The Emmanuel Sisters

Chapter 17 Waiting On God

Faith had been waiting in the Ethiopian's General's Command room for what seemed like forever. The General's reinforcements reported back to him that they arrived at the rebel camp and found the Ethiopian Commander dead, and hanging from a tree. They reported that it appeared as if the rebels had abandoned camp and fled north to the neighboring country. The General inquired on the whereabouts of the others. His reinforcement troops informed him that they had not seen any children or anyone else at the rebel camp site, but that they did find the cell phone left behind on the ground.
The General was enraged about the murder of his most loyal and capable Commander. He ordered his reinforcements to follow the rebels north before they made it to the border and to shoot and kill any who opposed them, and bring back those who surrendered for questioning. The General knew if they allowed the rebels to reach the neighboring country, who happened to be assisting the rebels with providing them weapon, it would be too late to ever capture the murderous rebels. The country that bordered them to the north had hopes of overthrowing the current Ethiopian government from within. The General was a man of his word, and he kept his promise to Faith and updated her about everything. He told her that he assumed the rebels still had the hostages and were attempting to escape with them.
Faith thought, "if Darryl and the other's were nowhere to be found then they must be in the rebel's custody, but at least they may still be alive."
The General's assumptions all made sense to Faith, and it was a better alternative than her imagining they were all dead. Faith had accepted that there was nothing she could do but wait, and pray. Whenever the phone in the command room rung the whole room became quiet. The phone was now ringing and everyone held their breath as the General picked it up. Strangely, it was the operator, wanting to patch through an urgent call from Saint Phillip's Church. The General told the operator to patch it through. Within a few seconds Faith and the General's men heard the General say to whoever was on the other end of the phone, "we're on our way, right now."
Faith boldly walked over to the General and said, "if that has got anything to do with Darryl and the children, I'm going with you!"
————————————————————
Love and John had finally made it to Saint Phillips Church. John thought Love had fallen asleep in his arms, because she was so quiet and still, but she hadn't. Love hadn't felt so safe and secure in a man's arms in a very long time. She couldn't believe how she had opened up to John about her past, and yet he still wanted her, despite her past. She wondered, "how could he love someone with a background  like mines?"
Finally the driver stopped the vehicle and Love whispered to John, "so I guess where here."
"Oh, I thought you were sleeping. Yeah, we're here. Come on, let's check it out." John grabbed his camera and started taking pictures right away. He wanted to get as many pictures as possible. He was so happy he had a good flash on the camera he recently purchased since it was dark.
Love stood by the jeep, stretching her legs, and watching John. To Love the church looked unimpressive. She didn't really see what the big deal was, but she knew it was a big deal to John. Then she followed John inside. They walked into the church and they saw no one else in the building. Their driver said he would wait outside.
It was a very small and modest looking church on the outside and the inside. The first thing that caught John's eyes was a huge, ancient looking book sitting on a pedestal. John went over to the pedestal to take a look. John told Love how the book contained names of all the people throughout the years that had come and visited the church and signed the book. The book seemed to date back over a hundred years. Then they were startled by a voice.
"I thought I heard footsteps in here. We don't usually get visitors so late. You newlyweds do know that the nearest hotel is an hour and a half away?" It was the caretaker for the church, coming up from the basement.
Love responded to the Caretaker, "oh we're not newlyweds Sir, we know the nearest hotel is pretty far, but he, (motioning to John), still insisted we make the ride up here."
The caretaker smiled and said, "Well would you like me to tell you a little about the history of this church?"
John was excited. The long ride had not dampened his curiosity. "Sure, I want to know everything."
The caretaker began telling John and Love all the things that John actually already knew about the church, and had already told Love. But the two of them still sat and listened, after all they had driven up there, and it would have been very rude not to show appreciation to the elderly caretaker.
When the caretaker was finished giving them his brief history lesson, that he enjoyed telling people over and over again, he said, "I still have some things to attend to downstairs, but you kids can take your time and explore the different artifacts and books in the church. Just yell down to me when you are ready to leave so I can lock up behind you." Then the old caretaker went back to his room downstairs to finish watching TV and eating his supper.
Love just remained seated in one of the pulpits, while she watched John take pictures and look around. John was busy trying to take in as much of the church as he could, and he also was taking plenty of pictures of Love while he was at it.
"Love come look at this, these scrolls are over two hundred years old, and look at this picture, it says it is an actual picture of the Ark of the Covenant during the time it was supposedly being kept in the basement of this very church for safekeeping." Then John noticed another old large book open on a pedestal beneath an ancient looking cross. There was writing in a glass under the cross and he read it to himself. He was getting ready to tell Love to come look at it when he noticed she had her eyes closed.
"Love, I'm sorry, I'm just going on and on, are you feeling okay?
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking that maybe this whole assignment is just a lost cause. It doesn't seem like we are going to find the Doctor's son or get an adoption done, with all that is going on out here with these rebels. We've been here two days now and haven't been able to get anything done. I guess this will just have to be the first time I didn't come through for Mr. Swanson. I guess he'll understand. I just really hate disappointing him, especially because this assignment is so important and personal for Mr. Swanson. I've never failed to come through for him before."
John looked at Love and realized that she wasn't just interested in succeeding at her first assignment as partner in the firm. He realized that this assignment meant something personal to her also. He could tell that Love just really wanted to please Mr. Swanson. He wasn't sure why, although he knew she was extremely loyal to Mr. Swanson and the firm, but he could see that whatever her reasons were it was clear her motives were unselfish.
"You know Love, we can always put a little prayer about it in this book here."
"What are you talking about John?"
"It says here that for over a hundred years people have felt this church sat on holy ground, and that this cross that hangs here was crafted by the Apostle Phillip's hands himself. It says that legend tells how he gave this cross to the Ethiopian man who founded this church and that if you write your prayer request down in this holy prayer book, and of course as long as your prayer request is not against the will of God, it is guaranteed that your prayers will be answered and your heart's desires will come true."
"Oh really? I don't think some magical book is going to help us here John."
Then John walked over to Love with the book and the pen and said, "Well it can't hurt things either, right? So what the heck, why not try it? You know sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask for help when you need it Love."
Love didn't respond, and she wasn't planning on changing her mind and writing anything down in the hocus pocus book John was holding.
But John believed in the power of anything that had to do with God.
John continued, "Well, I'm going to try it, because I do believe that with some things you really need or want in life you just have to ask God to bring it to you."
John started to write down his prayer request in the book. Love had to admit that she was a little curious about what John was writing about in the book. She wondered and even wanted his prayer request to be about her, even if she would never admit it. When John was finished writing he looked over at Love. He noticed her sneaking a peak over at him while he was writing.
"So do you want to read my prayer request Love? You seem awfully interested."
"I guess so, I mean if you want me to." Then Love took the book from John. She read what he had written in it, "God, please bring Love everything that she needs in her life, even if she is too stubborn to ask you herself, and, God, help her to love herself as much as You and I love her. – John."
Love looked at John and smiled. "Very sweet and clever."
"That's me, Hey Love, have I ever told you how much I love your smile?"
Then the two of them stared into each other's eyes. John leaned in to kiss Love when she pulled her gaze away and started to read some of the other prayer requests that were in the book.
"Hmmm, I guess this book is somewhat interesting."
John, didn't want to pressure or push Love into responding to what he felt for her. He wanted to know her feelings were true and could wait till she was ready. So he started flipping through the pages, skimming what was on them. All the prayer requests seemed so sad, and so desperate. They gave a glimpse into the troubles and misfortunes of strangers lives.
Love abruptly gave the book back to John. "I just can't read anymore it's so depressing."
John found it all very interesting and he had faith that God did answer all of the prayers that were written in the book. "We'll I believe all these poor people's prayers were answered. Hey, just look at this one Love."
"I told you John I don't want to read anymore. It's depressing."
John ignored Love's protests. "Love I believe that God did answer all of these prayers, just like he's going to answer all of mine's, eventually. Now I wanted you to look at this one because it is really interesting. It's written by a little girl from America it says,
"God I hope you will answer an American girl's prayer in Africa too. Please help bring me and my sisters back together. I love my new Mommy and Daddy, but I miss my big sisters all the time, and God I know Nana is with you in heaven, tell Nana I love her and miss her too. Faith, age 9."
Love, didn't you say to me once that you use to call you're grandmother, Nana too?"
Love couldn't believe what John had just read. Her heat started racing.
Someone named Faith had written a request about her two sisters and her Nana. Could it be her Faith that wrote this! This was really eerie.
John noticed the strange look on Love's face. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Love what's wrong?"
"John I had, well I have a little sister named Faith out there somewhere." The guilt of never trying to find Faith, after she found out Hope was killed in the fire started to rush through Love. Love had to stop talking for a moment to swallow the nausea she suddenly felt before she could continue telling John. Then she continued, "Actually I had two sisters, Faith and Hope. But like I said in the jeep, my one sister, Hope died a long time ago in a fire. Faith was adopted when she was only five years old, and I have not seen her in over twenty years. I could have tried to find her, but I don't know.... I guess I thought that she was probably better off without me. She was adopted into a good family, and everyone else in "our" family was dead, but me. Honestly, I don't think I would have made much of a big sister for her anyway." Love had never told anyone about her sisters before.
John was finding out more about Love in this one day than he had in the ten years he knew her. John was stunned. He realized there was so much about Love that he didn't know. But everything he found out, just made him want to know her better, and made him love her even more. He was finally beginning to understand why Love was so guarded.
"What if your little sister was the one who wrote this? That would be a miracle, that you happened to be here to read it. It's a sign that it is time for you to try and find her Love."
"It's probably a coincidence John, like you said there are thousands of prayer requests in there, some are bound to be similar to someone else's life. Plus if I find her now, she probably hates me for abandoning her, or she probably doesn't even remember me anymore."
"That would be a pretty big coincidence Love. To tell you the truth I don't believe in coincidences I believe in God-incidences and God's will. I believe in fate and miracles. I think it was fate that brought us here just for you to read this. Obviously four years after she was adopted she still was missing her big sisters. She hasn't forgotten you Love. I'm sure of it!"
"Well John if God knows everything that's going to happen to us, if life is all about fate, why ask him for anything? He's already decided what's he's going to give us and what he's not going to give us, right?
Before John could answer Love's question, a noise outside startled the two of them. It sounded like the sound of gun shots going off outside of the church. John and Love looked at each other nervously.
The caretaker of the church came running upstairs because he heard the shots also. The old man ran upstairs from the basement with a rifle in his hand. He looked over at John. "Did you two hear that? What was that?"
"We don't know, we just heard it too, but it sounded like someone shooting a gun to me."
The three of them went to the front windows of the church to see what was going on, and when they looked outside they could hardly believe their eyes. They saw a truck load of children, all little boy's, some looked as young as four, some looked as old as sixteen, and they all had on matching school uniforms. Love and John instantly knew that these were the orphans that were missing, all standing there right before their eyes. Love and John's driving escort ran up the church stairs to let them know everything was okay and that he had shot his gun into the air, to alert them of possible danger when he saw a vehicle approaching. Their driver explained to the approaching vehicle that he only shot into the air because he didn't know if the vehicle approaching contained rebel soldiers inside it or not until they had came closer.
Darryl got out of the vehicle. "We're all civilians here, no rebels. We have been on the road for over five hours and our vehicle is about to run out of gas. Can you help us? I've just escaped with these children from the rebel's camp. I don't know if the rebels are following behind us or not. Some from our rescue party stayed behind to try and rescue the female hostages that the rebels had taken into their tents."
Then Love and John's driver let Darryl know that he carried extra tanks of gas in his vehicle, whenever he went out. The driver apologized for shooting his gun and for possibly scaring him and the boys. He then started filling Darryl's truck up with his extra tanks of gas.
Darryl was checking all the boys and the two women who worked with SACAA over to make sure they were all in good physical condition. Love, John and the caretaker offered their assistance to Darryl. While Darryl was checking the boys over, and tending to all their bumps and bruises, he was also telling Love and John what had occurred. To Love and John, Darryl's story was the most incredible story the two of them had ever heard.
Darryl ended his story by explaining that he swore he had heard grenade blasts going off from far away in the rebel camp as he drove off.
After listening to Darryl's story they were all frightened that the rebels may be coming towards the church.
The church's caretaker decided to go down to the basement and call the military base to inform them of what was going on, and when he came back up from the basement he told them that he had spoken to the General of the Military Base directly, and that the General told him he was going to send troops out to the church right away.
The caretaker had been in situations like this in the past, and he worried more about the young couples and the others safety than his own safety.
"I wouldn't wait for the Military if I were you guys, as soon as your driver has that truck filled with gas all of you guys need to get on the road with those kids. I won't leave here. I'm an old man and it's my duty to watch over this old church at all times. I've been the caretaker of this church most of my adult life and I've seen many, many things happen, but through it all this church was always respected as holy ground, and I don't think even the rebels would be bold enough to defile it."
Love and John tried to convince the old caretaker to leave with them, but he was stubborn and could not be swayed.
Darryl knew Faith would kill him if she knew he volunteered to stay back once more, but something in his heart told him he was still needed to stay behind. "Sir, I'll wait with you then. If the other's we left behind at the rebel camp made it out with the women and the girls they may need immediate medical attention, so I'll wait and see if they also come this way. Now that I know the boys will leave out safely in the truck with you two and your driver I feel better. Plus the caretaker and I can leave out in the little jeep you guys rode in, if we need to."
John looked at the two brave men before him and before he even knew what he was even saying he spoke. "I'll stay too. You men will need as much help as possible regardless of who shows up here first, whether it be the rebels or the other children. Plus like you said we will have the jeep if we need to leave quickly."
Love looked at John like he was crazy, "John! You're a lawyer, not a soldier! You need to leave in that truck with me and these boys right now!"
Darryl thought that if Faith was here she would be saying exactly the same thing. "Listen to your wife man, she's right. I know if my fiancée knew I was voluntarily staying back, for the second time, she would kill me herself, if the rebels don't kill me first."
John laughed. "But she's not my wife. She's my boss and my friend depending on what time of the day it is. Believe me, she will be just fine without me, she's the most independent woman I've ever known."
John was sort of hoping as he answered Darryl that he would get some type of reaction out of Love. Like maybe she would suddenly proclaim her undying love for him. But he knew she was right about one thing, he had just made the most spontaneous, possibly stupid decision of his life, but at the same time he had his pride and he wasn't going back on what he just said.
Love glared at John. She felt so angry at him right now for voluntarily putting himself at risk. "You know you are acting incredibly stupid right now, right? But if you are staying, I'm staying too. The jeep is made to fit four, so there's room in it for me too if we need to make a quick get-away."
"Love, what can you do to help if anything happens? You know you complain when you break a fingernail."
"John, I can help out about as much as you can! Unless you have some special military or medical skills you're not telling me about."
Love really didn't want to stay, but she thought her bluff would make John change his mind and get in the vehicle heading back to base with her and the boys, but it was obvious he wasn't going to change his mind. They were both equally stubborn people.
Their driving escort had finished filling the truck with gas, and he was listening to their conversation about staying back in disbelief. "I think you four are fools for even thinking about staying back. I don't think you all realize just how ruthless those rebels are. The doctor here said he heard grenades. What makes you all think the others made it out of there at all? But I'm telling you one thing, this truck with all these boys and these two women here is leaving out now. I'm driving it and you don't have to worry about us making it back safely, because once I start that truck I'm not stopping until I get to the military base. So I'm giving you all one last chance to do the sane thing and leave out in the Jeep right behind us."
Darryl, Love, John and the caretaker stood there staring at the driver in silent stubbornness.
The driver shook his head in disapproval. "Well, God be with you."
The four of them watched the truck speed away. The caretaker looked at Darryl and said, "I see you already have a rifle, and I have one too." He turned and looked at Love and John and said, "I have more rifles in the basement for you two also. I'll run down to the basement and get them so we can make sure everyone knows how to use a rifle, just in case. Let's pull the jeep in the rear of the church, right outside of the back door, so it's ready to go if we need to jump in it. I will turn all the lights in the church off also so it appears no one is in here. Other than that, I guess we can post ourselves at the windows, and just wait. God help us. Hopefully He will bring the other children to our doorstep tonight and not the rebels." Then the caretaker ran downstairs to get his extra rifles.
Love wondered to herself, "what kind of place was this, that a church needed to have a basement full of rifles in it?" Love had never shot a gun in her life before. When the caretaker came back upstairs he gave Love and John a rifle and some instructions on how to use it. Then the three of them followed the caretaker's instructions and they turned off all the lights, and moved the jeep to the rear of the church right in front of the back door. The four of them posted themselves at the four corner windows of the church and then they just waited. They were waiting for a while and intently staring out the window. About an hour had passed by and they hadn't heard or seen anything.
The caretaker was the first to break the silence. "So what made you kids come to our little church anyway?" John explained how he was a Christian and had heard about the church and wanted to see it, and that he believed the church was very special and protected by God.
The caretaker saw Love shake her head at John, and he asked Love, "I take it that you don't have the same beliefs as your husband, I mean friend, here, huh?"
"Not quite, but I do believe one thing, if I see the rebels driving up that road instead of a truck load of little girls; well I believe I'll be the first one in this room out that back door and in the jeep."
Then all four of them started laughing, even Darryl, who had been so quiet and serious the whole time. He had been through too much to carry on a casual conversation. In fact, after everything Darryl had seen in the past two days he couldn't allow himself to relax or even join in the conversation with the others. Darryl had always been a very peaceful soul. He was in the business of saving lives, and now he was toting a rifle. For the first time in his life Darryl had seen people killed, and he knew in his heart if he had to he would kill too, to save himself or someone who was innocent. He had never before, even imagined the possibility of him ever having to kill another person.
John looked over at Darryl and was curious about him. "We never even asked you what your name is and how did you get mixed up in all of this. It's obvious you're not a soldier, but your accent is American and you're a doctor, are you with a UN medical group out here? Or do you also work with the children at the orphanage?"
"I don't work out here, but my fiancée works for SACAA, their the people who sponsor and run the orphanage that's located here. I was just out here with her on sort of a work vacation I guess. I'm actually a doctor at a hospital in New York. My name's Darryl."
Love and John stared at each other. There was no doubt that this had to be the man they were looking for, he had to be the doctor's son, and Mr. Swanson's fiancé's long lost son.
Then Love gave John a discreet look and quietly shook her head. John knew right away that her look meant she didn't want him to say anything to Darryl, at least not right now.
Love didn't think that this was the best time to explain to Darryl who they were and tell him about the mother he never even knew was searching for him. She thought to herself, "this is just too much for anyone to take in at this moment. And these are just too many coincidences occurring all at the same time." Love decided to wait to explain it all to Darryl after things were a little calmer; that is if they all made it out of this mess alive to explain it to Darryl.
"Well I guess all three of us are a long way away from home", said Love. Then before she could introduce herself to everyone, the four of them heard and saw a huge truck coming up the small dirt road towards the church.
Darryl and John had posted themselves at the two windows in the front of the church, while Love, and the caretaker sat by the two windows in the rear.
The caretaker did not have as good a vantage point as Darryl and John did from their windows. He was almost too afraid to talk, even though there was no possible way anyone in a vehicle could hear him talking inside the church, so he whispered "can you tell? Are there rebels in the truck or girls?"
Darryl replied, "I can't tell just yet. I see rifles poking out, but they may be the rifles belonging to the others who stayed behind to help rescue the girls. Just in case, get to the back door, have the keys for the jeep ready to go."
Love and the caretaker ran to the back door. Love had her hand on the doorknob and the caretaker had the keys in his hand ready to go as soon as Darryl or John said so.
They all waited and seconds later, Darryl said with joy in his voice, "it's them! It's the children, the little girls and the women, and the soldiers. It's all of them! They made it!" They all breathed out a sigh of relief, and they went outside to meet the vehicle. Darryl went running up to Sidney who was driving the vehicle.
When Sidney saw Darryl running out he was also happy to see him and he yelled, "Doc, thank God you are here, we have a bunch of wounded that need your attention. I've been driving non-stop for hours. I was afraid to stop. The women say the soldiers are wounded but still alive."
Darryl immediately got on the truck and started checking all the wounded. Amongst the wounded were Amir, Hope and her Major and three of her troops. All of them had sustained gun wounds and other injuries. Hope was still unconscious, and she had lost too much blood, her skin was very pale. Her face was also severely swollen. Darryl could see he needed to get Hope medical attention immediately, or she wasn't going to make it. "She looks to be the worse off, and she has lost a considerable amount of blood."
Amir and the Major were weak, but conscious and stable.
The Major said, "She's our Colonel. You have to save her Doctor, tend to her first. The women have stopped the bleeding and given the rest of us enough first aid until we get to a hospital. We will all be fine. Just tend to her."
"You're right Major. It does look like the rest of you have suffered flesh wounds, but the women did a good job fixing you all up. But she is still bleeding, because the bullet has penetrated too deep. It may even be puncturing her lung, her breathing is very shallow. I have to get the bullet out of her now. I don't think we can wait, and I don't think she will make it if we travel with her any longer in her condition. If I don't get that bullet out and close her up, her lung might collapse, she might drown in her own blood, or if she loses too much blood she might go into shock."
"Doc, just do whatever you have to do to save her." The Major and Hope had been through so many things together throughout the years and he couldn't imagine losing her, she was family.
"The Ethiopian military has been contacted by the caretaker over an hour ago. They're on their way now. By the way Sidney, where is your Commander?" Darryl had just realized the Ethiopian Commander wasn't with them.
Sidney looked down. "Doc, I'm sorry, my Commander didn't make it."
Darryl felt his heart drop, but he knew he couldn't think about losing the Commander right now. He was needed and he had to stay focus. "I'm sorry Sidney. Help me carry her into the church so I can get to work on her." Once they were all into the church, Darryl instructed the caretaker on what he needed in order to do a field surgery on the female Colonel. Sidney pulled the truck to the rear of the church, alongside the jeep. The truck was out of gas, and there was no way they could fit everyone in the little jeep. They would have to wait for the military to show up. They kept the lights in the church out, just in case some rebels showed up. The caretaker said they could take the wounded lady downstairs to work on her in the lighted basement. The light in the basement would not be seen by anyone outside.
Darryl placed Hope on the caretaker's bed in the basement. Once Love and the caretaker came down to the basement with everything Darryl said he needed they asked him if there was anything else they should do. "One of you can stay to assist me with this, and the other one can go back upstairs with everyone else."
The caretaker had no desire to assist in a surgery, and he didn't like blood. "I'll go upstairs."
Love wasn't much for blood either, but it looked like she had been volunteered by the caretaker for the job of nurse. She went and crouched down next to the bed where this bloody, beaten woman laid, and she tried not to look at her for too long, because the sight of the woman laying there close to death, terrified her. Love asked Darryl, "So what do you want me to do?"
"I'll need you to just pass me the tools I ask for as soon as I ask for them. Wipe the sweat from my forehead, if you see it getting into my eyes. Just like you've seen on Television. Pretend you're on "Grey's Anatomy".
Love tried to smile at Darryl's attempts to put her at ease, but it really wasn't working.
"Don't worry, I'll tell you when I need you to do something. For now you can hold her hand, talk to her, and try to comfort her. Even though it appears she is unconscious, you never know, she may hear you and it may help her if you talk to her."
Love looked at Darryl nervously. "I've never been real good around blood and stuff."
"I understand, try not to focus on the blood, just try to focus on what I ask you to do, and other than that just try to focus on comforting her."
Love wasn't sure how to go about comforting someone who was unconscious, and someone that was a stranger to her, but she did what the doctor told her to do and she held the woman's hand.
She whispered in the woman's ear. "Hang in there, fight, don't give up, you can do it." Love thought to herself, "I sound like a cheerleader, what the heck am I saying."
She tried not to look at what Darryl was doing to the woman whose hand she was holding, but she couldn't help but peak out of curiosity. Love saw Darryl poor a bottle of alcohol and clean all the blood from the woman's chest. Love saw him give the woman some type of needle he had in his bag. It was a localized anesthesia that Darryl was giving Hope so she wouldn't feel the cut he was about to make into the side of her chest.
Then Love saw Darryl take the scalpel out of his bag, she saw the sweat beads getting ready to fall into his eyes, and she immediately grabbed the cloth and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. Darryl smiled at Love briefly and said, "See you make a great nurse. How's your patient doing? She's going to need you now, I'm about to make the incision."
Love looked back down at the woman on the bed, and looked away from the doctor that was about to cut into her. She whispered in the woman's ear, "be strong, I'm sure there's people out there that need you, that love you. I don't know you, but you've got to be the bravest woman I've ever known. How you saved all those girls, and taking a bullet for them, it's just amazing."
Then Love swore she felt a slight squeeze of her hand by the woman. "Oh my God, doctor, I think I felt her squeeze my hand!"
Darryl didn't stop what he was doing and he didn't seem the least bit phased. "Don't worry, by now the shot I gave her should be working. If she comes to she won't feel what I'm doing at all. But you have to keep her focused on you, so she won't move and look down at what I'm doing, and go into shock. Keep talking her through it."
Love just hoped this woman would not wake up until after the doctor finished doing what he had to do. She couldn't imagine anyone waking up to someone cutting through them.
Hope was dreaming.... She was dreaming she was twelve years old again. She could hear her sister Love's voice so clearly as if the dream was real. She was playing with her sisters in her dream. She was little again. Back home all the kids just played out in the street. Drivers knew to drive slow, to beep, and to wait for the kids to move out of the way. Nana's block on Mathias Ave. in Jamaica, Queens was always filled with kids. In the summer most of the kids stayed home alone, and the street was their playground. Nana was the person that looked over the whole street and the kids that lived on it. They would play kick ball, flag football, tag, foot races, and scully, until lunch time, and Nana usually fed every kid who was home alone in her little house at lunch time. On the really hot days the firemen would come by and open up the fire hydrant for the kids, and they would run through the water, pretending they were at the beach, while they sucked on lollipops from the corner candy store, and ate Italian ices all day long. It was the life of a city kid. When you are poor and growing up in the city you learn quick how to make the best out of what you've got.
But Hope never felt poor when she lived with Nana, she only felt happy. Hope was dreaming about the first time she realized she was stronger and faster than almost all the other boys on the block. They were all playing Scully. Love was her partner. Nana hated them playing Scully, it was a form of gambling to Nana, and she tried to stop them whenever she came outside and caught them playing. But they still played with all the other kids, all the time, especially when they knew Nana was busy cooking lunch for everyone. Nana told them next time she caught them playing Scully, they were gonna be on punishment for two weeks. But Hope and Love still took their chances. They were addicted to scully, just like every other kid in the neighborhood, and they were the neighborhood champs, so everyone was always challenging them. They were even starting to teach little Faith. Faith was only three so they just put her in charge of collecting and decorating the bottle caps."
Hope was up and it was her turn to knock Heathcliff's bottle cap out of the box. Faith was yelling, "go Hope go." But Hope missed the shot just by an inch. Then it was Love's turn, the girls were playing on a team against the boys, and it was Hope and Love's team left against Heathcliff and Anthony. Love made a good shot, but it wasn't a win, and left them at a tie with the boys. They needed a tie breaker.
Heathcliff had an idea. "We should make the tie breaker a foot race. You girls may be winners at scully but that's just because it's not physical. You two could never beat a boy at a foot race, especially you Love."
Hope saw how Heathcliff implying Love was too fat to beat him hurt Love. Hope wouldn't stand for anyone insulting her sisters. "Fine we'll have a relay race, you and Love run first and then me and Anthony race to the finish, I'm sure my sister is gonna stomp your fat, ugly butt, Heathcliff!"
"Only in her dreams Hope, only in her dreams. Fine, it's settled, winner takes all the candy and the other team's bottle caps, and the loser also gets their sneakers thrown up on the telephone wires. I can't wait to see you explain that to your Nana, Hope. You two are going to end up on punishment for the rest of the summer, and I hope she whoops you twos outside."
Hope didn't care about the consequences she loved a challenge. Love was a little more worried about what Nana would do to them if they loss. Love whispered to Hope before Hope headed off to her end of the street to start the race, "you know Hope he's right, Nana's gonna whoop us and put us on punishment if we get our sneakers thrown up on the wire!"
Hope just grinned at Love. "Well then, I guess you better run fast and make sure that don't happen."
One of the neighborhood girls started the race, "get on your mark, get set, Go!"
Love took off first. She was ahead of Heathcliff, but midway through the race she started to fall behind him. By the time Love touched Hope's hand, Anthony already had a big lead on Hope. But Hope was fast, and that day she was phenomenally fast, she heard her sisters yelling, "Go Hope Go, You Can Do It", and she did, she caught up with Anthony in no time and then she passed him before he even saw her coming.
Hope won the race hands down. As Hope was standing there catching her breath, and brushing her unraveled pony tail away from her face she looked over at Anthony, and she was feeling full of herself, when she said, "we'll I guess me and my sister are the best at scully, and foot races too, huh?"
Anthony was embarrassed that his friend had put him up to running against a girl in a foot race, and he was even more embarrassed about actually losing to a girl in front of the whole neighborhood. "Oh shut up Hope! The only reason you beat me is because I wasn't going as fast as I would have because you're a girl, even if you are a tomboy, butch girl, and your fat sister couldn't out run old Larry the drunk on the corner if she had to, so neither of you can take no credit for you winning anyways!"
Hope wasn't much for keeping her temper under control, so she just walked up to Anthony and punched him in the stomach. The punch knocked Anthony down hard. Heathcliff came running over, and he jumped on Hope's back.
But, Love was right behind him and started punching on him until he fell off of her sister's back. Then Love started shoving Heathcliff's face into the pavement, while she sat on him, and she yelled, "I guess my fat ass is good for something, huh Heathcliff?"
Next thing you knew everyone in the neighborhood was fighting, boys against girls. These type of fist fights broke out at least once every other week. Lil Faith knew her sisters could take care of themselves, and her sisters always told her, "your job is to make sure you get all the candy and bottle tops", and that's just what Faith did as everyone else fought. It wasn't long before Nana had ran outside and yelled, "what you dag on kids doing, get your butts in here and come clean up and eat lunch."
All the kids stopped fighting at the sound of Nana's voice. They all brushed themselves off, and started heading into Nana's house to get lunch. Nana asked the kids, "now what was that all about?"
Hope had a big grin on her face when she nudged Love. Then she stuck her tongue out at Heathcliff and Anthony.
Hope was starting to wake up from her dream. Darryl had finished getting the bullets out and had already closed her back up. The surgery, no matter how crude was a success. Darryl was now busy dressing Hope's wound. She started to open her eyes. She could smell blood and alcohol in the air. When she looked around she could see she was laying down in an unfamiliar room and when she looked up she saw Love staring back at her.
Hope was still a little disoriented and Love looked so beautiful and so familiar to her. "Are you an angel? Where am I?"
Love smiled and felt a wave of relief that the woman seemed to be okay and actually talking already. "No I'm definitely no angel. I guess you can say I'm your nurse. Be still and rest you are going to be okay and you're safe now. You're in a church, the doctor just finished operating."
Then Hope remembered all that had just happened to her. "Where are the girls and my men, and Amir?"
"Everyone is okay. They are all waiting on you. Do you want to see anyone?"
"Amir, can I see Amir, and my Major."
"I'll go get them." Love ran upstairs and when she opened the door, she said, "she's awoke, and the doctor says she's going to be okay, whose Amir, she is asking for you and....?" But before Love could finish, something startled them all.
Someone or something had just busted into the back door. Love was so shocked she didn't move she just looked towards the back door, paralyzed. At the door stood the rebel leader's Second in Command and his small group of men. The place was total chaos. The women and girls started screaming. The rebel commander and his small group of men had left their jeep in the brush and in the darkness of the night they snuck up to the back side of the church on foot. Now they all stood there at a standstill with their rifles ready.
The Second in Command stared at Amir with hate in his eyes and he said, "look we want the dog that is responsible for our leaders death, we want that traitor Amir! If you give him to us, we will leave and there will be no more bloodshed."
Amir stepped forward, "Fine, take me then; I don't want to see anyone die because of me."
The Major was next to Amir, and he said, "this boy risked his life and saved us all. You can't have him." Sidney agreed, "it's decided, you can't have the boy and if that's all the men you've come here with, you better leave! Just so you know, I'm a perfect shot. I never missed my target."
The rebels knew, they were facing off against skilled military men. However, the Second in Command didn't care he was prepared to die to get his revenge. All was quiet as the men held their positions and kept their rifles at the ready. They were prepared to push back on the triggers at a moment's notice. They waited to see what the Second in Command, their new rebel leader's response would be. Then he finally said, "so be it", and he pointed his weapon in the direction of Love who was the closest person to him, and who happened to be standing in the way of his main target, Amir.
Darryl had heard the commotion and had left Hope down in the basement. He had just made it up the stairs and was standing next to the basement door when he saw the rebel point his gun at Love. Darryl was able to push Love out of the way. The bullet missed her, but it hit Darryl square in the chest, and he fell to the floor.
Through all of the chaos John's mind was only on Love. John immediately leaped towards Love to cover her from any gunfire when he saw the rebel point his weapon at her, but he was too far away and Darryl got to Love first. Everyone else was trying to cover themselves from the gunfire by hiding behind the church pulpit chairs. Sidney, Amir and Hope's soldier's returned fire against the rebels. John was now right by Love's side. He thought she had been hit but before he could even ask her if she was hurt they heard a booming sound come from outside.
It was the Ethiopian General and his platoon. They had finally arrived at the church and at just the right moment. The shooting momentarily stopped inside the church as they all
paused to listen to the General's voice coming over the loudspeaker.
"We have the church surrounded. If you rebels come out of the church without your weapons and surrender, you will live, but if you continue to hold these hostages, one thing is for sure, you rebel's, you traitors to your country, will all die."
All was silent inside the church, except for the small sounds of the young girls weeping from behind the pulpit chairs. The rebels one by one put down their weapons and decided to surrender. But the Second in Command stood his ground. He watched as the other rebels abandoned him until he was the last rebel left behind in the church.
"What are you going to do? All of the other rebels have abandoned you. Is your revenge really worth dying for?", asked Sidney.
He didn't answer Sidney. He just stood there with his rifle still at the ready in his hands. Then with full knowledge that what he was about to do was futile, he raised his weapon and pointed it at Amir. Before a bullet could even enter into the chamber of the rebel's rifle, they returned fire. Then the last rebel left in the church was dead.
Sidney handed his weapon to the Major and he ran outside with his arms up. He yelled to his General, "all is clear, all is clear." The General instantly recognized his young soldier, and he motioned to Faith, who was in the vehicle in the far rear, to get out of the vehicle and follow him. Faith ran over to the General. She was practically holding her breath the whole time the General spoke to her.
"Ms. Faith, I don't know what we are going to find in there. Do you want to wait out here or do you want to come in with me?"
"I can't wait out here, I want to go in. I can handle whatever we see."
So the General entered the church with Faith by his side and his medics behind them. The medics immediately started attending to the wounded, and they bagged up the rebel, who was clearly dead. They went downstairs to also attend to the young lady Sidney told them was the American Colonel that was wounded and operated on by Darryl.
Faith looked around with her wide eyes dodging from one person to the next, she was searching for Darryl. All around Faith were these scared little girls, hiding behind the pulpits, but for the first time in her career the children were not her priority. This time she was searching for Darryl. "Where is Darryl?", Faith asked herself. Then she saw him, lying unconscious on the floor. His shirt was soaked with blood and two of the medics were attending to him. The medics and a young woman and man were hovering over Darryl.
Faith ran over to Darryl, she recognized the woman and man. She remembered briefly seeing the couple checking into the hotel days ago, right before her and Darryl first left out to find the children. She kneeled down low at Darryl's side and whispered in his ear, "Darryl, can you hear me?"
He didn't answer. The medics were tearing through his shirt to find the wound which was causing his bleeding. They told Faith, Love and John to please stand back and give them some room.
Love looked over at Faith and she said, "He saved my life, are you his fiancé?"
"Yes I am."
"He's a good doctor. He also saved the woman's life downstairs. He just finished operating on her, before he was shot. He was amazing."
"I know, he's a really good man, and it's all my fault he is here, and it's my fault that he's hurt."
Then Faith broke down and started crying. She felt as if she was dying inside. The regrets were already filling her mind. She couldn't help but think about all the things she should have said to Darryl, all the times she should have been with him, instead of running off working and putting everyone and everything else in her life before him. While Faith was crying she started saying out loud all the things that were in her head.
"God if I could just have one more chance, one more chance to get it right, to treat him the way he deserves to be treated by a woman, just one more chance, God. I would marry him at this very moment and give him a house full of little babies to love."
Love looked over at the poor girl. She could feel the hurt and pain the girl was feeling and Love thought to herself, "what if that was John on the floor bleeding to death?" Love couldn't even bare to think of it. So she reached out, and she held the young woman in her arms. She didn't know what else to do or what to say to her, but it looked like the girl needed a hug, even if Love wasn't really the hugging type.
As Faith sobbed into the stranger's shoulder she heard Darryl's soft voice. He had regained consciousness. Everyone stared down at Darryl.
"I heard that." Darryl whispered with his eyes still shut. Then he slowly opened his eyes. "I heard that, you said you will marry me right now? And something about a house full of little babies. Come here Nene."
The medics let Faith through. She leaned down at Darryl's side.
Then Darryl reached into the inner pocket on his vest and he pulled out the gold case. It was the case Faith had given him yesterday that contained his parent's rings. Faith looked down at the case, and her tears of despair started to turn into tears of joy. Lodged inside the golden case was a bullet. It was the bullet that could have killed Darryl, but instead it had gotten lodged into the case. Only the very tip of the bullet had punctured Darryl's skin, and it left behind only a small little flesh wound which the medics had already cleaned and stitched up.
"He's very lucky, if not for that case being in his vest pocket, the bullet would have went straight through his heart I'm sure of it.", said one of the medics.
Love and John stood there amazed of all the things they had observed that day. John whispered praises, "thank you God."
Love just stood there silently. She was still in a state of shock. She had to admit if she didn't believe in miracles before, tonight was definitely the night to make her a believer.
Darryl was a little sore in his chest area, but he had gotten his breath back and was recovering quickly. He was holding the golden case in his hands.
"You said to give you this when I came back. Didn't I tell you I would come back to you and with the children?"
"You did say that."
Then Darryl positioned himself onto one knee and in front of everyone he opened up the golden case with the bullet that had almost killed him, and he said, "My Nene, Faith Elise Emmanuel-Carpenter, will you marry me?"
Faith was still crying tears of joy. She could barely get the words out to answer him, and finally she found her voice. "Yes, yes..."
John was looking over at Love and he knew exactly what she must have been thinking. The two of them had just heard Darryl, call his fiancé, "Faith". Could this be the same Faith that wrote that prayer in the prayer book years ago? Could this be Love's little sister, Faith? It was just all too coincidental to just be a mere coincidence.
Love took a good, long look at Faith, and she thought to herself, "how did I not notice? She looks just like I remember our mama looking when I was a young girl. She's so beautiful, so grown up, could this be Faith, my little Faith? But this is crazy, no, it couldn't be her."
While Love continued staring at Faith and Darryl hugging each other, John continued staring at Love as he waited for her to say something. John was just about to say something himself when the medics carried Hope up from the basement on a gurney, and everyone directed their attentions to Hope.
Darryl, looked over at Hope and said to Faith, "NeNe, that lady is an American Colonel. She helped save all these girls. I had to do surgery on her and it's really a miracle she survived."
"Today seems to be a day full of miracles", said Faith.
Darryl got up and walked over to Hope, and Faith followed him. Hope could barely see them clearly out of her swollen eyes. Love eyes followed the two of them, but her body didn't move.
Hope was fully alert and conscious now.
"How are you feeling Colonel? I'm the doctor you met back at the rebel camp. I had to operate on you."
Hope's voice sounded hoarse and it was obvious she was still in pain. "I've felt better. But I'm alive right, that's all that matters. Thank you so much doctor, and where is your nurse? Her voice really helped me hang in there. Where is she? I want to thank her also."
Darryl motioned to Love to come near. She walked over to Darryl and the women she had comforted through her surgery. She still couldn't stop staring at Faith, who was standing right behind Darryl, and all the time Love was thinking, "could this woman really be my little sister Faith?"
Love walked over to them and once she reached them the woman laying on the gurney grabbed hold of her hand.
"Thank you, nurse."
"You have nothing to thank me for, really I didn't do anything. The doctor here did everything."
Hope could hardly see out of her swollen eyes, but she didn't need to, she could still recognize Love's voice. It was the voice of the caring nurse that had talked her through her surgery.
"No that's not true you did a lot. If not for your encouraging words I don't know if I would still be here. At first I thought you was an angel, you sounded so familiar to me, I felt like I was safe at home, like when I was a little girl. I realize now why I felt like that, you sound just like my older sister, Love. I haven't seen her in years. Well, I just wanted to say thank you to you also. I know the doctor here did the surgery, but your presence and your sweet voice helped me pull through it. Doctor, how are my men, and the children, and the boy Amir?"
The medics helped escort the wounded Major and Amir over to Hope. Love stepped back and she just stood there dumbfounded by what she had just heard Hope say.
The Major realized after almost losing his Colonel just how much she had come to mean to him. Losing her he realized would have devastated them all. It would have devastated him more than he could bare to think of.
"Colonel, the troops are well and so are myself and Amir. You don't worry about us, just focus on getting yourself better, okay."
"Okay."
Amir was overwhelmed by the events of the day. He just gave Hope a very careful hug and then he started to follow the Major and the medic escorts out of the church and into the medic vehicle. But before the medics escorted them outside of the church Amir looked back and ran to Hope's side. "I want you to know, in case I never see you again. You saved me by bringing me God, and your love. I will always think of you like a mother, like a sister, and a friend. Hope, thank you for all that you have done for me, and I really pray I will see you again one day."
Hope felt the same strong bond and motherly love for Amir. Now the church was empty, and all except for the three sisters and John and Darryl were left. They were all standing over Hope while they waited for the medics to come back and carry her into the last medic transport vehicle.
Love almost felt like she was out of her body just looking down at everything and everyone. She felt like she was caught up in some weird, whirlwind, twilight zone episode. She wondered, if she had gone crazy and was hearing things. Could this really be happening? Were these two women actually her little sisters?
Faith was still oblivious her thoughts were only on Darryl and that he was alive. She wasn't paying attention or listening to anyone's conversation.
Then suddenly Love passed out and she fell to the ground. John caught her, and he held her in his arms.
Darryl left Hope's side and went over to attend to Love, and of course Faith followed. Darryl was afraid Love may have been wounded during the gun fire and not have even realized it due to adrenaline and shock. Sometimes during times of extreme shock people did not even feel pain, until the adrenaline rush wore off.
So Darryl checked Love over. "You seem to be okay. You probably, just passed out from the rush of adrenaline leaving your body. You should be alright. Do you want some water?"
Love couldn't talk, she felt light-headed. She just kept staring at Faith and at Hope laying on the gurney. She was still wondering if they could be who she thought they were, but it all seemed so impossible, but at the same time the only possible conclusion. Then she saw the medics began to carry Hope's gurney out and she knew she had to say something now, she had to know now. She finally got the courage to speak out.
Love stood up still unsteady and she yelled out all wild, like a crazy woman, "stop! My name is Love Emmanuel."
Everyone in the room stared at her.
Faith looked at Love, but this time she looked at her with her heart and not her eyes, and she saw now so clearly, that this was her sister, this was her sister Love. Faith whispered, "Love is it really you?"
Then Love rushed into Faith's arms. They were both crying and hugging each other when they heard Hope, crying behind them. They walked over to Hope. As they stood over Hope's broken, beaten and bloody body, Love said softly, "Hope, is it really you?"
"Love, Faith, my God...."
While the three sisters talked, John and Darryl watched in amazement. Then John whispered to Darryl.
"Well it looks like your fiancée and my um, friend Love have a lot to catch up on. So I guess this is a better time than any other to have a little talk with you about something sort of shocking Darryl."
Darryl was curious. "About what, I mean what could be more shocking than all of this?"
John was exhausted from being on this truly emotional rollercoaster ride, and he decided to be as direct with Darryl as possible. "Look the reason myself and Love were in Ethiopia in the first place was to find you. You do know you're adopted right?"
"Yes, I've always known that. But what does that...."
"Let me finish. We were hired by someone who knows your biological mother, to find you and bring you to her, to meet her. There's a lot more to this, and I know this is a lot to take in, in a short period of time, but hey, look at everything we've just been through. When you think about it after everything that has happened to us, this unexpected news shouldn't phase you at all."
Like John, Darryl was also exhausted. "How about you just tell me everything on the way to the hospital?"
The medics carried Hope into the medical van and Love, Faith, Darryl and John sat on her sides, Love and Faith held their sister Hope's hands while John and Darryl kept a close watch over all of them.
God had given them all second chances that day. Now it was up to them what they would do with it.