Valerie Franklin:  

n, at her side on the blistering tarmac, a fake smile pasted on her lips and waved until the plane was a tiny speck in the sky, she had spent hours trying to find a way to apologize, but she found it too hard to apologize in a letter. She wished that she could have rewound the clock and that she had thought before blurting out that she wanted a separation. It was only after shouting the words and seeing her husband's reaction that she understood just how much words can wound. For Paul, the words cut deeper into his heart than any bullet. He had to go where he was assigned; the Army didn't wait for any man. In his mind he understood that it was stress speaking and not his wife's heart, but knowing that he had to go with the words hanging between them cut him to ribbons and made his heart bleed. At first, he would scan each letter in fear that he would see the dreaded words that she had filed for divorce, but that letter never came. Contrastingly, his wife's letters were full of everyday events that he was missing, pictures of Sean, and information about his parents. None of the letters had contained an apology, but Rebecca was writing each day, which gave him hope for the future. Until Fate intervened tearing both of their worlds apart. Her husband, her lover, the father of their children was reported as Missing In Action in Iraq, and all Rebecca wanted to do was crawl into a hole and pray for his safe return...but it was a luxury she was being denied. With Paul already missing, now their home, their possessions, her sense of security...everything they had built together was systematically being ripped from her. Her safety net was gone leaving her isolated and vulnerable...