The Letter

"I see at least one positive in what you just told me," Grant offered.

"Oh?"

"It tells me that you're not one to easily give up. And, well, were you to find the right man, a man who'll treat you the way you deserve to be treated, he'll know that you'll always be there for him."

Denise risked a quick glance over at her former student and smiled at him.

"You already know me better than my ex-husband did," she told him very sweetly.

He squeezed her hand then told her, "I'd like to know everything about you, Denise."

It may have been nothing more than her feeling starved for that kind of attention, but something told her it wasn't just that. She could tell Grant was sincere, and as she saw him looking at her out of the corner of her eye, a wave of...warmth...washed over her.

The conversation turned to Grant's plans after his discharge as they continued poking along on I-5.

"My dad really wants to me to work for him. I think he wants me to learn the business so he can turn it over to his son whenever he retires."

"That makes sense, right? You work your whole life to build a business, and rather than sell it to a stranger, you turn it over to family."

"No. You're right. I'm just not sure that's what I want. It would be a very secure job and the income would be more than enough to take care of a family."

"Do you want children?" Denise asked as neutrally as she could.

"I do. Definitely. One for sure and maybe two."

He looked her way then asked her the same thing.

"Oh, yes. Very much so. And like you, one or two."

"You'd be an amazing mom," Grant told her.

"And I think you'd be a fantastic dad," she replied with a smile even though she couldn't afford to look over at him due to the literal wall of traffic in every lane for miles. She'd had to let go of his hand several minutes ago, and staying focused was critically important.

She waited for a few seconds then asked, "If you decided not to work for your father, do you have any idea yet what you might want to do?"

"Don't laugh, okay?" he told her with a little laugh of his own.

"I promise," she said.

"I might want to re-enlist."

In spite of the obvious potential danger, his answer surprised her to the point that she not only cut her eyes his way, she turned her head and said, "What?"

She looked away immediately, but the look on her face made Grant smile.

"At least you didn't laugh."

"Grant. Are you serious? You nearly died, and you want to stay in?" an incredulous Denise asked.

"Crazy, huh?" he replied as he stared at Mount Rainier's 14,000 foot summit.

"May I ask...why?"

"Of course. I'm just not sure I can answer you yet. And unless my wounds heal to the point where I could stay on active duty, that's a moot point. But my rate of recovery has been really good, and I feel confident I'm going to be able to run again and do everything I could before."

"I'm sorry for not being more positive," Denise said apologetically. "You just really, really surprised me."

"Well, that would also depend on how things go with us, and if they go as well as I hope they will, then your opinion would be extremely important to me."

Denise braved another very quick look at him before saying, "I can't remember my opinion ever mattering to my ex-husband."

She then reached over for his hand, and when she found it, said, "You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear you say that."

Grant gave her hand another gentle squeeze before letting go and reaching over and brushing her hair back.

"May I tell you something personal?" he asked.

"Yes. Anything."

"You have no idea how many times I fantasized about, you know, with you and me together..."

"Oh. I see," a very happy 35-year old woman replied as his words again warmed her heart.

"I'd ask you what kind of fantasies, but I'm afraid I might blush," she said with a nervous laugh.

Grant gently twirled her hair in his fingers then said, "Yeah, they get pretty racy sometimes."

"Get? As in...present tense?" she asked with a happy smile.

"Well, not since...last night," Grant told her with a nervous laugh of his own. After initially being flaccid, continued thoughts of her in a pretty silk nightie did the trick.

"May I tell you a secret?" Denise asked.

"Sure."

"I...I fantasize about you, too. Also as in...present tense."

"You do, huh?" Grant teased. "Do they get racy?"

He saw her bite her lip before answering.

"Define racy."

This time, Grant actually laughed but didn't say anything. After nearly a minute of silence, Denise asked him what he was thinking.

"It's just that I've dreamed of this moment, of being with you, a thousand times. And now here I am, sitting next to the most beautiful woman I've ever known, and I feel like I can tell her anything."

"You can," she said.

"Oh. In that case, we need to move over. Our exit is coming up."

Denise needed all the advanced warning she could get in order to move to the exit lane. She put her signal on and waited for someone to give her a chance. When they did, she slowly slid over in front of them then waved to say 'thanks'. When she was allowed to that again almost immediately, Grant huffed.

"What?" Denise asked, perplexed by the noise.

"You know the only reason you got over so quickly is because you're hot."

Now she made a noise but it wasn't a huff. It was more of an 'uh' kind of thing.

"You don't know that!" she said as she got ready to exit the freeway.

"Both of the other drivers were men. I watched them look right past me, and when they saw you, they slowed down."

He paused then said, "Can't say I blame them."

"Yeah, right," Denise replied as though he was crazy but secretly loving the sweet words.

To Denise, the base hospital felt like any civilian hospital with the exception of Grant's ID card serving as payment for all services. He asked her to sit in during the visit with the doctor who was expecting him, and after doing an interview and a quick check of his wounds, the doctor sent him to radiology for yet another CT scan of his leg.

The prognosis was very good, and Grant was cleared to walk as much as he could stand. And if he ever felt like running there was no reason not to as long as it wasn't too painful. He was told to come back one more time 30 days later, and from there a determination would be made as to whether or not he could be retained on active duty. Two Navy doctors would review his case to include all x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs as well as conduct a final interview before making their decision.

A little over two hours later they were on their way back to Auburn and discussing the doctor's assessment and prognosis.

"You really are coming along well," Denise told him.

"The best part was hearing that I shouldn't need this cane much longer, and with some luck, I could be running...a little...in another month of so."

"That would be the middle of June. Don't you get discharged in August?"

"Yes. The 15th. Unless I..."

"Grant? Can you help me understand why you'd even consider that?"

He could tell there was no judgment in her voice. She just needed to know.

"Wow. I uh, I can try. I'm just not sure it'll make sense."

Denise reached for his hand again then said, "I just want to understand."

For the next few minutes he tried to explain things like brotherhood and 'espirit de corps' and other words he used to mock when 'lifers' talked about staying in the Corps. But here he was not only saying them but believing them.

"I don't know if that helps or not, but that's the best I can do."

"No. It does help," Denise told him.

The look on her face said she was troubled, so Grant mentioned it and asked her to tell him what she was thinking.

"Well, I have to assume you wouldn't want the same things then."

"I...I don't understand," he said.

"You mentioned a family before. You know, when you talked about working for your father."

"I could still have a family," he informed her, and saw a look of surprise on her face this time.

"But...well, no offense, but how could you afford to do that? Wouldn't you need...help?"

"What? Like food stamps?" he asked once he saw where this was going.

"Well, yes. Don't military families struggle?"

"Okay. I understand now."

Grant told her that as a sergeant with four years in he could definitely support a wife. They wouldn't be rich, and things would be tight, but it could be done And by the time he made staff sergeant, E-6, he'd be able to support a child.

"But if my wife was say, oh, I don't know, a...teacher...or something like that, she could easily find a job wherever we lived, and we'd be doing quite nicely."

Again, his amazing words made her feel wonderful as she said, "Then all you need to do is find a teacher willing to marry you, huh?"

Grant laughed put his hand on her shoulder, then said, "Right. But where might I find such a rare creature?"

Denise laughed happily then reached up and took his hand and pulled it onto her lap.

Grant insisted on buying her lunch, and when she mentioned money again, he reminded her he was still getting paid.

"So there's no way you are ever paying for me, got it?" he told her.

"Well, excuse me!" she said before adding, "yes, sir!"

Grant moaned then said, "Don't ever call me 'sir'. I work for a living, okay?"

Denise had never heard that before, so it was lost on her. That made Grant laugh again before explaining the old.

"I have a lot to learn, huh?" she said as they pulled into a restaurant parking lot.

"I'll teach you everything you need to know," Grant assured her.

Denise parked the car, turned off the engine, then said very coyly, "Promise?"

In spite of his very recent quasi-promise to hold off, Grant told her he couldn't and leaned over and kissed her. Denise moaned softly as their tongues touched then swirled for the first time.

"You are a very fast learner," Grant whispered as their lips parted.

Denise tried not to laugh when she told him she had an amazing teacher.

As they sat and ate and talked, something changed. Or perhaps things...solidified. Whatever it was, both of them stopped worrying about there being something real between them and started focusing on all of the things they shared in common. And the more they learned about one another, the more things they discovered that they agreed on.

By the time they got back to her place around 2 o'clock, it was as though a dam had burst. Four long years of pent-up desire and wanting came crashing down on them both all at once. They'd barely gotten inside the house when Grant grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Denise realized what it meant and literally glommed onto him as clothes flew off and fell wherever they landed.

The only slowdown was when she saw the huge scar under the area that had been covered by a bandage until a nurse removed it during the time Grant was at the VA. The nurse had pulled a curtain around so she hadn't yet seen the extent of the wound.

At first she only looked. Then, she slowly reached out her hand and gently touched it and traced its jagged, four-inch length with her finger from end to end.

"Does that hurt?" she asked.

"No."

She then bent over and softly kissed it from one end to the other before standing back up and putting her arms around her nearly-naked lover to be.

"I can't wait another minute," she told him.

"I'm afraid you're gonna have to," Grant said very seriously.

"What? Why? What's wrong?" she asked as she covered her bare breasts with her arms.

Grant tried not to laugh as he slowly pulled her arms back down.

"I have to pee," he said, trying not to laugh. 'Bad."

The look on Denise's face was priceless as Grant took her hand as she led him to her bedroom with one brief stop along the way.

In spite of several moments when Grant winced from pain caused by certain movements, the two of them not only made love for the first time but realized that this was more than just a fantasy. It was also more than the culmination of four years of pent-up dreams and wondering whether or not it was even real. It was not only real, it was...evidence. Not the kind one would bring to a trial, but it was still very much evidence; evidence that these two unlikely people loved one another. Neither of them spoke those words, but the way they held one another long after it was over said more than any words could ever say.

For the better part of an hour they lay there in silence just holding one another while caressing each other's backs, arms, and faces. There were occasional smiles and a few kisses, but nothing more was said or done, and neither of them felt like anything was missing.

Finally, Grant pulled away a little bit then asked, "So you weren't disappointed?"

Denise shook her head in disbelief and asked what he meant by that.

"I haven't had any practice in a long time, and well, I don't exactly have a movie-star body."

He was trying to make it sound like he was joking, but Denise didn't think it was funny.

"Grant. You are so handsome it makes...it makes my heart hurt," she told him, her hand on his face. "And I think your body is beautiful."

"Scars and all?" he asked, still trying to play down his own fears.

"Listen to me. I'm the one who should be worried sick."

"You? Why?" Grant asked.

"Duh! I'm 35 years old! You're young and everything is still tight and hard and amazing, and I'm...35."

"Now you listen," he told her firmly. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever known. Everything about you is...perfect. From your amazing, soft hair to your beautiful eyes to your amazing smile, and that killer body of yours. All of it. Okay?"

Happy beyond words, Denise finally smiled and said, "You just made me feel wonderful."

Grant smiled back then said, "So would you like me to make you feel even more wonderful?"

She tried not to laugh as she asked him what he had in mind.

Grant grimaced as he used his right hand to move on top of her again. When the pain subsided he smiled at her then said, "I think you know exactly what I mean."

"Oh. That!" Denise said as though it was a big surprise. "Yes, that is the one thing that could make feel even more wonderful than I already do."

As he entered her again, Denise moaned softly and pulled him close and kissed her young lover as passionately as she could as they made love for the second time.

After some additional post-sex cuddling, Denise helped him get in the shower then joined him. She made sure to spend time on each area of his body that had been ravaged by war, her actions letting him know without words that she really did believe it was as beautiful as she'd said.

He, in turn, did the same with her, but Grant made sure to voice his feelings knowing how much the woman he loved needed to hear those things spoken out loud. But they weren't just words. Grant felt everything he said, and as they dried off together the bond that had formed between them grew stronger and more unbreakable.

"I'll go get your cane," she said as he slowly pulled his clothes back on.

"No. I...I want to try walking without it."

"Oh, okay. Then I'll help you," she said as she sat next to him, put her arm around him and let him she was ready.

"Uh-uh. I want to...I need...to do this by myself, okay?"

"Okay," she said without conviction as fears of seeing him in pain or falling welled up inside her.

He did let her help him stand up, but after that he took one small step at a time on his own. Each one was done putting his right foot forward then painfully dragging the left beside it. Denise agonized over every step, but he made it back to the couch and then insisted on sitting down without her help.

"You're sweating," she told him when he turned around.

"Yeah. That was tough."

She brought him a hand towel and handed it to him. Grant thanked her then told her he was going to walk a lap around a track in a week.

"Grant. You...that's..."

She knew he knew his body better than her. She also knew he had a mother and didn't need a second one.

"I believe you," she told him.

"And I'm going to add a lap a day until I can slowly run a lap. And then I'll run one more per day until I can run three miles again."

"Okay," Denise told him as she put her arms around him. "And I'll be there as often as I can."

"I'd like that," Grant told her as he pulled her head over onto his shoulder. "I want to start going to the gym, too. I haven't done any kind of resistance training since a few days before the blast in the makeshift gym we had at our base camp in Afghanistan."

Even though he'd lost muscle mass from the time she'd seen him with his shirt off while mowing her yard so long ago, he was still very well defined, and Denise knew he would be even more well-defined in no time.

"I think I'd like to start working out myself. Not weightlifting but swimming or spinning or maybe even Pilates."

"Okay, but you need to wear a gunny sack and paint one of your front teeth black," Grant warned her as seriously as he could before he started laughing.

Denise laughed, too, then said, "Like you have anything to worry about. I, on the other hand, will be worried sick that every hot girl who sees you is going to try and give you her number."

"You don't need to worry...honey," Grant assured her. "I already have the only girl's number I'm ever going to want."

She smiled then put her head back on his shoulder before sighing and saying, "Girl. Yeah, right."

Grant then pulled back again and in his best Forest Gump voice said, "You'll always be mah gurl, Jennay. Or would that be...Denise-ay?"

"You goof!" she said as she looked into his eyes before sitting up so she could kiss him again.

"You are my girl. You know that, right?" he asked after the kiss ended.

"Yes. I do know. And I always will be...Forest."

Grant went to grab her, but Denise jumped up and got away.

"Ha! Your legs is crooked as a politician!" she said, thinking she was also quoting a line from the hit movie.

Grant laughed but didn't tell her it was Forests' spine that was crooked, or that his legs were strong, as strong as anyone had ever seen according to the old country doctor who examined him.

Denise made dinner for them and as they ate, Grant started laying out his plan for getting back to his old self. The best time for them to work out together was before school, so they agreed to meet at 6am each morning and go a nearby gym called 24-Hour Fitness.

It was around 10pm when Grant left after kissing his new lover again and telling her he'd be back in eight hours.

"You better be," she play threatened before letting him go.

When he got home, his dad was in bed, but his mom was waiting up for him.

"So?" she asked with a smile when her son walked inside.

"I had a really good visit with the doctor this morning. In fact, he cleared me to start walking as much as I can whenever I'm ready."

"That's wonderful!" his mom said. "That won't be for some time, though, right?"

"Oh, no. I'm gonna give it at least..."

Grant looked at his watch then said, "Another seven hours or so."

His mom shook her head and asked what he meant. When he told her he was going to the gym the next morning she told him he was crazy.

"Crazy like a fox!" he replied with a big smile.

That smile was also 'intel' for his very aware mother who asked how 'the rest of his day' went.

"On a scale of 1-10, it was about a twelve."

"You love her, don't you?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"I do, Mom."

"Then whenever you're ready to bring her here just let me know a day or so in advance, okay?"

"Ah. Dad. Yeah, that's gonna be...interesting, huh?"

"He'll be fine, honey. Trust me, okay?"

Grant gave his mother a hug and told her he did and that he loved her.

"I love you, too, and I am SO happy to have you home."