As Sophie came out of the shower, her husband was heading downstairs to answer the doorbell. She didn't think anything of it and moved into the bedroom, her mind on the ingredients for a new recipe that she was going to prepare for dinner that evening.
When she entered the lounge, Alan was standing ashen-faced by the window. Only then did she notice the boys' Commanding Officer on the other side of the room.
Again, Sophie's mind wandered. The boys were laughing as each one of them tried to be the first one to tell her that they had passed their entrance exam to Sandhurst Military Academy, after gaining their degrees at Leeds University. The Army was the only career they had ever wanted, and they were determined to stay together.
How proud Sophie and Alan had been at their Passing Out Parade, and how young and full of life the boys had seemed. Shortly afterwards the three of them were posted to Afghanistan.
Sophie pulled herself together, to hear Colonel Roberts saying what a brilliant example they had been to their Regiment...." loved and revered"...." sons to be proud of"........ "massive mortar bomb had made a direct hit on the compound in Helmand Province, where the three boys were meeting up for a de-briefing" ... She felt her knees buckle beneath her as she slid to the floor.
Sophie watched the three flag-draped coffins being lowered into the ground to the haunting strains of the Last Post, knowing now that she would never attend their weddings, never know the pleasure of grandchildren, and her heart ached.
A year later, another coffin was being lowered into that cold, dank ground as the sleet whipped around the graveyard of the little village church, where Sophie and Alan had been married all those years ago. His heart had always been weak, and the shock of losing his boys had simply been too much.
Sophie soon realized that there was nothing in England for her anymore, and it was an easy decision to head off to the little village in the Spanish hills where the family had enjoyed so many happy holidays over the years.
The last thing Sophie did before leaving for the airport was to place four wreaths onto the granite headstone. It didn't matter that she was leaving England, as Alan and her beloved boys would be in her heart forever.
END.
For those of you who can't wait for me to get 'back to normal', I will be posting a Sunday Snaps feature later on today!
For those of you who can't wait for me to get 'back to normal', I will be posting a Sunday Snaps feature later on today!
