Travis Pennington Murphy watched at the crowd of people entering the gym at Central Florida Community College. It appeared to be a good turnout for the fifth reunion of the Class of 2002. He was going to wait a while before he entered. He was pretty sure that Faith was not going to be there. At least her note on face book said she would be busy with a Pre-school function with her twin 4 year old girls.
He thought he recognized several people but from this distance he couldn't be positive. Hey! People change in five years. Some of them change in a couple of weeks.
He finally got out of the car and walked slowly toward the gym. It had been five years since he had been in his old home town. He had spent the first twenty years of his life here in this lovely old southern town. Many memories flooded through his mind.
A voice startled him, "Hey, Trav, is that you Buddy?
"Damn, Jack Burns! How the hell are you doing?" The two friends grinned and shook hands. Travis looked at the young woman standing next to his friend, "Betty, Betty Owens, You look great, how have you been?"
"She is Betty Burns, now, Trav. We have two kids and another on the way. Let me look at you Trav, Oh my God! I'm so sorry man. What happened?"
"Hey don't worry about it, I'm getting it fixed in a couple of months. Betty, you look beautiful, congratulations, both of you are very lucky. Have you seen Tim or Frank lately?"
"We see both of them often, they should both be here with their wives. Frank married Grace Herndon, and Tim married Jane Stevenson. They will all be happy to see you again. Are you back for long?"
Travis smiled, "Yeah! I think I am back for good this time. I just stopped by for a few minutes, I haven't even been by to see my Mom yet."
"Hey, Damn boy, that is really great! Sorry about your Dad, he was a really great guy. He did everything with us when we were kids. Are you out of the Marines now?"
"Almost! I am on terminal leave. After three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan I needed to be where I can look out for my mother. She is lost without Dad."
By now they were entering the gym. People were calling his name. Cheering and clapping broke out. There was a sudden hush and Travis felt a hand grab his arm and yank him around. A hard slap caught him across the face, almost knocking him off his feet. He staggered and regained his balance, throwing up an arm to protect himself from another blow. There was another gasp when people got a better look at his once handsome face. The beautiful girl who had slapped him stared, open mouthed, in shock and disbelief. Her hands flew to her face, "Oh! Dear God, Trav, Please forgive me! I didn't know!"
His face was badly scarred on the left side, the skin was tight and an angry red color. The right side of his face frowned, he said, "Faith, I don't believe I earned that, after all, it hurt worse when you dumped me."
Her jaw dropped again, "What? WHAT? That's not true, you never called or wrote except for some crazy note congratulating me about something and wishing me a good and happy life."
Travis stared at her. "Hey, YOU sent ME the wedding invitation with the sweet little note that you were pregnant and were marrying Alan Freed. YOU sent ME the newspaper announcement of your return from your honeymoon. YOU sent ME the invitation to join your Face Book account. YOU posted the pictures of the twins once a month or so! YOU DUMPED ME, MRS.FREED!!!"
The lovely girl stood dumbfounded. "Are you crazy? I never did any of that. I'm not married and have no children. I see Alan around now and then, but I would never marry him. I was in love with you." Her mouth shut quickly, her eyes narrowed, She screamed, "ALAN FREED, WHERE ARE YOU?"
Someone yelled, "Alan just ran out the back door."
Faith stood looking at Travis. Her face softened and tears ran down both cheeks, she held her arms open and walked to the tall man who looked down as her arms slipped around his neck. She sobbed and lifted her head to look at him. She gently pressed her soft lips against his scarred cheek, then moved them tenderly to press against his lips.
His arms slipped hesitantly around her warm body, then held her tightly. She looked up into his eyes, "Trav, it is all lies, I never stopped loving you, not for one minute, I still love you, I think of you several times each and every day. God must have heard me because I always pray for him to bring you back to me every time I think of you."
They stood holding each other, then Travis looked around at the crowd surrounding them. He looked in her eyes, "Would you like to find a quiet spot where we can talk for a while?"
She grabbed his hand and led him back out the door. She pulled him to a car parked near the door. She pressed the key buttons to unlock the doors. He opened the front passenger door. She said, "No, get in back, we can talk more comfortably there. I need for you to tell me again what happened when you left home five years ago."
"Ok, in a nutshell. After I had been at Marine Corps schools in Quantico, Va. for a couple of weeks I received an invitation to a wedding between you and Alan Freed that was three days off. On the bottom was a note saying you were very sorry but that he had gotten you pregnant. That was all it said. Next, another month later I received an e-mail from www.mrsfaithfreed.com with a copy of a part of a page of the Ocala Daily News Society Pages. It announced the return of you and your husband Alan Freed from your month-long honeymoon to London, Paris and Rome. There was a picture of the two of you.
"Next, about 8 months later I got a copy of an announcement of the birth of your twin daughters. Next I got a notice that I was listed as a 'friend' on your Myface site. I signed on and have been able to see new pictures of you, your children and Alan when ever I want. I confess that I only look about once a year. It hurts too damn much! So what is the truth?"
"I can tell you that it is all false. The only person who had access to all that stuff was Alan. I will kill that S-O-B. I am going to kick the shit out of him. Marry HIM? I would die first. I have never been with him. I can prove it! I'm still a virgin and my name is still Faith Hall."
Travis smiled at her and then grimaced a little. "I am a virgin too! With this face I will probably always be one too."
"No, I don't believe that, there is such a wonderful person inside, that every girl would want you."
"You?"
"Me most of all."
"Will you kiss me again?"
"Yes! Any time you . . NO, all the time." She quickly turned around beside Travis and moved in front of him, pressing her chest against him as her lips touched his. It was a very long sweet kiss that grew in intensity as it progressed to a loving and passionate kiss.
Faith heard Travis whisper the words she wanted to hear. He said, "Faith, I thought my life was destined to be very unhappy for the rest of my life. I have been dead inside for five years. I couldn't stand being near beautiful girls, they brought back memories I didn't want. I took no real pleasure in anything I did. I studied college extension courses constantly and earned four separate degrees. I got degrees in Business Administration, Marketing, Accounting and Criminology."
"Criminology?"faith giggled, "You?"
"They didn't offer too many courses. I could have taken Cosmetology I guess, I could have been the 'Masked Beautician'."
Faith kissed Travis again, "Trav, let's go to my place. I am not comfortable here in my car with the windows all steamed up."
"OK. I need to stop by and see my Mom, I tried to call but I got no answer."
"Honey, why don't you stay with me tonight and call your mother tomorrow?
"Hunh?"
"Honey, your mother is only forty nine and she looks thirty five. She is absolutely beautiful. She dates a lot."
"OH!"
"Please don't be upset with her. She is still a young woman."
"Upset with Momma? No way! I am very happy for her, I know she loved Dad with all her heart, but he has been gone for three years. It is time for her to live again, I KNOW it is what Dad would want for her."