Disturbed was planning their first real tour in fifteen years, and the work that was involved was more than David remembered. Fortunately, they had Jordan doing all the PR and promotions work, so everything went without a hitch.
They recorded a new album; or rather, several albums worth of material that would be released on a two year time table. All the band had to do after that was to tour.
By the new year, the band members were on their way to their own homes; David, John, and their families were headed back to Austin, Texas; Dan was headed back to the Chicago suburb he and his family called home before the Occupation; and Mike and his family returned to Wisconsin, living on a farm with several out buildings. Mike turned one of them into a studio and rehearsal space.
"I'm out in the middle of fucking nowhere! I can play my drums as loud as I want for as long as I want and not bother anyone," he said.
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Julia and Ryan still continued to live in the house that she grew up in. Miri was a year old, talking a little and walking everywhere. She was pretty quick on her feet, too, her parents found out.
Jeremiah and Jasmine had their hands full with Adriana, who would soon be two years old. They learned that their daughter would soon have a little brother to play with.
Nik and KateLynn and their children remained in their house for a little while longer before they realized it was getting too small. They made plans to move into the house that the Draimans lived in, as it had more room, and KateLynn was expecting a fourth child, another boy.
Joe and Tracy remained in Maine with their family, both of them working for her father's company and raising their girls.
It had been a hard road, but somehow, Christine had endured.
She got the government back on track, elections were held, and a new President had taken office. She was free to go back to Arlington and live her life as a civilian at last. At least JT and Jacob were waiting for her.
Morbus was no more. He had undergone extensive plastic surgery and his severe scaring was significantly reduced. His partial ear had been reconstructed, but he still didn't have hair, but at this point in his life, he was just blessed to still be among the living.
He had taken back his birth name of Jacob, but declined to resurrect his surname. He shortened it to Ross, and that's what he was known by.
He and Christine had married, and told the now teenaged JT about Jacob's role in his life. They were a happy family, and even had his daughter and her growing family visiting on occasion. Julia and Ryan now had two daughters, Miri and her baby sister Jameson. Jaime was a redhead like her father, and favored him strongly, though she had Julia's dark brown eyes. JT was thrilled to learn that Julia really was his sister, and that her kids were his nieces.
Jacob was still convinced that Miri was not Ryan's biological child. Ryan didn't seem to care, he loved both of his daughters equally.
Christine and Jacob's lives were spent as a happily retired couple with a teenage son. No one seemed to care that she was the interim President. She still had a Secret Service detail, as all former presidents were entitled, so she and Jacob couldn't just take a spontaneous trip out of town during the summers. That, Christine decided, was a pain in the ass, but a necessary pain in the ass... like labor.
But their happiness would be short lived.
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Rebekah and Chris loved the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, where Rebekah was going to school at UCLA majoring in chemistry. Chris was working as a stuntman and firearms expert in the movie industry, and found that it was something he loved doing.
Their identical twin daughters, Jessikah and Nicoletta, were the light of their lives. They had beautiful dark hair and dark eyes. Rebekah and Chris were bugged constantly about getting the girls into modeling or acting, but they always said no. "That's a decision only they can make when they're old enough to understand what it means," Chris always told people.
Neither one of them thought they'd ever find the right person for them, and then they met by chance in an unlikely place.
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Natasha (formerly Vixen) Vincent used her weapons skills with the government. She trained snipers recruited by the CIA, and was good at teaching female recruits to use their womanly wiles against a male (or female) adversary.
After a while, though, Natasha wanted to settle down and take life easy. She had plenty of savings to keep her satisfied for a long time. She wasn't getting any younger, and decided she wanted a child...with or without a husband. After being inseminated, she ended up having twins; a girl and a boy she named Viktoria and Nikolai. Natasha found her niche in life, and that was being a mother. She had the time and the patience to be a wonderful mother to her children.
She didn't miss being a hired assassin, and certainly didn't miss being a whore. Those are things that her children wouldn't know about until they were old enough to understand.
And maybe, not even then.
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Jordan didn't think she'd love Austin as much as she did. She was so glad that David decided to move the family there after all.
She laughed when she remembered all the times she got lost in that big house the first few weeks after moving in. She'd not silently curse David under her breath for building such a huge house for the six of them.
"You don't want more kids, do you?" she asked David one night after she finally found her way back to their bedroom after getting lost for the umpteenth time.
"We aren't getting any younger, my dear," David said. "And we have grandbabies now, so we really don't need any more."
"Good, because I got lost coming back from the girls' bedrooms again, and this is getting old," Jordan said. "What are we going to do with all those rooms?"
"Have family down as often as possible?" David asked sarcastically.
"You're incorrigible, David! Honestly!" Jordan laughed.
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He couldn't believe where he was, even after five years of marriage.
He lived on the beach, had a fantastic view, four wonderful children, and a gorgeous wife.
Granted, two of those children were his wife's from previous relationships, and they were great kids. Jayden was fourteen, tall, and had a gift for art.
Cassie was seven, and a little bit of a stinker, but she was well behaved, had wonderful manners, and was the apple of her mother's eye.
His children were still little ones; two year old David and four year old Douglas tried hard to emulate their big brother, but often fell short. He often told his older son, Dougie, "When you're Jayden's age, you can do that, too."
"When will I be Jayden's age?" the boy asked.
"A long time from now."
"But Jayden will be older, too," Dougie whined.
He just smiled at his boy's realization.
The thing that always got Josh Rockwell was the fact that Jayme Crist was interested in him. They had become friends over the years since Jayme came into her big inheritance from her former boss, but he never expected to fall in love with her. Especially since she was twelve years older than he.
He'd always worked hard, and her money meant nothing to him. He wanted to take care of her and her kids, and not rely on her money so much. He did a good job, working for a firm that does computer analysis for medical professionals.
Jayme fell for him because he was self reliant, he was good with her kids, and he believed in God just as she did. They began to attend the local church regularly, eventually being married there.
He sat on the porch and watched the children play near the water. Jayden was good at keeping the younger kids out of trouble in the water. Just then, Jayme sat down next to him, handing him some iced tea.
"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked.
"Just was thinking about how all this happened," Josh said. "It doesn't seem like we've even known each other that long, but here we are, an old married couple celebrating five years."
"I know," Jayme said. "I never, ever expected to be this happy. We must have done something right."
"We survived the Occupation," Josh said; "That alone is something."
"Indeed," agreed Jayme.
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He felt it when he least expected it.
That gut feeling that something wasn't right.
"Hell, I'm seventy-five years old," he muttered to himself; "I'm bound to forget some things."
He'd decided to get it checked out and he didn't like what he found out. His sister's death haunted him, even though it had been many years since she passed away. God, he thought, I don't want to die like that; not being able to remember anything.
Josiah Daniels brought his boat in and tied it to the dock. I'm getting too old for this every single day. Maybe I should let Brandon take over the business. He's the only one I trust with it.
He walked up to the house and let himself in. Maryssa and the girls were out shopping, and Brandon would be home from college any day.
The mail was waiting on the counter in the kitchen, where Maryssa had put it for years since moving into this house. He looked through it, and seeing nothing that needed his immediate attention, went and sat down on the couch.
He remembered the letter he got several months before, the one that threatened to expose his true identity to the world. It was because of this letter that he rewrote his will. He left everything to Maryssa, Brandon, and the girls. No one could touch the money he earned over the last several years shrimping.
Going to his desk in his study, where he sent out the invoices to the various restaurants he sold his catch to, he took out a sheet of paper and wrote a note. "If I'm not here, check and see if the boat is still tied up. If it's not, send out Coast Guard to find me. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but I can't live Joanna's life. I just can't."
He put it in an envelope and laid it on his desk.
He'd been telling Maryssa for months about this plan. Now it was time to put it in action.
Josiah grabbed a small bag from inside his desk, locked the drawer, and left the key on top of the envelope.
He then headed out to the boat, untied it, and headed out to deep water. Once well out in the Gulf, he killed the engine.
The boat floated aimlessly for an hour, then Josiah decided that if he was going to do it, to do it now.
He set a small fire at the stern of the boat. After it was going, he went into the pilothouse and took a bottle of pills and a bottle of whiskey. He swallowed half the pills, washing it all down with the whiskey.
Then he waited as the pills and the booze took effect.
Feeling sleepy, he lay down in the floor of the pilothouse and lapsed into unconsciousness. Whether the fire or the pills killed him first, Josiah Daniels no longer cared. He was not going to be a burden to Maryssa. This was the only was to go out with his dignity intact.
The fire reached the engine, and the boat blew up.
Back on shore, Maryssa and her twin daughters Joanna and Jenna, heard the explosion. Maryssa ran into the house and straight to Josiah's study. There, just as he'd instructed her many times, was an envelope and a key.
Maryssa knew what the key was for, so she tore open the envelope. She read the note, then called the Coast Guard.
They were too late. They had found the remains of the boat floating derelict in the Gulf. In the pilothouse, was Josiah Daniels. He was dead.
He left a wife and three children.
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Julia knew that day was coming.
The day that Miri asked why she didn't have red hair like her sisters and brother. Miri was just a few weeks shy of her eighth birthday.
Julia explained about what happened before Miri came into existance. Miri had a million questions, the main one being,
"Where is the man who fathered me buried?"
"I found out a few years ago," Julia explained, "and I promised you the day you were born that we'd go find it and pay our respects."
"But Daddy is still my daddy, right?" asked Miri.
"Daddy will always be your daddy," Julia said. "He loves you and treasures you just as much as he does your sisters and brother."
"When can we go see where Mr. Jack is buried?"
"We can go as soon as you like, Miri," Julia said. "Maybe on Saturday. Just the two of us."
"Okay."
That Saturday, Julia and Miri drove up to where the Great Lakes Prison once stood. It had been reclaimed by the government after the Occupation and turned back into a Naval training facility. Just outside the gates of the former prison was a cemetery where New Army personnel were buried.
The cemetery was divided into two sections; one for enlisted personnel and the other for officers. Julia got directions to the particular gave she was looking for and she and Miri went over to the Officers section to find it.
What Julia didn't know is that there was another visitor that day who was interested in seeing that particular grave.
John Christofferson came in from the other entrance and was headed down the hill when he spotted a familiar person from his past. She was accompanied by a little girl about seven or eight years old. Christofferson was sure he knew who they were.
Julia and her daughter.
The one he may have fathered.
He stopped in his tracks and tried to conceal himself as best he could; by looking down at another grave with someone else buried within.
"Miri, I found it," Julia called to her daughter. Miri came over and read the headstone, which Julia knew would prompt a lot more questions.
"She has my first name, Mama," Miri said. "And he has the same birthday as me."
"Daddy and I liked the name, so we gave it to you," Julia said. "As for the birthdate, that I had no control over. You were coming on that day whether I wanted you to or not."
"Was she in the New Army, too?"
"No, she was just married to someone in the New Army, and they get to be buried here together, just as it should be," said Julia.
"Did he love you, Mama? Did you love him?"
"I think he did love me in his own way," Julia said. "I cared for him very much. I was quite upset when I learned he had died."
"Like you were when you heard that Nana Christine died?"
"Yes, like that," Julia said.
"I was sad when Nana Christine died, too, Mama," Miri said.
"I know sweetheart, we all were upset," Julia said, "Nana Christine was loved by a lot of people."
Julia realized she didn't have the flowers she and Miri had planned to lay on Jack's grave. Julia started to run back to the car and Miri tried to keep up, but tripped on a tree root buried in the snow. She felt herself being caught before she hit the ground, and a man saying, "Whoa, princess, you almost landed face first into some rocks."
The man righted Miri and she turned around to thank him. She then remarked, "You look like Santa Claus!"
Christofferson rubbed his chin. The little girl wasn't the first to think that. He said, "Have you been a good girl this year?"
"Oh, yes, I have! Ask my mama!"
Julia came back with the flowers after realizing that Miri wasn't behind her. As she approached Miri and the elderly gentleman, she stopped.
My Lord! Julia thought; If I didn't know better, I'd swear that was Jack!
Christofferson knew Julia's face anywhere. He looked down at Miri, and saw another familiar face.
His daughter Celine's.
I'm her father, Christofferson realized with a shock. And I can't say anything!
Instead, while Miri and Julia were distracted, he disappeared into the woods near the gravesite. When Miri looked up to show her mother she was talking to someone who looked like Santa Claus, he was gone.
"He was just here, Mama, I swear!"
"I believe you, Miri," her mother said. "But Santa has special powers, so maybe that man was working for Santa. You think?"
"Yeah," Miri said. "I wish he had stayed so you could tell him how good I've been this year."
"Maybe it wasn't time for that, Mirielle."
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Christofferson somehow made it back to his truck. He felt like he was living in a dream.
He got in, shut the door, and closed his eyes, picturing the little girl in his mind.
A perfect blend of Julia and Celine, he thought. And Julia still believes I'm dead, or else she wouldn't have brought her little girl, our little girl, out to the cemetery.
For the first time since his wife died, John Christopher Coltrane IV, aka John Christofferson, cried for the loss of the only other woman who had conquered his heart.
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