Room for Rent

Trevor's heart was also breaking, but he steeled himself against an emotional outbreak and calmly asked if this decision was final.

"I...I don't want to be, but I can't change how I feel anymore than you change how you feel," she said one or two words at a time as the sobbing became uncontrollable.

"Then I should probably find somewhere else to live until I leave," Trevor quietly told her.

Henley looked at him, her face screwed up with anguish as she held her arms out.

Trevor loved her with all his heart and held her until she stopped sobbing then slowly moved away.

"I'm...so...sorry!" she told him as he stood up.

"Me, too," Trevor said before hugging her one last time then going back to the room he hadn't slept in for weeks.

He had nearly $3,000 left from the money he'd saved on active duty and working during the summers and could afford to stay in a motel if he had to. He had to report no later than 1200 hours on the 11th of June for the 12-week course. He could also borrow some money from his dad if need be, and with that realization he sat down and opened his laptop and began looking for a new place to stay.

While he did, Henley lay on the bed where they'd made love so many times hating herself for not being able to get beyond this one thing that was destroying her future, and that would devastate her two children as much, if not more, than their father leaving and abandoning them. But she'd been over it a thousand times in her mind, and whether or not it was irrational, it was how she felt.

When she saw Trevor carrying his things out of the house an hour or so later, what was left of her heart felt like it died with what had already been broken. The children had been downstairs playing and were oblivious to what was happening, but Henley couldn't will herself to tell them just yet.

But before he left, Trevor talked to both of them and explained that he would be moving to a new place—for awhile.

"So then you'll be in the Army again?" Jennifer asked, 'knowing' he wouldn't be leaving her, her brother, or their mom.

"Well, yes. But not until September," he said, being honest about his commissioning date but not about moving somewhere else locally until he left for Fort Benning, Georgia.

Both of the children cried, but they knew he'd be leaving for 'a few months' at some point. They just didn't know he was leaving for good, and that was something he felt their mother needed to tell them herself.

So he hugged them both goodbye, told them that he loved them, and asked them to promise to always try and do the right thing.

"Even when no one is looking," Jennifer said through her tears, having learned that from him months ago.

"Right. Because that's what it means to have character."

He made it to his car before his own eyes got glassy and managed to back out and head down the road a ways where he pulled over and let out the hurt and the pain he was feeling. The last time he'd cried was at the memorial service for a fallen comrade in Afghanistan, something he'd never shared with Henley for obvious reasons.

Within a couple of minutes, he pulled himself together, and as he drove off, he realized that Henley was right. He couldn't guarantee her he wouldn't be killed in war or even during a training exercise. And as much as he hated knowing she felt that way he could never hate her for it. He couldn't because he still loved her and couldn't help but believe he always would.

******

September 11th, 2019

"Michael. We made it," his best friend at OCS said as they donned their dress uniforms for the graduation ceremony.

Like Trevor, he too, was a prior-enlisted soldier who'd also been an infantryman. Unlike Trevor, who'd gotten his branch of choice—Armor—this new lieutenant wanted to remain in the Infantry and would be wearing Infantry Blue on his shoulders in a few more hours.

"We did," Trevor told him.

"Can you believe we're gonna be commissioned officers?" he asked.

Trevor laughed and said, "Yeah. Now we're gonna be the know-nothing knuckleheads we used to shake our heads at."

His buddy laughed, too, then said, "I did a helluva lot more than shake my head at them."

Trevor chuckled and told him he understood.

"I want you to meet my wife after graduation," his friend said.

"Of course. I'm looking forward to it," Trevor told him.

"You ever hear from her?" his friend ask without using her name, because in the 12 weeks he'd known Trevor Michael, he'd never once heard the name of the woman who'd broken his heart.

"No. Never," he quietly replied as he placed the brass insignia for Armor Branch on his uniform for the first time.

"There'll be other women," his friend said as supportively as he could.

"Yeah. Of course," Trevor replied even though he still couldn't think about anyone else.

The truth was he'd thought of her during nearly every moment of free time he'd had. Even during tactical exercises, things he'd done as an enlisted soldier many times, his mind was with 'Dorothy', back in Kansas. Or rather with a beautiful, older woman named Henley, whom he still loved with all his heart.

Trevor pulled on the uniform jacket then said, "What do you think?"

"Not bad. For an Armor guy," his buddy said with a laugh. "But hey, not everyone can be an Infantry officer, right?"

Trevor laughed then said, "Yeah, right. Because some of us have brains and can think."

His buddy slapped him on the shoulder then said, "Let's do this."

The Georgia heat and humidity were still brutal, and Trevor was thankful the graduation ceremony was held indoors or his new dress uniform would have been saturated in sweat before his father could pin on one of his new epaulets. His would be a yellow-gold color signifying Armor while others like Field Artillery were red with Signal Corps wearing scarlet and white.

As Trevor took the oath of office while the rest of his class he wondered how many hundreds of thousands of men and women had done the same thing over the years, many of them in that very place. As he repeated the final words, "So help me God," he realized that he was, for all practical purposes, an Army officer, even though his cadet epaulets hadn't yet been replaced.

A feeling of immense pride washed over him when he looked out and caught his father's eye and saw the smile on his face. But a feeling of equally strong sadness swept over him at the realization that the woman he loved wouldn't be there to share this moment with him.

But just as the new officers were told to invite any family members to join them for the rank pinning ceremony, the door at the back of the auditorium opened. It took his brain a few seconds to recognize who it was because she'd lost some weight and was wearing a very pretty dress that was not only soft but sexy.

When she turned toward the stage where he was standing, he knew for sure. And he also knew that no one on earth, not even the general officer presiding over the commissioning ceremony, could stop him from calling out her name.

"Henley!"

She knew the voice, but because everyone was wearing the same thing, it took her brain a second or two to see his arm waving.

"Trevor!" she called back.

He waved her toward him, and when he got down off the stage he ran to her, bypassing his father and stepmother until he was face to face with her.

"You're here," he told her.

"I am," she replied as tears welled up in her eyes.

Trevor wanted to ask if she still loved him, but he wanted to let her speak.

"If...if I'm not too late. If you still...love me..."

"I never stopped loving you, Henley. Never," he told her.

"Nor I you, Trevor," she said as tears fell.

"So...what's changed?" he asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

"Everything," Henley told him with a look that nearly made him tear up, too.

"I realized that every single day I had with you was better than any other day of my life without you, and I finally understood that I'd do anything just to have one more of those days with the man I love."

She looked at his uniform, smiled, then said, "The very handsome, dashing Army officer I love."

He looked at her and told her she was even more beautiful than he remembered just as his father came up beside him.

Trevor started to introduce them when his dad smiled and said, "You must be Henley."

"Yes. I'm sorry I'm such a mess," she told him.

"My son talked about you the entire time he was home after graduation from KSU waiting for OCS to start," the older man told her before introducing his wife.

"I'm hoping to have time to get to know you after the ceremony," she told Henley.

"I...guess that depends on Trevor," Henley said as she looked at him.

He put his hands on her shoulders the way he'd done that first time then said, "You can have the rest of your life if that's what you want."

Henley tried to say, "Yes!" but couldn't speak. She just put her arms around him and nodded as she cried then finally managed to say, "I love you so much!"

"Then will you put one of these on?" Trevor asked as he moved away and produced a new epaulet with a gold bar on either end.

"You'll have to show me how," she told him.

"Come on. I don't want to get in trouble my first day as an Army officer."

Minutes later she and Trevor's father removed his placeholder epaulets and replaced them with those of a second lieutenant in the US Army's Armor Branch.

His father shook his hand, his stepmom gave him a hug, then both of them stepped aside so he could talk to Henley.

"I don't have a ring with me," Trevor began.

"But if you'll have me," he continued as he got down on one knee.

He didn't get another word out as Henley screamed, "YES!!"

She fell into his arms as he stood up, and the noise attracted everyone's attention in the room as he kissed her for the first time in four months.

"We're engaged!" Trevor hollered out when he came up for air.

Every fellow officer in his class hollered back, "HOOAH!" the Army's catchall phrase that could literally mean anything except 'no' followed by loud applause and calls that the drinks were on Michael.

Trevor laughed and yelled back, "That's Lieutenant Michael to you!" drawing more laughter and applause.

When things quite down, Trevor asked where the kids were.

"With my mom in a motel just off post," she told him. "I was afraid to bring them with me in case, you know."

"I want to see them. Right now," Trevor told her.

"But what about your father and..."

"Dad? We'll meet you guys at the officer's club in two hours, okay?" Trevor said.

"Yes, sir!" his dad replied with a laugh a salute that Trevor returned with a laugh of his own. "And you kids take your time!"

"I really like you dad," Henley said as they walked, her arm looped through his. "And his wife is really pretty."

"Speaking of pretty, you look...gorgeous!" he told her as they got to her rental car.

"Well, when you're so sick to your stomach you can't eat, this is what happens," she told him, loving the way he was looking at her in her little size 6 strapless dress and white heels.

"It's a shame to think you're going to get fat after we get married," Trevor told her after helping her get in.

"I'm not putting the weight back on. Ever," she informed him.

"How are you going to have a baby if you don't?" he asked with a smile.

Henley was so happy she teared up again.

"Well, okay. If that's the reason then I might be willing to put on a few pounds again," she told him with the happiest smile Trevor had ever seen. Until he saw Jennifer and Jonah's smiles a few minutes later.

They ran into his arms when they saw him, as he held them, Jonah said, "We thought you didn't love us anymore."

"What? No way! I love you both SO much!" he assured them as he gave them an extra squeeze.

When he stood up, he took their mom's hand and said, "And I love your mom just as much, too."

Henley's mom was watching and tearing up herself. When she had a moment to speak she introduced herself and said, "Now I understand why my daughter is head over heels in love with you."

Trevor gave her a warm hug and told her the feeling was mutual.

"I had my doubts when she told me your..."

She whispered, "Age," as though it was top secret then said, "but it all makes sense now, and congratulations."

Trevor insisted she join them all at the O club, and she was more than happy to accept.

"But I uh, I really need to take the kids shopping first," she said with a wink and a smile. "We'll be gone for at least the next 90 minutes, okay?"

The wink and the nod made her daughter blush, but Trevor only laughed as he thanked her.

"So you're sure about this?" Trevor asked as the woman he loved lay in his arms a half hour later.

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," his fiancé told him.

"Then how about we stop by the PX on the way to the club and you can help you choose your engagement ring," Trevor suggested.

"I'll marry you without a ring, honey," she told him truthfully.

"Hmmm. That would save us a lot of money," he said very seriously.

Henley laughed then told him she meant it.

"But if you insist on buying me a ring..."

Trevor laughed then rolled her over and made love to her again, leaving them just enough time to shower, get dressed, and be sitting there like nothing happened when Henley's mom brought the kids back.

Trevor's stepmom noticed the big 'rock' within seconds of reconnecting at the O club.

She held up Henley's hand and said, "That wasn't there a few hours ago!"

"We helped our mom pick it out!" Jennifer told her.

"Then you did great because this thing is huge!"

*****

One Year Later

Henley Michael never told her handsome younger husband how often she'd cried after he walked out of her life that day because it wouldn't change anything. But from the moment he left until the moment she saw him at graduation there hadn't been a happy moment in her life.

But since the second she saw him there hadn't been a single unhappy moment in it. That didn't mean there weren't times when she hated seeing him leave for a week here or a month there, but the thought that he would always come home to her was more than enough to sustain her.

Even when she learned she wouldn't be able to have more children, her husband's total support and unconditional were all she needed to see her through the huge disappointment.

As much as both of them had wanted another child, Henley's life was never more full or satisfying as the day her husband formally adopted their two children who saw them as their father and who'd begun calling him 'Dad' on the day he married their mother.

As they Michael family drove home from the courthouse where the adoption was finalized, Trevor took his beautiful wife's hand and asked, "Can you imagine your life had you not placed that ad?"

"No. No, I can't," she told him as she looked over at him, still amazed that this gorgeous, younger man chose her.

"Me, either," her husband replied with a smile.

"I have to say those three words changed our lives forever, didn't they, honey?" she said.

"Yes they did," he agreed. "Three little words. Room for Rent."

"What are you guys talking about?" Jonah asked out of the blue.

His mom and dad laughed loudly as his mother said, "Oh, nothing, honey," as she looked at her husband and smiled. "Nothing at all."