09-02-2020, 01:14 PM
Mom walked back into the living room and looked at me thoughtfully before she came over and gave me a big hug. "I don't know who you are, or what you've done with my son Justin, but you are pretty special. I'm going over and be with Mary for a little while. You were right. She really does need someone right now, and as much as she appreciated you and the way you were there for Stephanie, you just aren't old enough." Mom stepped back, then leaned in and gave me a big kiss on the forehead. "You have really grown up lately, Son. I'm really proud of you!"
Mom is always free with her praise, but this was way above and beyond anything she has ever said before. I couldn't help feeling a warm glow inside as Mom walked out the front door. "I'll call Dad on the way over there and tell him what's going on. I don't know how long I'll be, so let's plan on not leaving before ten or ten-thirty in the morning, OK?" I just waved goodbye as she closed the door, then Rosemary and I hugged each other before walking up the stairs together to go to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Meechum walked into his empty apartment and went to the refrigerator for a beer. He pulled one out, popped the top off and started to take a drink, but at the smell stopped, looked at the bottle, and poured it out in the sink. He was not an alcoholic, but he recognized tonight was not a night he needed to crawl into a bottle. The empty feeling within came simply from the emptiness of his apartment and the loneliness he felt after leaving Mary and Stephanie.
Since returning from Iraq and finishing college, going through Medical School, then interning and residency, he had not taken the time to develop relationships with anyone. The nightmares, times of despondency, the aching sense of loss and horror from the war had not been something he felt he could share with another person who had not been there. He visited a number of therapists who encouraged him to find someone with whom he could talk, and beyond talking develop a close relationship, but he had never felt it possible to bare his soul, or to get close. Everyone with whom he had been close in the Corps either didn't come home, or they came home broken and scarred, and he had been the one to care for them, saving those he could save. Getting close to anyone frightened him, for he was afraid of losing them, too.
Tonight had been different. Tonight he had broken down and had allowed Mary and Stephanie within the horror he lived with for over ten years. Of course, Mary had been with him through today's horror with the little Kindergarten kids, and she had been what held him together on more than one occasion during the ordeal.
To be honest with himself, that first morning in their home, meeting Stephanie and seeing SSgt. Weathers' picture on the wall was the first chink in the wall of armor he had built around himself. Stephanie and Mary had done so much to assuage his pain when he saw the picture of the man to whom he owed his life. Then dinner with Mary, when Stephanie was prevented from coming home had widened the chink, causing him to take stock of his life, but it was tonight that the shell of the armor had fallen away, leaving him denuded as it were before them. Oh how he wished he could have accepted Mary's invitation, but to share her bed, rather than her guest room. He didn't want sex. What he really wanted, nay craved, was the companionship of a soul-mate that knew him fully and yet loved him.
He reached for the telephone on the wall just as Mom walked into the Weathers' home. "Mary? Look, I'm really sorry to call so late, and especially after this evening, but I just had to say 'Thanks.'"
Mary waved Mom to a seat at her kitchen table and poured her a glass of white wine to go with the one she herself had been sipping. "Not a problem, Tom. I'm glad we could be here for you." Mom signed she could leave and give Mary some privacy, but Mary shook her head 'No', waving her to the seat. "I know it was really hard for you, but it meant a lot to Stephanie to hear about her Daddy, and it meant a lot to me, too. That was Brad all the way."
"I really don't know what came over me. I normally can keep my emotions in check, but tonight I just lost it. I apologize for ruining your evening by dumping my load on you."
Mary sat down quickly, nearly overcome with emotion and the need to nurture and comfort a hurting person. Her nurse persona came out, but along with it a maternal and an almost spousal need to allay and assuage the obvious pain Tom suffered. "Tom, I think it was past time you let it out. You can't keep all of that inside. I'm here for you any time you need someone with whom to talk. It was a hard day for both of us, and I can't imagine what it was for you. I am grateful you were the one who was there though, because I don't know anyone else that could have handled the trauma the way you did."
"I couldn't have done it without you, Mary. Every time I looked up you were there, and your compassion for those kids was so calming, but not just to them. I just want you to know it meant a lot to me, also. And not only that, but you are beginning to mean a lot to me. I hope I'm not presuming on anything or rushing things, but I would like to explore a relationship with you if you would be interested."
Mary felt widely conflicting emotions. On the one hand she was afraid. Afraid of allowing another man into her life after what she just went through with Paul, and especially a man as terribly scarred as was Tom, but on the other hand she felt such a bond with Tom already. Holding his head on her breast as he wept had also broken through some barriers she had erected in her own heart, and as she had looked at Brad's picture when Tom left she felt as if Brad was bringing them together.
Mom is always free with her praise, but this was way above and beyond anything she has ever said before. I couldn't help feeling a warm glow inside as Mom walked out the front door. "I'll call Dad on the way over there and tell him what's going on. I don't know how long I'll be, so let's plan on not leaving before ten or ten-thirty in the morning, OK?" I just waved goodbye as she closed the door, then Rosemary and I hugged each other before walking up the stairs together to go to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Meechum walked into his empty apartment and went to the refrigerator for a beer. He pulled one out, popped the top off and started to take a drink, but at the smell stopped, looked at the bottle, and poured it out in the sink. He was not an alcoholic, but he recognized tonight was not a night he needed to crawl into a bottle. The empty feeling within came simply from the emptiness of his apartment and the loneliness he felt after leaving Mary and Stephanie.
Since returning from Iraq and finishing college, going through Medical School, then interning and residency, he had not taken the time to develop relationships with anyone. The nightmares, times of despondency, the aching sense of loss and horror from the war had not been something he felt he could share with another person who had not been there. He visited a number of therapists who encouraged him to find someone with whom he could talk, and beyond talking develop a close relationship, but he had never felt it possible to bare his soul, or to get close. Everyone with whom he had been close in the Corps either didn't come home, or they came home broken and scarred, and he had been the one to care for them, saving those he could save. Getting close to anyone frightened him, for he was afraid of losing them, too.
Tonight had been different. Tonight he had broken down and had allowed Mary and Stephanie within the horror he lived with for over ten years. Of course, Mary had been with him through today's horror with the little Kindergarten kids, and she had been what held him together on more than one occasion during the ordeal.
To be honest with himself, that first morning in their home, meeting Stephanie and seeing SSgt. Weathers' picture on the wall was the first chink in the wall of armor he had built around himself. Stephanie and Mary had done so much to assuage his pain when he saw the picture of the man to whom he owed his life. Then dinner with Mary, when Stephanie was prevented from coming home had widened the chink, causing him to take stock of his life, but it was tonight that the shell of the armor had fallen away, leaving him denuded as it were before them. Oh how he wished he could have accepted Mary's invitation, but to share her bed, rather than her guest room. He didn't want sex. What he really wanted, nay craved, was the companionship of a soul-mate that knew him fully and yet loved him.
He reached for the telephone on the wall just as Mom walked into the Weathers' home. "Mary? Look, I'm really sorry to call so late, and especially after this evening, but I just had to say 'Thanks.'"
Mary waved Mom to a seat at her kitchen table and poured her a glass of white wine to go with the one she herself had been sipping. "Not a problem, Tom. I'm glad we could be here for you." Mom signed she could leave and give Mary some privacy, but Mary shook her head 'No', waving her to the seat. "I know it was really hard for you, but it meant a lot to Stephanie to hear about her Daddy, and it meant a lot to me, too. That was Brad all the way."
"I really don't know what came over me. I normally can keep my emotions in check, but tonight I just lost it. I apologize for ruining your evening by dumping my load on you."
Mary sat down quickly, nearly overcome with emotion and the need to nurture and comfort a hurting person. Her nurse persona came out, but along with it a maternal and an almost spousal need to allay and assuage the obvious pain Tom suffered. "Tom, I think it was past time you let it out. You can't keep all of that inside. I'm here for you any time you need someone with whom to talk. It was a hard day for both of us, and I can't imagine what it was for you. I am grateful you were the one who was there though, because I don't know anyone else that could have handled the trauma the way you did."
"I couldn't have done it without you, Mary. Every time I looked up you were there, and your compassion for those kids was so calming, but not just to them. I just want you to know it meant a lot to me, also. And not only that, but you are beginning to mean a lot to me. I hope I'm not presuming on anything or rushing things, but I would like to explore a relationship with you if you would be interested."
Mary felt widely conflicting emotions. On the one hand she was afraid. Afraid of allowing another man into her life after what she just went through with Paul, and especially a man as terribly scarred as was Tom, but on the other hand she felt such a bond with Tom already. Holding his head on her breast as he wept had also broken through some barriers she had erected in her own heart, and as she had looked at Brad's picture when Tom left she felt as if Brad was bringing them together.
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