There wasn't much for me to say at this point. Suzie just sat there and watched it all, and Marilyn just smiled at me and held my right hand, while using her free hand to pour formula into Charlie. Big Bob and Marilyn stared at us some more, and then looked back and forth at each other.
Finally he asked, incredulously, "Are you serious?!"
"Yes."
Marilyn piped up. "Listen, when we come back from our vacation, come out to the airport and meet us there! We'll be flying back here in a jet!", she said excitedly.
"A jet!"
I nodded to them. "Right now we're planning on a Learjet but that could change, I suppose. It's not like I own the plane. The charter company promised it, but if it breaks or something, they have to send something else." I shrugged. "I mean, it's not like we really care which type of plane it is." I looked at Marilyn and grinned. "It sure beats the hell out of flying commercial!"
"Unbelievable!", finished Big Bob.
"I told you years ago, sir, that I would take care of your daughter. I meant every word!"
"Unbelievable!"
I didn't even bother asking the Lefleurs to keep quiet about this. That would have been simply impossible. Marilyn can't keep a secret to save her life, but she comes by this honestly. Neither of her parents can keep a secret either. In fact, the entire family blabs and gossips like a bunch of old women!
Friday night was pizza night, and the whole family was there. Now, with the kids getting older, it was just getting bigger. Mark and Lauren were there with their little one, and Luke and John had their wives there. Even the high school boys had a couple of girlfriends over. There were just a huge number of questions for us. Many of them were on purely domestic type things. How old was Charlie? Where were we living? What kind of house were we building? (Real simple answer - no idea! Marilyn hadn't done much more than look at the books.)
A few of the questions were about me and the Army. Was I out? What happened to my leg? Why did I limp and use a cane? The questions didn't end when Marilyn gave her folks a present. I had no idea she had done this, but she taken the pictures from the ceremony where I got the Bronze Star and had one of them, with her, me, and Charlie, standing with Colonel Longworth, done up nicely. She must have had it done at the PX before we moved, since it had a formal 'Army' type look to it. It was laminated to a walnut plaque, with a representation of the medal at the top, the picture, and then a copy of the citation at the bottom.
I think I stared at that plaque as much as her family did. It had only been a few months, but it already felt like a lifetime ago. I had let my hair grow longer, and had grown a mustache and goatee. (Marilyn thought it looked nice, and every once in a while I tried tickling her with it. She didn't seem to mind my efforts, especially if I tickled her in special places!) It was like Colonel Featherstone had said, that job was over, I had a new job as husband and father.
"When did you have this made?", I asked.
"The photographer sent me the prints and a copy of the negatives, and I called Missy Talmadge about the plaque. She said that the brokerage does similar things, and gave me the name of a company in Towson. Charlie and I drove down there."
"Without getting lost?"
Marilyn gave me a raspberry, and then said, "Yes, Mister Smarty Pants, without getting lost! I also had one made for you. You can put it on the wall of your office, someday, when you have an office."
I just stared into space for a moment. The plaque was now being passed around the kitchen as the kids ripped through the pizzas. It just didn't feel real anymore.
It felt real enough a moment later. Mark and Lauren were sitting at the counter with us, with the two baby seats side by side. It was funny sitting there watching Charlie and Justin looking at each other curiously. Mark had grown up a lot since high school, at least in that he didn't try to push my buttons intentionally any more. He was still an arrogant son of a bitch, but not as bad as before. Maybe his wife had him on a leash. "Why did they give you a medal?", he asked. At least the tone of the question was one of information seeking, not derision.
"Uh, I can't really say. It's classified.", I said. Even as I said it, I knew it sounded lame.
"Classified?"
I glanced at Marilyn, but for once, she didn't feel like talking about it. She hadn't said anything to Tusker or Tessa either. It seemed that if I invoked national security, she could actually keep a secret! "Mark, when I was in the Army, I had a Top Secret clearance. That mission was classified Top Secret. I am simply not allowed to talk about it."
"I thought you were down there training.", he commented.
Lauren agreed. "That's what Mom said when she and Dad went down after Charlie was born. You were off in Honduras on some training thing." Of course, Mom and Dad were Harriet and Big Bob. "That's where you hurt your leg, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that's where I hurt my leg. Listen, everything the Army does is training, right up until the point when it isn't, you know? Anyway, that's all I can tell you. It's legit. It wasn't faked."
"You can't say anything?", pressed Mark.
I felt my jaw tightening, and Marilyn squeezed my hand. I just took a deep breath; Mark was being curious, not an asshole. I said, quietly, "Mark, Top Secret is Top Secret. I am not allowed to discuss it with anybody without the proper clearance. There are things that happened on that mission that I haven't even talked to Marilyn about."
Then I simply pushed my way away from the counter and smiled. "Besides, it's all ancient history. That seems like a different me. Now I just live at home with my family."
None of the boys said anything to us about our money. The little ones didn't know or understand, and the big ones were generally too polite. I got much more grief over my beard. While Big Bob was always clean shaven, most of his sons grew beards on and off over the years. Matthew had a mustache, Mark and Luke both had trimmed but full beards, and I knew that a number of the others would grow them over the years as well. Both Mark and Luke wanted to know if the goatee was because I couldn't grow a full beard. I asked them if they had any hair on their balls, or if they only had it on their face. I didn't ask them that where their mother could hear, just their wives. It was a fun night, actually.
It was after nine when we all headed over to the Sheraton. The next morning we slept late, had breakfast at the hotel, and then drove back over to the Lefleurs. It was actually a lot quieter, since Mark and Luke and their families weren't around, and most of the high school boys were off somewhere. We just hung around for the day, with Marilyn giving her mother detailed instructions on taking care of Charlie. Harriet put up with this with considerable humor, since she could write books on taking care of babies. Hell, by the time we got back, they'd probably have him potty trained, weaned, and driving a truck!
Saturday night we had hamburgers at the Lefleurs. Think of charcoal briquettes on buns. Still, I had to suffer through one meal that weekend. Sunday would be better.
Sunday turned out very nicely. We didn't go to the Lefleurs at all. Instead, after breakfast, we dressed in our Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and drove directly over to St. Peter's. The day was quite chilly, since it was only the first weekend in April. It was still well inside the snow period for upstate, which is usually considered anytime between Thanksgiving and Easter. Even that isn't a sufficient time frame. It can snow anytime in November, and right into May. Most farmers don't even plant until May. This was a real difference to Maryland, where the seasons seemed to start six weeks earlier. We bundled Charlie up and hustled inside the church.