Excerpt of Where the Moon Shines Brightest by Kevin Crank

I stood dumbfounded. My mind wouldn’t allow my body to react. I didn’t know what to do or say. Tears began to well in the corners of my eyes. My body finally began to tremble, and then I noticed my fists were clenched. Anger brewed deep inside me.

“Why couldn’t you tell me this happened to you?”

Mary shifted her weight and unfolded her arms. “Try to imagine how many times I wanted to contact you, to have you come to me and hold me and let me cry in your arms. I needed you. I really wanted you with me. But I didn’t let you know because the night you, Landis, and your mom came to my house to ask for our help, I saw murder in your eyes. I could tell that you were willing to kill without reservation. I’ve kept this from you because I knew if you found out you’d have taken off, run away from the Army, and hunted that guy down. And I think you probably would’ve killed him.”

She was right. Mary knew me well enough to know that I’d track the son-of-a-bitch down and hurt him, possibly kill him. I felt the rage building. It was the same rage I felt when Mom had the encounter with Delmar Booth at Mayfield’s and when I fought with Lester and Mr. Plumley. I drew a deep breath, trying to suppress the anger in my heart. I gazed at the moon.

“Now what do we do, huh?”

She turned her face. In the bright moonlight I could see a faint scar just below her left eye. “You don’t want me, Wallace. I’m damaged goods.”

“Do you still love me?” I asked with uncertainty.

“Oh, yes. I fell in love with you the night you came into Ballard’s Drive-In after you and Landis pulled that trick on Nelda Jo and Chester. The moment you sat down next to me, I knew. I’ve loved you ever since, and I will always love you until the day I die. But I’ve resigned myself to the fact that our love for one another may no longer be what it was because of the past. If we walk away from each other tonight with too big of a burden to bear, then so be it. I’ll move on, like I had to after I was attacked.

“So, the question is to you, my love. Do you still love me?”