Author note: I know Leo was married to a woman named Lillian but I am changing his history slightly

Prologue

Have you ever felt as if your life has ended but you're heart still beats? You get that chilled feeling like a part of you has just withered away instantaneously. It is one of the most unpleasant and heart breaking feelings the human race is capable of feeling. Some question why God would inflict His people with such horrible emotions. But it seems as if we'll never know.

There was a sharp knock on the door of a modest two bedroom apartment in Sacramento, California. The year was 1942 and the United States was in the midst of helping the Allied Powers topple the Axis Powers. Inside the small apartment, a young woman with dark auburn hair and gentle sea blue eyes was moving towards the front door. The knocking persisted until she unlocked the door and pulled it open. Before her stood a tall man in military uniform. His face was chiseled by sharp angles and his eyes gave nothing away, his mouth was a thin line. She didn't recognize him. He was too old to be in Leo's regiment and she had been told they wouldn't be returning home for three more months.

"May I help you, Sir?" Madeline Wyatt asked politely of her visitor.

"Mrs. Wyatt?" he questioned, his eyes darting down to a slip of paper that he held clenched in his hand.

"Yes," she answered, her voice quivering ever so slightly.

"Mama," a small boy called from the hall, appearing by his mother's side.

"Not now Maxwell," she shushed.

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry to have to inform you but your husband is dead," the officer said, his face and voice never once conveying any emotion. It was if he was a robot trained for this task.

"No…no he can't be," she babbled.

"He was a medic. He wasn't near the front lines," she gasped, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks.

"How did it happen?" she managed to get out after several deep breaths, dabbing at her eyes so her son wouldn't see.

"A shell exploded while he was performing surgery. I'm very sorry for your loss," the officer answered before turning an about face and walking away from the apartment.

She slowly closed the door not looking at the three year old at her side. She walked away from him, having to grip the walls for support. She couldn't believe this. How could he have been taken from her like this? She got to the living room and sat down on the couch before completely bursting into tears, loud sobs issuing from her chest. She felt the cushions shift as her son took a seat next to her.

"Mama, what wrong?" he asked. She uncovered her face to look at her little boy. He looked so much like Leo that it almost broke her heart again.

"Daddy…" she began, having to stop to take several breaths.

"Daddy isn't coming home," she sniffed.

"Why not?" Max pressed, deep concern for his mother shining in his light blue eyes.

"Because baby…Daddy's dead," Madeline answered, pulling her three-year-old to her and cradling him as they both wept for the loss of Leo. Little did they know, this loss would alter the lives of yet another family over fifty years later.