The Cuckold's Son

Tom paused as if deciding whether or not to continue but then decided 'in for a penny...' and went on with his story.

"No matter if it's just your mother or if she has Will or her friend; one thing remains the same: Before she leaves this room, she gets down on her knees and prays for your health and happiness. Not that you'll come back to her. That would be selfish and there's not a selfish bone in her body. At least the Maddy that I know. She prays that you will stay safe and out of harm's way and that you are happy."

Tom stopped for a minute to clear his throat. He had become emotional talking about his wife's distant devotion to her son.

"So, tell me Dale; are her prayers being answered? Are you happy?"

Dale approached the life size photo of the president hanging the Medal on him. He noticed for the first time something hanging around Dale's neck in the life-size cutout. A pendent that someone, probably his mother had draped around his neck. A gold chain with a brightly polished Celtic Cross. Dale reached out and fingered the cross.

Tom spoke from the doorway, "I know the history of that particular piece of jewelry. In the entire time I have known her, she has never worn that necklace. When she had the standees delivered, she went to her jewelry box and took it out, went into that room and closed the door and didn't come out for six hours. I was starting to get scared and was about to go in after her when she finally came out. Her eyes were red and puffy and I knew she had been crying, but she seemed to be at a little more at peace than before going into the room. But now that it's been a decade since she's seen or talked to you, I see the light starting to fade from her eyes. I'm begging you, please save my wife! Please save my family!"

+++

D-Day, 10 Years + 4 Months

Christmas Eve

Major Dale Lee removed his head covering and tucked it under his arm as he entered the foyer of the church. He had thought long and hard about whether to come to his mother. Mentally, he had fought against it. Emotionally he had fought for it. The warring within himself came to a halt when he finally answered to himself the question that Tom had asked of him.

"Are you happy?"

He was not. He was mostly...semi-content. But that was a long way from happy. That is why he found himself at the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at Tom's church. It's a ninety-minute drive from Fort Cavasos to Austin but it had taken Dale over two hours. He had stopped twice along the way to convince himself to attend the service. He still was not sure if he was doing the right thing.

Dale took a deep breath, slowly exhaled. Rather than a civilian suit, he was wearing the army "pink and greens" dress uniform along with the visored officer's hat which he now carried under his arm. Tom had told Dale where his wife and son usually sat. As he walked down the aisle, he could see the heads above the bench back on the third pew from the front on the left-hand side of the sanctuary.

A little head, barely visible. Will.

A head with blonde hair going gray in a loose bun, His mother.

Another head, blonde in a ponytail sitting next to his mother. His mother's "friend" whose identity Tom had finally made known to him only after Dale's promise as an officer and a gentleman that he would not back out.

Faith.

There was an empty seat between Will and the end of the pew and Dale slid into that spot. As he sat, he heard a gasp and looked into the startled eyes of his mother. Maddy had gone pale and tears had sprung to her eyes. She started to breathe fast, and for a moment, Dale was afraid she was going to hyperventilate.

"We'll talk later," he whispered. His mother nodded, too overcome with emotion to speak anyway.

He looked from his mother into the eyes of this former girlfriend and saw...anger?

Dale felt a tug on his jacket sleeve and a voice whisper, "Sir, are you my brother?" Will's eyes were big as saucers.

"Yes sir. I'm your brother and I am so happy to finally get to meet you." Dale extended his hand and Will took and solemnly shook.

Will then turned and looked up to his mother and with a radiant smile said, "Mommy, Dale's home."

Maddy reached her hand towards Dale's face and put her palm against his face. "Yes baby, your brother's home."

+++

The service ended with the congregants singing "Silent Night" as they touched candles one to another so that the entire darkened sanctuary was illuminated by candlelight.

"You're coming home with us," his mother stated at the conclusion of the service.

Dale shook his head no. "I'm going back to the BOQ tonight. If I leave now, I can be there by 01:30."

"Please Dale..." his mother said. "We have an extra room. You can stay with us."

"I'm not going to do that, but I have been invited over for Christmas lunch tomorrow. That is, of course if you want me to come over. If not, I can give my regrets to Tom."

"I can't believe he did this," she laughed. "That beautiful, wonderful man."

He gave his mother a quick hug and then knelt down to shake hands with Will.

"I'll see you tomorrow, little brother."

"I'll see you tomorrow, big brother," Will said, happily.

Dale stood up and looked at his ex-girlfriend. "Faith, I would like to talk with you sometime if you are willing. If not, I understand."

"Oh, you'll see me tomorrow and we'll talk then," she said, anger still evident in her eyes. "You better believe we're going to have one heck of a conversation tomorrow."

For the first time since his last tour of Afghanistan, Dale actually felt fear.

+++

Dale arrived at Tom and Maddy's home at 10:30 Christmas morning. The smell of cinnamon rolls filled the air and Dale was immediately confronted by a small boy launching himself into Dale's arms.

"Hi big brother," Will said.

"Hi little brother," Dale replied. Dale carried Will into the living room where his mother and Faith sat, surrounded by opened presents. He handed his mother a wrapped parcel and tears immediately sprang to her eyes.

"I didn't buy you anything," she cried.

"Of course not, you had no idea that I was coming. Besides, I didn't buy you anything either. That's something that was just sitting in a drawer."

Maddy tore open the package and stared at the black rectangular box. Gold filigree ran down the left-hand side of the box and printed in gold across the front the words "Medal of Honor." Towards the bottom was printed the words United States of America. Maddy slowly opened the box to reveal the blue ribbon with the five-point star below.

Maddy sat staring at the award as tears streamed down her face. She looked at Dale and reached out to touch his face, running her finger along his scar and over his eye patch.

"My poor boy. I should have been there for you." She quietly sobbed as she stared at the award.

"Do you mind if I see that," Tom asked. "Twenty-five years in the army and I've never seen one or met someone who had been awarded the Medal."

Maddy handed Tom the box and he handled it reverently. "Dale, I think each one of us in this room probably has your citation memorized so we will not speak of it, especially on this day. But know this, you will always be welcome in my home."

It was Dale's turn to feel tears sting his eyes.

Lunch was the best meal that Dale had eaten in, well, years. The conversation never faltered. His mother could not take her eyes off her oldest son and Will was in thrall with his older brother. Tom and Dale chatted about duty stations that they had in common. The only person who had little to say was Faith.

Finally, she had enough. Pie was over and it was time for a talk.

"Get your coat," she snapped. "We're going for a walk."

Nothing was said for the first five minutes until Faith finally broke the silence. And broke it in a big way.

"You asshole!" she screamed. "You fucking asshole! You leave a note? That's how you tell me that we'll never see each other again. That all our plans were for nothing? That I'll never have your babies? A note?" The damn broke and she began to sob.

Dale reached to put his arms around her and she pushed him away. He persisted and her resistance weakened until she allowed his arms to encircle her. She cried into his chest as she relived the night that she arrived home from eating out with her parents. His note stuck between the storm door and the door jamb. She had never had such devastating news in her life. Even the death of her grandparents had not affected her like Dale's note. She had spent the entire first year at UT in a zombie like state. Forget dating; she wouldn't so much as attend a party. She had no interest in anyone.

During her second year, she began to venture out with her friends to parties and to bars. During her senior year of college, she had her first date. It was the only date she had ever been on with someone other than Danny. Or Dale as she now thought of him. And that date was a disaster. All she talked about was the asshole who had left her by leaving a note.

That was her first and only date during college.

After college, she got a job teaching in middle school in Austin and settled in for a life of celibacy.

During her first year of college, she had been contacted by Madeline Lee, Danny's mother. Faith had no interest in talking to Maddy and had spurned her attempts at meeting with her. The last time she had seen Maddy was when she had dropped by the Lee's house to drop off some of Danny's books that he had left at her house. Through the window in the front door, she had seen Maddy lying at the foot of the stairs. She had waited for the ambulance and given the police her name. She left and never made another effort to visit Maddy.

Eventually Maddy was able to track down Faith and ambush her on the way home from a college class. Faith had listened to what Maddy had to say and had gone with her for coffee. A four-hour conversation led to another meeting which led to more meetings which led to a budding friendship. Maddy had moved to Austin from Dallas for a fresh start and had always liked Faith. Faith had liked Maddy, but had been so disgusted by the video, that she at first wanted nothing to do with Danny's mom. Eventually, they had become close friends as Faith began to understand how Maddy had come to acquiesce to her husband's increasingly outrageous sexual demands. They eventually agreed to start over as friends with clean slates. Faith now considered Maddy her best friend and Dale's reappearance had actually put that in jeopardy. Faith had not even had time to process her own feelings about Daniel Dale Lee showing up out of the blue. Maddy was over the moon but all Faith could see was the loss of her best friend as Maddy's oldest son reentered her life.

Dale continued to hug Faith. Eventually she stopped crying and began to take comfort in his arms.

"Why did you leave me?" she asked through her sobs.

"I didn't leave you. I was running away from myself. From my fears. I was scared that I was going to be like my dad and that scared the hell out of me. I've been running from that for ten years."

"You never found anyone else?" Faith stepped back out of Dale's grasp and looked into his one eye that gazed intently into her two.

"I haven't been with anyone since the last time we were together. They call me "The Monk" because I have no personal life."

Faith's breath caught in her throat at that revelation. "Aren't we a pair," she asked. "No sex for either one of us in a decade."

As they walked back towards Tom and Maddy's house, they began to walk closer together. Faith gave Dale a shoulder bump and he moved his left hand down towards her right as they grasped hands.

"What now," she asked. "Where do we go from here."

"I have another year on my FLEP commitment to the army for paying for law school." After that, I'll probably retire. I'll get a small disability pension for my eye, but I'll have to find a job pretty quickly. I imagine I can get on with some law firm in Austin."

"There's a girl at our church, Emily Garcia, who's a partner in a big law firm here. She might be able to help. I know her firm hires a lot of veterans."

Dale shrugged. It was worth looking into. And Austin was looking like it might be a good spot to settle. For several reasons he thought as he gave Faith's hand a squeeze.

+++

D-Day + 12 Years

The wedding was a well-attended event. The groom's step-father was the officiant and the groom's half-brother was the best man. The bride's maid-of-honor was the groom's mother.

There were bumps and bruises on the road as Dale and Faith made there way back to each other. The bride's parents drove down from Dallas. They were hesitant to give their blessings based on the way Dale had left Faith years ago. But when they saw them together, any doubts fled.

Through the course of conversations with Faith and his mother, Dale found out how the Olson Twins had come into possession of the video of Maddy. The twins' uncle was a law partner with Dale's father Steven. There was a group of attorneys that were into swinging and porn. As Steven had fallen further and further into the dark pit from which that group partied, he had pushed Maddy's boundaries further and further. The video that Dale was shown was the first and only recording. He had emailed a copy of the video to the twins' uncle who in turn had sent it to the twin's father. They had stolen it off their father's phone.

When Faith had grabbed Kent Olson's phone to send the video to herself and Dale, she had copied Principal Regan on the email. Since the email was sent from Kent's phone, he was expelled. He protested that he had not sent the email, but the facts spoke for themselves. After his expulsion, Kent lost any chance he had of obtaining a scholarship. If Kent was not going to college, then Kyle was for sure not going. Kyle had ended up as a delivery driver for a beer distributor in East Texas. Kent was currently serving fifteen years in the Ellis Unit outside of Huntsville, TX for bank robbery.

Faith had the beginning of a baby bump when she married Dale. It was not noticeable enough to cause comments, even if anyone actually cared that the bride was pregnant when she married. It had not taken Dale and Faith long to resume their lovemaking so it was not surprising that she was pregnant; what was surprising was that it did not happen sooner.

Danny was the now the aggressor when it came to making love with Faith. Every time.