"Life, Love, and Other Mysteries" Chapter 8

Chapter 8


Jael stood back and watched her husband check his last bag at the airport, and tried to hold back the tears burning at the back of her eyes. Everything seemed to be speeding up when he was leaving, and she was sure this deployment would feel like he was gone for forever. Sighing, she sat in one of the hard plastic chairs and watched Elisha walk toward her.

"Baby, are you okay?" he knelt down before her, his dark eyes assessing as he took her hand in his.

"No." she whispered, cupping his cheek in her hand. "I'm already missing my husband." She could no longer hold back the tears that coursed down her cheeks like twin rivers refusing to stop.

"Come here love," he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. "I'm going to miss you too, Jael. It'll be no time before I'm back here with you."

She snuggled closer to him, remembering each moment of warmth between them as she held onto him with all the strength she still possessed. Her heart hurt with the thoughts of what could possibly go wrong between them, and with him overseas.

"Stop worrying." he whispered, stroking her back gently.

"It's kind of hard to just stop worrying." she wiped at her eyes quickly, kissing him gently. "I'll try for you though."

"Good." he smiled at her and kissed her again, "Now I've got a plane to catch, and you have two kids to get home to." he stood her up with him and pulled her close once more for a hug. "Give the babies kisses for me."

"I will" Jael nodded, and kissed his cheek. "You come home safe to us."

"Of course." he winked and turned away walking toward the terminal.

Turning her head toward the ceiling, Jael whispered a silent prayer for her husband's safety and quick return. Sighing, she resolved herself to go back home and take care of Khalil and Eliana. It'd be a long year without him.

Jael walked in the door and set her suitcase and purse just inside the foyer as she collected herself to deal with an apartment full of people. Really, all she wanted to do was run back to the airport and beg Elisha not to leave. Instead, she took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen where everyone was congregated eating breakfast. "Good morning everyone," she called out, pulling every last bit of pep she could out of the caverns of her soul.

"Hey, how are you?" asked Cami, wrapping an arm around Jael's shoulders.

"I'll be okay, eventually. How were they?" she asked, wiping off Eliana's mouth and picking up the chubby little girl who held her arms out to mommy. Snuggling the darling little girl close.

"Angels as always." replied her mother, wiping off Khalil's mouth before he went running to Jael.

"Daddy?" whimpered the little boy, sticking a thumb in his mouth.

Handing Eliana off to Cambria, Jael knelt before her adopted son, "Baby, Daddy had to go away for a little while, he'll be back to see us. He's going to call you tonight." She pulled the whimpering boy into her arms and hugged him close. She'd known that when she and Elisha had explained it to Khalil he didn't understand, of course what two-year-old did? In fact, did she even understand why they had to give him up for months at a time? No, not really, she conceded.

"Do we want to go to the park?" asked Ezra, resting his hand on Khalil's head.

"YES!" Khalil exclaimed, hugging Ezra's knees.

"Can Eliana go too?" Cami asked, rubbing the little girl's cheek.

Jael nodded, "I'm going to come too. I can't sit here alone all day...I'll get them ready, can you grab my camera bag?"

Cami laughed, "Of course."

--

Cami sat next to her sister on the bench. Jael was feeding Eliana and Ezra was playing with Khalil.

"How's it going, sister?" She asked knowing her sister must've been having a hard time. Her husband had left her with two kids for a year. Cami couldn't imagine having to go through that. Even now with her and Ezra going out for a week. If he left and she couldn't see him for a year she'd go insane.

"I'll be fine. I've done this before." Jael said.

"Yeah, you have. You're stronger than anyone I've ever met." she smiled at her sister and hugged her with one arm.

"Thanks. I just want to be sure to be there for the kids. Especially Khalil, he hasn't experienced this long of a time period without Elisha before." Jael sighed, and pointed her camera at Khalil who was smiling as he slid down the sliding board.

"He'll be fine. We'll make sure of that. You have all of us too, don't try to do it all on your own, Jae." Cami took over feeding Eliana for her sister.

"I'm so glad I do have all of you to help out, but I also don't want to be a burden. They are my kids after all." she took a quick picture of her sister and daughter.

"Yeah, but if we can help we want to. It's the least we can do to make it easier for you, Jael. That's what family does." she stated after the picture was taken.

Jael's cell phone began to ring in her pocket, "Thanks C, I'll be right back, I've got to get this it's probably Elisha." She retrieved her phone from her pocket and walked away from the bench talking.

"Hey! You gonna' sit over there and think all day or come play?" called Ezra from the playground.

Cambria laughed, "We're coming!" She picked Eliana up from her stroller and ran toward the playground.

--

Jael listened to her husband's voice on the phone with a smile on her face, "I miss you." she said with a sigh.

"I miss you more. I miss the kids too. How are they?"

"Khalil started to get upset when I came home without you today, we're at the park now trying to keep him busy."

"Poor little guy, let me talk to him for a minute?" his voice held concern and love for their son.

She smiled, "Sure, hold on a minute." she walked over to the playground, "Lil K! Daddy's on the phone."

Khalil raced to her, tiny chubby legs churning the distance between them. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" he exclaimed over and over until he reached her. Jael sat on the steps leading to the sliding board and held the phone against her son's chubby cheek.

"Hi Daddy!" he exclaimed again as he held the phone with one small hand.

Jael could hear the rumble of Elisha's laugh and his mumbled words to Khalil. Tears burned the backs of her eyes as she heard much of the one-sided conversation between the two most important men in her life. They were sorely going to miss the influence of Elisha in their lives over the next year.

"Miss you, Daddy." whimped Khalil, his bottom lip puckering.

Her tears threatened to fall, and she rubbed at her eyes as Khalil said his goodbye and hasty "lub you." She took the phone from his chubby hand and sighed her resolve. "Elisha?"

He chuckled, "That boy is off on the sliding board right now, isn't he?"

Jael found herself laughing as well, "You know your son."

"Of course, I know you too. Stop crying, love. I'll be home before you know it. Kiss the baby for me, and make sure you send an email tonight in case I can't get to the phone. I love you."

She smiled, "I love you too, Elisha. Talk to you later baby."

Closing the phone, she turned back to see her sister standing with a whimpering Eliana. "What's wrong with my baby girl?" she stood, pocketing her phone and held her arms out to her daughter.

The little girl jumped into her arms and snuggled into her chest.

"Elli is tired." Cambria said with an exaggerated pout.

"How about if I take them home and you take the picnic basket I packed in the backseat of the car. Have a picnic with your man." she said with a wink.

"You are a sly one, sister." her sister accused.

"Yeah, but you love me!" she exclaimed calling for Khalil and buckling both children into the double stroller. It was the least she could do to help her sister and Ezra get enough time together. She knew what it was like to have to be away from the person you loved for a length of time, they needed as much time together as they could get. End of discussion.

"Life, Love and Other Mysteries" Chapter 7

Chapter 7


Jael kissed Eliana's forehead as she tucked her into the crib for the night. Her family was going to keep both Eliana and Khalil for the night so that Jael and Elisha could spend their wedding night together and then send Elisha off in the morning to return to Iraq. Her stomach was twisted with nerves and worry, as she turned to tuck Khalil in as well. Elisha sat on the edge of the bed and kissed Khalil's chubby cheek as Jael pulled the covers over the little boy. She caught her husband's eyes and smiled gently, as he covered her hand with his.

"I love you, Jael." he whispered.

"I love you too, Elisha." she replied, leaning across the bed to kiss him.

"Let's get going before they wake up again." he chuckled softly.

"Yes, lets." she followed him out of the room, and clicked on the night light before pulling the door closed.

"What are you two still doing here? Get going!" Cambria pushed them toward the door.

"Well goodness!" Elisha chuckled, tugging her toward the door.

Jael stood inside the doorway and pinned her sister with a look, "You have the numbers right?"

"Yes, and I won't need them. I can handle two children." She closed the door a little bit.

"But, if they need us..." she sighed, pushing the door open, half wanting to run back into the room and take both little ones with them.

"Jael, your family is more than capable of taking care of them. Let's go." he kissed her gently.

"Okay, okay. I'll be back tomorrow at ten." she called as the door slammed in their faces.

Sighing, she obliged and followed her new husband to the car. Jael took her seat beside him in the passenger seat of their compact car.

"Are you okay?" he asked, taking her hand in his.

"I'll be okay. It's all happening so fast. We're married." she stated softly.

He nodded, "That's right baby, we're married."

Life couldn't get any more mysterious to Jael at this point. Marriage.

--

Cambria walked into the living room where everybody sat. Eliana had just fallen back to sleep after what seemed like an eternity. Everybody was laughing and joking around.

"Guys, not to be rude or anything, but can you please quiet down so I'm not up for another half hour of trying to get the child back to sleep." She said sitting on the floor next to the chair Ezra was sitting in.

"Were getting to bed anyway." Maryn said. Bry kissed Bronx and than stood up as did Maryn.

They walked out of the apartment and to her neighbors house. Everyone else said their goodnights and walked out of the room leaving Cami and Ezra alone.

"So your taking on the mommy role now?" Ezra asked as Cami stood up and walked over to sit on the couch.

"You could say that." She said with a smile but it soon faded as she heard Khalil start to whine.

"I got it." Ezra said standing up.

She watched him walk into the room and the whines continued but also the crying started. Cami stood up and walked into the room.

"What's wrong buddy?" Cami asked sitting on the bed next to Khalil.

"I want my daddy." He said. Cami picked the little boy up and put him on her lap and started to rock him.

"Daddy will be back don't worry" She said. The whines stopped and she looked at Ezra. "Is he sleeping?" She whispered.

Ezra looked at the boy and nodded.

Cami gave a relieving sigh and set the boy down in his bed. They walked out of the room and Cami looked at the clock. "I think I will sleep in their room tonight just in case one of them wakes up." She said.

"Your going to be such a good mother when we have kids." Ezra said with a smirk.

Cami raised her eyebrows."Why thank you. I try." She said with a smile.

"Well it doesn't look like it takes much. You're a natural." He said pulling her close to him.

She smiled and kissed him.

"Get to bed." She said.

He laughed and walked away.

Cambria walked into Carina's room and got her stuff then walked into the kids room. She laid her stuff on the ground and than laid herself down. God, he seems a little to perfect. Please, don't let me get hurt outta this. Please let Him be the right one. She prayed.

==

The Next Morning

Cami woke up to Eliana looking at her through the bars of the crib.

"Morning baby. How long have you been up?" She asked.

The baby gave her a toothless grin.

Cami stood up and picked the baby up out of the crib.

"Mo'nin. " Khalil said, sitting up in his own bed.

Cami laughed."Good morning handsome. You guys ready for some breakfast?" She asked.

Khalil nodded, "Hungry."

"Me too" she agreed, as she helped him off of the bed. Together the three of them raided the kitchen, she set Eliana in her high-chair, and helped Khalil into the booster seat. "What do we want for breakfast?" she asked, finally opening the cabinet to take stock of the food that resided there.

"Toast!" exclaimed Khalil, bouncing in his seat.

"I agree." Cami said. She took the bread out of the refridgerator and put two pieces in the toaster. She walked over to the refridgerator and took out the apple juice. "You want apple juice to drink?" She asked. Neither kid gave an answer because Khalil was dancing and Eliana couldn't talk. She took a sippee cup out of the cabinet and a bottle and started to pour the apple juice into them.

"Good morning." She turned to see Bronxon walking in.

"Hey! Good morning. Want some toast?" Cami asked.

"I don't know. I haven't really heard great things about your cooking." He said with a smirk taking a seat next to Khalil.

"Keep an eye on them? I have to get the baby a bib so she doesn't make a mess." Cami said. She ran into the kids room and opened the top drawer and grabbed a bib. Than she ran back out to the kitchen. Ezra was now in it sitting next to Bronxon. "Good morning, Ezra." She said with a smile.

"Morning, Cami. Bronxon says your cooking? Should we get out of here?" Ezra asked.

"Shut up! You guys don't have to eat my cooking. It's just a piece of toast!" Cami said. She took the two pieces out of the toaster and put another two pieces in.

"Babe, were kidding. It's fine." Ezra said.

Bronxon laughed.

This was going to be a long day.

"Life, Love, and Other Mysteries" Chapter 6

Chapter 6


Cami sat next to Ezra at the dinner table. They went out to have supper with the family minus Jael. She wasn't sure where she went but she was sure her sister would tell her at the house.

"So you've seemed extra happy which is quite a change from your miserable attitude towards us this morning." Maryn said. Cami smiled and looked at Ezra who winked at her.

"Well, you guys making fun of us all weekend has changed our minds about us being together." Cami said. Everyone got quiet and looked at them.

"You guys hate each other?" Kassarah said coming out of no where. Cami was used to her neighbor showing up from random places but her family gave her a strange look.

"No we don't hate each other. Were getting married." Cami said trying to keep a straight face.

"I didn't know you were that close." Her father said. Cami and Ezra both laughed.

"No no no we just decided to have more than a friendship?" Cami asked looking at everyone who still looked at them in shock. "What? Get back to eating it's not like you didn't know it was going to happen!" She said. She put a fork full of salad in her mouth and tried to not look at their judgemental looks.

"How is that going to work if he's going back on Friday?" Cami's mother asked. Cami had almost forgotten that he had to go back. She looked at Ezra was looking at her as well.

"We haven't talked about that." Ezra said.

"You guys should figure something out then. But otherwise, I'm quite happy that you two are together." Cami's father said. Cami gave a little smile and suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

"Excuse me, I'm going to go to the ladies room." She said taking the napkin off of her lap. She got up and started walking to the bathroom. She felt a hand pulling her from her elbow and she didn't want to turn around. She knew who it was and she didn't want him to see her being upset.

"Cami, please talk to me? We can leave here and go somewhere else." Ezra said. She turned around and looked at his eyes.

"I don't want you to leave. I finally have you after 6 years and now your going to leave me in 5 days." She felt tears burn at her eyes. She wasn't much for goodbyes. Even if it wasn't for 5 days.
"It's just for a little bit. I can come here every weekend to see you. Or you can come home with me for the weekend. I want my mom to meet you personally." Ezra said holding her hand. Cami looked around at the people who stared at them.

"Let's go somewhere else to talk." She said.

He nodded and they walked back to the table.

She picked up her purse and took out 20 dollars. "Here's for our dinners. You guys stay as long as you like Bryna or Maryn have keys to the house. Were gonna go talk about some things."
Cami said.

Her family all nodded and she and Ezra walked out. They got into the car and she was driving this time. She wasn't sure where they were going to go that was quiet but they had to go somewhere to talk.

"Your really quiet. It's kind of making me nervous." Ezra said looking at her. She looked over at him and smiled a little.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I told you what I wanted to at the resteraunt. Your turn to talk." She said pulling into the parking lot of one of her friend's apartment buildings. She had an extra key because she had to take care of the apartment whenever he went out.

"Where are we? Your not going to kill me right?" He asked getting out of the car. She laughed and shook her head.

"No don't worry. This is my friend's house. He goes to my school and is out for the weekend so I have a key. Were going to borrow it." She said nodding. She held his hand and led him into the apartment building. They made their way up to the apartment and Cami opened the door.

"This is nice." He said walking in. Cami smiled and closed the door than locked it making Ezra turn around to look at her. "Wow." He said as she took her coat off.

"what?" She asked with a smirk leading him into the living room. He raised his eyebrows.

"Did you look that amazing all day?" He asked with a smirk. She nodded.

"pretty much." She said with a small laugh. He shook his head and sat on the couch.

"Anyway, I think we need to see each other alot." He said holding her hand as she sat next to him. She nodded.

"I agree." She said.

"Do you think we can make it work?" He asked. She nodded yet again.

"With God all things are possible." She quoted the famous verse from the bible. He smiled.

"Amen." He said with a wink. "It's taking all my strength to not kiss you right now." He said biting his bottom lip. It made her blush.

"Why? Why don't you just kiss me?" She asked. She couldn't believe she was saying that to Ezra. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing's coming to mind." He said. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well if you want to wait to kiss me that's fine. We can sit here all day he wont be home for a while."

--

Bryna walked out onto the patio where Bronxon sat. She sat on the arm of the chair he was sitting in and looked at him but he made no effort to look at her.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked. He still did not look at her but took a deep breath.

"My brother and your sister are going out." He said. She nodded.

"I know I was there, remember?" She asked. He looked at her finally.

"Yea." He said.

"So what's so bad about them going out? You realize we pretty much set them up for it right? We brought them with us to dinner." She said taking his hand. He nodded.

"Yea. I thought I'd be happy for them but they made me realize that your living here now and when I go back with Ezra and your parents your not coming back with me. Were not going to see each other as much as we usually would, Bry." He said pulling her down to sit on his lap. She pouted a little.

"I know. But we know that this is the best thing for me. We talked about this Bronx." She said looking at him. He sighed and looked down.

"I know we did but I don't want it to happen. I want to take you home or move here."

"Well then, move here." she said smiling at him, hope bubbling up within her heart.

He shrugged, "Okay."

"Okay, that's it? Just like that you're going to move here?" she asked, her eyes widening as she spoke.How could he make a split second decision like that?

"Well, I need to go to school somewhere, so why not here with you?" he kissed her hand softly and smiled at her.

"Oh you've made me the happiest woman alive right now." she exclaimed hugging him tight.

"I doubt that." came Jael's voice from behind them.

"Bronx is going to move here, go to school with me." she smiled at her sister and winked, "What could be better than that?"

"Elisha and I just got married." Jael countered.

The family now crowded the patio, it was loud and everyone was speaking at the same time both to her and Jael. Eliana and Khalil were crying in the confusion. Bryna's head spun, but at least she knew she had Bronxon with her. For good.

--

Maryn sat in the living room. Everyone seemed to have a man except for her. She watched everyone around her in chaos but she did not feel at all chaos. The door opened and Ezra walked in with raised eyebrows as he watched the craziness Maryn now called home. Cami was next in the house and her reaction was equal to Ezra's. Than another figure walked into the house. Something she never thought she'd ever see. A very handsome man. What was he doing here? Better yet Who is he? She wondered as he followed Cami and Ezra into the living room.

"What's going on in here?" Cami asked.

"Ask Jael. Whose your friend?" Maryn asked. Cami looked at her and than to him and Maryn could see the light bulb go off in her head.

"This, Maryn, is Gabriel. He goes to school with me. Gabriel, this is my sister Maryn. You guys talk it up we have to go find Jael." Cami said taking Ezra's hand they walked out of the room.

Maryn moved over on the couch and motioned for him to sit next to her.

"Nice to meet you, Gabriel." She said. She shook his hand and he kissed hers.

"You too. You know your sister was telling me about you on the way over here and she could not have described how amazingly beautiful you are." Gabriel said. Maryn felt her cheeks get extra red and took her hand away from his.

"Thank you. She's told me nothing about you at all." Maryn said with a smile. Gabriel laughed.

"Really? You would think if she really wanted us to be together than she would tell you a little about me." He said with a smile. Maryn laughed.

"I know she's slacking we'll have to talk to her about that."

--

Cami looked at her sister and didn't know if she should smack her or hug her.

"You just got up and married each other?" Cami asked now looking at Elisha.

"Yea. Well see he has to go back to Iraq and I need to take care of Khalil. So it was necessary." Jae said. Cami hugged both of them.

"Well I'm excited for you guys!" She said. Ezra shook Elisha's hand and hugged Jae.

"Thank you! When are you guys going to do it?" Jael asked.

Cami looked at her sister in shock.

"Joking! I know you just started going out."

Cami looked at her again.

"We didn't announce that till dinner when you weren't there how do you know?" Cami asked.

"Believe me I know it all!"Jael said with a wink.

Cami took Eliana and walked away with Ezra. "I can't believe they got married." Cami said looking at Ezra. They tried to find a quiet place but the house was full or so it seemed. Cami walked into the nursery and Ezra shut the door.

"It's a good thing they got married though right?" Ezra asked. Cami nodded.

"Yea. I mean, definately. I knew they were going to it was just when? But now Elisha's going to Iraq." She said playing with the baby. Ezra sat next to her on the floor.

"Yea, God Bless him."

"My sister is going to need some help with the kids, and being alone..." she said, running her hand over Eliana's cheek gently.

"Yeah, probably. But, that doesn't mean we can't make time for us, Cambria." Ezra stated, taking her hand in his.

"Are you sure about that? Because, if we're just going to go back to being alone..." her voice broke.

"Cambria look at me." he cupped her chin in his hand, and turned her face to him. "We're going to make this work between us. Even if I have to move to Delaware."

Her heart thudded within her chest as she leaned into him. "Are you for real, Ezra?"

He chuckled, "Of course I am, Cami." he kissed her gently. "Now smile a little for me, we need to go back out there before they come looking for us."

"Right." she smiled and lifted Eliana onto her hip. "Lets get back to them."