Mending Wounded Hearts

The room warmed up quite quickly to Ally's satisfaction and my discomfort. I woke up around one feeling overheated and took a walk down the stairs and drank some water. Having cooled off a bit I went back up the stairs and paused at the sound of a child in distress.

Robert, Gervais and Edgar shared a room and when I opened the door Edgar was tossing around and crying. I woke him gently and picked him up.

"Grandpapa? I'm sorry if I woke you up, I was having a bad dream," Edgar whimpered.

"No, little one, I was passing your door and heard you. Why don't we go down the hall until you get calmed down so you can sleep, eh?"    

"Thank you, Grandpapa."

I wrapped my robe around both of us and carried him back to our room. I took a seat in a wingback chair near the fireplace and held him in my lap.

"Would you like to tell me about your dream; you don't have to but it might help if you did," I suggested.

"Okay, I guess. It was the same one that always makes me cry. Papa Cedric made me get out of the car and stand by the fence. He was mad because I couldn't hold it until we got to the place we were going and I peed my pants. It was so cold and the cars went by so fast. I was sure one would hit me, but a lady and a man came by and stopped. I saw them backing up and they took me to a safe place and the police came. Then I went to a place for kids who don't have parents and they sent me here. I worry that I might do something wrong and they won't want me here anymore," Edgar whispered.

I pulled him tighter and told him, "Henri is an honorable man and a kind man. If he and Avril took you in, it was because they wanted to protect you and give you a safe place to live. They won't send you away because you make a mistake. They aren't that kind of people. You should talk with them and tell them your fears, it's quite obvious to me that they love you."

"Do you love me, too?" Edgar asked.

"Of course, I love all my grandchildren; you included."

He burrowed into me and I held him tight. At some point, he drifted off and I looked at his angelic little face. I decided I would like to meet this Cedric and give him a bit of his own medicine. Then a light tap on our door caught my attention.

"Come in," I called.

"Dad is… oh, he is. Thank goodness," Henri exhaled in relief.

"I was walking by and heard him crying, he was having a nightmare. He told me it was about the night he was abandoned because he wet himself on a long car journey. It must have seemed like hours to a child and perhaps it was. I think he's probably ready to talk to you about it. He has some concerns about being sent back to the orphan home."

"Poor little dear, none of our foster kids have had it easy but his was probably the cruelest treatment we've encountered so far. He had bruises and burns and evidence of fractures of the sort abused children get. The police couldn't get anything out of him that would help. I'll make sure he knows he's safe here and that there's nothing he could do wrong that would make us send him back."

"I told him that. He ran out of steam after that but he did say that a man he called ‘Papa’ or 'Daddy Cedric' was the one who left him in the roadway. I will mention the name to a friend of mine and see if anyone with a past shows up with that name. If you get a call from Hubert Massenet tell him everything you can. I think Edgar is ready to talk about what happened," I urged Henri.

"I will Dad, would you like me to take him?"

"No, I'll carry him back to his bed and tuck him in. I kind of miss doing that. Carter is the only one that really needs that these days and he's growing out of it quickly," I told Henri.

"Okay Dad, thanks for looking after him, I'll spend some private time with him and let him tell me his story."

"Goodnight, Son."

"Goodnight Dad, I'll see you in the morning."

I sat a while longer holding that sweet child and then took him back to bed and tucked him in with a kiss on the cheek.

I slept rather well after that, the heat from the fire had dissipated enough that I could use just the sheet and be perfectly comfortable. That was a good thing seeing as how Ally had pulled all the blankets to her side. With all that, I still woke after a total of six hours of sleep, which was standard for me. Ally slumbered on, but I toileted and dressed and went to see the children off to school. Edgar was pretty chipper and he and Gervais were giggling about something as they ate their breakfast. I passed out kisses as the kids walked out to the building where their quad bikes were stored.

"They ride to the warehouse car park near our front gate then they walk to the shelter to wait for the bus to school. There are several children on the farm here, we house entire families in some cases. I need to go talk to the road crew in a bit, why don't you come along," Henri invited.

"Happy to, I think Ally will be sleeping for a bit yet, she had a short night and a long day yesterday," I told him.

"Do you still get by on four or five hours of sleep? I always found that so strange," Henri inquired.

"It's a lifelong habit. I don't often have memorable dreams. The sleep specialist told me I went into REM sleep almost immediately and stayed there longer than most people stay. There are times when I sleep longer but it's usually just one night; I get as much as ten hours in on those occasions. The specialist doesn't have an answer and he's frustrated because I won't be a test subject for him. Do you sleep well?" I queried.

"Mostly, when I'm working out a problem it gets hard to shut off my brain but Avril is adept at pulling me out of that," Henri blushed.

"Oh I understand, I'm sure you do the same for her when she can't sleep, right?" I grinned.

"Um yeah, you could say that."

We said goodbye to Avril and climbed in to a battered Discovery. As we approached the gate, I noticed Gervais and Edgar coming around the corner of an out building. Between them, they carried a long rectangular basket full of fresh eggs and each had a smaller basket in the other hand. They smiled but couldn't wave and we left them to it.

"Do those two not go to school?" I asked.

"They go to kindergarten but there was no school for them today and it's only a half day for the others. Some administration meeting or other," Henri informed me.

"What is this all about?" Henri growled.

Several large pieces of machinery and at least ten men were standing around looking at the ground behind the grader.

"Good morning sir, we have a development. There appears to be a body buried in the road," René explained.

"Well isn't that wonderful," Henri grumbled.

Henri and I walked over and examined the remains. They were only skeletal remains and what looked to me like a web belt and some cloth that may have been a uniform. I looked closely at the skull and open jaw, I saw a glint of metal that told me that it was a dog tag and that this was an American serviceman from WWII.

"Henri, can you reroute the road around this site? A simple cut out to the north will do the trick and you can probably have the rough work done before they get a constable out here," I suggested.

"Yes, that's probably best," Henri agreed and began instructing his crew to begin the diversion.

"And one of you should act as a spotter, if any other remains show up we'll have to stop work until we get an 'all clear'." The men began working on a five hundred meter bypass around what I suspect was a grave from WWII.

While Henri drove us back to the house, I made two calls. First, I called Louis and left a message for him to call me back. Next, I called the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

"Hi, who would I talk to about the discovery of a U.S. soldier's remains from WWII?" I solicited the receptionist.

It was a question she had never had to answer before. Eventually she returned to the line and explained that she was transferring me to the Department of State's military attaché.

I introduced myself to a youngish sounding lieutenant and explained the situation. I also told her of my status as a peace officer in the U.S. and my familiarity with this sort of situation.

"Well, that will help me convince the attaché that this is credible. I'll take this to him now and call you back as soon as he understands what's going on," Lieutenant Denby advised.

Ten minutes after I spoke with the lieutenant, Louis called me back.

"That's completely outside my department's remit as our British friends always tell me, however I will speak with the interior minister's office and encourage someone there to expedite the proper response which in this case is recovery and repatriation of the remains. Did you say a dog tag was visible?" Louis inquired.

"Yes, it was not unusual to put one of the pair in a fallen soldier's mouth, the other myth about making the corpse bite the tag is nonsense. He's only visible from the waist up but it appears he was covered with a poncho before he was buried. Troops usually left a marker but if the area was contested for an extended time the standard rifle and helmet marker would not have been used. Anything could have happened in seventy-seven years," I explained.

"I see, well let me make a call and I'll list you as the point of contact at least until tomorrow morning. You can direct them to someone else at that time. Also, Hubert will be calling once he runs the alias of Cedric through the system," Louis added.

"Thanks, I'll expect his call, and thanks for your help in this matter, too. His return might give someone peace of mind," I replied and Louis rang off.

"Okay Henri, I have the U.S. Embassy alerted and a friend with a government agency will get on to the interior minister here. I hope they can deal with this without any petty squabbles," I informed him.

"I hope so too, and I hope he's the only one here, I know they'll want to do a search with modern equipment and all. I just hope we don't have to shut down the road while they look. Ideally, they could clear the existing road and then we could return to it and they could search the rest of the area. I suppose it's going to depend on who is running the show. At least the expense will be deductible. It's a minor consideration I know, but you know some of these people can go overboard Dad," Henri observed.

"Yes, I know what you mean and you should contact your attorney to insure your rights under law. I know you intend to do the right thing but you shouldn't lose a crop or suffer financial hardship as a result."

"Thanks for understanding Dad, money isn't my first concern. I have the kids to consider. This is bound to upset them to some extent."

"Let's make sure there's a tarp over the corpse before the kids have to drive past it. Maybe the police will erect a screen around it until the medical examiner is done. The sooner they get him extracted and offsite the better it will be for the children," I agreed.

Henri's phone rang with the news that a policeman had arrived. The crew had already graded and spread gravel from the highway to the freshly engineered bypass. The policeman had been held up by the roller and was upset until he discovered that without the roller his Citroen would have sunk to its axles in the loose gravel. He grudgingly allowed the roller to make a second pass so that the support vehicles wouldn't get bogged down. 

We observed the police activity and allowed the crew to call it a day and finish the remaining bit of road the next day. They would probably be done by the time Ally and I left for Paris. I spotted a white Peugeot sedan pulling up behind the technical vans. An older fireplug sort of man stepped out and looked through a full circle before approaching the policeman on guard. The young officer held up his hand, denying admittance until the man in the gray suit produced credentials. The young officer looked like he might have had a stroke. The man patted his shoulder and mumbled something conciliatory and walked toward the assembled technicians. He exchanged a few words with the men in paper suits and started walking toward us.

"Good morning Hubert, did you get picked for this or are you here about something else?" I probed.

"Robert McKenna, it's so nice to see you again. I did get your message from Louis but I was in Angers checking leads on a pimp called Daddy Cedric. I usually work from Tours but due to my proximity I was asked to poke my nose in here," Hubert explained.

"Henri, this is Hubert Massenet, he and Louis asked me to help with an engineering problem a few years ago. Hubert, this is my son, Henri."

Hubert and I shook hands and then Henri did the same.

"It would appear that you are correct about the status of the remains that were discovered today. He was a soldier named Henry Mills. He was probably buried by his comrades after a battle. There was a shoulder patch that identified his unit as Rangers. More than that, I do not know but I do know that the Interior Ministry is very interested in getting him home as soon as possible. All this time and we are still finding bodies of soldiers. British, American, French and German. They are all carefully examined and sent home if possible. Not all of them are identifiable so they are interred at the National Cemetery as unknowns. DNA is helping with some of that and previous unknowns are being identified at a higher rate these days."

"I'm sure you're correct Hubert, did you want to have a word with Edgar? He told me quite a bit last night but you may have questions that I didn't think of," I inquired.

"Yes, I think that would be best, would you mind sitting in?"

"I'd be happy to. Henri wants to stay here and keep his children from seeing too much on the way home from school. They should be along in a while. The screen will help with that, of course," I explained.

"Yes, I quite understand and that will be fine. I just need you to make the introduction and help me gain his confidence," Hubert assured.

We rode to the house in Hubert's car and I introduced Edgar. Once the ice had been broken, Edgar was happy to tell everything he knew about Cedric, his mother and the area they lived in Angers.

"Mama stopped coming home and then Cedric told me we were going to see her. I didn't like him, he hit me and he hit Mama, I wish I could be big and hit him back," Edgar declared.

Hubert was very adroit at gaining the confidence of children as his interview style was non-confrontational. 

Edgar told him about the people who visited Cedric at his mother's flat and what they would discuss. He didn't understand much but he remembered important keywords. Words like shipment, grams, kilos, etc. Cities were also mentioned, Lyon and Marseille were spoken frequently. Eventually Edgar ran out of things to say about Cedric but he wasn't through. He said the man in the flat next to them often spoke with Cedric about mules and distribution.

"Now that is interesting, do you remember his name?" Hubert inquired. 

"It was Mr. DeVaux and he had a mean dog," Edgar replied.

"Edgar, what you have told me here today will hurt them much more than beating them up. I will let you know when we have taken revenge for you," Hubert promised.

"Will you beat them up?" Edgar asked.

"No, we can't do that. But we will put them in prison and take away all their money because they are bad men."

"What about Mama?" Edgar whispered.

"It will depend on how she is involved, but if she's selling drugs or moving them she will probably go to prison, too," Hubert explained.

"Good, she let Daddy Cedric hit me and burn me. I don't want to see her anymore," Edgar sobbed and turned into me for comfort.

"I understand Edgar, we haven't found her or Cedric yet but we will. What you shared with us today will help us find out what is going on," Hubert informed him.

I wiped Edgar's eyes and nose, and he faced Hubert holding out his hand.

Hubert shook the tiny hand gently and smiled warmly at Edgar.

"Rob, would it be all right if I took a cheek swab from Edgar? Hubert inquired. It's quite difficult to get the child welfare agencies to cooperate, even if we are trying to help a child. It's the same bureaucratic nonsense you probably encounter at home I would guess." 

"I don't see why not, but I'll check with Avril to be sure," I replied.

Avril was agreeable and I gave Hubert the go ahead. We released Edgar to go to the garden with Gervais on a weed hunt. I walked Hubert back to his car just as a herd of quad bikes clattered over the cattle grate and turned off for the shed. Henri's Defender was behind them with a police Hi-Lux behind him.

"Hi Dad, Chief Inspector. Was Edgar helpful?"

"He was indeed, thank you for your permission to speak with him. Your father will give you the details. I must check with the man in charge and start moving towards Tours," Hubert shared.

"That would be me, I'm Senior Constable Patronnet and Mr. Lambrette has offered us the use of the warehouse classroom and facilities for an incident room. There is a second body which was discovered next to the first when the tech crew widened the grave to extract the first body. I'm told that the interior ministry and the American Embassy are sending equipment and personnel to do a complete search. They will be here tomorrow," The constable reported.

"Excellent, the more people they throw at this, the faster they'll find what they're looking for. If they need to set up portable sleeping accommodations, they can use the warehouse parking area on the east side. Fortunately it's not terribly busy at the warehouse at the moment, but that will change in about six weeks," Henri explained.

"I can't imagine this whole operation taking more than a few days. The Americans are bringing action reports and casualty lists which will help us determine what we're looking for," Patronnet reckoned.

"I'm sure Henri will keep me informed of any further developments. But now I should go in and speak with my wife. Hubert, have a safe trip and I'll leave you and the senior constable to sort out the rest," I concluded.

I walked inside with Henri so that he could get the key for the warehouse. It would give the police and technicians a kitchen area, showers, toilets and office space.

I found Ally in the kitchen watching Gervais and Edgar crawling around in the dirt seizing weeds and tossing them in a basket.

"They take their chores very seriously. You should have seen the eggs they hauled in," Ally cheered.

"Yes, we saw them heading for the house. I dare say they have more laying hens than Carter does. We should get a tour from them so they can show us the chickens," I suggested.

"I'd like that, they seem very proud of the work they do and I'd like to see how they do it," Ally agreed.

"I'm sure they would be glad to give you a tour of the hen houses and the duck cote, I think you'll enjoy what you see. We also have peacocks and peahens as a security system. They make a terrible racket when the foxes and weasels come around. They'll do battle with them too. It's usually the foxes that get the worst of it. The weasels take off at the first hint of noise," Avril apprised. 

Gervais and Edgar entered the back door, kicked off their wellies and donned their house shoes.

"Would you like to show Grandmama and Grandpapa the hen houses and chickens?"

The boys grinned widely and raced out to change shoes again. "Ally, you can use my Wellies and Dad you can use Henri's spares. The big green ones under the bench," Avril instructed.

Suitably attired, we followed the boys to the chickens. It was clean and neat with plenty of room for the chickens to roam quite a distance inside the enclosure. Most of the hens were in the yard but many were sitting on a nest full of eggs. Gervais gently lifted a hen to show us what she was covering up. The hen wasn't the least bothered by the interference. These boys might be small but they had learned how to tend chickens as well as any adult might do.

Having shown us both hen houses, they led us to the duck cote. It was half the size of a henhouse but then they didn't keep as many ducks. 

"Oh look, there's George, he's a drake. He was wild but he stood outside the gate until we let him in.  Now he won't leave. It's good because we were short on drakes. We sell a lot of ducklings every year," Gervais bragged.

"It looks like they have a nice pond to use, it looks quite natural," Ally observed.

"Those are fresh plants. We just put them in. Daddy helped but we did most of it," Edgar crowed.

"I'd say you've done a wonderful job, do you have geese too?" I asked.

"Only three or four, they're for eating but we take good care of them. They're pinned up by the cattle because they are noisy and they bother the other poultry," Gervais explained.

We made our way back to the service porch and met Paul and Robert.

"We heard you were looking at the chickens, would you like to see the dairy and beef herds?" Paul asked. "Mom has sandwiches for you two on the table, you better hurry before James eats them," he told Edgar and Gervais.

The dairy barn was immaculate with modern equipment and contented cattle munched hay in the adjacent pasture.  Another field held at least fifty steers. They munched happily on grass in between feedings of grain.

"We have two hundred milk cows but usually there are some that are not producing. We get up every morning at five to help with the milking. It has to be done very carefully. We have to do some hand milking too. Some cows have sore teats or infections that taint their milk. We don't hook them to the milkers," Robert explained in an animated fashion.

I marveled at what wonderful kids they were and how knowledgeable they were about their jobs. Ally was visibly impressed. She asked questions and they answered right back. I was very impressed and I told them so.

After dinner, I set up the Bluetooth speakerphone on the dining table and asked for quiet while I dialed. I had dialed Brandon but Carter answered.

"Brandon's in the toilet Dad, he'll be right back," Carter explained.

"Say hi to your niece and nephews then Carter; we're all around the phone and we can all hear you just fine," I instructed.

"Hi everybody, I'm Carter. Daddy told me your names so just tell us who's talking so we can match the voice to the picture please," Carter requested.

"Hello brother Carter, This is Henri, We've never met but I hear very nice things about you."

"Hi Henri, Kelly and Brandon are here now so I'll let them say hello," Carter offered.

Pretty soon it was a free exchange and they were chatting as if they were just across the table instead of an ocean and a continent. Cammie joined in with Wade, Ally and I didn't say much. We just enjoyed the conversation. 

When the excitement died down, I suggested that we would leave the speakerphone behind and there could be frequent chats to keep the kids and us up to speed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Later I asked Henri if the kids had email. He explained that Paul did but the rest used a family email to communicate with relatives and friends. Robert and Andres would have their own soon and he would provide addresses as each child was old enough.

"That seems like a sound policy. Our boys each have their own but I have access to monitor content. But then I have the time to do that. I don't really worry too much but it's good for them to know that I check. A few more months and I'll have a chat with Brandon and he'll probably drop off the monitoring list," I explained.

"He sounds like quite a good young man, will you be taking on any more homeless kids?" Henri prompted.

"If they present themselves I'll have a tough time turning them away. Ally and I may be adding one of our own to the mix too. I guess we'll see how that turns out, eh?" I replied.

"I think that's a fair answer. I've learned so much from you about how to be a dad. Some of it though, you have to learn on your own. Genevieve was quite a change. But I wouldn't have it any other way. She's a wonderful girl and nobody will ever be good enough for her. I hope she chooses a good one. Right now, she's sweet on Emille, but last month it was Etienne. Who knows, eh?"

"That's girls, my sister was a handful and she eventually settled down with a good guy. Dad was always nice to him but he never did think Michael was good enough for his little girl. Fathers and daughters are a volatile mix. I'm told a firm but gentle hand is best," I told him.

Once again, I helped the kids prepare for bed. I began listening to and answering questions about our boys. Soon everyone was asleep or at least in bed. We would be up to see them off in the morning and say our goodbyes.