I’m baaaaaack!!!

First of all, thank you, Jean, for not kicking me out.  I really appreciate it! 🙂

This is sort of a continuation of an earlier TT post, and something I’ve toyed with for years.  For the original post, CLICK HERE to read about Preston and Karen’s first kiss.

Also – check out more stories from several fabulous authors on the Tuesday Tales Blog.

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[INTERLUDE: The Love Letter]

Dearest Preston,

It has been two weeks now since you left me standing on my front porch.  I don’t know where in the world you might be or what you might be doing, but I do know one thing… you are all I think about.  You are at the front of every thought in my head, the impetus for every action I undertake.  I never knew what I wanted until I had you – until you took my dare and kissed me.  Part of me tried to die when you got in that car and walked away, but I wouldn’t let it.  I held on – am still holding on – to the hope that you’re going to show up any day now after having performed some act of heroism that got you an early exit with honors.

I know things like that don’t happen, though.  I know the heroes are the ones they like to keep for a long time.  It might sound bad, but I keep catching myself thinking about something horrible.  Some sick little part of my psyche keeps hoping for news of a minor accident – some sort of small, non-lethal injury that will bring you home.

I feel horrible for thinking that and I know that if something does happen to you I’m going to feel guilty for the rest of my life, but I want you home that bad.  I want to know if what we have is more than just a passing thing built out of desperation.

You’ve had my heart for years, Preston.  I just didn’t know it.  With Valentine’s Day only a week away, I know now where my heart belongs – in the place it has always been.  With you.

I love you.  A thousand times I love you.  My heart swells when I think of you then it shatters when I remember that you’re on the other side of the world.  I want to pick up the telephone and call you but then I remember that you aren’t at your Dad’s house.  I remember that you aren’t anywhere that gets cell reception.  You aren’t anywhere that’s safe to let down your guard.  But I don’t cry, because I know you wouldn’t want me to cry for you.  It wouldn’t be fair, because this is the life you chose for yourself. 

You are proud to be a soldier, and I am proud of you.  Every day I want to shout from the rooftop that you are a soldier, and that I am in love with you.

Please be safe, Preston.  You have no idea how much you mean to me.  How much you are loved and missed.  Take care of yourself, and come home soon.

I love you forever,

Karen