The General’s Ex-Wife Is A Colonel He Can’t Have Chapter 10
The car drove deep into the base housing area, finally stopping in front of a small, red-brick house.
A large oak tree stood in the yard.
Under it sat a wooden table and two chairs.
General Thompson told me my mother used to sit there and read when she was pregnant with me.
He pushed open the door. Inside, most of the furniture was just as it had been years ago.
“You were only three months old when your parents were killed.”
“The situation was urgent. They entrusted you to a local family. If they didn’t come back, that family was supposed to take you to the nearest military child placement facility.”
Photos of my parents hung on the wall.
My father was in a flight suit, his expression resolute. My mother stood beside him, smiling softly.
Beneath the photos hung two Distinguished Flying Crosses, side by side.
“The military searched for you for years,” General Thompson said, his voice low. “But that family moved away, and the trail went cold. It wasn’t until we were sorting through old records last year that we found a girl in the foster system named Celine Wells whose age and blood type matched.”
I walked to the photograph and touched the cold frame.
“How did they die?”
General Thompson looked out at the night beyond the window.
“The Gulf War.”
“Your father led a squadron to cover the main force’s withdrawal. He stayed behind to buy them time and never made it back.”
“Your mother was a reconnaissance pilot. To get critical intelligence to the rear, she flew a low-altitude recon mission. She was shot down.”
He paused.
“The truth is, both of them had a chance to leave first.”
“But your father said that if he could hold the enemy back for one more minute, the troops behind him would have one more minute to get out.”
“Your mother said the intelligence was more important than her life.”
The room was quiet, the only sound the ticking of the clock on the wall.
General Thompson turned back to me.
“Celine, you have two choices.”
“You can inherit their honors and benefits, retire, and go back to a normal life.”
“Or you can stay in the military and finish the work they were forced to stop.”
I didn’t hesitate.
“I’m staying.”
He smiled and patted my shoulder.
“Good.”
“That’s what Scott and Katherine’s daughter would say.”