ATOP Chapter Forty-Three

"Did you get the tickets?" Rachel blurted out the question eagerly as Ronnie stepped away from the station window. He shrugged, looking slightly bewildered. 

"You don't happen to speak French, do you?" Rachel shook her head and he let out a long, frustrated sigh. He yanked off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair as he stared up at the train schedule written in chalk on a blackboard beside the ticket window.

"Ooookay, this is going to be difficult..." he jammed the hat back on his head and pulled Rachel over to a bench on the side of the platform. Unfolding the map the ticket agent had given him, he pointed out a few areas circled in red pencil. "We can only get through at certain Allied checkpoints. They've got them set up here and here and here... They said this will be the best place to go in at, if we're trying to get to the Zeilsheim camp. We'll have to change trains twice before we get there though. Better make sure our papers are in perfect order."

"Ronnie, you have gone over those papers more times than I can count since we left home," Rachel laughed. "I think they are all right."

"It helps that I'm a veteran and you've got family there that we're trying to get to. We've got a good chance of getting in..." his words were almost drowned out by the whistle of an incoming train, but Rachel caught enough of them to cause a shiver of fear to spiral down her back.

"You... you mean they might... turn us away?"

"Oh... I don't think so..." Ronnie folded the map up, frowned at it, and then opened it up to try refolding it. "It's just... there's a lot involved... cuz of the war and all..." he let his voice trail off. 

Rachel sat back as he struggled with the map and studied his face. He kept it turned halfway from her, his eyes hidden by the brim of his hat. She knew this was hard for him... this entire journey. Just getting on the boat had been a terrible struggle, although he hid it so well. She only knew by the gray of his eyes and the way his entire body was tensed, as if poised for action. Crossing the checkpoints into France had been bad too... she knew he was remembering D-Day. His nightmares had been worse than ever these past few days... neither of them had been getting much sleep and it was starting to show.

"C'mon, let's get back to the hotel," Ronnie gave up trying to fold the map correctly and jammed it into his inside suit pocket. "We can't get a train till later this afternoon."

♡♡♡

"Monsieur and Madame Stewart?" The desk clerk gestured to Ronnie and Rachel as they entered the hotel lobby. "I have a message for you from America. I believe a Madame Cambell-Hayes is requesting to set up a telephone call on behalf of your son..." he stumbled over the unfamiliar words as he read them from the note in his hand and finally handed the paper to Ronnie. "If you wish to accept the call, you may choose a time slot here..." and he pushed a form forward.

"Oh, my baby..." Rachel gasped, clutching Ronnie's arm. "We must accept the call!"

"Well, if..." Ronnie frowned at the form. "If we do, we'll miss the first train... are you sure?"

"Jah," Rachel nodded, her eyes worried. "I am sure."

♡♡♡

"Alright now, calm down, Baby," Emma laughed as Benjie jumped for the telephone, tiny hands reaching eagerly. "We still have a few more minutes till we can talk to Mommy and Daddy, okay?"

"Me talk now," Benjie threw his arms around her leg and craned his neck to look up at her. "Pwease, Aunt Emmy, me talk now!"

"No, we must wait for the phone to ring." Emma sat cross-legged on the floor beside him. "Now listen very close, okay? Agh, Scout, isn't this exciting? An international phone call!"

"Sure, it's exciting," Josh drawled from the couch. "A whole fifteen bucks worth of exciting. If we're lucky. It could be more. Hey, Benjie? Keep it short and sweet."

"Otay, Doss," Benjie clasped his hands together and showed a dimple that melted Josh's heart.

"Okay, Scrooge," Emma rolled her eyes. 

"Aw, don't lookit me like that, Em," Josh grinned. "Talk as long as you'd like," he flung his arms out indulgently. "After all, I'm made of money..." Emma wrinkled her nose at him and he jumped up from the couch to give her an impulsive hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Stop it, Emma, stop it right now, I'm just kidding, you know it..." he was laughing now. "I don't mind, I promise, I don't. I'm so glad it works to call them... and the phone's ringing now, so you'd better hurry or you'll miss it."

"Phone singing!" Benjie screamed, clapping his hands and jumping up and down again. "Phone singing!!"

Emma pulled the receiver from the hook and held it out so they all three could hear. 

"International call from Paris, France," the operator was saying. "Charges reversed. Do you accept?"

"Mommy! Daddy!" Benjie screeched.

"Shhh, shh, baby," Emma whispered aside and then into the phone, "Yes, yes, I accept."

Another moment and Rachel's voice came filtering through the receiver and Benjie flung himself desperately at the phone, clutching for it as Emma fought to maintain control.

"Is that my baby?" Rachel sounded like she was in tears. "Ach, Benjie, mine liebling, how are you doing, baby?"

"Mommy!" Benjie wailed. "Mommy, come home!"

"Hey, li'l Squirt," Ronnie was laughing but he also sounded on the verge of tears. "How's it going?"

"Daaaaddy..." Benjie cried. "Come home, Daddy, me wants you!"

"Calm down, little guy, calm down..." Ronnie said quickly. "Listen. Daddy's coming home as soon as he can. I need you to be a brave, big boy and take care of Daddy's cows for me, okay?"

"Otay, Daddy," Benjie sniffled, suddenly straightening up and assuming an air of something akin to solemn responsibility. "Me takes tare of cows."

"And you be a good boy and help Aunt Emmy," Rachel added, a catch in her voice. "Aunt Emmy needs lots of help, do you not, Emma?"

"Oh, yes, yes..." Emma laughed. "Lots and lots of help."

"I'm gonna second that come home quick, Chief," Josh called over Emma's shoulder. "I don't feel up to planting your fields this year."

"Don't worry, we'll be home in time."

"Hey, Daddy!" Benjie shrieked, wildly excited again. "Me gots my Boo!"

"Good," Ronnie chuckled. "Is Boo gonna help with the cows too?"

"No," Benjie grinned. "Boo just a beaw. Me a big boy and me takes tare of cows. Mommy!"

"Jah, mine liebling?"

"Me loves you. Me tiss?" And he kissed the phone receiver.

"Didya hear that, sis?" Emma laughed and Rachel answered in a half-sob.

"Jah... jah, I heard. Listen, my sweet Benjie, Mommy loves you so much. More than anything else in the whole world."

"Daddy loves you too," Ronnie echoed. "We miss you, li'l Squirt. So much. Can't wait to get home and see you again."

When the call had to be ended after a much-too-short five minutes, Benjie tore wildly around the house, shrieking excited things about cows and Boo and big boys and Mommy and Daddy... and on the other end, far, far away in France, Rachel cried.