I Saw You Fell - "Angels Of Bataan"

CHAPTER 12

Our engagement lasted precisely three days. That was the length of time it took me to get a priest from Our Lady of Guadalupe. The guy knew that I was a barbarian and so, he married us without the banns. It never hurts to hedge your bets if you live on the charity of others and a lot of money flowed downhill from my pocketbook to that shrine.

Ronnie slept in the bedroom next to mine for the first two nights. That was because Missy still had difficulty sleeping. My kitten was perfectly normal during the day. But she couldn't keep the horrors of Santo Tomas out of her head at night. As a result, she had always slept in the same room as I did.

Nevertheless, she was also old enough to know that a mom and dad slept together. So, she insisted on swapping rooms with Ronnie when we married.

It was poignant, really. Little girls need strong female role models, and Missy idolized Ronnie. Her request to sleep by herself was her touching attempt to show Ronnie she could be just as brave as she was. In that respect then, the door to the next room opened for my dear little daughter and she was determined to walk through it with grace and courage.

The fact that Ronnie both understood and assisted her in making that walk was further proof of the love of my life's commitment to us. I mean, seriously!! Devoting your wedding night to helping a poor little girl adjust to her changed circumstance was just so prototypically Ronnie.

We might have come together by different paths. But nurture always trumps nature, and as odd as it might seem, we were already a family. Hence, there was a whirlwind of activity in Missy's new room while the wedding went on outside.

Then, when it was time for Missy to go to sleep, we both took her down the hall to a newly painted pink fantasy, whimsically decorated with unicorns and rainbows and featuring a four-poster bed that was fit for a princess.

I'd given my Kitten a stuffed bunny rabbit to sleep with after we moved out of the camp. We called him "Honey-Bunny the Healing Bunny." I told her to hug him any time she felt the fear returning. Missy was clutching Honey Bunny tightly to her chest as we put her to bed that night. But my brave little Kitten loved us both, and she wanted us to be happy.

Now it was our turn. We shared a glass of red wine on the veranda, watching the ship lights out on Manila Bay. We were both nervous.

Okay!! I realize how ridiculous that might sound. The number of women I'd been with was somewhere in the several dozens, and by her admission, beautiful Ronnie had cut a swath through the entire U.S. Army Air Force. I mean, anybody who could land Giles Pemberton had to be remarkable.

In addition, the two of us had lived in close quarters in the most challenging circumstances for over three years. So, nerves should have been the furthest thing from either of our minds. But the fact was that the stakes were too high.

Sexual intimacy is the way married couples build and reinforces their bond. Hence, good sex underwrites the marital situation notwithstanding anything else that you might do together as a couple. That's why fidelity is so important. Our problem was that we had never been in a place where we were able to express physical desire for each other.

We knew the other person checked all the boxes for an ideal mate. We shared the same values and beliefs, all of which had been tried and proven in the fiery crucible of Santo Tomas. We could trust each other unconditionally, and we'd supported each other through thick and thin. But desire is either there or it isn't. It's innate. And we had no experience in that realm.

Even if we had been able to spend time alone in that awful place, a hot shower and a satisfying meal would take precedence over a hot night in bed. Particularly given the final thousand calorie diet we were living on. So, tonight was the first night we would explore the physical side of our relationship.