A Husband Worth Waiting For. Grace Green

as gray as the girl’s, and at sight of him, they lit up.

      “Da-da!” He scrambled to his feet, and for a moment the two children stood rooted to the spot. Then the girl threw out her arms and with a shriek of joy ran toward him. The boy followed suit.

      What could he do but swing them up and hug them? How were they to know he didn’t recognize them? How were they to know he felt as if they were strangers to him?

      He swung them around and then swung them down again.

      The little girl ran to the stairs and yelled, “Mom! Mom! Daddy’s come back!”

      Jedidiah followed, his heart beating in slow, heavy thuds as he waited for this woman who was his wife.

      Her voice preceded her. “Honey, what are you…?”

      And then she appeared, hurrying out onto the landing.

      She glanced down, frowning.

      And stopped dead at the sight of him.

      She looked stunned; more stunned even than her daughter had been.

      And every vestige of color seeped from her face.

      “Oh, hi.” Her voice was flat. “It’s you.”