Meant to be

“Good night, Melina, my love. Sleep tight,” Kelly whispered. She and Ray went down the hall and into the living room in silence.

“I’m afraid to ask what you think of my little brat,” Kelly said.

“Melina is not a brat,” he said. “ She’s precious, an angel, a little darling. But then I suspected she would be with you for a mother. She’s so much like you it’s scary.”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment, but I’ll take it as such. Thank you, Ray,”  Kelly said.  Taking his hand she led him to the sofa.

“For?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

“First, for scaring away the monsters far better than I could have done. That’s very important, especially to Melina,” she replied. “And second, for giving her a little taste of what it would be like to have a daddy. She’s never known that.”

His smiled. He hadn’t realized how much he missed being a daddy, but he couldn’t exactly tell her that. She’d think he was auditioning for the part. “You said her father died when she was just two. She doesn’t remember him, then,” he said quietly.

“She couldn’t possibly. Henry left for the war when she was three months old. I should have known he wasn’t meant for civilian life.”  She sighed heavily. “Love makes you irrationally hopeful, doesn’t it?”

He couldn’t agree more with that statement. Here he was, after only being widowed a bit over two years, dating a woman 16 years his junior and wishing to have her and her darling little girl as permanent fixtures in his life. What was he thinking? How could he think of replacing a daring and brave army lieutenant, a war hero? He must be insane.

“So, Melina never really knew her dad.”

“I’ve told her stories but no, not really.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t married in all this time. You’re so... wonderful,” he said.

She smiled. “Thank you, Ray. I suppose I could have found someone if I had been looking, but I was too concerned with Melina. Her seizures only just started getting better since this new medication. It’s only because it has been more than six months without an episode that I even thought about taking some time for me, like a class, your class. It was the first time I could breathe with ease. Felt good for a change,” she said with obvious relief.

“Well, I’m certainly glad you did. You’re a joy to be around,” he said. He cleared his throat and pretending calm he asked,  “How long did you know Henry before you married?”

“Oh, years and years, since high school. When we met we were each dating other people, we all were friends until my boyfriend took a liking to his girlfriend and we were left out in the cold,” she said laughing.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Ray said frowning.

“No, but it was for the best,” she replied matter-of-factly. “It happens.”

“So, then you and Henry got together?”

“No, he went to the army right out of high school. He loved it. It was what he was born for. Wish I had figured that out then,” she said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?”

“He asked me to marry him early on but I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” Ray asked bewildered.

“He planned on making the military his career.  I didn’t want to be an army wife. I didn’t want our kids never to know if their father would be coming back from a war or even a training mission. That’s no life. So, when he finally got out, we decided to marry.”

“How long was that?”

“Eleven years.”

“You waited all that time to get married?” Ray said incredulously.

“Yes, I refused to until he was out of the military for good,” Kelly said wistfully.

“But then... how did he die?”

“Nine-eleven happened when I was pregnant. Henry wanted to go back, I could tell. He pretended he was fine, but he was so restless and cranky.  I couldn’t take it. He was so miserable being home and doing nothing of value while his buddies were out killing terrorists and protecting us from further harm.”

“Nothing of value? He had already done several years  protecting all of us,” Ray said fiercely. “Plus now he was a father and a husband.  There’s value in that, too.”

“He didn’t see it that way. He felt he was letting everyone down. So, I let him go. He swore he’d come back, but we never saw him again. He was blown to bits,” she replied stoically.

Ray cringed. “Oh, Kelly, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. And he thought he had it bad, seeing his wife slowly die of cancer.

“It’s fine, Ray. He went the way he wanted, protecting us from evil,” she said soothingly, giving his hand a squeeze. “You know that stupid saying. If you let it go and it comes back, it was meant to be. Me and Henry, we just weren’t meant to be.”

“Don’t say that. Together you made Melina. She was meant to be, wasn’t she?” Ray said softly.

She giggled. “There you go again, Professor. Teaching me something very important. Melina’s right. It was a good thing for me when I found you.”

No, he thought,  it was a good thing for him. Too bad he was too chicken to tell her this. “How sad for you, Kelly. You and Henry only were together for such a short time.”

“Not much sadder than you, Ray. For you it was far worse, I think. You were together for so long,” she replied.

“And yet it wasn’t long enough,” he said before he could stop himself. “Guess we’re in the same boat, then, both losing our spouses.”

She grinned impishly. “People have become friends with less in common.”

They stared at each other both knowing they were becoming far more than friends.

“Do you think they’re looking down at us right now?”she asked wistfully.

He thought about that a moment. “I don’t know. What do you think Henry would say?”

She smiled. “He’d say, about time you got a life,” she said in a gruff voice. Then she giggled. “How about your wife?”

He looked into space for a minute and grinned. “You know, I never really thought about it, but I kind of think she’d say the same thing.”  They both laughed.

“Well, then maybe they’ve become friends too, wherever they are,” Kelly said brightly. She then took Ray’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s like back in high school.”

“How do you mean?” he asked baffled.

“We’ve switched partners. Maybe this was meant to be, too,” she said.

 He smiled. He certainly hoped so.