Deidre's Midnight

29

I'm sweeping the floor of Bonded for probably the third time today when the bell above the door chimes and I look up to see Dillon walking in.

"Hey, baby," he says, walking over and kissing me.

"Hey, thanks again for doing this with me."

I had finally decided to reach out to Andrew last week, and we had decided today was the day for us to meet. Dillon was more than happy to come with me when I asked, knowing I've been a mess of nerves for the past week.

"Are you ready to go?" He asks, and I just nod my head.

I grab my bag and lock the door behind us as we leave. He opens the passenger door of his truck for me and I climb in. My father only lives a few miles from the shop and in the short drive, my nerves doubled. Soon Dillon was putting the truck in park in front of a small, white, two-story home.

"I don't know if I can do this," I tell Dillon.

"Everything is going to be okay. I'm right here. The least you can do is go in and get some of your questions answered and if you want to leave after that all you have to do is say the word and we'll go." I nod my head and we get out.

We get to the door and I quickly knock before I lose the courage to. It doesn't take long for a man to open the door. He was tall with dark hair that had the slightest specks of gray in it and blue eyes that matched my own.

"Deidre," he says almost as if he's shocked I actually showed up. "Come in, come in." He moves out of the way for Dillon and I to step past him. "Why don't we go into the living room."

I nod and follow him through the house to the living room. We all stand in front of the couches not knowing what to say.

"I'm Dillon," Dillon says, reaching his hand out to shake Andrew's. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Andrew." They share a firm handshake and we all sit down.

"So I'm sure you have many questions, Deidre. I know I may not have all of the answers, but I'm happy you decided to come here today."

"I do have quite a few but I don't know where I want to start. Maybe the beginning?"

"Well, your mother and I were high school sweethearts. We got married right out of high school right before I joined up and were crazy in love. I went through training and your mother was soon pregnant. After training, I got stationed here, but your mom wanted a house off base so we found the place in Rosewood. I managed not to get deployed throughout your mom's entire pregnancy and when you were born, I was smitten. You were perfect.

When you were about a year old, my luck had run out and I was deployed. Your mom was crushed, and trying to manage everything on her own started taking its toll on her. When I got back, she was different. We were managing but I could tell she had changed while I was gone. A year later, I was deployed again. I sent letter after letter and soon I stopped receiving responses until I got a final letter saying she was filing for divorce. When I was stateside again, I had found all of my stuff was already moved to a buddy's house on base.

She wouldn't answer or return any of my calls. Every time I would try just stopping by the house she would have it locked uptight. When I finally saw her again it was in the courtroom and she asked me to give her full custody since I was still enlisted. In my young mind at the time it sounded like it made sense. I didn't realize that in doing so, she would take you away from me completely. I continued sending letters and money, but still never received a response. I'm so sorry, Deidre. I figured you would be better off with her." He pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing.

"When I finally got out of the Army, I was having a hard time. I was diagnosed with PTSD and started drinking heavily, I was lost for a long time. It wasn't until I met Sally that she started helping me. She got me sober and got me to start going to therapy. It was a long road and by the time I got to a point where I felt like me again, I felt like too much time had passed and that I didn't have a right to try and find you to reconnect."