Take me Home

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Jade spent the rest of the afternoon talking with her brother and father even though she was still pissed at her brother. Nicole and Emily came back later and Nicole insisted she stay for dinner. So while dinner was being made Jade talked to a very energetic Emily who was chattering about the movie Finding Dory and all the fish in the movie and what her favourite parts were.

"Emily leave Aunty Jade alone." Jade smiled and waved her hand as it wasn't a big deal. Listening to Emily talk made her feel guilty for missing out on the early years of her life. It also gave her an ache in her chest at the thought of how she didn't have any children herself.

"So Jade, Paul tells me you are in the Army. What do you do?" Jade shrugged her shoulders and rubbed her arm. Nicole could tell she didn't feel comfortable so Nicole gave her a warm smile pretending not to notice the scars on her arm.

"So you have a partner?" Jade cringed involuntarily at the thoughts of her love life.

"No, not at the moment. I was engaged for 5 years, but my ex-fiancé cheated on me while I was overseas every time and spent all my money on my last tours on his whores. I was seeing someone recently, but that fell through." She didn't want to say anything about what happened with Marcus and Nicole didn't push her to say anything.

"Well, those men don't know what they are missing. I can tell you are a very intelligent and bright, beautiful woman." Jade smiled as she continued to colour in a princess with Emily.

"Your brother tried looking for you. He did for years, but every time he tried the private investigator couldn't find anything on you. It was like you didn't exist." Jade didn't want to say anything, so she focused all her concentration on the drawing. It made sense why her brother couldn't find her. If she was on a tour where she wasn't meant to be they wiped all her data so she was essentially a ghost. 

Throughout dinner, Jade was kept company by miss Emily who insisted she sit next to her. By the time dinner was over Jade promised to visit again and promised she would take Emily to the park sometime next week. When Jade finally arrived back at her apartment later on that evening, she had a smile on her face and felt pure happiness something she hasn't felt since she was a child. She felt as if they had filled a small hole in her heart that had been empty since her family broke apart all those years ago. So as Jade went to bed with a smile on her face she wouldn't admit it, but she was glad she found her brother and father after all this time. Even if she was still angry at her brother. 

Over the next few weeks, Jade spent more time with her brother and his beautiful family that she was going with them on family outings to the park beach and even the aquarium.

Time was flying and each day Jade felt herself getting physically and mentally stronger. So she wasn't surprised when a few weeks later she got a call asking her to come in to fill out her clearance papers to go back into the field.

"Here you go Corporal Jennings's and congratulations on the promotion." Jade looked confused at first and looked down at the paper in her hand as her commanding officer walked into the room.

"Jennings, if you could come into my office for me." Jade followed him into his office where she was told to sit.

"I was hoping you would hear from me first about your promotion, but I guess you already know." Jade didn't know what to say as she sat there thinking before she spoke.

"Sir, I'm grateful, but I didn't do the Sergeant course so how-" Her commanding officer smiled at her before opening a folder that was on his desk.