Bonds Of The Heart by Maryann Morris

couldn’t bring himself to enter the cemetery and visit his brother’s grave with the flag next to it. That’s not where he felt his brother anyway.
     
     
                  Maureen Hamilton watched as her son turned inward again on her. Blake had brooded over the past three months at first drinking himself almost sick with hurt and pain. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break through to her son. No matter how much comfort she gave him, he wouldn’t let her in.
                  She knew Blake’s routine well. He’d take Jared’s old truck and go for a drive along the back roads. He’d stop by the cemetery but never go in. When the pain was too much, he’d find an empty field and just run the truck through the dirt. He would be gone for hours on those days. His pain was still as fresh as the day she had called him with the news.
                  She’d barely gotten through it herself with her husband at her side the day the officer and chaplain came to her door. It was the moment every soldier’s family feared, and every mother’s heart broke never to be repaired again. No hurt compared to that of a parent losing a child. No parent should outlive their children, she thought. But she had accepted Jared’s decision to join the Marines. He had come to his parents looking for understanding in his decision. They had given him that, for they taught their children, that understanding went hand in hand with love. And because they loved their children, they knew that each of their boys had to follow their hearts.
                  Blake’s had taken him to D.C. to be a partner in a major accounting firm. He had studied and graduated with honors. They were so proud of his accomplishments. They were proud of both their sons’ accomplishments. When Jared’s wife died during childbirth, they helped Jared raise Robbie. When Jared wanted to buy the auto shop, own it, and run it as a family business, they gladly helped him with the money to do so. They stood in the auto body shop with Jared the first day he opened as the new owner.
                  Now all she could do was to wait until her youngest, and now only, son was ready to open himself up again to his family and to the rest of the world.

Seven
    ***
    The scent of lemons had Erika’s stomach growling. She didn’t skip breakfast on purpose, she just wanted to drop off the pie at Mrs. Hamilton’s and get her day started. Practical. She’d be able to get her mom’s car after she dropped off the pie and start on the new manuscript she’d been sent to edit. She’d find a snack machine for something quick while she was out running errands and eat a big meal of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and maybe even some of her mother’s hash browns when she got home.
                  Erika pulled up to the small house from the address her mother had written down for her, she noticed Blake’s old truck in the driveway. She narrowed her eyes, unsure if mechanics made house calls, and silently prayed Blake wasn’t there. As she rang the doorbell her hopes faded and her heart skipped a few beats.
                  Blake's stubble had been shaved off and his wet hair dripped onto his bare shoulders. They were broad, as she had first thought, and his torso narrowed to his waist. He wasn’t lanky at all, he was lean and hard. He had a towel in his hand and another wrapped around his waist. Her mouth went dry and she feared she wouldn’t be able to speak coherently.
                  “We meet again,” he said, this time with a smile she wasn’t ready for. There was only a hint of amusement behind his shaded gray eyes. She wondered if he ever really let himself laugh or if he was arrogant twenty-four-seven.
                  “My mother made this for Mrs. Hamilton.” Her voice wasn’t as steady as she wanted it to be. Silly, she thought, he was just an attractive man.