Page 38 of The Flyboy's Girl
Chapter Sixteen
Natalie – Present Day
When Grandma Ruby finishes her story, Zoey, Alana and I are all sobbing surrounded by a sea of used tissues.
“Grandma,” I say my voice thick with emotion. “That is the most beautiful, heart-wrenching story I’ve ever heard.”
“It was heart-wrenching to live through,” she says as she wipes the tears away from her own eyes.
Through her sniffles, Alana asks, “So you never saw Paul again?”
“No sweet girl, I didn’t,” Grandma says to Alana
Focusing on the box that held Grandma Ruby’s memories, Zoey asks, “How did you get your letters back?”
“When Paul’s things were returned to the base, Don made sure the letters I had written Paul and the photos I had given him were given back to me before everything else was sent to his parents.”
“It must have been devastating to lose your true love like that.”
“Oh child,” Grandma says to Zoey, “I didn’t lose my true love. I lost myfirstlove. There’s a difference.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Your first love teaches you what it means to love and how to love. How to think of someone else first and be considerate of their feelings. But your true love, they’re the one that sweeps you off your feet when you least expect it. The one that constantly tells you that you’ve been on their mind. The one you think about when you buy a new dress, because you can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees you in it for the first time. The one you imagine building a life with, and sharing a home with, and having children with, that’s who your true love is.”
“But didn’t you have all those things with Paul?”
“I did to some extent. Being with Paul was exciting. Mostly because I wasn’t supposed to date someone on base. Even though I loved Paul, I eventually understood our love just wasn’t meant to be, and that he would want me to be happy, even if it was with someone else.”
“How long did it take you to get over Paul?”
“I don’t know that you ever really get over you first love. Your first love will always be a part of you, just like Paul will always be a part of me. But once you find the one you are meant to spend the rest of your life with, the relationships of your past become life lessons.”
Alana, who has been listening intently to every question Zoey has asked, finally gets to ask a question of her own. “So if Paul wasn’t your true love, who was?”
Grandma Ruby smiles and her eyes light with love. “That honor belonged to my Calvin.”
Excited to hear another story, Alana asks, “Will you tell us how you met Grandpa Calvin?”
Hugging Alana to her side she laughs, “I would love to, but that’s a story for another day.”
“Awww,” the girls say in unison.
“Besides, I think I’m out of tissues,” Grandma Ruby teases making us all laugh as we gather up the mountain of used tissues.
Looking at my watch, I’m surprised to see how late it is. “Come on girls, let’s get things cleaned up, we need to be going soon.”
“Aww, do we have to?” Alana whines.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. But I bet Grandma Ruby would let us come back and visit again.”
“Of course, you are welcome any time. I have plenty of stories to tell. I might even have a few to tell about your mother.”
“Now there’s something I’d like to hear,” Zoey teases.
“We’ll save those for much later,” I tease back as Grandma laughs.
Walking us to the door, both of the girls hug Grandma and thank her for sharing her story with them.
