The Colonel Came Home With Her Chapter 02
That afternoon, the notice came down from Family Services.
Lily was being moved into Fort Bragg family housing on the grounds that she was an unaccompanied evacuee brought back by Ethan from the war zone. The receiving unit was responsible for temporary placement, and Ethan was her sponsor.
The notice had barely gone up on the community bulletin board when Mrs. Miller showed up at my door with three other wives in tow.
She didn’t knock. She walked straight into the yard, swept her eyes down the row of rooms, and marched over to the south-facing one.
She pushed the door open, stood inside, and turned a full circle. “This one’s good. Good light, good ventilation. Perfect for a pregnancy.”
I pulled Sam against my leg and leaned in the doorway, watching her.
“That’s my son’s room.”
Mrs. Miller turned around.
“What’s the harm in a little boy sleeping somewhere else? That girl’s carrying a child. Would it kill you to make some room?”
Before I could answer, a voice cut in from behind me.
Lily was standing in the yard, a canvas duffel in her arms.
She shook her head at Mrs. Miller. “Ma’am, I can sleep anywhere. Please don’t make trouble for Nora. Anywhere with a bed is fine.”
Mrs. Miller grabbed her hand and pulled her over to her side.
The way she did it, you’d have thought Lily was her own daughter.
“What are you scared of? You’ve got me. Command puts you here, and what — they’d let you sleep in the street?”
The three wives beside her nodded along.
I didn’t say anything.
That evening, at the welcome-home dinner in the battalion hall.
Ethan came shuffling over with three plates balanced in his hands, trying to be helpful.
I sat Sam down. I’d just picked up my fork when Lily came over from the serving line carrying a plate.
She didn’t dare sit next to me. She stood across the table, watching me with wide, hopeful eyes.
Sam looked up at her, then at me, and tugged on my sleeve.
I glanced up.
“Sit down. Eat.”
She set the plate down and perched on the edge of the long bench, head down, shoveling food in silence.
Mrs. Miller came over with her own plate.
She plopped down right next to Lily and forked a huge slab of pot roast onto Lily’s plate.
“Eat up. You’re not just feeding yourself now.”
My fork paused.
Ethan hovered nearby, glancing my way, cautious.
I didn’t even turn my head. I kept cutting Sam’s meat.
He could look. I’d eat.
When we finished, I dropped the plate on the return rack and, passing Ethan, said just one word:
“Outside.”
There was a low wall behind the laundry room.
I pushed him up against it.
“Is the baby yours or not.”
Ethan leaned against the wall, head down, wouldn’t look at me.
After a long time, he spoke. “Give me a little more time.”
“How much time? Did you not hear how Mrs. Miller talked to me today? Are you deaf? Blind?”
He said nothing.
I turned and left.
The next morning I went to the battalion HQ.
A few of the guys on duty were sunning themselves in front of the guard shack.
I spotted a familiar face — Sgt. Sullivan — pulled him aside, and asked about Lily.
Sullivan’s face changed on the spot.
He didn’t answer me. He turned it right back on me instead:
“Ma’am, why are you digging into her? A pregnant woman who came all the way from the war zone — do you have any idea how hard that’s been for her? Don’t push her into a corner.”
He turned and walked off.
I stood there in the sun until my scalp went hot.
Then someone called my name from behind. “Nora.”
I turned. It was Captain Reyes — one of Ethan’s officers.
He drew me into the shade of a magnolia tree, glanced around, and dropped his voice.
“Nora, the day that girl arrived on base, she went to the Colonel’s office first. When we came out of the briefing, she was already in his vehicle.”
He rubbed his hands together.
“The Colonel isn’t that kind of man. You know that. Give the Colonel some time.”
I just looked at him.
Captain Reyes added: “Nora, don’t read too much into this.”
I kept looking. He realized the situation didn’t exactly leave much room for not reading into it, gave a sheepish smile, and walked off.
At home, once Sam was settled, I dug out the letters Ethan had sent from deployment.
Eight in total.
The first three were normal.
After the third one, the tone changed.
Looking at them now, it was clear the whole thing had already started by then.
Outside the window, someone was sweeping. The whisk of the broom against wood.
Sam came running in and leaned against my leg, tilting his face up. “Mama, what are you looking at?”
I put the letters away.
“An old account.”