The weeks went by and Isaac became sicker. He had now
gotten to the point that he was so weak that he could
not go outside without assistance. David had helped
him to go outside that morning and now he was sitting
watching Toby who was on the phone in the kitchen.
“Happy Anniversary.” Toby said to CJ.
“I was wondering, when you didn’t say anything
yesterday, if you had forgotten.” She laughed.
“I couldn’t forget our anniversary, and I wanted to
wait until the day was almost over with for you to say
anything.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, if you remember I told you that if I wasn’t
back in DC by today that I would tell you where your
gift was.”
“Yes, I do. So, where’s my gift Toby?”
“You’re impatient.” Toby said.
“Yes, I am. Where is it?”
“The night stand on my side of the bed.”
“Okay, in the bottom drawer?”
“You’ve already looked!”
“No, I just know you well. That seemed to me to be
the place you would put it.”
“Okay, have you opened the drawer?”
“Yeah.”
“You see the package with the green wrapping paper?”
“Yes, that wouldn’t be it, would it?”
“Yes, it would. You can get it out and open it.”
“I can?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” CJ took the package from the drawer and
opened it. She found a jewelry box inside the package.
“I see you bought me more jewelry.” She laughed.
“Yes.” Toby said.
“You know you’re never going to be able to top the
necklace you gave me on our first anniversary.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, of course it was what you said when you put it
on me that got me.” CJ said, fingering the necklace
which was around her neck.
“Have you opened it yet?”
“No.”
“Open it please.”
CJ opened the box, and found a diamond tennis
bracelet. “I love it.” She said. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now what did you get me?”
“I’ll tell you when you get back.” CJ replied.
“That’s not fair.”
“Yes, it is you can’t see it until you get home
anyway.” CJ said.
“I guess you have a point there.”
“I do.” CJ laughed laying her hand against her
stomach.
“You’re up to something, I hear it in your voice.”
“I assure you that I’m not up to anything.” CJ said.
“Okay. I should go and let you get some sleep.” Toby
said.
“Yeah, you probably should. Happy Anniversary. I love
you.” CJ said.
“Love you too. Bye.” Toby said.
“Bye.”
After hanging up the phone, CJ went to check on
Meghan, who was sleeping peacefully. She then walked
back to the bedroom and laid down. She lay awake for
awhile, thinking of what she had learned in Dr.
Santos’s office that day. She hoped Toby would be just
as happy as she was about the pregnancy. She knew he
would be worried about her health, but she hoped in
the end he would accept what had happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“CJ.” Carol knocked on her open door two weeks later.
“Yeah.” CJ answered.
“Toby’s on line two.”
“Okay.” CJ hesitated a moment before picking up the
phone. She knew it could not be good news. “Hello.”
She said when she picked up the phone.
“God, it’s good to hear your voice.” Toby said.
“What’s happened?” CJ asked.
“He’s gone.”
“When?”
“About six hours ago. I’m sorry that I didn’t call
you sooner, but I needed time to deal with it.”
“That’s okay, don’t worry about that. Is there
anything I can do?”
“Just be there when I get back to DC.”
“You know I will be. I’ll tell Leo I’m going to take
a few days off.” CJ said.
“Okay. The burial is tomorrow, so I’ll probably fly
home day after tomorrow.”
“All right. I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
“CJ, are you okay?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“Because you haven’t sounded well the last few times
we have spoken.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Really?” Toby said.
“Yes, really.”
“Okay, I’ll call you later tonight.”
“Okay, love you.”
“Love you too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
CJ hung up the phone and turned her chair until she
was looking out the window. She was still looking out
the window when Josh came into her office ten minutes
later.
“Hey, you want to go grab a late lunch with Sam and
I?”
“What.” CJ said turning the chair around quickly and
becoming dizzy as she did so.
“Whoa, you okay?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, I guess I moved too fast. I just got off the
phone with Toby, his dad died a few hours ago.”
“I’m sorry. The funeral is tomorrow?” Josh said.
“Yeah, he’s flying back to DC in a couple of days.”
“I guess you’re not going to the funeral?”
“Josh, there’s no way I could get there on time.”
“I came in here to ask if you wanted to go to lunch
with Sam and I?”
“Yeah.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You’re staying here for a few days?” Toby asked
David.
“Yeah, I think I’ll finish taking care of things
here. So I take it you are anxious to get back home to
CJ and Meghan?”
“Yeah, I am. You’re certain that you don’t mind
settling things here?”
“No, I don’t mind Toby. Go find the earliest flight
out of here.”
“Okay.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toby hurried through the crowded corridors of
Ben-Gurion Airport, he had just enough time to quickly
call CJ before his flight left. Since he had no time
to waste, he decided to just leave a message on the
answering machine at the apartment.
“CJ, it’s me. I’m getting ready to leave Jerusalem.
The flight is El-Al 9454, it should land at Dulles
around nine-thirty tonight. I’ll see you then. Give
Meghan a kiss from me, and tell her I’ll be home soon.
Bye. Oh, I love you, Claudia Jean.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do I have any messages?” CJ asked Carol after giving
the morning briefing.
“Yeah, here they are.” Carol said handing CJ the
messages.
“Thanks.” CJ said and went into her office and shut
the door.
She looked through the messages, but did not find the
one she was really looking for. She wondered if,
perhaps, Toby had left a message on the machine at
home. She picked up the phone to check , and was
relieved when she heard the message. She wrote down
the flight number and left for lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toby was looking out the window on the plane when he
heard the elderly woman beside him say, “What on
earth?”
“What?” Toby asked.
“They’ve closed the doors between us and the rest of
the plane.” The lady said.
“What’s going on?” Toby wondered out loud.
As Toby spoke, he saw a man walk towards the cockpit
of the airplane. The man was wearing a ski mask and
carrying an AK-47. “Oh, hell.” Toby thought.
to be continued...