Blast From the Past

He got down on one knee and opened a small box and continued speaking.

"Since he said 'yes', I was hoping you would, too."

"Emily? Will you marry me?"

Her trembling hand shot out as she said, "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!"

Three months later, she did marry him, and after a two-week honeymoon which included the girls, Jeff came home and began looking for work. Within a month he found a job working as a defense attorney in Orting mostly representing petty criminals and DUI cases. It provided all the extra income they needed, and best of all, Emily was able to stay home and raise their girls; the girls Jeff adopted later that year. And she was able to care for their son who came along the following year, and whom they named John after her father who was still clean and sober and very much a part of her life again.

The divorce had been painful and so had seeing her father in the state he was in. But had it not happened, she'd have never met the love of her life nor would her father have ever stopped drinking.

Now, every day was a cause for celebration as she, Jeff, their three children, and her father became a very close-knit family, the kind Emily had always dreamed of having.

And during a visit to Colorado when Abbie's daughter was born, the circle of love continued to grow until Emily thought her heart might overflow with joy and burst from happiness. And all of it due to the day Jeff had walked back into her life like a blast from the past.