by Ciara Knight
For a second, she sat on the settee and eyed the envelope. It was worn, yellowed with age, and it had been opened. She lifted the flap and pulled the letter out. The dark ink had smeared a little, but she could read all of it.
To my dearest love,
I have to report early to the Marines. For a moment, I thought about going AWOL and finding my way to you in Paris for one last kiss before I go. To see your bright eyes and smile, to hold you one more time, but that would not get us closer to our dreams. I count the days until my first leave. If you’ll have me, I want to marry you, and you can stay in Silver Springs or move with me to military housing and finish your degree at another college. It is your choice, and I will support you in whatever you want in life.
People tell me that you’ll go to college and forget about us, that you’ll move on with your life, but I can’t believe that. However, I love you enough to let you go. Take your time and make sure I am the man you want forever. I can promise that I’ll never touch a drop of alcohol, that I would never touch you in a way that brought you pain, I’ll never scold or lie to you. I cannot promise you’ll be rich, so if you realize my life is not the life you want, I’ll understand. I’m sorry we couldn’t speak in person. I tried to call you in Paris, and I’ve left word with your mom.
Please know that I will not pressure you. If you want to marry me, please write to me. Your mother has the address. If I don’t hear from you by the time my training is over, I’ll know you decided to move on, and I’ll let you go.
Hopefully yours,
Rex
Ally held the letter to her chest, and the tears flowed. How she’d wished and dreamed to hear or read these words. For so long she fought to understand why he decided to leave her behind. Now she knew.
Rex’s phone buzzed from the coffee table. She picked it up, but wasn’t sure if she should answer it. What if it was the hospital? She hit accept, and a loud male voice sounded on the phone. “Hey, man. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple days. You mind giving me a ride from the airport? I booked my flight based on the details you gave me a few weeks ago.”
Flight? Couple days?
“Hey, Rex. You hear me man?”
“Um, this is Ally. Sorry. I picked up his phone in case you were the hospital.”
“Hospital? Rex gone and got himself shot again?”
“Shot?” A sting of fear shot through her, how close had he gotten to dying? She fought Mega Fear Monster poking her in the side and refocused. “No. His father is in the hospital. Rex is asleep. Been up all night by his father’s bedside.”
“Rex by his old man’s side? Sure hon. Whatever you say.” The man chuckled. “Not sure what’s going on, but I doubt Rex would do anything for his old man.”
“Things change.” Ally swallowed, realizing the letter in her hand was written from a different man.
“Ah, sure. Can you tell him to call me? Names Kevin. Tell him his old dog needs a ride. He’ll get it. Tell him I’ll re-up with him and ride out another four years in the pit.”
“Okay.” Ally hit end and sat the phone down on the table. She held the letter to her heart, and the tears busted through the damn of hope, flooding her with the knowledge he was leaving again. It sounded like he was going back to military life. A life without her. This time it was his choice. He didn’t tell her. He’d made it sound like he might stick around if things were good between them. Guess they weren’t good enough.
She sat the letter down next to the phone and stood. There was nothing left to say. She’d finish up the work after he left in a couple of days. She wasn’t sure how or when she’d manage to get it all done. All she knew for sure was that she couldn’t be around Rex. Not for another minute. She grabbed her shoes and headed for the front door.
Mr. Regrets plopped down in front of her followed by Harry Heartbroken. She wanted to kick them both square in their smug imaginary jaws.
Chapter Fifteen
There wasn’t a sound except for the fan oscillating in the corner. Rex turned, but Ally wasn’t there. He went to the front parlor and saw his phone sitting next to his old letter. His heart did double time. With one swipe, he saw the name Kevin on recent calls and knew what had happened. He ran to the door just in time to catch a glimpse of Ally running up the street and turning out of site.
“You’re such a fool Rex Snyder.” He took off down the front porch steps, the rough wood digging into his bare feet. He raced after her, but when he reached Main, there was no sign of her. He huffed and gasped, walking up and down the street. He reached the antique shop by the time he caught his breath and found Mel behind the counter. Her face flushed, and her gaze darting around the room.
“She’s not here,” Mel said before he even had a chance to ask.
“I need to talk to her. She didn’t let me explain.”
Mel rounded the corner and blocked his path to the back room. “You need to leave.”
Rex eyed the back and then Mel. Storming through her shop wasn’t the way to handle this. “Fine. I’ll leave, but tell her that I wasn’t saying I was leaving because I wanted to, that I’d made a decision. That isn’t it. I have to report to Marine Summer Camp. It’s two weeks I do every summer.” He spoke loud, knowing his voice would carry to the back, but Ally didn’t come out.
Mel glanced behind her. “I’m sorry, Rex. I really am, but you need to leave. I’ll pass on your message, though. When I see her I mean.”
Rex backed out of the store. His hands were shaking his heart was thundering, his soul was aching. He trudged back up to the house and heard his phone ringing. He’d ran out so fast he’d forgotten about his own father. He snagged his phone from the parlor table. “Hello? Hello.”
“Catch you at a bad time?” David’s voice sounded from the ear piece.
“Um. No.” Rex collapsed onto the settee, wishing the world around him would stop moving so fast.
“How’s it going there?” David asked.
“Not so well. My dad’s in the hospital, and Ally won’t speak to me. Worst of all, I need to head out for my two weeks.”
“That sucks.” David cleared his throat. He sounded close, like in Silver Springs close.
“Connections good. You on a SAT phone?” Rex eyed the number, it looked like a US number.
“Ah, yeah. You sound stressed, what’s up?”
“Father collapsed when I yelled at him in the middle of town. Now he’s in the hospital and apparently has liver issues that are life ending, and I don’t know how to feel about that.”
“Dang, that’s heavy. Listen man. Sorry about sending you back if it didn’t work out between you and Ally, and with all this business with your old man. I just thought...”
“Thought what?”
“Well, that if Mel and I could’ve had a second shot, I would’ve wanted you to send me back.”
Rex wrestled with the info. “You mean that?”
“Yeah, I guess I do. The anger is gone now. Part of me wishes I could go back stateside.”
Rex rubbed his aching forehead. “Okay, then I hope you’re ready for this. Mel regretted her decision the minute we left. She hasn’t dated anyone, not one man since you left. The girl has been holding a torch and living with guilt. Total tragic story. Do with it what you will, but I thought you should know.”
He didn’t say a word. Rex gave him a minute, but still nothing. “Dude, you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
Rex cleared his throat. “Listen sorry to throw you like that. Just thought—”
“You did me a solid. Now, do yourself a favor. Get out.”
Rex scratched his head and changed the phone to the other ear. “What are you talking about? Get out of what?”
“The Marines. Your time is up. You were never a lifer like me anyway.” Music sounded in the background.
“What’s that? Sounds more like you’re at a bar than in the sand box.”
David coughed. “Um, yeah, about that. I’m on leave. Listen, though.
I’ve got to run. Keep me posted about your dad. You can reach me at this number. Bye.”
The coward hung up. He’d been able to fix his own grandmother’s house this entire time. He played the bro card for nothing. Why? Rex dusted off the pebbles on his feet and shoved his shoes on. He needed to get to the hospital and figure some things out. When he reached the hospital parking deck he tried to dial Ally, but she didn’t answer. He sat by his father’s side while he slept.
Rex never took his eyes off his phone. After an hour, he tried to call her again. An hour later, he texted her. An hour later he called her again. No answer, no response. By the next afternoon, he realized she wouldn’t return his calls. As he packed to leave for his training he had to face the truth. And this time, he knew she got the messages. This time, she’d made a choice. And it wasn’t him.
Chapter Sixteen
The fading sun behind the mountains only shadowed Ally in more darkness. Mel handed her a cup of tea, and sat by her on their apartment couch. “You sure you don’t want to talk to him? He said he was headed out for some sort of Marine training.”
“No. He didn’t tell me. I can’t take anymore lies in my life. Besides, he made a choice. He’s leaving. The guy said he was looking forward to joining up with him again.” Ally sipped her tea to keep the lump of hopelessness form rising too high. “He is going back overseas, and he didn’t tell me.”
“Go with him.” Mel nudged her knee.
“What?”
“Go with him. You can live the life of a Marine wife. See the world. Heck, that’s what I’d want.”
Ally shook her head. “No. I’ve worked too hard to build our business. It’s all I have.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You know what I mean.”
Mel propped her feet up on the coffee table. “Why won’t you go with him?”
Ally set the tea cup down, not wanting to continue talking about Rex Snyder any longer. “Because he didn’t ask,” she whispered. Heading to her room, she glared at Mr. Hopeless. Dang, one of these days she was going to send them a way for good.
Mel turned on the couch. “I’m so sorry. Maybe he was going to ask you, and he was getting up his nerve.”
“He had plenty of chances.” Ally headed to her room and shut the door, not willing to spend another minute on Rex Snyder and the dreams that would never be. She swiped her eyes free of tears and opened her laptop. Back to work, that’s what she needed to do. If there was anything in life that was solid, dependable, and honest, it was a hard day of work.
She ordered fabrics for the pieces she needed to restore, researched the value of most of the pieces she’d made notes on, and ran the numbers. It would be enough. She checked eBay, and sure enough, she’d sold it all. Enough to pay the rent and look at moving forward. Finally, after so long, they’d be in the black. And now that Mel had managed to get the busses to drop off at their street for some sightseeing, they had real hope of saving the brick and mortar store. Perhaps they could even move into a better space at some point. Something less industrial, more antique.
She pulled the pictures of the Kelley house down and scanned them all. The house was amazing. A true show piece. Too bad after Rex finished fixing it up, it would probably remain unoccupied for a long time.
An insane idea popped into her head, and she printed off a few of the photos. She cut them out, arranged them, and pasted them onto a board. For hours, she crafted a dream board. A collage of antiques and specialty items housed in the Kelley mansion. She even drew out a floor plan of an upstairs living space and downstairs gallery. She’d even included an office and some storage. It was a dream, an impossible dream, but it gave her something to focus on instead of the fact that Rex Snyder was home packing, and this time she hoped he’d leave forever.
Chapter Seventeen
In the morning, there was still no change in his father. How could he leave him like this? How could he leave Ally behind with all the work still left to do? He shoved from the chair and paced the hospital room.
The nurse entered and checked the machines and IV’s again. “You should go and get some rest. I promise to call if there‘s any change.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m leaving tomorrow. I have to report for training.”
“I thought you were military.” The woman straightened his dad’s pillow then went to the white board and changed the names of the nurses. “You being deployed?”
“No ma’am. In reserves now. I’m actually in my last year.”
She smiled, a sweet, friendly, flirtatious smile, and he didn’t like it. It wasn’t Ally. “I guess I do need to go finish packing and check on a few things. Promise to call me if there is any change, right?”
“Yes. And thank you for your service.”
He nodded and headed out. The comment was always appreciated, but sometimes it felt foreign after being out of the military life for so long. He started the car and decided to check missed calls just in case he didn’t feel it vibrate when he was asleep, but there were none. He flicked to recent to dial Ally one more time and noticed Kevin’s number again. Something didn’t seem right. Yes, she was upset that he was leaving without telling her, but it was only for a couple weeks. He hit the button and it rang twice.
“Hey man,” Kevin answered.
“Hey, how you doing?”
“Good. I was worried that broad wasn’t going to give you the message. You still picking me up at the airport?”
“You mean Ally?”
“The girl that answered your phone? Yeah she said Ally.”
“What did you two talk about?” Rex asked.
“About you picking me up. She was a little squirrely.”
That described Ally alright. And he loved that about her.
“You still signing back up? Can’t believe your gonna give up the easy life with all that money you make at your company and go risk your life again.”
“I don’t know. With my father in the hospital and everything going on here, I’m not even sure how I’ll be gone for two weeks.”
“Sorry to hear about your pops man. I thought he was a lousy guy, though.”
“He was. Sobered up and apparently has been doing good for a while. Guess I’d like to stick around to find out who he is now.”
“Deep. Okay, give me a shout when you know what the deal is. I’ll catch another ride if need be.”
“Wait. One question. Did you tell Ally I was signing back up?”
“Don’t remember. Actually, I recall saying something like that.”
“That explains a lot,” Rex mumbled.
“I might have mentioned it. Hey, sorry man if I got you in trouble with your woman,” Kevin said, his voice as awkward as when he tried to talk to women on leave.
“It’s fine. I should’ve told her. Honestly, I forgot about that part. I’ll call you tomorrow morning and let you know if I’m on my flight. I need to figure some things out first.”
Rex spent the day asking questions at the hospital about his father and signing papers. Then he went to the antique shop. He needed to talk to Ally, to find out for sure how she felt about him. He couldn’t completely give his heart to her until he knew for sure.
With a renewed determination, he went to the shop, but found it closed. He knocked and knocked, but no one answered. After a few people stopped on the street and threatened to call the police, he decided to check her apartment. He found himself banging on another door followed by another threat of police interference.
With nowhere else to go, he sat on a park bench across the street from her apartment for two hours, waiting and watching like a bad stalker. When the moon rose high in the sky and he found the stars, he decided to head back to the house in case she’d gone there to see him. Again, all he found was disappointment. He sat down in the parlor and saw the letter, the one he’d written to Ally all those years ago. She’d found it somehow. He wasn’t sure where, but if she read that and still didn’t want to be with him, he didn’t have a prayer
.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Rex bolted from the couch and raced to the front door. On the other side of it stood David. He tossed his duffle on the floor and strutted in like he had been expected.
The smell of fatigues and dirt brought back memories of his Marine days. Days he thought he’d left behind. “What’s going on? You sent me here because you couldn’t make it.”
“Yes.” David put his hands on his hips and stood like a marine. “Yes, I did.”
Rex didn’t know if he wanted to slug or hug his best friend. “What’s going on? You best start talking because you’ve turned my life every which way and left me spinning here.”
“I sent you here to finally face your past. When grandmother passed, I knew it was an opportunity. I’d already put in to transfer state side, but I lied so you’d come. I knew your loyalty wouldn’t let you say no, but I’m here now because it doesn’t sound like it’s going so well.”
Rex huffed. “That’s an understatement.”
David plopped down in the parlor. “All right, catch me up. I’m here to save your sorry butt again.”
“Okay, you say you sent me here to fix my broken heart?”
“Yep, what are friends for?” David stretched. A smirk spread across his face, warning Rex there’d be trouble.
Fine. David wanted to play, he would play. “Go find Mel and tell her we need her help.”
“Why can’t you—”
“Because they won’t answer the door. They think I planned on running off and rejoining the Marines. I’ll leave if Ally knows all the facts this time and still doesn’t want me, but I will make sure she has all the information. I’m not leaving until I know for sure.” He picked up the letter and tossed it on David’s lap.
“What’s this?”
“The letter I wrote to Ally. She never got it. Never knew I wanted to marry her. She thought I ran off. I guess I understand why she thinks it’s happening again. I should’ve told her I was leaving for my two weeks, but I couldn’t. I wanted to figure things out before I left. She didn’t give us a chance. Now I might’ve ruined everything.”