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“Everything’s going to be alright. It’s going to be okay.”

“No, it’s not. You don’t understand. He isn’t going to go away. He’ll be back. He always comes back.”

“Persephone, he’s done. He’s a bully. A bully and a coward. And a coward will never fight when it is easier to run away.”

I don’t know how long we sat there like that, but eventually we both agreed we were hungry. I made grilled cheese and soup, the recipe for Alfredo sauce forgotten. Ken ate in his chair, a tray in his lap. I sat on the floor in front of him. Neither of us spoke. I cleaned up the plates and bowls afterwards. As I was scrubbing the frying pan, I heard Ken come into the kitchen.

“Persephone, I need you to listen to what I am about to say and believe me.” I turned around to face him. “You are safe here. I won’t let him hurt you ever again. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you believe me?”

“Yes, sir.”

And the funny thing was I did.

On Wednesday afternoon, Maggie and I walked out of our high school for the last time with the whooping and hollering of our classmates surrounding us. We exchanged high fives with classmates and chatted about graduation on Saturday—who was having a reception before and who after and which ones we should try to go to. Yearbooks were passed around for last minute signatures. Mine stayed tucked in my bag. I didn’t want to know what my classmates had to say about me. I was pretty sure they felt the same way.

When we finally made it to our cars, Maggie and I were both worn out—way too much social interaction crammed into a short amount of time.

“Are you coming by the house Saturday? You can bring Ken if you want.” Maggie’s mom was hosting a brunch before the ceremony. Maggie had already threatened a lifetime of silence if I didn’t come help her deal with the crush of family and her mother’s friends.

“Yeah, of course. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Thanks, Persephone. Hey, are you sure your parents aren’t doing anything for you? I mean, it’s your high school graduation and I know you guys aren’t really…” As many issues as Maggie had with her mom she still could not comprehend a parent simply walking away from their child. Completely giving up.

“I’m sure. It’s no big deal, Maggie, I promise. I have you and Ken. It’s fine. I wouldn’t want them there anyway. I want to be happy on Saturday.” I plastered on what I hoped was a convincing smile and gave her a hug.

“I’ll see you Saturday, okay?”

“Alrighty. Oh, did I tell you Mick is going to be there?”

“Awesome! Can’t wait to see him again.”

One more hug and we parted ways. In my car, I let my mind go where I had refused to let it over the past two days. I had not heard from Dad again. For all I knew, he was back out on the road. Mom had not called either. One filled me with hope. The other was crushing. Would she really let me go without a backwards glance? Was the fear of him greater than her love for me? Or worse, was her apathy? I didn’t even know if she was coming to my graduation or not. I told myself it didn’t matter. Myself didn’t believe me.

There was a car parked in Ken’s driveway—a dark sedan with out-of-state plates. My first thought was Dad sent someone to arrest me—a juvenile officer to bring in the big, bad, non-existent Xanax thief. My second thought was something had happened to Ken. I barely had the car in park before I was out and running to the front door.

“Ken? Ken? Are you okay?” I skidded to a halt in the living room when I saw someone sitting in my rocking chair. He was older and grayer, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans instead of Marine dress. And there was a small paunch in front that wasn’t there before, but there was no mistaking him. Sitting across from Ken was James.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. They were both here, right in front of me. My two warriors, heroes. It was too much for my mind to process and my heart to take.

“Well, there she is. Miss Persephone, I presume?” James stood and held out his arms. I nodded and walked to him. “It’s so nice to meet ya, sweet pea.”

“Uh huh.” I meant to say more, I really did. I meant to hold it together. I meant to be calm and composed. I meant to sound human. None of that happened. I snuffled and snotted against his shirt as he patted my back and tried to soothe me.

“It’s okay, hon. It’s all okay.” It seemed like people were telling me that a lot lately. Eventually maybe I would believe them.

James held me out at arm’s length and grinned. “Why don’t you go wash your face? I’m taking you and this old coot out for dinner. I assume there’s some decent barbecue somewhere in these parts.” He hitched his thumbs through his belt loops and puffed out his chest, the perfect imitation of a small town, southern sheriff. I expected him to turn his head to the side and spit at any moment.

“There’s a place over near my school. I’ve never been in it, but some of the football players swear by it. They go over there all the time before games. Um, City Butcher, I think?”

“Well then that’s the place. Ken, you ready to take this girl out on the town?”

I glanced over my shoulder at him. He looked tired but content. There had been a lot of activity in his life lately. Maybe he needed to rest. “You know, I could just go pick something up and bring it back. They do carry-out, too.”

“No, no, no. It’s not often I have my two favorite people in the same place. We all deserve a night out. James, you okay with driving? Persephone has a clown car.”

James’ laugh filled every corner of the house and warmed me down to my toes. “Of course I will! Now let’s get going!” James pulled his USMC Vietnam Vet cap on and herded us towards the door.

City Butcher was packed. There was a party of five (Mom, Dad and three rambunctious kids) in front of us waiting for a table as well. I contemplated the feasibility of tripping them as they ran in circles around their parents’ legs. Would the ensuing injured crying be worse than the ear-piercing squealing?

Before I could test my hypothesis, the hostess came back and motioned to the dad. “You’re table is ready, sir.”

He turned and looked at us, and replied, “No, they were here first.” The wife grinned and whispered something in the ears of her brood.

The oldest of the three (he may have been six) stepped in front of James and stuck out his hand. “Thank you for serving, sir. Daddy says my grandpa was in that war, too. Are you her grandpa?”

“You are quite welcome, young man. And yes, she belongs to me.” The little boy nodded. Everything was just as it should have been in his world. The hostess shrugged, completely indifferent to the entire exchange.

As we passed, I patted the father on the arm and whispered thank you. He only nodded, lost in memories of his own father. Maybe wishing he had more.

An annoyingly cheerful waitress came over to take our order. James didn’t even allow us to open the menu. “We need three teas. Two sweet and one unsweet. Persephone, I will not let him corrupt you into drinking that heathen unsweet stuff. It just ain’t proper. We’ll take a slab of ribs, a large side of slaw and a large side of beans. And three plates. Can you get that for us, darlin’?” It didn’t matter that he was old enough to be her grandfather. Between the southern drawl and the wink at the end of his question, this poor girl was smitten. She giggled, nodded and bounced off to get our drinks. It was adorable.

“Now, did Ken ever tell you about the time we had elephants building our camps for us?”

“No, sir.”

“He hasn’t? Well let me tell you something.” And with that James was off and running. I heard stories of basic training and drill sergeants that would have scared R. Lee Ermey. I heard about the jungles of Vietnam and the bouts of food poisoning. I heard about James meeting his wife in a military hospital after getting shot in the arm. How she played hard to get, but James knew he could wear her down eventually. During some of the stories, Ken would raise an eyebrow or shake his head, and James would start on a different wild tale. Apparently, there were parts of the war Ken didn’t think I needed to hear about. It was sweet the way he tried to protect me from anything that seemed too horrific, as if I wouldn’t be able to handle it. Or maybe he simply thought it wasn’t something a girl should hear.

On the ride home, I leaned in between the two seats like a kid, listening to the two of them trade good-humored insults and inside jokes. It was like a lullaby, the soothing sounds of their voices. I leaned back and closed my eyes. I must have drifted off because the next thing I felt was the bump of the car pulling into the driveway and heard them discussing how to wake me up.

“No, don’t touch her, James. It scares her. Just whisper her name until she wakes up. She… she gets scared in her sleep. I think she has nightmares.” I tried to keep my eyes closed so I could hear what else they would say.

“You still havin’ yours?”

“Sometimes. They’ve gotten better since she came along. Damn near took her arm off the other night though when she tried to wake me up. You should have seen her, James. Looked like I was about to beat her. The worst part is she looked like she thought she may deserve it. You have to promise me something.”

“Anything, my friend. You know that.”

“You don’t ever let that son of a bitch near her again. If you have to kill him, I expect you to do it. That’s an order, Corporal, understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.”

It was time for me to feign waking up. I couldn’t take anymore. “Hey, are we home?” I stretched and yawned, pretending I had heard nothing.

“Yes, we are, sleepyhead,” Ken answered. “I think we’re all ready for a little shut eye.”

As we walked into the house, Ken asked if I would mind letting James have my room for the next couple of nights and going back to the recliner. James tried to argue he didn’t want to kick me out of my bed, and he was just as capable of sleeping in the living room. I put my foot down.

“Ken, I think this young lady has a little Marine in her. You know, darlin’, Marines aren’t stubborn. They’re just resolved.”

I raised my eyebrow. “And some are more resolved than others, sir.” They both laughed.

“Sleep tight, kiddo.” Ken kissed my forehead on his way out of the living room. James lingered. When we heard the bedroom door shut, he sat down in the rocking chair.

“Persephone, I just wanted to say thank you. I never dreamed dialin’ a wrong number would lead to this. You’ve taken real good care of my friend. I don’t think he would have made it this long if it weren’t for you.” If I was ever going to find out, now was the time. I had to make a decision. Did I want to know, once and for all, what was wrong with Ken? I thought maybe I was finally ready for it.

“James, what’s wrong with him? Why is he taking all of those medications?”

“Well now, I figured maybe you and him had talked about this already. But then again, I’m not surprised you haven’t. He doesn’t like to talk about it. He has acute myeloid leukemia. The treatments stopped working a while ago. He stopped the transfusions and chemo. Said he would rather spend the rest of his life somewhere other than in the hospital or in the bathroom throwin’ up.”

The next question was so obvious and so hard to ask. I think James could see me struggling to make it come out.

“Not long, darlin’. We just have to hope and pray. It’s all we can do. And take care of each other. I don’t know that he was supposed to be here this long. That’s what I meant when I said you saved him.”

“No, James. He saved me. I didn’t do anything.”

“You may not see it now, Persephone, but you did. He hated himself for not being here when Rachel died. There was nothing he could have done to stop it. It was a car accident. But he still thinks, somehow, if he hadn’t enlisted, it wouldn’t have happened. You helped him make it up to her. He has finally started forgiving himself. He loves you, Persephone. If he had ever had a daughter, he would have wanted one just like you.”

I shook my head. “No he wouldn’t. You don’t know, James, you don’t know who I really am. I’m nothing.”

“Look at me, young lady.” His voice was full of anger. “Don’t you
ever
say that again. I do know you because Ken knows you. Do you have any idea how often he talks about you?”

I hung my head. If they talked that much, that meant James knew everything. The cutting, my parents, everything.

“Persephone?” I shook my head. There was no way I could look him in the eye. “Persephone.” It was no longer a question. It was the command of a United States Marine, and there was no way to disobey. I raised my head.

“You know, the one story I didn’t tell you tonight was how I got discharged from the Marines. I was shot. Two inches to the left, and it would’ve hit my heart. Here, let me show you something.” He pulled down the neck of his shirt and revealed a puckered scar the size of a half dollar.

“Oh James.” Two inches to the left, and he wouldn’t be sitting in the living room with me. My breath caught at the possibility.

“I planned to retire as a Marine. That’s all I ever wanted to be. But the wound got infected, and even though the bullet missed my heart, the infection didn’t. They said I was honorably discharged. I hated everything and everyone for a long time. But, in time, it healed, and the pain started to fade. The scar will always be there. It will always be a part of me, but it’s not who I am. Wounds can heal with time, Persephone. And those scars are only a small part of who you can be. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

“You are a strong, intelligent young woman who has fought more battles than most people will ever face in their lifetime. You are going to heal. Ken loves you very much, and so do I. Do you hear me?”

I nodded again.

“No, I asked you a question. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s better. Now, we’re both going to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good night, sweet pea.”

“Good night.”

I was a while going to sleep. The things James had said battled against the things I knew in my heart to be true. The things I learned from the moment I was born. I served one purpose and one purpose only. I was worthless. I was a coward. I was dirty. I was scarred and broken.