Together We Stand Divided We Fall

The boots were clicking on the tiled floor as he walked through the school hallways with a purpose. He had to get to her classroom before she got the phone call. The numbers on the room were slowly getting larger; he finally saw 145 and knocked on the doorframe of the open doorway.

The kids in the classroom looked at him in awe. He was a giant compared to the five and six year old children. “Nat?” he hardly recognized the woman standing amongst the kids. She was thinner than he remembered and she looked like she hadn’t slept in months.

She didn’t hear him at all. He hadn’t spoken over a low whisper. He was about to call out to her again when he felt a tugging on his pant leg. He looked down and saw a little girl with no front teeth, hair in two long pigtails and courage in her eyes. He could never be serious around kids or stern, they were his kryptonite.

He smiled down as he kneeled down in his crisp blue pants. “Yea,” he questioned the little girl hoping the curious nature of children would prompt her to continue.

“Are you a friend of Miss Nat?”

He smiled as he nodded his head, “Yes I am. Can you tell her Luke is right behind her?” He watched the little girl skip over to Natalie and tug on her hand so she would crouch down to the little girl’s level. She reached up to whisper in Natalie’s ear. This girl was adorable and she knew it.

Natalie turned around and looked at him after the little girl quit whispering to her. She turned back around and talked to another girl in the room before dragging him out in the hallway by his arm “This better not be happening. I’ve been worried sick since you two called saying you had a mission and couldn’t call.” She put her hands protectively over her stomach. Rings glistening on her fourth finger, she assumed he didn’t notice the protective gesture.

She had married his brother before his last tour, after she had tried to figure out which brother she truly loved. They had been friends for years, since she moved in next door. Both brothers realized the liked her a lot after their second tour of duty and couldn’t stand not having a chance with her.

“Damn it Luke Answer me.” He snapped back to reality and pulled off his white gloves that were a part of his uniform and set them down with his hat.

“Nat I’m telling you this because he told me to. He saw the sniper and tried to push me out of the way because he promised mom he would always look out for me.” He also knew that his brother didn’t know for sure if his wife was pregnant or not.

“He also told me he thought you were pregnant. Your mom wrote him saying you’d been sick for about three months.

She looked at him as if he was wrong but Luke knew he was right. He hoped like hell that it was his brothers and not his. “I’m five months Luke.” His mind was trying to do the math to make sure it wasn’t when she had kept making him drink until she had what she wanted.

“It’s Jake’s Right?” the quivering in his voice was caused from the fear of knowing he might have screwed up his brother’s marriage before it began.

“I’d love to say it is but it’s not. I didn’t want to tell him because I was afraid he would lose it. I knew the night before the wedding.” She hid her face in her hands. “I wanted you to stop the marriage but you didn’t. I didn’t tell Jake because I figured I got myself into this mess and I would have to deal with this mess.”

He felt bad he just lost his brother fighting in war, and he was finding out that his brother’s wife was pregnant with his kid. “You know he told me to take care of you.” He moved to sit beside her and hold her in hopes of making this news easier on her.

“He told me to marry you if we fell in love again.” He waited for the shock from her but nothing came from her mouth. He had ambushed her at work, made her find out one of the people they both loved was now dead.

She leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and squeezed. He felt her shaking against his chest. “Luke,” she muttered against his chest.

“Hmm?”

“Is it bad that I never stopped loving you?” she raised her head looking him right in the eyes.

“Why’d you marry Jake then?” he was curious about her motives now. She looked back down and sobbed as Luke checked the hallway to make sure that no one had heard them or was watching them.

“He was gay you know?” he had no idea; his brother was always taking girls home until Natalie. “All those girls were cover ups. He married me as a cover up and also because he was afraid you wouldn’t ever step up to date me.” Luke sat and looked at her.

“My brother didn’t tell me he was gay.” Luke was very shocked, “Wait why didn’t you tell him you were pregnant with my kid?”

She hung her head allowing her brown hair to curtain her face. A lone tear dropped onto her pants making a wet stain on her jeans. He lifted her head to look at him again. He had no idea what she was thinking and it was killing him.

“We tried once. He wanted a kid of his own, if it was his he was going to leave the force to start a family with his partner.” Luke was shocked his brother had never told him about any of this. They were supposed to be brothers, blood and he hadn’t told him any of this.

“He assumed I was pregnant with his kid. I’ve known that all along it was yours. I was going to give him our child so he could be happy.”

He wanted to meet his brother’s partner knowing it would ease the shock of this news. He stood and held his hand out for Natalie to take. She quickly grabbed his hand as he led her down the hallway toward the exit to his car.

“Where does he live?” he questioned as he pulled out of the parking lot. She gave him the directions and waited for the finish line, “Nat that’s my brother’s car.” He was worried that he hadn’t really known his brother at all.

“He didn’t live with me. He lived here with his partner.” She smiled as she walked to the front door of the house pressing the small button to the left of the door waiting for him to answer the door. The red door swung open and she smiled. “Hi Donny, this is Jake’s brother Luke I’m sure he told you about him.” He noticed how tall Donny was, and then he realized who Donny was. He had been in their training platoon when they got to Special Forces.

“Donny, you were with my brother? Why didn’t he tell me about you two?” Donny was a great guy. He looked out for his own people and wanted what was best for his friends. “Hell if I’d of known it was you he was with I would have been so excited.” Donny pushed the screen door open and allowed the two into the home. “Mind if I have a moment with Natalie alone?”

Donny nodded as he sat down on the couch with the tissues that I know had to be from finding out about my brother. Natalie had to of let him know about the accident. Luke felt horrible because Donny had lost one of the few people who he could be himself around.

“Natalie. I want Donny to be in the baby’s life. I know you think I was just blowing smoke up your ass but I’ve loved you all my life. If this is, all Donny has left of my brother is you and I. I want him to stick around.” He kept fidgeting. “I know I surprised you with showing up, now I know that you both would have been happy if I had taken the bullet, but I can’t change what happened.” He moved down the hallway and looked at the picture of his brother and Donny kissing. He saw the love that they had by their joined hands and their closed eyes.

He had come home to tell his best friend that her husband, his brother, had died in battle. Now he had told his best friend everything he’s ever felt, told her she’s lost the husband figure she had. He turned to see her looking back at him sideways. He noticed how her stomach stuck out more than he could see at the school. Her shirt hid it well but not completely. He smiled knowing it was his kid. He found the courage to go back into the house and make the bad situation right.

His dress shoes from his military uniform clicking against the wood floor that Jake had probably picked out. “Nat,” He looked her dead in the eyes as he sunk to one knee. “Marry me? Let me make up the mistake that I made by letting you marry my brother, I wish he would have known I would have been happy for him and Donny. I can’t do that now but let me make it up with you. Let me be the child’s father, I want you and our baby.”

She just stared at him because he had suddenly asked about marriage. In all of their time spent together, they had never talked about spending time together forever, or having children. The pair had voiced their love before he left for his last tour but never had the guts to do anything more. The silence was deafening. The only sound that he could hear was Donny walking into the hallway they were in.

“Say yes Natalie, he loves you can’t you tell. He only asked you because his mind finally realized that you’ve loved him all along.” They both looked over at Donny shocked to say the least. “Look I may have lost my best friend and husband but you know what I’ve gained out of it? A family.” Luke smiled at Donny as he stood and walked over to him.

He wrapped his arms around the muscular frame of him and let the tear slip from his eye. He looked over at Natalie and then back at Donny with a smile on his face. “I don’t know how much my family knows but I know that you meant the world to my brother if he was willing to drop it all after this tour. Be the godfather of our child. I know you think that you don’t deserve that but I’ll be damned if you don’t get to be a part of my family now.” The three all looked at each other and knew that everything would eventually be okay, they would all get over the loss of Jake and they would all make it.

None of them had expected Jake to die, or to be surprised with a new marriage, baby, or being a godfather but all of them accepted their new roles and willingly took them. The only question was how would the world see their surprises, how they would take on the world.