Page 68 of Truly, Madly, Deeply
The relief stopped short. Four more years. That was a good thing, but still… one day she would most likely have to live with the reality. Tommy in a uniform. Doing the right thing. Putting his life in danger for others. People like those who saved Luke and her the other night.
It was time to tell him about his grandfather. There could be no better chance than now. She slid her chair closer and put her hand on Tommy’s knee. “Son, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you.”
“About what I just learned?”
“Sort of.” She folded her hands, her eyes on her son’s. “I found out something about your grandpa Tom… a few months ago. He was a hero, Tommy.” She paused. “But I found out new information the morning of the 9/11 anniversary. When we were in New York.”
A puzzled look came over Tommy’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me then?”
“I… had to process the news. I planned to tell you when we got back, but then…”
“Then I told you I wanted to be a cop.” Tommy wastracking with her. “And if I knew Grandpa was a hero, I might want to be one, too.”
“Yes. Exactly.” Reagan was still ashamed of how she’d handled the whole matter. But right now she could make things better.
Sympathy warmed Tommy’s eyes. “It must be quite a story.”
“It is.” Reagan started at the beginning. “Apparently Grandma got a call a few days before the 9/11 anniversary. From a woman who had been trying to track her down for nearly twenty years.”
Tommy narrowed his eyes. “Okay.”
“The reason she’d been looking for Grandma is because… her husband had worked in the same building as Grandpa Tom.”
According to the woman, her husband, Bill, worked on the same floor as Reagan’s father. When the plane hit their tower, Bill wasn’t sure what to do, so he waited. After a while, though, it became clear that they needed to evacuate. So Bill tried to take the elevator down.
“But the elevators weren’t working, so he rushed across the floor and found Grandpa Tom.” Reagan felt her fingers begin to tremble. She’d told Luke the story, but it was difficult. Reliving her father’s final moments.
As Bill stepped into her father’s office, people were starting to panic. Smoke was streaming in at the edges of the walls, and the building was shaking. The weight of the jet, the burn of the fuel, all of it was melting toward them. So Bill did the only thing he could think to do.
He called his wife.
“From that moment until the tower collapsed, Bill was on the phone with her.” Reagan couldn’t imagine how horrifying, to be Bill’s wife. Unable to do anything to help him. “So the story from that point is what Bill’s wife heard while she was on the phone with him.”
Apparently in the middle of the panic, with maybe thirty people frantic for a way out, a man jumped up onto his desk and began shouting for everyone to calm down.
“He told them his name was Tom Decker. He said, ‘I’m going to heaven today, and I’d sure like to take the rest of you with me.’ ”
“Wow.” Tommy leaned forward. “I can picture that.”
“Bill hadn’t been a man of faith.” Reagan paused and chills ran down her arms. “But over the next fifteen minutes, your grandfather told the group about Jesus. How he had died on the cross for them, and how the gift of heaven was free to any who asked.”
Bill’s wife—still on the phone with her husband—could hear Reagan’s father shouting this through the office space.Whatever that man tells you,she had said to Bill.Do it. Please. Do it now.
“And so all thirty of those people—including Bill—got on their knees and asked God to forgive them for whatever wrongs they’d done. Then they asked Jesus to be their Savior.” Tears fell on Reagan’s cheeks. “They were still praying together, when a terrible sound filled the phone line. And then the call went dead.”
Tommy stared off for a moment. “He could’ve called Grandma with his final minutes.”
“Right.” That had been one of the hardest parts for Reagan. What her mom would’ve given for that final conversation. “The thing was, Grandpa’s relationship with Grandma was so strong. So solid… they had shared those moments before he left.”
Her mom had also told her that before her dad went to work that day—like every day—he had found her in their home office and hugged her. He told her he loved her and that he was easily the happiest man alive because of her. And that he couldn’t wait to come home to her at the end of the day.
Only that never happened.
The story seemed to be landing on Tommy, making its way through his mind to his heart. The same way it had hit Reagan when she first heard it. “See, your grandfather had not chosen a dangerous job. He was a businessman, which should’ve kept him out of harm’s way—at least at work.”
“True.” Tommy took Reagan’s hand. “I can’t wait to meet him one day.”
Reagan smiled. “You’ve always had a little of him in you, Tommy.” She brushed at her wet cheeks. “Especially lately.”
