Cristina poured the cup of coffee and sat down. She looked across at the man, seated across from her. "Is everything okay?" she asked. He was still a stranger, who just showed up at her house, the day before – this army surgeon who had operated on Josh. Every day, since the army officials had come to the house to tell her the news, she had thought about how Josh had died. This surgeon had given her some comfort that Josh's last thoughts were of her and the children.
"Everything is actually fine," he said, with a brief smile. Cristina thought he was a handsome man – a ruggedly handsome type. Josh wasn't like that – he was more the pretty type. She liked the man's piercing blue eyes. They stood out against his pale skin and his strawberry blonde hair. Laurel and Iris were also sitting quietly at the table, observing the stranger. Laurel had gotten over her misconception that the man was her father. She still missed her daddy. Mommy had said that daddy had gone to heaven. She didn't know what that meant.
"Good," Cristina said. "I got some more boxes. With your help, we should be done in two or three days. I don't want to keep you here in Georgia, more than necessary. I am sure your family would like to see you before you go back to Iraq."
"Yes, I explained it to my mom," he said. "I called her last night and she was very understanding."
"Your mom sounds like a great woman," Cristina said. "Yes, she is," Owen said. "She's the best. So what are you going to do with your furniture? Are you going to take that to South Carolina, too? Have you arranged for the moving van?"
"Well, I won't really need all of this furniture because my dad's house is already furnished, so I may sell some of it to other families and donate the rest to Goodwill," she said. "I will just take the pieces that mean something like me."
"Okay," he responded. "That makes it a lot easier." He finished his breakfast and drained his cup of coffee. "That was a great breakfast, Cristina. Thank you so much."
"I am glad that you enjoyed it," she said. "It's rare that I cook for someone else, other than myself and the girls." She picked up his plate and cup and washed it in the sink.
"Well, I am ready. Just tell me what you want to do," he said. She thought for a minute, "I guess you can start with the garage. A lot of it is Josh's stuff. We probably won't need it, so I guess I can donate them to charity. Can you go through that for me? It will be tough for me to do it. Separate them in three piles – what we should keep, what we can give to charity and what should be thrown away."
"Sure," Owen said. "I will do it." Over the next few hours, he busied himself in the garage. It turned out that Josh had a lot of different hobbies – there were fishing poles, snowboards, scuba diving equipment. Most of it was hardly used. It was probably because Josh was often deployed, away from his family. He thought she could get some good money from it. Maybe she should have a garage sale, he thought. The hours passed and before he knew it, it was lunchtime. She emerged from the house. "Wow, you've managed to a great deal here. Some of this I haven't seen in a while. Are you ready for lunch? I did a soup and a chicken club sandwich for you." Owen realized he did feel hungry. "Yes, I am definitely ready for lunch." He followed her back into the house and washed his hands in the bathroom. As he sat at the kitchen table, she brought him a bowl of chicken noodle soup and his sandwich. He gratefully took a sip of the soup. "Ooh, that is good," he said. "By the way, I have been thinking that while we could give some of the stuff to charity, it might be a good idea if we have a garage sale. That way, you can cut down on the amount of stuff you can carry to South Carolina and make some money with the rest."
"That does sound like a fantastic idea," she said. "I can put up flyers around the neighborhood. Given our present status, the girls and I could really use the money. Plus the girls have tons of clothes that they have outgrown."
They worked assiduously over the next two days, packing the things that she was going to carry to South Carolina in boxes and making donations to Goodwill. The rest was going to be sold, including all of Josh's hobby items. The garage sale was a tremendous success. Almost everything was sold and when it was over, Cristina felt a tremendous lightness about having got rid of so much stuff. She felt quite elated. When she and Owen counted the money, they both had to admit it was a great haul.
Later that evening, after dinner, they both sat on the porch, having some coffee. The children had already been put to bed, so it was just the two adults, enjoying each other's company. Owen noted that Cristina's mood had changed from the high that she had experienced earlier. She seemed a little melancholic. Her time here at this house was coming to an end, he knew. He wondered if that was the reason. This house probably held lots of memories of her husband.
"You seem sad," he said. "I am, a bit," she admitted.
"Is it about moving back to South Carolina?" he ventured to ask. "I am gathering that you are not too enthusiastic about moving back there."
"How did you know?" she asked. "There are a lot of reasons. I mean I don't have a lot of choices right now. It's not where I would want to go but I have two little girls to think about and Josh is no longer around. They need a roof over their heads and I need to start somewhere before I can go out on my own. Our finances are not exactly the best. I spent the last six years in college and grad school, so I am not exactly rolling in money. We do get Josh's gratuity and life insurance benefits which I have to admit, are a lot but I don't want to touch that at all. I want to leave that for the kids' college education. I have to make sure that they will go to college. Josh would want that. College tuition is so high now, who knows how much that will cost when they are 18? What if they are both brilliant and want to go to Ivy League schools?"
"Well, at least it is a start, when you get on your own two feet, you can move out and get your own place," he said, hoping he could encourage her. "Plus you get the widows' annuity."
"Yes but the payment is not enough to cover rent, food, utilities, clothing and day care. Day care – that is a real killer," she sighed. "So I guess I will have to buck it up. Can I be honest with you? Over the past few days, I think that we have become friends. Is that not so?"
"Yes, we have," he said. "And it is a friendship I think I am going to cherish." He gave her a warm smile.
"Thank you for saying that," Cristina said. She got up and stared out at the street. "I love my father very much. All we had was each other when my mom died. We get along fine except for one thing. Josh. He has never liked Josh very much. I guess he thought that Josh would never measure up to much because he didn't have a college degree. He never understood Josh. He always thought that Josh would bring me down. He didn't accept that I loved Josh. I mean having the girls made it a little bit better but not much. I know he loves me but I don't want my girls hearing their grandfather saying that their dad was a loser. That is not what I want them to hear. I want them to love the memory of their father. He was a good man and he loved us very much. I want them to respect him." A tear rolled down her face. She turned to face him.
"And that is not all. Other than my dad saying derogatory things about Josh, there is also my step-mom, Beatrice. My dad got re-married two years ago. Beatrice and I do not get along. She isn't too happy that we are going to be moving in. She has been ruling the roost for the past two years and she doesn't want to share the house or my father with me and the kids," Cristina continued. "It is going to be a nightmare living there because she hates children. My girls are not all that bad but they are little kids. They get messy, they leave their toys around. Beatrice does not understand that because she never had kids herself. I think I am going to hate living there. I hope that it will only be for a little while until I get a good job."
Owen listened, attentively. He wasn't too sure about what to say. He didn't know her father and stepmother to be able to say that it wasn't going to be so terrible. So he got up and gave her a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder. They stood there, with his arms around her, in silence.
The next day, he was going to leave for the airport to catch his flight to Seattle. He checked out of the hotel and made it across to Cristina's house to say goodbye. He knocked on the door and it was opened by Iris.
"Hello, Iris," he said. "Can you call your mommy?" Iris nodded and disappeared. She came back with Cristina, who was being followed by Laurel. "Hey, Owen," she said, with a huge smile. "What brings you by so early?"
"Well, since I am done here, I am going back to Seattle this morning. I have a couple of days left, so I want to spend it with my mother before they ship me back to Iraq," he said. "I came to say goodbye." He could see how her face fell at the news. "Oh," she said. "Well, it is good of you to come by to say farewell."
"Yes," he answered. "It has been so good to meet you and the girls. I am really glad I came."
"You've been wonderful to us. Especially to come here and tell me about Josh," she said. "Not many people would have taken the time to do so. I thank you for that. I will be able to tell the girls, when they get older, how much their daddy loved them and that his last thoughts were about them."
"Well, I better go, now," he said. "I have put off leaving longer than I had planned." He bent down and gave Iris and Laurel hugs. "Goodbye, sweet babies. Be good." He stood up and dug into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "This is my number and my email address. I want to keep in touch. So feel free to call me or email me." She took the piece of paper from him and stared at it for a few seconds.
"I will," she said. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. Her soft lips on his face gave him goose bumps. "Goodbye, Owen. Thank you for everything. You are indeed a good friend."
"Goodbye," he said. He walked back to his car and took a final look at the three of them, standing in their doorway, waving at him. They looked so forlorn, he thought. As he drove away, he just felt a piece of himself there. He tried to think about going back to Seattle but all he could think about was Cristina and her kids and how miserable they were going to be, living in South Carolina. He couldn't deny that he was drawn to her. There was something about her. He just felt the need to protect her.
He reached the airport and was about to drop off his rental car, when he made a sudden U-turn. He was headed back to the army-base. He had an idea. It was a truly crazy, impulsive idea. One had to take a leap of faith to even consider it.
He rushed back to the army base and drove to the Daniels home. He rapidly knocked on the door. It was Cristina who opened the door, this time. She was flabbergasted to see him standing on her porch.
"Owen, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the airport?" she asked.
"Yes, I am," he said. "But I was thinking about you and the girls and how you're going to live in South Carolina. I think I may have the solution to your problems. It may sound like an unlikely answer but hear me out, please." With a puzzled look, she let him in.
"Okay, so what is your solution?" she asked.
"Marry me," he said.
A/N Please leave your thoughts and comments. I really do appreciate when you take the time to do so.