The train pulled into the station at 6:00 P.M., and knowing he had only a few hours before he had to catch the 1:00 A.M. train back to the post, Jason hurried to Ellie. After the usual warm greeting, they sat on Ellie's porch swing and held hands.
"Ellie, if I didn't have you, I'd have to spend my nights on the post and I'd go mad."
Ellie leaned over and kissed him. "Well, you have me and you always will."
Jason smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Ellie...Ellie, the Army is sending me to Germany in a week. I'll be gone for twenty months."
Ellie stiffened. "Twenty months? We won't see each other for twenty months? Jason, I'll miss you so much," she said looking at him through tear-filled eyes.
"Please, don't cry, Ellie," he said hugging her. "Look, I have six day's leave, so I don't have to report for my flight until next Saturday. We'll spend every minute together," he said as he wiped her tears away.
The six days went quickly, and Jason left Ellie promising that the twenty months would fly by, and before she knew it they would be together again.
The twenty months did pass quickly, and when Jason returned, he and Ellie spent every weekend and most nights together for two months, and Ellie was happy. However, her happiness was not long lived. When September came, Jason went to college and worked two jobs. Because he was so busy, he could only get away two or three times a week to see her. After a while, the number of visits dwindled to two or three a month. After two years, Jason's visits to Ellie were few and far between, and Ellie saw her dreams fading away. When Jason was a sophomore, he became engaged, and after a few months, married. After his marriage, Jason never saw or spoke to Ellie. Sadly, she found out third-hand that he had married, and was so devastated that she mourned for months. Finally, she moved away and made a new life for herself.
After college, Jason married and settled down, and for the next thirty years, he was blissfully happy. One day, at the end of a day like any other day, Jason drove home anticipating a warm reception from his wife. When he got home, his wife was not there to greet him. He called, but there was no answer, so he looked through the house; she wasn't at home. Puzzled, he went to the kitchen where he found a letter with his name on it on the kitchen table. He quickly opened it. "Oh, God. Oh, God, no. She left me…for another man," he mumbled. "Gone? After all these years? Gone? But why? How could this be? Oh, my God. What's going to happen to me? What…what's going to happen to me?"
For several weeks, Jason tried to figure out why his wife left him. Questions haunted him day and night. One Sunday morning, he sat at his kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee when the phone rang. As though coming out of a daze, he looked at the phone for a few seconds, and when it rang a fourth time, he slowly reached for it. From the tone of his voice, one would have assumed he was dying. "Hello? Yes, this is Jason. Who is this? Huh? Ellie? Ellie who?" After listening for a few moments, he came alive. "Oh, my God. Ellie? Ellie? My Ellie? Is it really you? You're here? I heard you moved away. Oh, your husband died and you're moving back. That's absolutely wonderful. Wonderful. Uh, huh," he said as he listened intently to a voice from the past. "Uh huh, yes. Uh, huh. Uh, Ellie, something terrible has happened to me. No. I'm not sick. Ellie, my wife left me. Yeah, she…look, please, meet for dinner, and I'll tell you everything. Yes, tonight. How about the Mayflower restaurant at 7:00. Great. I'll be counting the minutes."
Jason arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early and looked for Ellie. "I don't see her. I wonder if she changed her mind. What will I do if she changed her mind? As he looked around, he heard his name called, turned quickly, and saw Ellie walking toward him. Both smiled happy smiles and they hugged. Holding her hands in his, he stepped back. "Ellie, I would have known you anywhere. You haven't changed a bit."
