Past & Present Collide (3 page)

Chapter 3

It had been two weeks since she sent her
letter off to Derek. Kylie often found herself on the porch swing of the house he had bought for them staring at the old initials that represented theirs. Somehow sitting there looking at those initials brought comfort to the torture going on inside of her. She didn’t know why she has been so confused yet, but she planned on taking the promise she had made in her letter to figure things out very seriously.

Staring at the initials
lost in her thoughts; she jumped when her cell phone rang, glancing at the number she knew it was going to be Derek. She took a deep breath and answered it.

“Hello Derek, how have you been?”
She knew he would be anything but fine if he had received her letter. She was only trying to delay the guilt she knew she was going to feel when he laid out his feelings.

He wore his emotions on his sleeve es
pecially when it came to her, so she knew this conversation was going to get hard for both of them very quickly.

He sighed, “I would be lying to you if I told you I was fine Kylie.”

He paused allowing her to brace herself for what he was about to say hoping she could set his mind at ease.

“I received your letter two days ago. I
have read it a hundred times trying to decide how to proceed. I came to only one conclusion, and scares me to admit it. We aren’t going to be getting married in October are we?”

Her head dropped and she inhaled a long
breath before letting it out trying to fight back the tears as she spoke. “I don’t know Derek that’s a decision I haven’t made yet.” She paused before continuing no longer fighting the tears now freely flowing down her face. “I love you Derek,” choking on her words, “I don’t question that, and I don’t question your love and devotion for me.” She cried.

“Oh sweet Kylie, please don’t cry,”
she smiled sadly, wiping some of the tears away but it didn’t relieve the guilt. He was so sad and now he was comforting her instead of worrying about his own feelings.

“Kylie I love you
, I do. I love you with all of my heart, but I’m always selfish when it comes to you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He swallowed back his own sorrow, “I can give you whatever you want my dear even if that means postponing our wedding till you’re ready.”

The tears began down her face
heavily, because she knew he meant every word of what he had just said to her. He would gladly postpone the wedding for her even though she knew that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to marry her as soon as he was able to.

“Derek I want to marry you too. I truly
do, I just need my head right first. I hope it doesn’t take a postponement, but thank you for the offer I will consider it.” She was breaking.

“I don’t either.” He whispered but she
heard him and her heart only broke more. She needed to change the subject before they both just broke completely.

“I really love the house Derek. I feel r
elaxed here.” She meant every word she spoke too. She truly did love the house and in a strange way to did comfort her.

She fel
t his smile before he spoke, “I’m glad my love. I was hoping you would.”

She smiled and felt peace for the firs
t time since the conversation began. He spoke again breaking the silence that was calming her.

“Kylie, I go to go duty is calling, I love you.” She co
uld tell he wanted to say more, but no longer wanted to go back to the beginning of the conversation.

“I love you too, please take care I co
uldn’t handle it if something happened to you.” She meant those words if something happened to him she would be devastated.

“I promise,” and just like that he was gone.

Placing her phone down next to her, she pushed off the porch with her feet to start a slow relaxing sway. Laying her head back against the swing. She sighed finally letting a different emotion than guilt and heartache wash over her, ANGER at no one but herself.

Chapter 4

“What were you thinking? DAMN IT Kylie!” She cursed aloud to herself mad that she had let Derek go through the pain he was going through. She closed her eyes trying to relax again.

She smiled when she a
familiar face came into her mind, Derek. He was walking up to her at the coffee house where they met. He walked straight up to her and introduced himself.

“Hi I’m Derek.” He o
ut-stretching his hand to her.

She swallowed before returning his ge
sture finally looking up into those big brown eyes that captivated her from this moment, and every moment of her life afterwards.

“Do you have a name?” He asked sta
ring back into her green eyes not letting go of her hand.

She blushed realizing she hadn’t intro
duced herself due to the fact that he had taken her breath away when her eyes landed on him.

She nodded, “Yes its Kylie, nice to meet you Derek.”

“Pretty name for a pretty girl,” he winked at her glancing over to the seat across from her. “Is this seat taken?”

Retrieving her hand finally she s
imply smiled and waved to the empty seat. He sat down and they talked forever it seemed like at least. Before leaving he asked for her number, and she willingly gave it to him.

He kissed her on the cheek and e
xited the coffee shop. As she watched him leave she knew that was it, she was done looking for love. She had found it, and she only hoped he had felt the same way.

She smiled as she slowly returned
to reality wondering why when everything had been so perfect since that first meeting she was now facing doubts about their future. Just maybe she began to think, just maybe that was the problem; things had always been just way too perfect. They fought like normal couples, but for the most part everything had always fit together just right, without so much as a second thought for either of them.

As the night air began to surround her
she decided to retreat to the house for the evening. Taking one last look as she entered the house at the one place she gained the most serenity and ease,
THE SWING
.

Chapter 5

July and August passed into September without any sense of the confusion Kylie had been feeling wavering. If anything it had gotten worse mostly due to the fact that when Derek did write his letters were very brief. She became afraid that he was giving up on their happy ending. And that didn’t help her own confused emotions. It tortured her when she read his letters because she could feel his heart breaking, and she knew she was the only one that could stop it. She just didn’t know how to.

She tried to reassure him in her lette
rs back to him, but he hadn’t been buying it and that only crushed her more. He didn’t call, but she was happy he was at least still writing, and she wasn’t going to give up on figuring things out. She wanted to be with Derek and she was going to stand by her words.

One September evening she decided t
o do some digging through the house. She had been feeling something calling out to her and she was hoping it would help answer her questions. She finally came across two decorative boxes under the bed in the master bedroom.

She pulled them out and set them o
n the bed crawling in moments later to examine them.

She thumbed over the names r
eading them to herself slowly
‘KAYLIE’
on one box and
‘DAVID’
on the other. She closed her eyes and pictured a young couple carving their initials into the very porch swing she loved. She knew the moment she saw them that they were going to play a pivotal role in helping her muddle through the doubts. However, staring at these two boxes created a new world of emotion around her that she couldn’t even begin to describe. She lifted the lid of the box labeled with Kaylie’s name and began staring at its contents. There were pictures beyond pictures of a young couple that looked beyond happy and so very much in love. She wondered as she stared at these pictures what happened to this couple.

Being curious she lifted the lid of
the other box. Kylie laid the lid labeled David right next to the one labeled Kaylie. She saw some more pictures and picked them up laying them across the bed with the others. It was what was underneath the pictures peeking out that caught her attention
‘LETTERS’
. She pulled the top letter from the box and began to read it.

My Dearest Kaylie,

I know I haven’t written since I left
for the war and for that I am truly sorry my love. This is the first chance I have gotten. I miss you so much Kaylie and I am so sorry we had to postpone our wedding. I have been told my company won’t be over here much longer as we have almost fulfilled the needs for us. This means we can get married very soon my dearest. Nothing in this world would make me happier than to marry you as soon possible. I will write again soon and I hope I get to hear from you.

All my love,

David

She smiled because his words reminded her so much of Derek’s and she knew she had to read Kaylie’s words back to him. Although a growing fear in her told her it would feel very much like reading her own words. She pulled the first letter from Kaylie’s box and began to read.

My Dearest David,

I received your letter today and I was both overjoyed and confused.
I love you with all of my heart, but I am glad we were able to have this time apart. It has given me time to think about us and our future. I love you of that I am sure, but I worry that marriage might not be the right thing for us at this moment. I have been told so many things the last few months that made my head very clouded with mixed thoughts and emotions. I am using this time to sort through it all so that we can begin our lives together hopefully when you get back, but please be patient with me as I figure out not only my head but my heart as well. You have always been there for me and I want to be there for you too, but I need time to just sort through the mess. This by no means is a goodbye letter it is a please keep writing letter and forgive me as I process things while you are away.

Please be careful over there I wouldn’t want to receive news that you have been hurt as that would devastate me, because despite my confusion I still love you very much. I promise I will have everything figured out by the time you return from the war. I am asking for a little patience. I believe you are very capable of giving that to me. Take care my love I will see you soon.

Yours,

Kaylie

Her eyes welled up with tears as she read the words seeing that another young woman had lived in this house with the man she loved yet was having the same confused thoughts and emotions about the next step
‘MARRIAGE’
. It cut Kylie deeply reading Kaylie’s words.

She knew from David’s first letter th
e he was so very much in love with Kaylie much like Derek was with her, so she knew David did not leave this letter unanswered. Her green eyes shifted focus back to David’s box. Slowly lifting the next letter from the box she took a deep breath before unfolding it to read.

My Dearest Kaylie,

I understand the confusion you have b
een feeling, I know there has been a lot of pressure on you to do this. I hope you figure things out and I am your ultimate choice. I don’t want to lose you, but I am also willing to wait till you are ready. Please know I am sorry if you ever felt pressured by me to get married I only wanted to make you happy. I hope I still get that chance. I really don’t know what else to say, so I will just say I love you Kaylie don’t ever forget that.

David

The tears didn’t stop they were flowing freely down her face. His words so beautiful for a man, so much in love and also a man whose heart was breaking into pieces as he thought about losing his one true love. She leaned her head back against the headboard and closed her eyes for a moment gathering her thoughts before reaching for the last letter in Kaylie’s box.

She didn’t know what to expect as
she unfolded it, but she was hoping for some sign that love can conquer all.