All My Tomorrows

by Al Lacy

  “But I’ll love you just the same,” said Cody.

  Donna clipped his chin playfully. “You’d better!”

  Everybody laughed, then Colonel Strasburg said, “We’d best get inside. I’m sure Della has breakfast about ready.”

  Della was inside the door to greet her guests and the aroma of hot breakfast filled the house.

  They sat down at the dining room table and James Strasburg led in prayer. He thanked God for the food and asked His blessing on the Rogerses as they were about to begin another missionary tour among the Apache villages. He thanked the Lord for the precious blood that was shed by the Lamb of God at Calvary and for the salvation He provided.

  As they began eating, Donna said, “Colonel Howell, you mentioned your wife. Is she joining you at Fort Thomas soon?”

  “Yes. She had surgery just a few weeks ago, and she isn’t up to traveling yet. She’ll be coming sometime in June, the Lord willing.”

  “So she is recovering from the surgery all right?”

  “Yes, thank the Lord.”

  Howell worked at devouring his pancakes for a minute or so, then set his gaze on Ben Locke. “How long have you been an army chaplain?”

  Ben grinned. “Almost thirty years. I was a pastor in Indiana before that.”

  Strasburg shook his head. “We’re losing the Lockes, though, Colonel Howell. Chaplain Locke is retiring, and he and Tina will be leaving for Indianapolis in two weeks so they can live close to their children and grandchildren.”

  “Oh? Well, you will miss them, I’m sure.”

  “Very much so.”

  Howell nodded. “Has a new chaplain been assigned to the fort?”

  “Yes. The army brass in Washington, D.C., has assigned a young chaplain named Donald Vaughn in Chaplain Locke’s place. Vaughn has been serving as assistant chaplain at Fort McDowell, Arizona, for the past two years.”

  “Let’s see, Fort McDowell. Where is Fort McDowell?”

  “It’s a hundred miles west of here. Near Phoenix.”

  “Oh. And when will Chaplain Vaughn be coming?”

  “He and his wife are scheduled to arrive here a day or two after the Lockes leave for Indiana.”

  “That’s good. You won’t be without a chaplain very long, then.” Howell then glanced at Cody and Donna. “I’m amazed to hear that you are able to go into the Apache villages and preach the gospel.”

  “Well, sir,” said Cody, “it’s a relative few villages where the chiefs will let us in. But thank God for those few. Fourteen, to be exact. We have seen some of the chiefs come to the Lord, and we’ve had a good number of their people saved.”

  “You’re both so young. How long have you been doing this work among the Apaches?”

  “Three years, sir. We started when I was twenty-three and Donna was twenty-one.”

  “Cody and Donna live in a cabin inside the fort here, Colonel,” said Strasburg. “As commandant, I have provided the cabin for them since they came to this area. It’s only by the hand of Almighty God that they are able to get into those fourteen villages. They are gone from the fort on their missionary tours three to four weeks at a time. When traveling, they live in their covered wagon, which was given to them by Donna’s parents Ken and Molly Talbert, who live in Safford, Arizona.”

  Howell touched his temple. “Safford. That’s south of here, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. About eighty miles. Cody’s parents also live in Safford. His father is president of the Bank of Safford.”

  “l see.”

  As breakfast continued, the Rogerses told the Strasburgs they would be looking forward to meeting the new chaplain and his wife when they returned from their next missionary tour of the Apache villages.

  “When will you begin the next tour?” asked Howell.

  “Today, sir,” replied Cody. “We’ll be pulling out right after breakfast. We’ll be back sometime the second week of May, three weeks from now.”

  When breakfast was over, Cody and Donna told the Lockes and Colonel Howell good-bye, climbed into their covered wagon, and drove away.

  On Tuesday, May 3, Colonel James Strasburg was in his office at Fort Apache when there was a knock at the door. Looking up from the papers on his desk, he called, “Yes?”

  The door came open and his adjutant corporal said, “Colonel, the new chaplain and his wife have arrived.”

  The colonel smiled, rising from his desk. “Bring them in, Wally, and—” Strasburg noticed a strange look on the face of the corporal. “Is something wrong?”

  “Well, sir, not really wrong. It’s just something out of the ordinary.”

  Strasburg’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “Have you ever met the Vaughns, sir?”

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  Wally Benton wiped a palm over his mouth. “I’ll … ah … bring them in, sir. You can see for yourself.”

  The furrows deepened on Strasburg’s brow as Wally stepped out of view and he heard him say, “Colonel Strasburg is waiting for you, folks.”

  Strasburg’s attention remained riveted on the open door. His eyes bulged and his jaw slacked when Chaplain Donald Vaughn and his lovely auburn-haired wife stepped into the office. He looked at the woman and said, “D-Donna, is th-this a j-joke?”

  The chaplain frowned as his twenty-four-year-old wife looked at Strasburg, her own eyes wide. “Excuse me, Colonel. Did—did you call me Donna?”

  Strasburg blinked. “Of course. Donna Rogers, what are you doing posing as the chaplain’s wife?”

  Suddenly the woman’s mouth was working loosely as though she had lost the power of speech.

  Her husband took hold of her hand. “Honey, are you all right?”

  She drew a shaky breath. “Don, can this really be happening? You know I’ve waited and wondered about Donna for eleven years. Colonel Strasburg just called me by her name!”

  The colonel took a step closer. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to upset you. But—but you are the exact image of a young woman I know well. Her name is Donna Rogers.”

  A hand went to her mouth. “Colonel, I have an identical twin sister named Donna. I lost track of her eleven years ago. My name is Deena. Donna and I were separated, and neither one of us knew what happened to the other. She didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t know where she was.” Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Colonel, the woman you know as Donna Rogers is my identical twin sister! You have nothing to apologize about. No wonder you were taken aback when you saw me. You thought I was Donna!”

  Strasburg pointed to the sofa and chair in the corner of his office. “Let’s sit down.” The colonel led them to the sofa. Before they sat down, he shook hands with Donald Vaughn. “Chaplain, I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Me too, sir.”

  Deena offered her hand. “Colonel, this has been quite a moment. I’m glad to meet you.”

  When Strasburg had shaken Deena’s hand, he waited until the Vaughns were seated on the sofa, then sat down in the overstuffed chair, facing them.

  Deena’s eager eyes were fastened on the colonel. “Tell me about Donna!”

  Strasburg talked slowly as he explained to the Vaughns that Cody and Donna Rogers were missionaries to the Apache Indians in that part of Arizona. He explained that they had a log cabin there in the fort, which he provided for them when they first came there three years ago.

  The colonel went on to tell them that he and his wife Della were born-again Christians, which brought big smiles to the faces of the Vaughns, along with warm comments. He then told them about Cody and Donna’s covered wagon, and that they were usually out three to four weeks at a time, giving the gospel to the Apaches. He explained that they were doing that at the moment, and would be back sometime the second week of May.

  Deena got so excited she could hardly contain herself. She bounced up and down on the sofa, eyes glistening, and took hold of her husband’s hand. “Oh, Don! God is so good! I’m going to see my sister and hold her in my ar
ms again!”

  “Yes, sweetheart. Praise the Lord!”

  Don slipped an arm around her and looked at the colonel. “Deena and I have been praying ever since we got married four years ago that the Lord would bring the twins together one day.”

  Deena wiped tears. “Colonel, if you have time, I’ll tell you the whole story, so you’ll be all filled in when Donna and her husband return.”

  Strasburg smiled. “Right now, I don’t want to do anything but hear this story.”

  While Don kept an arm around her, Deena told the colonel the whole story, starting back when the twins’ parents sent them to the streets of Manhattan because they could no longer afford to keep them. She told him of the orphan train, and how she was chosen by Ralph and Norma Dexter in Salina, Kansas, and of the horror she experienced knowing that her twin would head further west on the train without her.

  She explained how Ralph and his son Rex mistreated her, and how she ran away and hid herself in a covered wagon that was part of a wagon train that was headed west. The owners of the wagon, Brian and Valerie Parker, heard her story and took her with them.

  “So you see, Colonel, I had no way of knowing what had happened to Donna. It’s a long way from Salina, Kansas, to the West Coast. The possibilities of where she might have been chosen were endless. Since I’ve been saved, I’ve prayed every day that the Lord would unite me with my twin. There have been so many times when I’ve been filled with anxiety over her, and many nights my sleep was disturbed because I knew Donna was in some sort of pain or distress. Identical twins usually know when one is agitated or troubled or in physical pain. I don’t understand how it works, but I know it does.”

  “I’ve heard that, Deena,” said the colonel.

  Deena sighed. “God has given me peace about my separation from Donna, or I would never have been able to stand it. I never stopped praying and hoping that someday He would bring us back together. The Bible says for us to pray without ceasing, and believe me that was easy to do in this situation.”

  Strasburg smiled. “I can believe that.”

  Deena stared off into space for a moment, remembering the last time she saw her beloved sister, and the pain that tore at her heart as they were forced apart. “When Donna and I were separated, I felt that half of me was missing, and I’ve felt that way every day since.”

  She looked at Don. They smiled at each other, then she looked back at Strasburg. “Colonel, you have no idea how much joy you have given me.”

  Strasburg smiled again. “I’m glad I could help heal your broken heart, Deena. And I’ve been thinking …”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “I’m going to call the entire population of the fort together, introduce both of you, and tell them the story. I want them all to know about it, so when Cody and Donna get back here, they won’t spill the beans. I want you to surprise them in your own way on that day.”

  “That’s good thinking, Colonel,” Don said. “That will be one glorious day, indeed.”

  Deena looked at the colonel again. “Sir, I should really tell you the rest of the story, about how the Parkers adopted me, and we got saved, and all that.”

  “I’m all ears!”

  Deena told him about the day the wagon train was entering Comanche territory in southwest Kansas, and how a small band of Comanches attacked them and she was shot in the back with an arrow. The Parkers thought at first that she was dead, but moments later, when the Indians who were not shot down by the men of the wagon train were gone, they found that she was still alive. The wagon master knew of a doctor in nearby Missler, Kansas. They took her there and the doctor removed the arrow.

  She went on to tell Strasburg that the Parkers were headed for Phoenix. Brian had a close friend from his hometown back in Indiana who owned a hardware store in Phoenix. The friend had offered him a job in the store if they moved out there. A short time after they got settled in Phoenix, the Parkers legally adopted her. Not long after that, they were visited in their home by the pastor of a Bible-believing church in Phoenix who led them to the Lord. It was in that church where she met Don and they fell in love.

  Colonel Strasburg rubbed his jaw. “Donna never told Della and me about you, Deena. And I’m sure I know why. It had to have been because she was carrying such a burden, wondering what had happened to you. The subject had to have been too painful for her to bring up.”

  “You’re right, sir. I can understand that completely. I know exactly what that pain is like. Oh, I’m so thrilled to know that Donna is saved and is in missionary work with her husband. I can hardly wait to see them!”

  Don pulled her tight against his side. “Sweetheart, this is wonderful! Isn’t God good to us? Even though it’s taken years, and His answer to your prayers was ‘wait’ now it’s His time to say the waiting is over!”

  Tears were spilling down Deena’s cheeks. “Oh yes, He is good to us! I’m so excited, I can hardly stand it!”

  In the days that followed, Chaplain Don Vaughn settled in on his job at the fort and Deena busied herself fixing up the cabin to give it her own personal touch. The Rogers cabin was right next to it, and often Deena found herself looking at it and picturing in her mind how it would be when her sister and husband returned.

  As was to be expected at a lonely outpost in the Arizona desert, the Vaughn cabin was rustic, and Deena immediately met the challenge of making it into a cozy, comfortable home for the two of them. A thorough scrubbing of the walls and floor did much to improve its appearance. Deena washed, starched, and ironed the curtains until they were white enough and crisp enough to suit her. The grime of winter was cleaned off the windows, and they sparkled in the spring sunlight. She polished the furniture until it gleamed.

  One day she had Don take her to the nearby town of Whiteriver, and they purchased some things she very much needed. Upon returning home, she made up the bed in a colorful new quilt and placed a matching braided rug on the rough planks of the floor. A bright checked cloth adorned the round table, and her treasured knickknacks filled the shelves. Her prized china filled the cupboards.

  When all was done, Deena took her scissors and a basket and went outside to cut some wildflowers that she had noticed growing beside the cabin. She put them in a jar and placed them in the center of the table, then stepped back to survey her handiwork.

  Turning in a slow circle, she viewed the small cabin. A bright smile of satisfaction lit up her face and her eyes sparkled. “There now,” she said with a sigh. “My husband has a restful, comfy place to come home to.”

  Deena continued to stay busy every day with household chores, wishing away the hours in anticipation of her sister’s return to the fort. One picture after another flitted across her mind as to what it would be like when at last she and Donna would be together again.

  Every day, Deena walked close to the Rogers cabin and wept for joy, thanking the Lord for bringing Donna to Himself and putting her in His service. Just being near the structure where her twin lived sent tingles down her spine.

  On Tuesday, May 10, Cody and Donna Rogers were about to leave their last Apache village before heading back to Fort Apache, which was twenty-three miles away. Women and children were looking on as the Rogerses stood beside their covered wagon, talking to the chief and his wife.

  The men moved about, sending pleasant glances that direction, their sharp-featured bronzed faces shining in the morning sun.

  Chief Mizno and his squaw, Aratena, whom Cody and Donna had led to the Lord six months earlier, thanked them for coming once again. They and the Rogerses talked about the five souls who were saved during that particular visit, and Chief Mizno and Aratena told them they were looking forward to the next time they would come back.

  Donna embraced Aratena, saying she loved her, and Aratena spoke words of love in return. Cody helped Donna onto the seat, climbed up beside her, and they both waved as they drove away. The Apaches waved back.

  While the wagon rolled along the desert trail, Donna said, “Honey,
I’m getting sensations from Deena again.”

  “Bad or good?”

  “Good. Very good. She has happy emotions.”

  They talked about how Donna had sensed Deena’s happy times and her sorrowful times over the years, and how Donna had prayed so long that the Lord would bring them together. Cody had prayed that way with Donna since before they were married.

  The subject turned to the new chaplain and his wife, whom they knew were to arrive before they returned to Fort Apache.

  They hoped Chaplain Donald Vaughn would be liked as well as Chaplain Ben Locke was.

  Soon the fort came into view, and twenty minutes later, Cody pulled the covered wagon up to the gate. One of the guards hurried down from the tower and opened the gate, welcoming them home.

  Cody headed the wagon toward the commandant’s office. It was the custom that the missionaries always stopped to tell Colonel Strasburg how things went on their tour.

  When they pulled up in front of the office, the colonel was standing on the porch, talking to two officers. The officers welcomed the Rogerses home, and the colonel invited the missionaries into his office. When they told him that thirty-four people had come to the Lord, the colonel praised the Lord.

  “Well, sir,” said Cody, “did our new chaplain and his wife arrive?”

  A thrill ran through Strasburg. “They sure did. I really like Chaplain Vaughn and his wife, and so does Della and everyone else in the fort. He’s a great preacher too. The chaplain is in his office next door. I’ll take you over right now and introduce you to him. He’s been excited about meeting you.”

  “Swell!” said Cody.

  With his heart pounding, Colonel James Strasburg took them to the chaplain’s office. They liked Don Vaughn immediately, and Vaughn liked them. The chaplain asked about the tour, and was happy to hear of the thirty-four souls that had been saved. He then talked about how much he and his wife already loved Fort Apache—without ever mentioning his wife’s name.

  Across the compound, Deena was coming out the front door of her cabin with three officers’ wives when one of them saw the covered wagon parked in front of the offices. She pointed to it and said, “Deena! That’s the Rogers wagon, right there!”