Chapter 12

Training wrapped up for the day, and Gabriel had completely forgotten about that earlier phone call. Deep down, he never really believed anything serious could happen at home anyway. He stayed on the island for nearly two weeks, totally absorbed in drills. Then, during a break, another unit commander came looking for him. "Gabriel, you've got a call. It's urgent!" Gabriel nodded and stepped out of line, hurrying straight to the phone room. On the other end, Hazel's urgent voice came through. "Gabriel, Margaret's in the hospital! It's serious! You need to come back right away!" Gabriel's heart nearly stopped. "What? Why would my mom be in the hospital? Where's Eliana? Put her on! I told her before I left that she needed to take care of the kids and my parents! What the hell happened?" Hazel hesitated and finally sighed. "You need to come back, Gabriel. You'll understand when you get here." Gabriel hung up and immediately submitted an emergency leave request to his unit. Since it