High School Twenty Year Reunion

"Tom, you're probably the only man here who doesn't look down on Mary and me. I just told Grace she needs to take good care of you, because you're one in a million."

Mary hugged him too.

"Tom, I didn't think I'd ever have a straight guy I could call a friend, but I like you and I wish you all the best."

As they drove to the airport for their flight to Florida, Tom squeezed Grace's hand.

"Did Lucy really tell you to take care of me?"

"Yes, she did, but you don't have to worry about that."

"Well, what did Marjorie whisper to you?"

Grace giggled.

"She said if I ever got tired of you to give her a call and she'd take you off my hands."

She stroked his cheek then.

"That's not ever going to happen, Tom. I waited twenty years for this day, and I'm not going to give you up to anybody."

Tom smiled, reached across the center console, and squeezed Grace's thigh. He knew he could never give up Grace either. The little girl who'd been a pest when she was twelve had become the only person other than his family he'd told about losing his leg, and once she knew, she hadn't treated him any differently, well, until she'd confessed to being infatuated with him since she was twelve. She hadn't said that out of pity. She'd said it because she still felt that way and needed to tell him that.

Once he kissed her that first time, he felt something for her too, and over the next several weeks, had come to realize two things -- Grace still loved him, and she'd wormed her way into his heart with the way she said what she thought and how she said it. He knew he could never give her up either.

He looked at her and then stroked her thigh gently.

"Nobody could ever take me away from you, Grace."

Sisters are usually close. They sometimes fight too, usually over things that seem trivial to them in later years, but when one needs the other, they'll do anything to fill that need. Tom didn't know Judy's note was designed not to get him to the reunion so everybody could see him, but to get him there so Grace could tell him how she felt.

Judy never told him that, and she never told Grace that's why she'd asked her to help with the decorations. When she asked, she did mention that she thought Tom might be there, and smiled to herself when Grace grinned and said she'd be happy to help.

It was five years later on the second of June when Judy started typing the next reunion letter. She'd already reserved the date at the Legion Hall and checked all her addresses. She'd smiled when she added "and wife, Grace" to Tom's name. Her plan had worked out, though she didn't think it probably would. Grace was happy, Tom was happy, and she was Aunt Judy now to little Brandy and Tiffany. Even though they were just two and three, they were as close as she and Grace were. You never saw one without the other. She smiled again, and then started typing.

It's almost homecoming time again, time for all you '82 Monroe graduates to get together and see what's happened to us. We'll be at the Legion Hall again for our twenty-fifth class reunion, so bring your spouse or significant other and join us for an evening of fun. The bar opens at six and closes at midnight and we'll have finger food to snack on. Hope to see you there, Judy.