When Steve came in January of 1967 for his second leave for R and R from Air force, he was a changed man. He looked tan, handsome; he had lost a lot of weight, but his body was all muscles. Every woman in street looked at him, and perhaps wanted him. Helen's neighbors craved this good looking man.
He found almost Helen happy, yet deep, deep inside her grayish blue eyes he could see some sadness, some kind of mystery, too!
"What is it now? You must be happy that you've finished college and even found a job! I know what is wrong? All of a sudden you have nothing to do! You're bored! May be we just don't wait until I come home for good and start a family. I think now it's time to do it!"
Fight began right away. Now he had become tough and rigid. He had also changed, not for better but for worse. He was not the same Steve of the beginning of their marriage that worshipped her no matter what she did to him. He thought that tact of toughness he tried with her, worked with her. After all if he could run his unit with all the men with different personality, from different part of the country without any problem, why couldn't he take control of his personal life with this woman , whom he had fallen in love with and still loved her? He almost ordered her this time that when he would return next time, she had to be in a better and bigger apartment!
"You must! You must be ready to have a family or I divorce you!"
This was the first time in their two years marraige that he acted forcefuly with her. But she was not a type of a woman to just listen to a macho soldier, even though he was her husband, and to back off!
One of his complain was that why she had cut her hair and colored it brown!
"Did you do it to hurt me? I liked your natural blond and long hair. It matched your eyes. Why, why did you do it? Did you do it to hurt me?"
Helen was outrageous. She did not want to tell him in order for her to socialize, she had to change her appearance; that she was frightened that out of bad luck to face one of Roger's clients one day, and to be recognized by him! Instead she began a fight about her freedom, about that he acted old fashioned, that he wanted her to be like his mother, ...
"What is the matter with you? Do you want me to call you all the way to Vietnam, if I can find you, and ask your permission about anything I do? You knew what kind of woman I was! Why did you marry me? I just can't tolerate this! You want to divorce me next year; I want a divorce now! Do you think I am one of your soldeirs? No one can boss me around! Forget about these two years! Think it never happened. I am not your type! I truly want a divorce!"
How quickly Steve backed up from being a commander! The word divorce, which he had said it first to scare her off, was too much for him to bear. He saw the seriousness in her tone of voice, eyes, and attitude! He knew it was crazy to love a woman this much while she did not care for him. He ended up to appolgize. The rest of his stay was almost peaceful. Their nights together was still wonderful. For him, the hot blooded, hungry American soldeir, it was something beyond this world! She would become a different person at night! It was their love making that made him to tolarete their day time's fight. He could not wait for night to arrive or to end!
The day before he left after twenty days, he went to see his parents alone.
"Helen had a job interview." That is how he answered his parents' inquiry about his wife!
To Be Continued
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