but it was always assumed that adoption into a casa also meant adoption into the clan. Jessica, a few years ago you opted to join the tribe, but not the clan. Do you want to be part of the Clan of the Heart?”
“Yes,” Jessica said softly. “So very much.”
“I’ve surveyed the clan members and you have unanimously been voted into the Clan of the Heart and into Casa del Fuego.”
I unfastened the gray belt around Jessica’s white gi. Then I turned her slightly away from the table as I took off her jacket and replaced it with one made of green silk. Rose handed me a red belt and I tied it around her waist. We turned back to the table and Jessica was blushing.
“Matrón, Tribe Members, cousins, and hearthmates of Casa del Fuego. I would like to introduce my novia, Jessica.”
Whitney got a break at Christmas. It wasn’t strictly for vacation. I got a message asking me to meet her at Quantico on the twenty-first of December. When I mentioned that was Rose’s thirtieth birthday, she asked if I could bring her, too, and she would come back with us for Christmas. I wasn’t actually certain why we needed to go pick her up at Quantico to fly back to Indiana the next day, but when I consulted with Rose, she got excited and wanted to go see Whitney’s base. I wondered what kind of training they were putting her through this time. Whitney requested that we come to the base in formal house gis. There was no way they were letting me on a plane with my staff after the terrorist attacks. It took us almost two hours to get through security in Indianapolis.
Base security was tight as well. Whitney met us in her dress blues, including saber at her side, and led us to the base commander’s office. We waited for about ten minutes before the Colonel opened his office door and admitted us. There were a couple other officers with him. Whitney came to attention and saluted as soon as the Colonel opened the door. He returned the salute and beckoned us into the office.
“At ease, Captain. Is this your family?”
“Yes sir,” she said. “I would like you to meet my Patrón, Brian Frost, and my Matrón, Rose Davis. Brian, Rose, this is Colonel Mark Stevens, Marine Corps Base Commander at Quantico.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir,” I said. He stuck out a hand and we shook as he did with Rose. He introduced the other two men with him, a major and a lieutenant colonel.
“Let’s go into the conference room for this,” Colonel Stevens said. We went next door to a large conference room where about twenty people were gathered. I recognized Captain Reynolds who had sparred with me during Whitney’s OCS. Also, the sergeant that Amy had dated. Whitney pointed out the man who she referred to as her rabbi. The colonel nodded to the major, who drew himself to attention while he raised a small stack of papers.
“Attention to orders,” he said. “By direction of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the following actions are announced: By reason of her honorable service in the Horn of Africa, Captain Whitney Anderson is awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. In addition, Captain Anderson is awarded the Bronze Star Medal with ‘V’ device for valorous conduct on 1 July 2001 during an action in which she and the Marines under her command, in cooperation with indigenous forces in Mogadishu, captured or killed 31 Somali criminals who had been conducting a criminal organization which had kidnaped and sold into sexual slavery over 100 members of US and allied military and naval services, and rescued more than 30 of those victims. During the armed combat necessary to the capture and suppression of this organization, Captain Anderson led from the front at great risk to her person and to the great benefit of the Marines she led, personally subduing more than ten of the criminals without the use of firearms. Her actions reflect great credit on herself, her unit, and the United States Marine Corps.” The Colonel stepped up to Whitney and pinned on her Bronze Star after handing her the box containing the medals.
Then the major spoke again, “Attention to Orders: By direction of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Captain Whitney Anderson is promoted to Major, USMC, effective this date.”
The Colonel waved Rose and me over, saying, “Patrón and Matrón, if you weren’t here, it would be my privilege to pin these gold oak leaves on Major Anderson’s shoulders. They’re my own oak leaves from when I was a major. I’ve been saving them for the right officer. Since you are here, it’s traditional for spouses or parents to pin the rank on. Uh, the stem should point out away from the neck.” Rose and I stepped up on either side of Whitney. With a grin, she ‘took a knee’ so that we could get at her lofty shoulder epaulets. We removed her captain’s bars and pinned on the leaves in the positions vacated by the bars. Captain Reynolds, her one-time instructor at Quantico, stepped up beside me and snapped to attention with a crisp salute. Whitney returned the salute and the Colonel said, “At ease.” We all relaxed. Rose hugged Whitney, which was a sight to see with a foot and a couple inches’ difference in their heights. Well, she still had nine inches on me when I hugged her. Things weren’t quite over yet, though.
“Major Anderson, I am pleased to further inform you that you have been assigned as Marine Corps Base Commander at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti,” Colonel Stevens said. “You are to complete readiness of the base and prepare to receive two companies of infantry. There will be a lot of traffic in and out of Lemonnier in the next several months. We don’t know what this thing will be that we’re getting into out there, but we will be ready to answer the orders of our Commander in Chief. You are to take control of the base at 0800 on Friday, January 4, 2002. You will receive travel orders and related documents by courier. Until that time, you are officially on leave. Enjoy the holiday with your family.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Angela and Del came out to join us for Christmas and for the first time in a long time, my entire casa was together for the holiday. We had our Christmas Eve ritual in the town square and then just the casa went to Jessica’s house—what we’d come to call ‘the mansion’—to have a late-night celebration of our own. This would include our children, though some of them had already passed out and been carried to a room Lupe designated as the nursery. We had sixteen kids in the casa and eleven of them were under six. The five older kids stayed up with us. Rose once again stood before us.
“Brian and Jessica have entered into a long-term intimate commitment with each other. We acknowledged this and Jessica’s membership in Casa del Fuego at Thanksgiving. But tonight is our opportunity to cap our Christmas Eve ritual with something extra. I have my spool of red thread and wrap their wrists together with this fragile symbol of their unity. We recognize you as cónyuge and welcome you to the bosom of the family.”
We broke the thread and I removed Jessica’s green jacket to replace it with a red one. It looked great on her. Since it was strictly the casa, she didn’t bother to turn her back while I undressed her and redressed her. She stood proudly accepting my attention.
“I have a gift for you, my hearthmates,” she said. “Call it my bride-price if you wish. People thought I was being pretty egotistical when I built a mansion in the village. Rhiannon is the only person who really knows the extent of it, since I never invited anyone to see it. I was afraid to show it to you all. Even Brian has only seen a part of it. I always hoped that I could be a part of this casa when I grew up. It just took me longer to grow up than it did all the rest of you. I want to give you, all of you, us, our casa, this house that I built for you. It has fourteen master bedrooms with en suite baths. It also has a huge common area in the back with room for everyone when we all want to be together. There is plenty of room for children. It’s paid for. I hear the taxes in this town might be going up, but that’s the worst of your obligations. I love you. I still have to travel while I figure out what to do with my business, but I’m making this promise. This is my home and I will return to it with you. Merry Christmas, Brian. Now you can live with Heaven instead of next door.”
There was a lot of excited chatter as we hugged Jessica. Somewhere in the process, our holiday gis were discarded and Jessica took us all on a very naked tour of the big house. The kids found rooms they liked and the adults all went down to the common area to celebrate further.
Maybe we weren’t the perfect family. On the other hand, maybe we were. Someplace along the line, Xan crawled up into Jessica’s arms to be carried around the house. For an eight-year-old, she was still small enough that any of us could carry her. I watched them as they talked. Jessica took her to one of the rooms where C-Rae was already tucked in. Jessica put Xan into the bed and the sleepy girl looked up at her.
“Aunt Heaven, you can be a mama now.”
Before she drifted off to sleep, she reached up to wipe a tear from Heaven’s eye.
I wiped my own.
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