The Christmas Card — S.L. Sterling

I always wondered where I went wrong in my life when it came to love. I was serious with my high school sweetheart, Noah, or so I thought. I went to college, and he enlisted in the service. We stayed in contact regularly and then…nothing. I always felt that something happened, perhaps he met someone overseas and didn't know how to tell me. Regardless, I took my broken heart, finished school, and took over the family business running the only Christmas Tree Lot in Willow Valley. In keeping with tradition Potts Family Tree Farm always picks a charity to work with for the holiday season. This year, I've partnered with a local charity to help the children of military families who lost a parent in the line of duty, celebrate Christmas. After our first meeting I came home and immediately noticed a dirty, partially ripped bag sticking out of my mailbox by the road. I grabbed it and tried to make out what was written on it, but it was so dirty and worn, all I could see was a portrait of Santa Clause staring back at me. It was a Christmas Card.One I'd never gotten – from eleven years ago. As I read it tears streamed down my face. Noah asked me to marry him, and he'd been waiting for me to respond to the card because he'd been on a mission. I never got the card, so I'd never responded.   All these years I thought he'd never tried to contact me, and his parents had never said a word. So, I did what any woman would do today, I sent him a Facebook message, telling him how I only just received his card today, almost eleven years after it had been sent. Now I wait…