by Renee Brokaw

Created on: August 16, 2009

Someone was knocking at the door. Annie jumped and waited to hear another knock. Glancing at the clock on the wall. It was 9:30 on a Sunday night.

IIf I can just wait, it might go away. If I can just wait, this won't be real, she thought.

The last twelve months she prayed this moment would never happen. Her husband Ben was a soldier serving his third tour of Iraq. He promised this would be the last, but she lived in fear of that messenger approaching the door. Everyone understood what news the person knocking on that door was there to deliver. Memories of her husband Ben flooded her consciousness. The first wave was the day they met on a blind date in a neighborhood bar. Ben had walked up to the booth and smiled, revealing a deep dimple. He was tall and handsome in his jeans and black t-shirt. At the time she thought she was going to blush just looking at him.

Are you Annie Quinn? he asked.

That's right. I was getting nervous you wouldn't know it was me, I mean I kept thinking we should have described ourselves better, like I'm wearing a blue shirt or something.

Ben sat down and stared at her. Her long brown hair draped her shoulders and those emerald eyes were captivating. Annie, you are just the way your big brother described you.

I am sure he exaggerated to make you agree to come.

Ben pulled out his cell phone with her picture on it. adding, A picture paints a thousand words, but those eyes of yours. Any picture or description Dylan attempted doesn't come close to how beautiful you are.

That night they didn't sleep. They walked and talked for hours and ended up on a park bench watching the sunrise over the lake. Every day since the first night they met they were inseparable, except when she attended her college classes, or he had to work. Her older brother Dylan was happy to see his instincts were right and his new friend was the perfect person to be his brother-in-law.

The next memory washed over her as she recalled her wedding day. Her first kiss as a married woman. Her first dance as his wife. She felt Ben's strong hand guiding her to leave the reception for the night. She watched as her friends and family wished them well. She wasn't the only one who loved this man. Everyone who knew him did. They spent their honeymoon in a boutique hotel overlooking the lake where they watched their first sunset together. Annie thought she could never be any happier.

Never, that is, until she found out she was pregnant with Ben's child. The news that

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