The Sentencing - Chapter 8 to Conclusion

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The Sentencing
Chapter 8 to Conclusion
By Anon Allsop
 

** 8 **

I tried to listen to the radio with Dad, but I kept drifting off to sleep. I finally got up and nudged my father-in-law's leg. "It's getting late; we should be heading to bed." He sat up and nodded as I shuffled off toward the bathroom for a quick bath. It's funny...as a man; you could have counted the minutes of a "quick bath" on one hand. Now though, a quick bath for me took as much as a hour...though with the drought on like it had been, probably a half hour.

I finished and had my hair wrapped up and robe on, when I met him in the hallway finally heading to bed. "Goodnight Hun," he said as he walked into his bedroom and closed the door. I entered my room and slowly removed my robe. Gathering up my lightest nightgown, I slipped it over my head and crawled into bed. It was late, the hands on the alarm showing it nearing midnight. Scooting into the middle of the bed, I pulled a hair ribbon from my nightstand and began placing my hair into a ponytail, once done; I reached out and shut off the light. Using only a sheet for a blanket, I settled down into the soft bed. For several quiet moments I laid listening to the rain and low growling of each rumble of thunder. The soft
flicker of lightning illuminated the room enough that I found myself studying the image of my smiling husband.

"What had drawn him to Nicole, this woman I had become?" I wondered to myself as I rolled to face the image. Little flashes of memory danced through my mind, much like the pulsing lightning of the storm that loomed outside.

I could actually remember meeting him during my freshman year of high school; his parents had just moved into the area and purchased a farm outside of town. I had lived in town on a small corner lot where First Avenue and Ohio met. It was strange thing for a city girl like me, to be attracted to a farm boy. But I was...hopelessly and truly smitten with him.

I remember how much my parents fought about dating of all things, a farmer, yet I was determined that Blaine was "The One!" We continued to date throughout that summer. In the fall, when Blaine headed off to college, to attend Purdue to study Agriculture...I thought I would just die. My parents however, were happy that fate had seemed to place some distance between us.

It didn't take much time for the memories to filter in of how sad I had been when he left...and how happy I had been when he finally returned just after I graduated from highschool.

He asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve, 1939...I accepted, and by spring of 1940, we were married. I inhaled deeply, my heart fluttered with excitement as the thoughts of the wedding and how beautiful it had been, entered my mind.

I recalled that the entire day had been spectacular! Everything was perfect from the breakfast meal with my parents and family...to the evening, where I threw off the thin veneer of girldom and entered that which only women know. "I had lost my virginity to you that night." I whispered to his picture with a coy, knowing smile.

I could still feel his kisses as they danced across my lips on our wedding night, down my neck and onto my young breasts. Oh the things he did to me that night created such a pleasure that caused me to shudder with a strange passion, wetting me in my nether region in a way I had never had done before. "Well...in a way my male mind had never experienced", I thought with a smile.

His kisses assailed my soft nipples until they were stiff and rigid as his own wonderful maleness, his hand pleasuring me down below until I was in such a weakened state that I begged him to impale me with his penis. Still, he wasn't ready...yet! I remember his kisses trailing downward onto my stomach until he could burrow into the soft curls nestled between my legs.

His mouth...what he did to me with his mouth was nothing short of exquisite! He held me writhing beneath him, his face buried between my thighs, my knees shaking with so much passionate energy that I thought I would explode with arousal. His tongue penetrated me, pushing me well beyond my nineteen year old experiences. I wanted him, and I wanted him now!

My knees were up; I was caressing his side with my silky thigh. He rose up, climbing to my face and kissing me. I was about to explode with desire as I gently worked my way out from under him...this time rolling him onto his back.

I opened up my eyes, shaking off those thoughts and looked at my clock, it was going on one. With a trembling start, I removed my hand from my breast and wiped the perspiration from my upper lip. Embarrassed, I also removed my other hand from between my thighs, and placed both above the sheet. In the light, both of my nipples were standing like little sentential’s upon the gentle mounds of my breasts. I flattened out my legs and took several deep breaths to cleanse my body of the erotic feelings that were coursing throughout my veins.

I rolled over to my side, shocked that I had let Nicole's memories create such an arousal in me. I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to sleep...but even with my eyes closed. I could still remember that evening of play, as though it was only yesterday. I sighed as I recalled the feeling of the hair upon his chest, my subtle tonguing of his own tiny nipples. Kissing his stomach and lowering my own naked body beneath the blankets of my memory, and performing an act upon his penis that would embarrassed him for years to come...yet one which I knew I would perform the first night I would see him again, hopefully with better results.

As I lay there quietly listening to the rumble of distant thunder, I found myself fondly recalling of how the kissing had brought him into a rigid tower. In my minds eye, I could see how tiny my hand looked as I gently caressed his penis' stiffening length. I remembered leaning forward, my hair cascading around my face, shrouding him...and erotically tonguing the bulbous tip.

I had no sooner began a slow decent upon his penis when he stiffened up and began to ejaculate into my mouth. I laughed to myself as I remembered coughing and gagging amid his apologetic pleas. To my young mind, I could only think of what I had done as some sort of conquering thing. Feeling the power in that single act as something to behold for an entire lifetime...and knowing I could cause that act with almost anything I did to him.

I could kiss him on the mouth in a very special way; each time would make him weak in his knees, causing an erection every single time. It didn't stop with that...there were other things I could do. Sometimes just a simple act of sitting down in his lap would cause him an erection, if I combined that with those kisses, much more could happen which would end up causing the change of his clothing.

Those wonderfully naughty little things I learned early on, while we were still dating. Each enabled me to end our dates by caressing him in some way or other until he lost complete control...yet somehow, almost impossibly, I managed to maintain my virginity the entire time. There was some perverse youthful pleasure we both received when I would push him too far, yet it would keep us coming back for more...every chance we got.

Then came that night of our wedding. While I was busy at the end of the bed, coughing, gagging and throwing up his seed from my mouth; he kept apologizing as he rubbed my back and held my hair from my face. As sickening as it all was, we ended up laughing about it and began our kissing once again. Again the controlling power I was feeling brought me to a weakness as my special kisses were used to bring him to an erection. He then showed me a power of his own, as he gently rolled me onto my back and placed himself between my thighs.

Our play had created such wetness in me that he slid inside of me without much effort, penetrating me deeply and causing me to gasp with excitement. He began slow and steady then as he gained confidence, he pistoned into me with his youthful spirit.

Even before I could think about protection or pregnancy, he showed me what true power was like. My ministrations upon him were nothing more than play, while his were all about life and future. Our own future. As his seed pulsed into me, what happened over the next few seconds brought to mind that he could create life inside my womb...which in that instance, came to pass during one of those playful little trysts. During the spring of 1941, our son Ben was born.

Throughout that summer our little family was content and happy, we moved to the farm in late July and enjoyed the fall with his dear father. As Thanksgiving fell across the land, little did we know that the shadow of war loomed upon the horizon.

Then on December 7, 1941 came Pearl Harbor. Blaine, like many other angry American men, enlisted and went to boot camp. While he was furloughed, just prior to being sent into Europe...we conceived again.

Ashley was born in August 1942. Sadly, she was gone by September. More and more of Nicole's memories filtered through the pages of my mind, some good, some bad, each building upon others until I could barely find any of my old self inside, if he still existed at all.

** 9 **

I awoke with a start. Sitting up, I glanced toward the window. It was very early; the sun was still unable to penetrate the morning sky. I could no longer sleep and decided it was useless to try. Sighing heavily, I decided to just go ahead and begin my day, albeit it quite earlier than normal.

"Normal?" I said to myself with a laugh. This normal had been happening for the better part of the last two months. Each day took me further from that person who I once had been, a man who was rapidly falling into the distant past as each morning dawned anew. I studied the calendar on my wall, trying to remember that first day when I arrived...I could not...well not clearly, it seemed like ages ago.

With a sigh I yawned and stood up, stretching in a very feminine way. I reached out to pick up my robe, my unfettered breasts swung. I gently folded my arm to allow for support. It was strange to me; looking down and seeing these feminine appendages upon my chest...they were almost alien. And yet...to not have them there...seemed almost as alien of a thought as if I were to contemplate growing a third eye. I had grown so used to having breasts that they had become pushed far back into my mind, becoming nothing more than vessels for an infant's sustenance...or a lovers tender play.

I rolled my eyes and slipped the robe over my shoulders, quickly tying and trapping them in place. I pushed my feet into my slippers and slowly made my way around the bed, I headed toward the bathroom...I had a very urgent need that could wait no more.

I quietly entered the bathroom. It still felt odd for me to sit to urinate, especially after spending thirty years standing to pee...and yet, with each day it became less and less bothersome, almost natural. After finishing my morning toiletries, I washed my hands and headed out to the kitchen to get an early start on coffee and to make breakfast.

It was still much too early to begin breakfast, so I ended up only starting the coffee. I had never really been a fan of the dark drink, now though, I found myself liking it more and more. Another residue of Nicole's persona bubbling to the surface of my mind, it would seem. Once I had the grounds in the little holder, I reassembled it and plugged it into the outlet. As it percolated, I stepped outside to see about the morning paper.

It was no longer raining, but those rains from last evening had created a strange fog across the fields and puddles collected in the driveway in numerous areas. It was considerably cooler outside and felt quite refreshing compared to the last few weeks, I thought as I slowly made my way back toward the house with the paper tucked under my arm. As I walked, our barn cat pranced and danced around my feet causing me to smile.

I walked toward the barn and gently pushed the door aside. Resting quietly in the darkened corner was an automobile. "The Plymouth?" I said to the cat. "You don't care do you?" I laughed as I walked closer and leaned against the wall.

My eyes were trying to adjust to the early morning light, from what I could tell, it was either black or deep blue. I made a mental note to return after the sun was up and see what held my husband's attention more than me.

I stepped back out into the morning fog; the house was eerily shrouded within its cloud. Slowly pulling the door closed, I turned and headed toward the back door.

Upon entering the house, I placed the paper at Dad's spot and glanced toward the clock on the wall...quarter past five in the morning. I meandered back into the bedroom and readied myself for the day, by the time I returned to the kitchen, the coffee was done. Pouring myself a cup, I glanced up toward the clock. It would be almost forty-five minutes before anyone else would be awake...just enough time for me to take a quick morning walk to re-energize myself for the day. I found myself smile. Since becoming a woman, I seemed to take great enjoyment in the little moments of quiet time alone which mornings like these provided.

I picked up a drying-towel from the counter and quietly left the house again, this time with my coffee in hand. I made my way down the path, past the barns and toward the woods. It was very eerie, as it was still shrouded from view with fog. I knew where I was headed, even though I had never really been there in this body...I knew of a small bench Blaine had built just for Nicole to sit. She had always referred to it as "my special place", Blaine and Dad called it Nicole's spot and Benny called it Mommy's bench. I knew of it now as my spot of solace, a place where I could be alone and think.

The bench was created by a four foot log split in half; actual bark was still on the underside while both the back and seat had been sanded considerably, then lacquered with several coats of a clear exterior type of varnish.

I ran my hand along its smooth surface, damp from the fog. Using the drying towel, I wiped dry a spot on the bench for me to quietly sit and reflect and enjoy my coffee. Crossing my leg at the knee, I watched a bird as it danced upon the lower branches of a tree. As it flew away, I sighed deeply, my thoughts recalling what wonderful memories of Nicole's had been deposited into my mind just the night before.

I took a small sip of my coffee and smiled, as I spied not far away, the shadow of a deer as it picked its way through the woods, my mind recalling how Benny helped the fawn. I sat back and enjoyed the peaceful moment, listening to the myriad of sounds as they leached out of the fog. Above me, the sky began to lighten slightly with the morning sun...this was just what I needed this morning, a chance to recharge myself for the long day ahead. A quiet moment lost in thought, both my own and Nicole's.

I sighed and straightened my dress, and lazily danced my foot in time with the crickets and early morning birds and enjoyed the warmth of the coffee in my cup. This had been Nicole's favorite place on the farm...well, unless she was lying alongside of her husband. Now, it was mine, and I was truly okay with that.

Something far off seemed to call; I cocked my head in the direction and listened closer. There it was again, I thought. It was as though it was a whisper carried upon a breeze. My heart began to race; I fearfully glanced at the gray shadows of the woods. Someone else was here with me!

"Who are you? Show yourself!" I demanded the trespasser.

Beyond my vision a gray form began to take shape, "Who's there?" I asked as my throat tightened.

The form grew darker and larger, as if it were walking toward me. "John?" I hopefully whispered.

The figure came to a halt before me; it was nothing more than a gray shadow. "Who...who are you?" I stammered with fear.

"Ahhh...you've surprised us Mr. Kemplar," the deep voice said.

"Kemplar?" I asked before realizing that it had been my former name.

"How easily you've forgotten," he quietly said, "I've been sent to retrieve you by the Guardians."

My mind began to recall the day I had been sent to this place, "The Guardians...I...I remember them. But...but I thought I had to stay here until I came to know Love, Trust, and Faith?"

"And you have, Mr. Kemplar. You have surprised us all, surpassing our greatest expectations!" the voice replied. "Now, if you are ready, we will be going."

"Going? Going where?" I asked.

"Why...going home! Your home!" he replied, his voice showing very little emotion.

"What about my magical powers?" I asked, remembering what caused me to be sent here. "I thought I was to be punished for my misdeeds? What about the people I altered into…"

"The punishment has ended; collectively the Guardians have returned them to their original forms.” He said interrupting me, “Your powers will return, once YOU return," the shadowy form said quietly.

"Then Nicole will return to this body? Will she remember being me?" I asked, assuming that I had already figured it out.

"Nicole?" the deep voice questioned. "Oh, you refer to the woman whose body you inhabit?"

I hesitantly nodded. "Will she remember being me?"

The form folded his arms. "Do you remember the day when you arrived into the form of Nicole?"

"S..Somewhat," I replied.

"Do you remember your father-in-law giving you aspirins?"

I thought back, I did recall almost causing him to spill the water he offered...then I remembered him complaining about being my aspirin caddy. I replied to him with a nod.

"Nicole's life ended at that very moment...she had been having headaches for almost two weeks prior to that day...the woman you became, died of a brain aneurism. Her body became a convenience to us, her life a lesson to you."

I slumped back into the bench with shock, "What then, happened to my body while I've been here?"

"You have been in storage, locked away in a room, suspended in stasis until the day you would return." The figure stepped closer; his face was one of those who sentenced me earlier. "We're actually quite surprised that you recovered enough to impress us in such a short amount of time," he said with a smile.

He placed his hands behind his back, "Are you ready?"

I stood slowly, my mind still recoiling from his news. "Wha...what happens when I leave?"

"You will reenter to your body, your slate will be wiped clean so to speak, and above all, your magic will be returned as we trust you have learned your lesson quite well." He smiled and stepped back, with his arm he motioned for me to pass.

I started to walk with him, and then hesitated. "What will become of the boy and his grandfather?"

The Guardian looked toward the thick fog, as if he were thinking. "They will continue for as long as possible on the farm..."

"Why do I have a feeling that you are holding back something?" What will happen to the female, Nicole since she died?" I studied him, paying close attention to his stone-faced expression.

"She died once, she'll die again," he replied flatly. "Only she'll be found here in the woods."

I thought about Benny, he had a deep love for his family...he would be devastated. "Wh...Who finds Nicole?"

The Guardian again looked away, "It doesn't matter...now really, does it?"

"It matters to me!" I demanded, my small foot stamping the wet grass beneath them. "Who finds me?"

For the first time the Guardian sighed and actually looked perplexed, "It's not important."

I stepped closer, trying to gauge his answer by his eyes. "It's the boy. Benny finds me dead, doesn't he?"

"Nicole died in August 1944...that's all that should matter." He sternly looked at me. "We're wasting time. We need to return!"

"Benny's father is away, fighting in Germany, if he dies...what will happen to the boy?" I asked my mind racing for answers to protect my son. "His grandfather is elderly, too old to care for the boy very long! W..what happens if I don't go?"

"Impossible, you must leave!" he demanded.

"What happens if I don't go?" I asked again, repeating myself.

"Then your body, Anderson Kemplar...dies."

"What about the Nicole body...what happens if I stay?" I pressed my question further.

"You will become trapped in her world, forced to live in her body, for as long as you would have lived in your own." He frowned. "This is not what the panel of Guardians had decided was to be your fate, you HAVE to return!"

"I don't HAVE to do anything," I calmly replied. "I can't take Benny from his mother; even if I have to be that mother!"

"You will lose your powers..." The Guardian calmly replied. "Can you turn your back on that?"

I looked down, my feminine form reminding me of what I was contemplating. "I can't do that to my son...I love him to much to put him through losing his very mother!"

"Your son?" The Guardian folded his arms and studied me with a puzzled look upon his face, "You've come to believing that he's yours?" He looked down, "I guess we enveloped you too completely...but alas, it was needed to allow you to fit in." He studied me for several seconds, without saying a thing. Finally he shook his head in disbelief; "You'd give up everything...for a boy?"

I pushed a lock of my hair out of my eyes. "No...But I'd give up everything for my son. I was a failure as a man, corrupt and evil…please…don’t take this away from me." I begged as tears began to sting my eyes.

"There will be no return, you will be forever sealed from your magic and contact with the Guardians," he replied, implying the hazards of my decision. There was mild surprise evident in his voice. "You'll be forced to bend to the ways of women...as bearer of the young."

"I've survived here this long...a lifetime as Nicole is but a small price to pay for what I feel for this family." I tried to remain calm, yet my voice trembled, fearful that they would still force me to return. "If I am to conceive more children as Nicole...so be it, as long as they keep their mother!"

He studied me for almost a full minute, as if he were replaying our conversation within his mind. "Very well, I will report back to the Guardians of your wishes." He turned and slowly drifted into the fog and out of view.

I waited several seconds, still unbelieving of myself for asking to remain as Nicole for a lifetime. The weight of my decision began to settle into my mind...I have sentenced myself this time...sentenced by my own hand, to a lifetime of being a female!

As my mind reeled from my decision, I saw movement before me. Fearing it was once again a Guardian returning, I stood fast, intending to fight if need be.

"I...I won't go back with you..." I whispered defiantly to the shadow, as it loomed closer and closer to me. "I have to stay put, my family needs me!"

"Mommy?" the voice asked. "Are you here?"

"Benny? Over here at the bench, Benny!" I replied, elated to recognize the voice as that of my son. I smiled as he walked into view and hugged me tightly.

"Morning Mommy!" he said as he grinned up at me.

I looked toward where the Guardian had entered the fog, and then back to my son. "How about we go back home and fix some breakfast!"

He had returned to find his mother, though in this new reality...she was alive. Together we walked into the fog, my hand holding that of my son's.

** ** **

"You have returned alone?" the voice spoke from above.

"Mr. Kemplar...wanted to stay. He...said that it was for the boy, that he preferred to remain as the woman for…Benny." replied the man who had met Nicole in the woods as he took his seat among the Guardians. "He wanted to give all of this...his life up!"

"He threw it all away...his magical abilities, his life in this world...all for a child?" another voice asked in surprise.

The first man shrugged his shoulders, "No...I honestly think he gave everything up for...for Love."

Another voice spoke up, a decidedly female voice. "More specifically, he gave up all of this world for the love of his family. I told you that it might happen!"

"You did..." another voice agreed, "Returning his powers was supposed to become his reward...since he has turned his back on his magical abilities, should we still reward him?"

The female voice responded, "I believe you should rephrase it as, what should we do to reward...her?"

"I am confident that we'll come up with something suitable," the final voice replied among the agreement of the others.

** 10 **

I removed the fresh biscuits from the stove and placed them upon the iron trivet to prevent ruining my countertop, when Grandpa John stepped up the stairs and stood on the top step. Bear barked a couple of times and Dad shooed the dog away. "Now you go on, I don't have time to play fetch with you." He laughed while kicking off one of his muddy work boots. He reached through the screen door and hung his worn Stetson on the hook just inside the door.

"Morning Nicole, chores are done," he called through the screen. "Is breakfast about ready? Sure smells good enough to eat!"

"Will be in a few minutes...you got plenty of time to clean those muddy boots." I smiled at his complement and replied without looking.

"Benny-boy up yet?" he asked as he began knocking the mud from his boot against the top step of the porch.

"He was up early this morning, early enough we took a walk back to the woods," I replied as I stirred the cubed ham, potatoes and onions in my old cast-iron skillet.

I quickly glanced back toward the door as Grandpa John struggled to remove his other boot. "Well, where's the boy hiding then?"

"I sent him down to the root cellar for a jar of strawberry preserves," I replied. "He'll only be a minute or two."

"We havin’ biscuits?" He asked. I could almost imagine the smile on his face through the tone of his voice. "I love your biscuits...hope you made enough!"

"I made plenty," I laughed, "more than enough to satisfy you."

"That good, because we'll be needing a few extra," he replied as he knocked the mud from his other boot.

I laughed; Dad was always teasing me in some way. "Oh? And why's that?" I asked.

"I didn't tell you?" His voice replied in mock shock.

"No...I'd have remembered if you spoke to me about anything important," I giggled as I stirred our breakfast. Its mixture of smells filling the kitchen with a wonderful aroma.

"Well..." he began. "We'll be needing to set an extra plate."

I glanced back over my shoulder, watching him through the screen. "What did you say?"

"I said, you’re going to need to set out an extra plate for breakfast!"

"Oh, who'll be eating with us? Who did you invite this time?" I replied, turning back toward my cooking, still stirring the ham and potatoes.

"Hi Honey," I heard the deep voice speak. I hesitated, the spoon held motionless in my hand. The voice, I recognized the voice...but dare I turn?

The door opened, behind it entered a tall man and Grandpa John. I turned, the spoon falling from my hand onto the stove. "B...Blaine?" I whispered, frozen in place by the unbelieving shock of seeing my husband.

"I..I'm home Nicole...I've been discharged!" He sat down his duffle and smiled.

I could no longer hold my body still; I raced across the room meeting him halfway. "God I missed you, Nicole!" he whispered hoarsely in my ear, crushing me in his loving embrace.

"When...how long did you know?" I cried, tears running down my elated face. I looked over his shoulder at Dad, who was smiling, "You old stinker! I bet you knew about this for a long time!"

Dad laughed, “I didn’t even know, first I saw him was as I was turning from closing the gate. He’s sure a sight for sore eyes!” He smiled and looked at his son with great fatherly pride.

"We found out last week that we were being mustered out, I couldn't get to a phone in time...I thought when we got to Dix, I'd be able to call."

I kissed him, savoring the familiar smell that I never realized I had been missing for so long. He held me out, away from his body. "My God, you look wonderful!" Blaine said, with tears in his eyes.

At that moment, Benny returned up the stairs and stopped. "Blaine, you remember your big son?"

His eyes widened, "Benny?" he whispered softly. He looked toward me. "When I left, he was just a baby!"

"Benny, this is your daddy!" The introduction wasn't really needed as Blaine scooped up the boy and kissed his cheek.

"I leave and your a tiny baby...come back and your a young man!" He hugged him tight and swept me into his hug as well. "I'm back home and I'm never leaving you again!"

"You're done...for good?" I cried.

"Once I get out of this uniform, I'm not putting it back on!" He removed his hat and dropped it onto his son's head. Turned and kissed me deeply, causing my knees to weaken. "Now, how about we have some of that wonderful smelling breakfast...we can talk later," he whispered.

I reluctantly returned to the stove, wiping happy tears with my fingertips as I stirred the mixture and turned off the burner. I felt him come up behind me, his large hands circling my waist. As his thumbs caressed the underside of my breasts he whispered softly into my ear. "And as for you, my lovely Nicole; I'm planning on reintroducing myself proper later tonight!"

I glanced up at him, my love for him swelling inside my heart. "Promise?"

He grinned; it was one of those smiles that drove me wild. "Count on it!"

With that, we gleefully sat down at the table...once again our happy family complete.

As we prayed, I silently thanked the Guardians for allowing me to stay and pick up my life where Nicole had left off. There was something to be said, I thought as I watched my husband and son's smiling faces.

I was happy now, much happier even without the powers of my former life...euphoric at being a wife and mother, more so than I ever thought possible. I'm content here on this small farm with my family...I'll make my home. I'll accept whatever comes my way, succumbing to whatever life chooses to leave at our door. I glanced across toward Blaine smiling, laughing and talking with his own father, knowing that Nicole's love for him was now as much a part of me as anything I had ever known. I owed her that much for the life she left behind, I was content to live it as though she were still here on this earth with me.

As I sat enjoying the playful banter between my husband, son and father-in law, Blaine glanced over at me quickly and winked.

Somehow during the past several weeks, in heart and soul, Nicole's life had enveloped me, completing me in her image...and I didn't care! I smiled back at him and looked down at my plate, no longer hungry...my thoughts raced, thinking of how my husband and I would reintroduce ourselves when the sun went down. Those images that passed through my mind set my heart in a momentary flutter.

I quickly glanced toward Benny; inwardly I wondered what he would think of a little brother or sister...for, I knew on this night one certain husband and wife would rekindle that magic...as only a man and woman could...again...and again...and again.

The End
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Comments

What a sweet story....

Andrea Lena's picture

...I can't think of a more suitable reward than to continue to be whom she had become. Thank you!


Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Happy and Sweet

littlerocksilver's picture

And so well done.

Girl.jpg
Portia

Portia

very sweet

but why would they discharge her husband? The war wouldnt end for another year, so why?

Dorothycolleen, member of Bailey's Angels

DogSig.png

USAAC

If he was in the United States Army Air Corps as a bomber crewman they had a 25 mission and get sent home policy at one time. They had this in place because of the high probability of not surviving 25 missions without being injured, killed or captured. Since Blaine had a son I doubt that he was sent back due to the Sullivan Brother's policy. It is also possible that he was pulled from the line because he was a college grad and farmer and his degree was determined to be an exempt status for him. There were actually professions that were given military exemptions because it was determined that these people could be more useful performing their jobs in support of the war effort.

Since the author never gave the military status of Blaine I would go with bomber crewman. Typically they got sent back to the States after 25 missions and then sent to a training establishment to train new air crews. If it was after D-day they could have made a determination that they had enough personnel for training and more farmers were needed to provide foodstuffs for the war effort.

At the end of the last posting I suspected that the real Nicole had died of some form of brain disorder. I came to that deduction after reading what her father-in-law stated about her multiple headaches for the previous 2 weeks. I was very happy to see the "new" Nicole refuse to go back to her old body after learning that the woman "he" was now inhabiting would be found dead if he went back to "his" old body.

Damn near perfect

At the end it seemed to me some of the Guardians needed to learn what she had. IE it was as if the former obnoxious pupil was teaching his/her masters something they had forgotten.

That love, that family is everything. Power is fleeting.

I assume they chose her as she was an unimportant person with unimportant offspring but I wonder if in letting him live on as Nichole they have changed history.

Supposedly she does not have her magic but...what of her children?

Do some of her decendents become the founders of the Guardians, pehaps she is the great great many times again grandmother of the female Guardian who was one of the first to understand/aprove of her choosing protecting/loving others and family over his own life.

Mind you if they could send him back in time and into a dying woman's body, heal it enough she lived and old memories returned they could bring her mind foreward at the time of her natureal death and put her back in her male magic user body but would she want it?

She IS Nicole now and forever. Nicole was a good woman but physically flawed, the new Nicole is fit and retains the best of both minds.

The gift they will give HER is to the readers imagineation. Nicole was happy with remaining Nicole but sis they tweek his return home earlier and healthy? Would he have died otherwise? Will she soon be preganat and all her children healthy?

What's to say? But being Nicole is enough for her. She has learned well.

The power of love and devotion. What more is there to say?

I bow to a master.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

I believe the reason he came home at this time:

Was due to the Guardians, the last thing they said to her was they would reward Nicole in some way for loving and caring for the family.!

And here he is!

This was such a great story about Love, trust, family.

It's a winner, thank you AA.

LoL
Rita

I'm a dyslexic agnostic insomniac.
'Someone who lies awake at night wondering if there's a dog.'

Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!
(Mark Twain)

LoL
Rita

Epiphany And Redemption

joannebarbarella's picture

A well-handled, lovely story. Maybe the Guardians fiddled the paperwork to get Blaine home safe and sound,

Joanne

congrats.

Amazing tale. I loved!
Congrats
Hugs.
Silvia.

Beautiful.

What a lovely, heartwarming, story. Very well done.

Thank you

for sharing a very beautiful and heart warming story.
Joanna

Sweet

.

Heart-warming

A beautiful story. Definitely one I'll read and reread.

I stumbled on this story earlier this evening……

D. Eden's picture

And couldn’t stop reading until it was finished. Well, except for the times when I had to pause because I was crying.

This was one of the best stories I have read in a long time. I am very glad that I found it.

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus