He Held
He watched from a distance as she came out of school with her friends she had
grown a lot since he had last seen her he thought when was that yes it must be
five years but he would have recognised her after more. It was his fault that his
marriage had broken down but he just could not cope. He had spent five years
deployed in firstly Iraq then Afghanistan before being discharged with honor and
a few medals also PTSD. This affected his life so much that he would check
their car before going out and he would jump if a car back fired.
Rebecca his wife stood by him went to all his meetings with the military physiatrist but nothing seemed to help in the end he just left home for their safety without saying goodbye. He lived on the streets for the first three years then met a local preacher who turned his life around he was now a pastor at a church in a small town about one hundred miles from Milwaukee where his wife and daughter still lived he had no idea if she had met someone else and he was afraid to find out.
He had a small house and many friends and his life was good so his friend
Keith said it was time to reconnect with his past and that was why he was here.
The problem was where to start should he just go and knock on the door or
arrange a chance meeting at this moment looking at his daughter he had no
idea. He followed her at a safe distance and was amazed to find they still lived
in the same house he saw Rebecca come out to meet her and she had not
changed at all just as lovely as ever. He stayed for a short while before going
back to the motel where he had booked in for a couple of nights no nearer to a
solution. The next morning whilst having breakfast he decided that he would
wait for Kathy to leave for school and then just go and knock on the door. He
had another cup of coffee not because he wanted it but he was just putting of
going. He finally plucked up courage and knocked on the door and waited.
Rebecca answered the door he could see she was shocked to see him and
then she put her arms round his neck and hugged him tight as tears ran down
her cheeks.
He could not believe it he held her close and then started to say
how sorry he was about everything she pulled him into the house he walked
into the family room and nothing had changed except there was a small boy
playing. Rebecca said this is your son Toby I was 2 months pregnant when you
left. Alan just looked then put his head in his hands and cried. Rebecca held
him and said she understood why he had left but they had never stopped loving
him and hoping that he would find his way home. Over the next two days he told her everything that had happened to him he reconnected with his daughter and got to know his son. He then told her he had to return to his church and could she possibly in the future think about joining him he realised that a would be a complete change of lifestyle for them especially for Kathy at her age to leave her friends and start a new school. Rebecca said they would talk it over and
when they had made a decision she would write. Alan agreed this would be the
right thing to do so he returned to his home friends and church. Now every day
saw him waiting for the post and hoping for good news but as his friend said
patience was what was needed and to trust that all would work out. Time would
tell.
