A Soldier’s Family by Cheryl Wyatt Page A

had to push through it. He’d mind his own business and she’d do the same and they’d be fine.
    Except he knew Javier would want to come hang out. Something in that kid tugged at Manny’s heartstrings. Yanked, really. A bond was quickly forming between them that he knew Javier felt, too, because of how he opened up. It was more than Javier being the age his son would be had he lived, more than the fact that Javier didn’t have a strong father figure in his life. Not only that, Javier would likely visit Bradley often as the two had a brotherly bond, though there was an age gap there.
    Manny got the impression from Javier that his maternal grandfather was absent from their lives. Javier’s paternal grandfather had died. Manny thought how his own parents lamented over no longer having a grandson. The rest of the grandchildren were girls.
    Sharp pains of missing Seth mowed Manny over. He willed them to fade.
    His son had died and he’d been the reason for it.
    So, if God put Javier in Manny’s path, it had to be for a reason. Manny refused to turn his back even if it meant dealing with his mother.
    “I’d like to stay with you if your family’s okay with that,” he told Joel. He’d deal with Celia as problems arose.
    Never mind that his pulse did ridiculous things the few times before their latest blowout that she’d shown up after getting off work at the school. Celia’d even brought him a stuffed animal with a camouflage vest.
    Dumb bear. Every time he stared at it he thought of her. It even smelled like her perfume.
    Manny shook off his delusions. He snatched up a bag of socks from the table, smashed the package in his fist and hurled it at the bear, knocking it off the window ledge. It tumbled behind the chair. Good. No more reminders of Miss Hot Tamale.
    Except then he remembered she was the one who’d brought the socks after hearing him complain the hospital-issued booties made him feel like a maternity patient.
    Joel, previously silent, stared at the spot the bear used to be, then the lump of socks that now resided on the window ledge. He cast Manny a peculiar glance, but didn’t ask.
    Manny’s surgeon knocked briefly before breezing into the room. He stood at the foot of the bed, perusing his daily progress chart, then assessed his hip bandage. “I know you’re anxious to get out of here, Airman Péna. You’re eligible for discharge in a couple of days. We need to decide where you are going for the remainder of your physical therapy.”
    “No offense, Doc, but I’m beyond ready to make like lettuce and head out.” Manny cast a look of gratitude toward Joel. “I’ll be staying with my buddy here if I decide to finish out my rehab in Refuge. I’ll get back to you about it.”
    The surgeon smiled, nodded at Joel, then strode from the room.
    Manny leaned back in the bed and clasped his hands across the back of his neck. “If my military insurance approves this facility, I’ll take that as a green light I’m meant to be here in Refuge.”
    He determined to learn to hear from God. Joel bought him a new Bible last week that he could understand better than the one he had. Every day since, he’d been reading and tuning in—as Joel called it, “hooking up” with God in prayer.
    Now to obey the little prompting that refused to die regarding Celia and Javier. He’d been having thoughts he couldn’t ignore. He had run it by Joel, who’d said in his opinion the persistence of the thoughts caused him to lean toward believing it was God’s voice. Manny would rather obey what he thought to be God and be wrong, than not obey and it end up being God. Hence, he had two goals while in Refuge.
    One was to heal within six months so he could return to his duties as a U.S.A.F. PJ.
    The other was to bow to the gentle nudge to do whatever it took to crack that seemingly impenetrable shell Celia had built around herself. Prove to her once and for all that, by God’s continued grace, he was not the same man he