The Ugly Duckling - Epilogue

Ryan nodded his head as he examined the kite, which was even bigger than he was!

Ryan approached this strange man who was his father, and then gave him a brief hug, a cautious hug perhaps, but a hug nonetheless! Alice saw a glistening in Christopher's eyes, he was fighting off tears.

"Look at the time," Alice said, "Jackie will be here to pick Ryan up very soon ... have you seen her?"

"Tonight ... I'm going over there for dinner ... kinda a family reunion of sorts."

"Ryan," he continued, "would it be alright if I put the kite in my car and then bring it over to your house tonight when I come for dinner ... that way it won't get damaged ... would that be OK?"

"Yes," Ryan answered, finally speaking to his father for the first time.

"C'mon Ryan," Alice said, "get your things so you're ready when your mommy comes. You can talk to your father later when he comes over to your house. And he'll bring the kite; everyone will want to see it!"

"Christopher, can you wait until I get back?" Alice asked, "This will only take a minute."

"Sure."

"Bye Ryan, see you later," she heard him say as they left the classroom.

When Alice returned they began to talk.

"Your son is a wonderful little boy," Alice offered, as the way to break the ice a bit now that they were alone, "maybe I favour him a little, because he's yours, and because of his grandparents, but I think I have a good excuse," she added with a small laugh.

"My parents told me about your mother," Christopher said with sincerity, "I'm so sorry, she was always so nice to me."

"She always liked you," Alice said, "she was very upset when they reported you were missing. So was I."

There was an awkward pause as the conversation stalled, and then ...

"Alice, can I ask you something personal?"

What was this, she wondered?

"Are you with anyone?"

"No," Alice replied, scarcely breathing!

"Could we maybe try seeing each other again?"

"What about Jackie?" she asked; she just had too!

"Let's just say that this falls into the category of 'you can't go home again', shall we?"

"Are you sure?"

"Maybe there is something you should know," Christopher said, clearly searching for the right words, "Jackie was a fling, pure and simple ... and then, just before we graduated, she announced that she was pregnant, and that she wanted to keep the baby. So I did the honourable thing, and married her. No child of mine was going to grow up without a father!" he added in a determined way.

"I understand," Alice said; her mind full of questions.

"But over there I had plenty of time to think ... more than plenty ... and while I'll never know for sure, I think Jackie got pregnant on purpose ... to trap me because my family has money ... it's an old enough story ... sadly. Hopefully she also loved me, and was afraid of losing me ... at least that's what I kept telling myself, because she certainly knew that I didn't really love her ... not the way I loved you so long ago," he said in a forlorn voice.

He looked so sad; it almost broke Alice's heart to see him this way.

"So what's next?" Alice finally asked, searching for something to say ... anything!

"I'm going to try to get some sort of visitation rights so I can see Ryan, hopefully without going to court. I'm leaving the military; they have offered me an honourable discharge, not that I could serve in any field capacity now with my left foot the way it is anyway. I've been approached about a book deal, and I think I'll do that, I always liked to write ... and now I've got material like you wouldn't believe. I'm going to live with my parents for a while ... I think they want that, and I can be close to Ryan ... and ..."

"And what?"

"You see," he said softly, "there was this girl a long time ago ... I want to find her, and if I, and she, haven't changed too, too much, well maybe ..."

"Christopher," she answered back, coming close to him, and putting her hands on his shoulders ... he was so thin!

"Yes."

"I don't think the blue prom dress fits me anymore."

"You kept it?"

"For the rest of my life ..."

[Dedicated to all of the soldiers from the English speaking democracies, the living and the dead, who have fought in this terrible unending war -- PS]