The Soldier Next Door

The air was thick with the tension between us. Our eyes were hot with held-back tears; brows burdened with unresolved anger. Our annoyance filled the space between us. Disenchantment and creeping doubt edged us closer to a cliff of despair.

On a good day, love can be challenging.

Why do we keep finding ourselves in these trenches of disaffection and dysfunction?

Life’s evolutions would throw us off balance, disrupt our “normal,” and make us uncomfortable and distracted.NôvelDrama.Org content.

We are continually growing apart instead of instead of growing closer.

To love, truly love, is to give, even when it is hard—especially when it is hard.

When that reservoir of resentment is so full that just a drop of irritation made it spill over and saturate us with anger, we had to be stronger than the flood and to give more.

And when we had nothing left to give, this is when we had to forgive.

And when we did, we began to build trust again in keeping each other safe and in knowing that neither of us would ever give up.

Then we endured, then we grew in love.

This work of a forever relationship is endless, and it is hard, and it is beautiful.

Love is a choice—one we are privileged to make every single day. What results from our efforts is never perfect, but always so much more magnificent than before.

Our faith in each other and the hope in our hearts will always manifest in love—the greatest thing we can make for ourselves and our families.

And families is something that I have now come to face with. Ana has handed her phone over with the intention of me speaking to her mother. Now I have never seen, let alone spoken to the woman because I thought that she was dead.

But ya, she has risen from her grave, and I am now met by a voice that I know far too well, so I look to my left where Ana is sitting with nothing but nervous tension, “Is this your idea of a joke?”

With only on hiss and a snap of her tongue, she lashes back at me in an instant, “Why would I make a joke about this?”

“Well,” the words leave my mouth faster than I could stop them. “You have lied about it; who says you will not make a fucked up joke about it?”

“Ethan,” she rises from the chair where she is sitting and starts to ominously make her way over to me, “Are you going to speak to her, or would you rather that she come to visit?”

Ya, that might just shut me up for good, for I do not want this woman in my house.

Hey, no offense, but the bat is damn crazy.

So sticking the urge to be rude into my pockets, I only but listen to that annoying voice come through the receiver, “Hello, my boy.”

I cringe for only but a second, but then a good old chuckle comes to mind of how much fun I can have given this old bag a world of shit. Though the thing is, how much of her can I really take on a daily basis?

There is no way in fucking hell that she is coming to stay here while I am out on deployment. So once again, as polite as I can, I decide to entertain this, for I am still thinking that this is Ana’s idea of a joke.

“Hey, Maggie. Have you nearly killed anybody lately?”

Well, they are one of what I believe is going to be many. It comes in with a swift move and makes contact with the back of my head.

“What the fuck, Ana. If anybody deserves to be slapped,” I stop and only but grunt at a woman that is getting ready to slap me again.

Yet, “Maggie, now I love that you two girls are getting along, but this is not funny playing a joke about my baby’s future.”

“My boy,” that screeching voice just grew a pitch higher, and it gave me a clear indication that whatever these two might be up to could possibly perhaps be the truth. So Maggie decides to continue with that firm tone in her voice, “Ethan, why would we lie about something that should be serious like this.”

“But, Maggie, how?”

“Must I explain to you how babies are made,” I hear her give herself a good old chuckle, “I am sure you got that one well figured out?”

“Fuck! No, Maggie.”

“Now, my boy.”

I immediately interrupt her for once and all, “I am not a boy, Maggie.”

“Oh, believe me, Ana…”

“What the fuck?” I turn to Ana, and I wish that right now, I could be the one that could slap her. She just did not tell the gossip girl in town…God, I don’t even want to think about it…So, only shaking the million thoughts that are running through my mind, “Maggie, really now. Are you just fucking with me?”

“No, I am Ana’s mother. Her dad and I moved there right after Mark was discharged. Then only but a few years later, he passed away from a heart attack. I never felt like moving back to the city, so when Ana could finally get away, she moved down to that little place up the hill close to where you stayed.”

“But I don’t understand…Rather let me rephrase, that fucking Jenkins family is crazy.”

“Young man, watch that damn mouth of yours, or I will come to give it a good scrubbing.”

Ya, and that just sends a shiver up my spine, and believe me, that it is not a shiver in a good way, “Maggie, did you just listen to what you said?”

“Yes, you must watch that foul mouth around the baby.”

“Ugh,” I only grunt at her as I throw my hand in the air to show Ana my frustration, “Maggie, you are not going to come to tell me how to raise my child.” I pause for a brief moment, yet I continue, “I don’t want him to come out as crazy as you.”

“Ethan!” From both sides, I hear the two women that I am going to spend the rest of my damn life echoing to every crack and crevice and corner. Maggie is the first, “You are not too old for a good spanking.” Well, that thought just puts a horrible taste in my mouth and an image that I wish was never, then from the very close left side of me, Ana, “I am going to snap your head until it spins. You are not too old for a spanking.”

Now, that one leaves a far better image in my head than the first one.

But I only ignore these two crazy women, “Maggie, I am glad… Ya, I am not sure if I would be lying if I say that, but I am glad Ana’s mother is still alive, but I am not so sure if I am happy about the crazy bat in town…” God, that is when it hits me. “I have got an evil mother-in-law.”

“Ethan!”

Ya, I only but jump up from the chair before Ana’s hand can come any closer. The woman is so big, it takes her about ten seconds just to get her legs straight, and that is not even lifting her ass off the chair.

Now for saying that, I think I would have been punched.

But back to this mother-in-law thing.

From what every guy on the platoon says is that they are normally mean and hard to deal with. They meddle their fingers in everything and override every decision you make for your children. Apparently, they also have the uncanny ability to show up unannounced and uninvited. And when they do, they stick like shit to a blanket, and you can never get rid of them.

Well, Maggie, the town gossip column, also known as Miss Daisy, is not officially my mother-in-law. I have not only inherited one being mean and in the way, but I have also managed to get the one that is damn crazy.

It blows me away that I have never not noticed that Ana and Maggie were much closer than they should have been. That is why she always got so upset with us when we made so much fun of Maggie. Fuck my entire family; even my dad made fun of Maggie. I am sure that Ana felt like strangling us quite often.

But strangle is what I am going to do with Ana if she lets Maggie come to stay here while I am on deployment. So best we stop that idea right before it can even start forming.

“Maggie, now that you are my mother-in-fucking-law…I can’t get over how terrible that sounds. Is Ana perhaps not adopted?”

“Ethan.” I get a firm warning from the woman that has finally managed to get off the chair and is heading my way where I am now sitting in the kitchen.

Yet, I ignore her ominous presence, “Maggie, fair, you are Ana’s mom, but I am sorry, Ana needs to learn to…”

And just before I can even finish my sentence, there is a soft knock at the door.

I only look at Ana, “You better hope that is Gibbs.”