Bravo #2
He was also gentle and encouraging. He taught all three of her kids to swim in the pool, even her daughter who was then only two years old, teaching her to flip onto her back and float.
The boys became accomplished swimmers that week.
He also played with the boys in the surf, tossing them into waves while the boys laughed.
He built sandcastles with the kids and tossed a ball around with them on the beach.
He reminded her a lot of her own father, which further endeared Rich Burke to her.
Charles Saxton had been the perfect father. She missed him terribly.
One evening as they watched a Disney movie on television, Donna and her children snuggled on one side of the couch; Rich sat on the other.
Her kids all fell asleep. Rich thought she had too.
He covered them with blankets, tucking them all in.
It was a small, thoughtful act that showed Donna how tender he could be.
And each night after the children were in bed, Donna and Rich stayed up for hours and just talked, which was easy and comfortable.
He didn’t judge her, as she’d always felt her sister had.
Donna had assumed it was Laura Lee’s military training that made her so critical.
Rich was not like Laura Lee, though. He asked questions with genuine interest. He listened.
And he shared things about his life from his childhood all the way through where he currently was in his military career, his achievements, his goals, and even a few failures.
She truly got to know the man and, admittedly, she fell in love with him as easily as her children had.
And since then, he’d stayed in their lives by choice, which Donna thought was amazing.
He’d also helped to repair her relationship with Laura Lee.
Donna knew her sister didn’t approve of her life: three accidental pregnancies by three men she thought she’d loved, but who abandoned her and turned out to be deadbeat dads.
Rich stuck up for her, voicing praise of her to her stubborn sister, and he even helped to facilitate an honest conversation between the sisters where real healing had taken place.
Rich had seen her for who she was, a dedicated mother, and he made her sister realize her perceptions lacked full context. His words.
There had been more going on in Donna’s life than Laura Lee had realized, just as Donna learned things about her sister she never knew.
Laura Lee was five years older than Donna, adopted right before their mother had gotten pregnant with her.
Growing up with that age difference, they were never playmates, but they were close.
Donna was only twelve years old when their father died on the job, a police officer who patrolled one of Richmond’s roughest neighborhoods.
Their mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s shortly after his death.
A year later, Laura Lee left for college.
Donna felt abandoned by her sister, the weight of the world on her small shoulders.
Yes, Donna blamed her sister for bailing on her and her mom.
First, she left for college, then the Army.
She visited only a few times a year. Of course, Donna didn’t know that their mom had pushed Laura Lee to have the college experience their mom wanted her to have, downplaying her illness so that Laura Lee wouldn’t feel the need to visit more often.
But Donna had been there, and she saw the decline in real time.
Until Thanksgiving a year earlier, Donna didn’t know what had happened to Laura Lee when she was at college, which had caused her great trauma.
All she knew was that Laura Lee, her older sister, who should have been there to help her, had abandoned her.
She understood now, though, and she had forgiven her sister, but there had been many years the sisters had been at odds.
Donna was happy that they were in a much better place now.
Just over a year earlier, she wouldn’t have even told her sister about going back to school, and she certainly wouldn’t be on her list to call to share this exciting news.
Donna hit dial on her phone and brought it to her ear.
“Hello,” Laura Lee answered. “Well, how’d you do?”
Donna smiled into the phone. She’d expected it to go to voicemail. “I passed! I have my national certification. I can now work as a phlebotomist.”
Laura Lee actually squealed into the phone. “I knew you’d ace it! Congrats!”
Donna laughed. “Thanks, I felt I did well on it but wasn’t as confident as you.”
“Did you call Mom yet?” Laura Lee asked.
“Yes, right before I called you,” Donna said. “I’m going to invite her to go out for dinner with the kids and me tonight to celebrate. I wish you were here to celebrate with us.”
“How’s she really feeling?” Laura Lee asked.
“Good, the new meds and the diet she’s on seem to really be helping. She seems less fatigued every day, and she says she’s sleeping better.”
“You’re not planning to get a full-time job right away, are you?” Laura Lee asked.
Donna knew her sister was just worried about her mom getting too exhausted from watching her kids.
She didn’t take offense at her question as she would have a year earlier.
“No, minimal hours until Jeriah turns three and can be in that full-day preschool, and then I plan to work only when the kids are in school. I won’t stress Mom out. Don’t worry.”
“I know you won’t,” Laura Lee said. “I didn’t mean that when I asked. I was thinking of you and the kids. This is going to be a big change for all of you.”
Donna’s screen showed a call waiting from Rich. “Hey, I have a call I have to take. I’ll talk to you later.” She disconnected the call and switched over to Rich’s call. “Hi.”
“I don’t have long, but I wanted to tell you live how proud of you I am,” Rich said.
“Aw, thanks,” she said, feeling the smile spread on her face. “I’m proud of myself too. I’m going to take the kids and my mom out for dinner tonight to celebrate. I wish you were here to go with.”
“Me too. But we’ll celebrate the next time I’m in town.”
“Christmas? Did you book your flight yet?” she asked.
“No, I’m expecting the exact dates of my leave any day. But I know I’ll have a week off after Christmas. Last I heard, we all have to be in the office on Christmas Eve. A few of us will have to cover for a couple of days to a week after that. If I can get out Christmas morning, I will.”
“And you’re not planning to go see your parents at all?” She honestly didn’t understand how he could claim to be close to them yet not spend any holidays with them.
“No, not this year. My parents are living the retirement dream. They travel constantly. My brother and I haven’t been available most holidays over the last ten years because of our leave cycles. Spending holidays together is just something my family doesn’t do, Donna.”
“I’m glad Laura Lee always made it home around the holidays. It would have killed my mom if she hadn’t.”
Wilson knocked on the windshield from within the car, getting his attention. As all was quiet, Burke stepped outside and leaned against Valerie Butler’s car to make the quick call to Donna. “Hey, sorry, have to go. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, bye,” she said, and then the line went dead.
Donna’s concern for Rich’s safety spiked due to the abrupt end to the call.
She knew what job he did, what job her sister did.
Her sister had been shot in front of their mother’s house last Thanksgiving, when the danger they’d been in found her.
Laura Lee was forced to kill the man in her mom’s house.
Rich had been with her and the kids, and he left suddenly when he got the call that Laura Lee and her boyfriend, Brad, were in trouble.
Laura Lee’s wound was just a graze, a flesh wound, both Rich and Laura Lee insisted, like that made it not so bad that her sister had been shot.
Both Rich and Laura Lee refused to fully explain their jobs at the time.
When Rich was back for Christmas, just a month later, Donna forced the issue, and they had a very honest conversation about his job.
Donna grew up in a police household. She understood service and a job protecting those who could not protect themselves.
But she also knew that what Rich and Laura Lee did was on a whole different level than what her police officer father’s job had been.
She promised Rich that she could handle it, knowing she could not.
Rich must have sensed it. He pulled back, insisting on the need for them to take any relationship slowly.
And it had been agonizingly slow for Donna.
They kissed. They snuggled on the couch while they watched television on the few occasions he’d been in town over the last year.
But the physical relationship hadn’t progressed much further.
Even worse for Donna, he slept on the couch when he was there.
How she yearned for him to lie in bed with her and hold her in his arms!
In contrast, emotionally, it was a close relationship.
They spoke, video chatted, or text messaged almost daily.
He was supportive and encouraged her, be it as a parent, with her fitness journey, or in her education to pursue employment and a better life for herself and her kids.
And on the days that they talked, when she was down, he knew right away and drew out of her what was wrong.
He offered solid solutions and encouragement to resolve an issue, and he made her laugh which helped get her out of a funky mood.
She especially appreciated that he was a constant presence in the kids’ lives, always asking about them, talking to them, and encouraging them, especially the boys.
He’d told her how important he thought it was that he personally maintained a relationship with the boys.
They needed to know he cared and that he wasn’t going anywhere.
They’d been deserted by too many men in their young lives.
Thinking about what her mom had said, she had to agree. Emotional love and sexual love were two different things. His actions did show emotional love. The problem was, Donna wanted a complete relationship that included physical relations.