Page 16 of Salute, To Bravery
Harper and I sit on the wooden bench outside the old weaver’s house in Al-Bustan. The flowers in the garden are in full bloom. This is our permanent home now.
“Look at them playing, Rehan,” Harper murmurs, her voice filled with a contentment that warms me more than the afternoon sun.
Her hand finds mine, our fingers intertwining as we watch our son, Jamie, named after Harper’s brother, and our daughter, Hana, named after my mother, playing with a group of children in the village square. Their game of tag is full of energy and accompanied by innocent shrieks of delight.
Harper’s other hand rests on the swell of her belly where our third child grows.
“They’re free,” I reply, my voice reflecting not just the joy of the moment but also the freedom that has come with the hard-won peace. “Free from the shadows of the past. Free to live.”
Harper squeezes my hand, her gaze turning to meet mine. “And so are we. Despite everything, we’ve found a home here. It’s more than I dared hope.”
I nod, looking around at the evidence of the life we’ve built.
After our initial meeting with Colonel Ford, we spent many months apart as we helped to negotiate an end to the conflict. We fought for peace, not with weapons this time, but with words, and helped to change history.
Here in Al-Bustan, I’m not the rebel who helped to negotiate freedom for his country, and Harper’s not the former soldier who received an honourable discharge from the army and a medal for her courageous role in saving me. Here, we’re simply Harper and Rehan Haddad. A married couple who found love in the middle of chaos and clung to it as their salvation.
“Do you ever miss it?” Harper asks, her eyes scanning the horizon. “Our previous life and the clarity of our purpose.”
“Sometimes,” I admit. “But then I look at what we have, what we’ve built here, and any longing for the past fades away. I’ve found a new purpose. With you, with this community, and with the work we’re still involved in from afar.”
Harper smiles. “I feel the same. I thought my duty and my role in the military defined me. But, it turns out, life had more in store for me. More to offer.”
The children’s laughter brings our attention back to the present. Their joy is a vivid reminder of the life that continues to thrive around us.
Harper’s father and mother appear from the kitchen and start to place the beginnings of a feast on the table outside the house. We decided to make our home in Al-Bustan and took up permanent residence in the weaver’s house that’s been extended over the years to accommodate our growing family.
Harper’s parents are regular visitors here, and we often take the children to see them in the States. We want our little ones to grow up understanding and experiencing both of our cultures.
I now run the local school, where I teach girls and boys of all ages from the village.
“They are a symbol of hope,” Harper continues, watching as Hana, with bright ribbons in her hair, chases after a laughing Jamie. “A reminder of the peace that now blooms in this country and is still being sought throughout the world.”
“Yes,” I agree, feeling a surge of protective affection not just for Harper and my children but for the entire village, for this slice of heaven we’ve worked so hard to attain. “We’ve fought for it, and now we get to enjoy it.”
“So, this is it. Our final chapter,” she murmurs, her voice quiet but steady.
“Yes,” I whisper back. “A beautiful, enduring chapter.”
Here in this quiet village, I know we’ve found not just a place to survive but a profound, lasting peace.
As the sun sets on the scene in front of us, I retrieve my oud from its case, and smiling at my beautiful wife beside me, I start to play.
THE END
About Anna Edwards
Anna Edwards is aUSA TodayBestselling British author from the depths of the rural countryside near London. When she has some spare time, she can also be found writing poetry, baking cakes (and eating them), or behind a camera snapping like a mad paparazzo. She’s an avid reader who turned to writing to combat her depression and anxiety. She has a love of traveling and likes to bring this to her stories to give them the air of reality. She likes her heroes hot and hunky with a dirty mouth, her heroines demure but with spunk, and her books full of dramatic suspense.
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