Chapter 7: The Letter in the Drawer
A week after Clara was discharged, she returned home to their small bungalow on the edge of the city. Walking with a slight limp, she spent her days resting while Ryan took care of the chores, cooking meals, and tending to the garden.
While searching for a heating pad in Ryan’s bedside drawer, Clara stumbled upon a small leather-bound notebook. It was a journal Ryan had kept during his early years as a rookie firefighter.
Opening it gently, her eyes fell upon an entry dated five years ago—the night he asked her to marry him.
May you like
“I see horrific things in this line of work,” Ryan had written in rough handwriting. “Destruction, loss, chaos. But when I look at Clara, I see life. She is my home. If I can keep her safe, I can survive anything.”
Clara closed the book, tears overflowing, realizing the true depth of the quiet burden her husband carried every single day.
