Matthew 6:14

“I swear this bench looks older every day.” Rose laughed. “One of these days, we are going to sit down and it’s just going to collapse.”
“I know what you mean.” Jason replied. “I’m sure one of these days one of us will just collapse as well.”
“What has it been, 40 years?” Rose said.
“41 years, two months, and 25 days.” Jason said with confidence.
Rose smiled, “Forty-one years of meeting at this bench.”
“Feels like yesterday when I meet you here for the first time.”
“That was the worst day of my life, but it ended up being one of the best.” Rose said. “After my brother died, I never thought I would get over it. Little did I know, the man that found me crying on this bench would be my savior.”
“That’s why I love coming back here, every day, to remind both of us what is really important in life.” Jason said.
“After all these years, I never asked, why were you walking by here?” Rose asked. “Just inside this cornfield, off a random path. What were you doing?”
“Looking for you.” Jason smiled
Rose blushed “But really. I was so upset that day, I never thought to ask what you were doing wandering around out here.”
“You know what, maybe it is time to tell you the story.”
“We have been married for 38 years, you can tell me anything.” Rose said anticipating the story.
“I guess so. Just to caution you, it is going to take a lot for me to tell you this. And at the time I had no choice.”
Rose shifted her positioning on the bench, “I am listening.”
“When I was 18 years old, my father became the head of the Moritella crime family, as well as the head of the Kasta neighborhood gang. Both positions he had worked toward for a very long time.”
“That sounds dangerous. Go on.”
“Being his son, I was always in the middle of every job. Whether it was a dirty job, or simply a meeting, I was there. Now here is where you need to listen.”
“Okay.” Rose said anxiously.
“After a few years’ work, my father called me to gather up a group of guys, and told us that we had a man who needed to be taken out. At that time I was 20 and he had only called me to take someone out directly one time before.”
“Did you go through with it?”
“I had no choice. I gathered up a group of three of my closest allies and authored up a plan. The difficulty, and the reason my father called me directly was because the man we were ordered to kill was a federal agent. My father’s assistants had noticed this man spying on him and the rest of our family for the last few weeks and decided it was time to get rid of the problem.”
Rose sat up again and was listening intently.
“We finished the job with perfection, and exposed of the body where my father had instructed us to. When we began to leave the scene of the crime, multiple cop cars swerved around the corner and began chasing us. I was smart and jumped out of the car at the first corner. Luckily they didn’t see me roll into the ditch.”
“Oh my gosh! Were you hurt?” Rose exclaimed.
“A few bumps and bruises, but nothing too extreme. The problem was, with no vehicle and no cell phone I had to make my way back to town alone. I didn’t want to take any public transportation because I figured they were looking for me.”
“How far were you from town?”
“On foot, about a day’s walk. I stayed the night in a small motel, and the next day, I began my walk. I found you just an hour outside of my town.”
“How is that possible? You never told me, and you never did any more jobs. Or did you, and just not tell me?”
“I got out of my family and the gang two days after I met you.”
Rose smiled, “Did you do that for me?”
“Yes I did.” Jason sighed.
“Why aren’t you smiling?” Rose said confused. “That was so courageous of you to leave your family for me.”
“I did get out for you because I knew I loved you, I also got out because of the last man we killed.”
“I don’t understand.” Rose said with a scared look on her face.
Jason looked down, sighed, then looked up again. “The man we killed, his name was Alexander Baxter.” Jason looked down again.
Rose began to sob. Choking on her own breath, she looked up and said, “ You’re the one who killed my brother?”
Jason began to tear up as well. “I don’t know what to say. I am so sorry.”
Rose had so many questions but all she could do was cry. “I don’t understand. How could you? I mean how could anyone…?” Rose couldn’t finish a sentence.
“I had no choice, I was forced to. I never had a choice of who and what I had to do. Once I met you and knew we hit it off, I knew I had to get out. Then once you told me about your brother and I knew I did it, I was thankful I got out. But knew we couldn’t be together if I told you.”
Rose was still crying, “I don’t know what to think. I’m glad you didn’t tell me right away because I would have left you. But what now?”

I have made many mistakes in my life, and this one is the last for which I have yet to be forgiven. I couldn’t even believe the level of grief I caused you and your family. All I can do is pray and ask you for forgiveness.”
Rose put her face in her hands thinking about the long nights crying with her family. She looked up and said, “God was and will be the only perfect being to walk this earth. Although some mistakes are bigger than others, they are all the same to some degree. I have loved you for 40 years and can’t stop now.” Rose began to cry again and embraced Jason saying, “I forgive you.”