A Walk Back Through Our Love

Jack sat on his front porch, gently rocking in his wicker rocking chair. A tall glass of iced tea sat on the side table next to him, sweating in the early summer evening. The sky was a kaleidoscope; the deep blue of the afternoon melted into a wash of reds and yellows. A cool breeze danced across the perspiration on Jack’s forehead, a comforting relief on a warm summer’s day. It was sixty years ago when the world had shifted on its axis — the end of summer just before their first year of high school.

They had met in grade school, and from that moment on they did everything together, best friends all the way to high school. It was their first day of high school, and Betty had not seen Jack all summer. He had been away helping his Dad at his Uncle’s farm, repairing the damage after a sudden spring storm. Many of the fences had been washed away in the flash flood, and several of the buildings had taken on water. The long days of labor had traded Jack’s boyish frame for the early height of a young man.

Betty was so happy to see Jack waiting at the school bus stop that morning she almost didn’t recognize him at first. Standing behind him, she had to tilt her chin higher than usual just to see his face. But Jack wasn’t the only one who had changed; Betty had changed too. She had always been the tomboy, wearing jeans and sneakers, but over the summer her cousin from the big city had come to stay. Somewhere between borrowed afternoons and shared closets, Betty discovered she liked wearing her cousin’s dresses. She enjoyed the way they moved when she walked — the way they made her feel soft and pretty.

Betty stood behind Jack for a few moments longer than necessary, watching him shift his weight back and forth while he looked down the road for the bus. A small smile came across her lips. Her palms began to feel damp, and her heart did a strange, fluttery thing she didn’t yet understand. Betty finally reached forward and tapped Jack on the shoulder. “Excuse me,” she said with a soft giggle. “What are you waiting for?”

Jack turned around and looked down to see Betty smiling up at him. “Hey small fries,” Jack said, a huge smile spreading across his face. He took a step back and gave a low whistle. “Well look at you, Betty. You sure—” The words caught in his throat, and color rushed into his cheeks. Betty felt her own face warm.

“I sure what, Jack?” she asked, suddenly very interested in the toes of her shoes. Jack wiped his palms on his jeans and fiddled with the straps of his backpack. “You… you sure do look really pretty, Betty,” he stuttered.

“Thank you, Jack,” Betty said softly, shifting her weight as she fought a smile. She risked a glance up at him. “You look good too.” Jack turned bright red. As he turned back toward the road, he bashfully said, “Thank you, Betty.”At that moment, something quietly changed between them. Neither of them could explain it, but from that morning on, whenever their eyes met, the world felt just a little warmer.

One week before the winter dance, Jack stood on Betty’s front porch. He was dressed in a red and black flannel coat, a sky-blue button-up shirt, and a black tie he had borrowed from his Dad. His hands were shaking — and it wasn’t from the cold. He was about to ask his best friend to the dance.

Jack paused at the door for a moment, checking his reflection in the window glass. He smoothed his hair once, then twice, and finally knocked. He heard the soft thump of footsteps coming toward the door and swallowed hard.

“Please let it be Betty. Please don’t let it be her Dad.” Jack panicked as he stared at the door.

The doorknob jiggled and squeaked as it turned. Jack’s heart began pounding so loudly he was sure whoever stood on the other side could hear it. The door creaked open, and a soft, sweet fragrance drifted out and tickled his senses. The familiar scent calmed his nerves just a little.

Then Betty stepped into the doorway. “Jack,” she said with a warm smile as she leaned against the doorframe, “you’re all dressed fancy. What is the occasion?” Jack stood there staring into Betty’s hazel eyes, completely silent with a crooked smile on his face. It took him a moment to realize she had asked him a question.

“Wha… what was that?” he stammered.

Betty laughed softly and stepped out onto the porch. “I asked why you’re all dressed up.”

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at his boots. His mouth had gone dry — so dry it felt like sand. He cleared his throat once… then again… and finally looked back up at Betty, whose cheeks were turning a light rosy color.

“Well… Betty… I thought it was only right to dress up to ask you…” Jack whispered, his voice shaking slightly. “…to ask if you would like to go to the winter dance with me.” For half a heartbeat she just looked at him.

Then Betty smiled wide, stepped forward, and pulled Jack into a tight hug. “I wouldn’t want to go with anyone else, Jack,” she whispered warmly into his ear.

Jack sighed with relief and lifted her clean off the porch, twirling her once before setting her back down. That was the first true moment they both understood — this was more than friendship.

Several years passed after that dance. Jack had enlisted into the Army, following in his Dad’s footsteps. It was a bitter morning two months after graduation. Rain fell steadily over the bus station where Betty stood, her fingers locked tightly with Jack’s. Her eyes were red, and tears slipped quietly down her cheeks.

“Betty,” Jack said gently as he brushed her bang that fell over her left eye away with his hand, “it won’t be long. Just boot camp. Only ten weeks.”

He stepped back slowly… then dropped to one knee.

Betty’s breath caught as she watch Jack. He pulled a small red box from his pocket and opened it. Inside, nestled in velvet, rested a simple golden band. “Betty, will you do me the honor of making me the happiest man in the world? Will you marry me?”

“Oh Jack… yes! Yes, I will!” she cried.His hands trembled as he slid the ring onto her finger. Betty threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard.

Just then their parents stepped forward. Betty’s Dad reached out and took Jack’s hand, giving it a firm shake. “Don’t forget, Jack… I still got that old shotgun,” he whispered with a wink.

The bus driver beeped the horn, shouted out the window, “Bus 223 pulling out in five minutes!”

Jack hugged his parents, then turned back to Betty and gave her a long, gentle kiss. As he climbed the steps of the bus, he looked back one last time and called out, “I will always love you, Betty!”

Ten weeks had finally come, Jack completed boot camp in early October and came home on brief leave before deployment. Fresh snow dusted the world the night before his bus rolled into the station. The moment his boots hit the pavement—“Jack!”

He turned just in time to see Betty running toward him in a sky-blue dress, his red and black flannel wrapped around her shoulders. She leapt into his arms and nearly knocked him over.

“I have missed you, Jack,” she breathed between kisses. Holding on to Jack’s arm, as if he would float away, Betty couldn’t stop staring up at Jack’s face. As they reached the truck, Jack tossed his bag into the bed of the truck, opened the drivers door for Betty to jump in. She scooted to the middle of the bench seat then patted the seat for Jack to join her. As he sat behind the steering wheel, Betty curled up next to Jack.

The heater was humming, Betty was curled up next to him with his arm draped over her, and the world was quiet. Jack pulled the truck over to the side of the snowy road. He couldn’t look at his parents or hers yet—he had to tell her before everyone was around. Jack’s chest felt tight with the weight of what he had to say. “Everything okay, Jack?” Betty asked softly.

Jack took a slow breath. “Betty, I didn’t want to worry you, and I know how long and hard it was waiting for me to come home.” Betty sat up a bit more, her heart racing. A look of worry shrouded her once-smiling face.

“Betty… I’m shipping out in two weeks.” The words landed like breaking glass. Betty collapsed into his chest, tears running down her face, clawing at his uniform as she wailed into his chest. Jack’s heart ached at the pain he just caused the love of his life, but he knew she had to know. He wrapped her in his arms, whispered how sorry he was, how much her love drove him to be the best in boot camp, and told her that it was her love that would bring him home.

Jack let Betty process the weight of his words, holding her tight, allowing her to come to terms with their situation. Several minutes passed, Betty’s crying slowed, and she lifted her head from Jack’s chest. She looked at his face, studying every mark, every crease, and every strand of hair. As she came to accept their fate, she realize this might be the last time she will be with the man she loved, she whispered. “I know you have to go. The only things I ask… is that you marry me before you leave… and that you come home to me.”

Jack gently cupped her face. “Betty, if I have to move the mountains, the rivers, and the stars themselves… I will marry you. And I will always find my way home to you.”

As soon as they pulled up, they saw Jack’s parents and Betty’s parents standing on the front porch, waving and smiling. After a few hugs and kisses from his mother and handshakes from his father, he broke the news to them. At first, his mother broke down and cried. Betty and her mother consoled her, while Jack’s and Betty’s father took him out to the porch. They placed a hand on each of his shoulders; both had been in his shoes, young and shipped out to fight in a war. They offered words of encouragement and advice, to which Jack listened intently, trying to absorb their words in hopes they would help bring him home back to Betty.

Jack told his dad and Betty’s dad he wanted to marry Betty before he shipped out. He asked Betty’s dad for his blessing, then his dad. They both looked at each other then back to Jack. Then Betty’s dad placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder again. “Son, you have my blessing and Betty’s mother’s. You’re a good man and you have always been a good friend to Betty. I would be honored to see you two wed.”

The night before their wedding, they slipped away to the lake — their place, Their Starry Night. Jack spread a thick blanket near the frozen shoreline. Above them, the meteor shower streaked across the dark sky.

Betty sat on the blanket. He turned and picked up the extra blanket and covered her. “There you go, Betty.” He squeezed her shoulders gently, making sure the blanket tucked around her.

“Jack,” Betty whispered, “I just want you to know… I was so happy that day when we were freshmen in high school and you asked me to the winter dance… I never told you this, but I hoped every day that it was you who would ask me.” Betty confessed as she gently pulled him to sit with her.

As he knelt down next to her, he could see her breath mist in the night air. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Is it too cold, Betty?” Jack whispered.

Betty smiled, opening her arm to hold the blanket out. “It would be warmer if you joined me in the blanket.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Jack sat down next to Betty, sliding his arm into the blanket and behind her back. With a gentle pull, Betty scooted closer to Jack. He lay on his back, staring into the starry night; Betty lay next to him, resting her head on his shoulder while pulling the blanket over them. They stared into the night sky, watching the meteors streak across the velvet void.

The next morning the house was a zoo of voices, laughter, and hurried footsteps. Jack weaved through family and friends on his way to the kitchen. He wanted to get a cup of coffee and a chance for some silence out on the porch before the “little” wedding he and Betty tried to have.

Later, in the barn before all their family, Jack held Betty’s hands.

“Do you, Jack, take Betty to be your lawful wife?”

“I do, with all my heart.”

“And do you, Betty, take Jack—”

“I do, with all my heart!” she blurted out.

The audience broke out in a low giggle at how fast Betty answered. The priest smiled. “Then Jack, Betty, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride, Jack.”

As they embraced, their lips gently pressing together, the cheers of their family and friends slowly faded. The world seemed to melt away, leaving them in an eternal embrace.

Time flew by for the newlyweds; before they knew it, the day for Jack to head back to base was upon them. The day came too quickly. At the bus station, Jack rolled his thumb gently over Betty’s ring. “I will come back,” he promised. “I will not break this.”

The words offered little solace for Betty as the tears she tried to hold back came flooding out, but she knows Jack, if he makes a promise he will do everything to keep it. She kissed him one last time as he boarded the bus. Her heart ached as she stood there watching his bus pull away from the station. She whispered a little prayer to keep him safe as she broke down and fell into her fathers arms as his bus faded into the distance.

It had been a month since Jack left. Betty had written Jack twice since that day. It was about two months now since Jack was gone before his first letter arrived. For a year, his letters were her heartbeat. They wrote about home… about memories… about Their Starry Night. He never spoke of the war, he never wanted Betty to worry.

Then the letters stopped. One month after he was due home, Betty sat at dinner with Jack’s parents when the dogs began barking wildly. She rose slowly and moved to the window. A figure was walking down the driveway.

Her breath caught.

“Jack!” She flew out the front door and into the yard. She raced up the driveway — straight into his arms. He spun her once, laughing softly, then set her down and rested his forehead against hers. “Hey there, small fries.” He kissed her deeply.

“Jack… Jack.” The voice pulled him gently back. Betty stood beside his rocking chair, smiling down at him. “Did you fall asleep out here?”

Jack blinked, the present settling softly around him. He reached for her hand.

“No, my love,” he said warmly. “I was just remembering how we fell in love. You know its been almost fifty years since our first date.” He gently guided her onto his lap.

“Did you know that winter when I asked you to the dance,” he whispered, “I too was also happy you said yes, as much as you were that I asked you, and I’ve been in love with you every single day.”

Betty wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I remember, Jack, I have also been happy everyday since you asked that day too.” Resting her head on Jacks shoulder and whispered, “I love you.”