A bride is upset when a dirty-looking unshaven man walks in in the middle of her dream wedding, then she finds out who he is.
This was supposed to be Debbie Jarrold’s dream wedding, but already everything was going wrong. The florist had delivered the wrong bouquet and it didn’t go with the delicate coronet of flowers she was wearing, her bridesmaids were hungover, and her shoes were suddenly two sizes too small.
Debbie let herself drop onto the sofa in her bridal suite and felt tears fill her eyes. “Oh grandma, I wish you were here! You always knew what to do and how to make me feel better!” But Debbie’s grandmother was gone these past two years, her father was gone, M.I.A., and her mother died when she was born. She was truly alone in the world.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
Just then, Rachel, Debbie’s friend came in. “Oh Debbie, honey, I’m sorry we’re late,” she said. “But we’re here now!” and she threw her arms around Debbie and gave her a big hug.
Debbie’s grandmother had hugged her like that the day the two men in uniform had come to their door. Debbie had thought it was daddy coming home, but it was two strange men and they talked to gran for a long time.
Gran staggered when she got up to show them out, and when they were gone she knelt down and put her arms around Debbie and cried. “I’m sorry my love, but Daddy’s not coming home just yet…”
The worse of it all was that Captain James Jarrold wasn’t declared dead, he was declared Missing In Action, so there was no body to bury. Debbie and gran couldn’t say their goodbyes, they simply waited for news, month after month.
They never stopped waiting, not really, and even on her deathbed, gran had held on to Debbie’s hand tight and whispered, “I don’t think your daddy’s dead, I feel it in my heart. My James is coming home…”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
And of course, Debbie whispered back that she knew he’d come home, kissed her gran, and let her carry that one last illusion with her into the dark. The truth was that once gran was gone, Debbie was the loneliest girl in the world.
It was during one of the darkest periods of her life, while she was mourning gran’s recent death that she met David. He’d shown himself to be everything she’d always hoped...
