Chapter 5: The Sweetness of Peace
Chapter 5: The Sweetness of Peace
The arrest was neither quiet nor dignified.
Sarah was dragged out of the beautiful home she had tried to steal, screaming and crying in handcuffs in front of the entire neighborhood. The charges were devastating: elder abuse, financial fraud, and embezzlement. Because she had forged signatures on federal military documents to access David's deployment pay, federal investigators were involved.
She was looking at a decade behind bars, and she would walk away with absolutely nothing.
Six months later, the bright, modern kitchen smelled like warm apple pie.
David sat at the kitchen island, dressed in comfortable jeans and a t-shirt, reading the morning paper. His mother, looking healthier and happier than she had in years, was humming softly as she pulled the pie from the oven.
"Do you want a slice now, or wait until after dinner, Davey?" she asked, her eyes crinkling with a warm smile.
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"I think I'll have a slice right now, Mom," David smiled back.
He looked around the pristine kitchen, then out the window at the peaceful, sunlit yard. The toxic greed that had poisoned their home was gone, locked away in a concrete cell where it belonged. The soldier had fought his toughest battle right in his own living room, and finally, they were truly safe.
