*Author's Note: I received a very warm email quite some time ago from a reader who said she loves reading my May-December romance stories primarily because she's an 'older' woman who married a much-younger man. After contacting her and discussing it, she gave me permission to provide their ages and how they met as well as some other basic personal information. She's 44 and he's 27. She sent two different photos, and I will tell you she is a really attractive woman while he is a very good-looking guy.
But what caught my attention was when she told me how they met. She was a devoutly religious woman who was struggling with many personal doubts, and in particular, about 'answered prayer' and what is called 'the hiddenness of God' or why God, if He exists, goes to such lengths to avoid being 'seen'.
Her younger husband, whom she knew as a boy, came back to her hometown after a lengthy absence with a daughter in tow. Like her, he had been a member of the same church and had even gone to a Christian college. But as a result of searching for answers to his own questions, he, in her words, 'abandoned faith for reason' and after many long discussions, she, too, arrived at the same conclusion.
Somewhere along the way they fell in love, got married, and she was able to adopt the daughter she'd always wanted but never had.
As with my recent story, Randi, which wasn't about politics, this is not about religion, and it is most definitely not 'preaching'. It's a love story based on real-life events; events that can't be told without explaining some of the issues this beautiful, older woman dealt with.
I hope to be able to accurately represent what happened without offending too many people who are themselves believers. If that happens, it isn't my intent. But I can assure you she is not alone by any stretch when it comes to having a crisis of faith or the loss thereof.
This is their story. It's been in the works for well over a year, and I finally got around to finishing it. I hope you find it enjoyable.
To 'Ryan' and 'Bryce', all the best and...keep the faith!
*****
"Come in, come in! Oh, my goodness! What a pleasant surprise!" she told him.
"It's really good to see you again," he replied with a nervous smile.
"And who is this precious little bundle of joy?" she asked.
The little girl clung to her daddy's leg as the sweet, older woman knelt down and smiled at her.
"She's very shy," her father said. "Her name is Annabelle."
"Can you tell me how old you are, Miss Annabelle?"
The little girl buried her face in her daddy's jeans as he answered for his daughter.
"As I said on the phone, she just turned four. I can't tell you how grateful I am for you agreeing to watch her for me."
"Oh, no, I'm the one who's grateful. I love watching children, but, as I mentioned during our brief conversation, I also need the income so...thank you."
"I'm really sorry to learn about the divorce," he told her.
"Me, too," she said trying not to let the sadness show. "The divorce just became final last week, and I'm still trying to adjust to being single."
She forced a smile then said, "Okay. Let's go over the paperwork and you'll be able to drop her off with me starting tomorrow morning. And it's really good to see you again, too."
He was Bryce Kincaid, and she was Ryan Tanner, the former wife of a man he once thought of as a kind of mentor from when he was very involved with the First Baptist Church in Renton, Washington, the town where he'd spent several of his teen years.
She'd been the most attractive woman he'd ever seen in person, and now, twelve years later, he thought she was still strikingly beautiful. Ryan was a natural strawberry blonde with just the slightest hint of red in her otherwise blonde hair. It had been shoulder length when he knew her, but she now wore it a halfway between her chin and shoulders which looked perfect for her age and the shape of her face. She could definitely still pull off long or even very-long hair, but the way she styled it now, with just a slight under-turn at the bottom and parted on the side, looked very nice on her.
He also clearly remembered those bright, blue eyes, and the very pretty face that surrounded them. He made it a point to try not to stare, but as he glanced at her every so often, he could barely see the slightest hint of any fine lines around the corners of her eyes or mouth. And yes, she was still very fit and athletic looking, just as he'd remembered her.
He never knew her exact age, but she had to be at least 35 by now or so he assumed. He had no way of knowing she almost 45, and judging by the way she looked, he certainly couldn't tell. Then again, he didn't much care how old she was. It was just so nice to see her again. Beyond that, she'd agreed to care for his daughter, and that made their reunion even more enjoyable.
"So you were what? Maybe thirteen when your family moved here?" she asked as she handed him a folder with the necessary forms.
"Yes. Thirteen. And at the time, I was so angry at my dad for moving us I barely spoke to him for a month. I'd lived in Spokane all my life, and moving anywhere else seemed like the end of the world to me. I thought I'd never make new friends and that my life was over."
Ryan laughed politely then said, "I had a similar experience when I was fourteen when my parents moved us here. I'd just started high school and had never lived anywhere but Salem, Oregon, then suddenly I found myself in a new town, a new house, and feeling like my life was over."
"But we do make new friends and life doesn't end," Bryce offered.
"Yes. That's very true. But at that age, it often seems like the end of the world."
"Well, the world, at least as we knew it, did end in some sense, I suppose. But no, our lives didn't, and we made new friends and sometimes, even something wonderful happens to us. I found that out when we moved again three years later. It was even harder than the previous move, but having a father in the military means moving around. Looking back, I guess we were pretty lucky to have only moved three times in the 22 years he was in the Air Force."
