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While Jen and Mark had been moderately religious Katie loved everything related to God. She would sit in her room for hours listening to this station while she played with dolls and toys. As she got older she found friends, friends that would tease her about listening to this station but Katie was a very opinionated girl. She didn’t care what the other girls said, she loved this station and they weren’t going to come between her and what she loved.
Mark recalled a particularly memorable event when Katie was thirteen. She had invited a friend to stay the night, her best friend at the time. This girl’s parents must have been very opposed to religion because when Katie turned on her favorite station the girl started an argument with her. Perhaps the argument had been Katie’s fault perhaps not, Mark never really found out. The end result was the girl storming downstairs and Mark giving her a ride home. Katie and this girl never spoke again. To this day Mark didn’t know what the argument had entailed. Katie had always confided in her mother and mother-daughter conversations were private in their house. Sometimes Mark wished Katie had been able to talk to him about things but he was grateful that Jen and Katie had been so close.
The views presented by this station provided Mark with a way to be close to Katie. He would picture her, wherever she was, listening to this same station. He wondered what she looked like now. How hard it must have been for her to lose both her parents. Was she adjusting to her new life or struggling with it like he was? Mark desperately wanted to see his little sweetheart even though she was no longer a little girl.
Over time Mark quit asking about Sarah. No one knew where she was or if she was coming back. Mark realized that asking Agnus for updates about Sarah only upset her so he stopped asking altogether. Mark spent the little time he wasn’t in the library with Charles learning self-defense. Mark and Charles had become good friends. Mark found that he considered Charles a closer friend than anyone from his office. He had spent nearly twenty years at that office and didn’t have one real friend except for Sarah.
Mark missed Sarah, he found that when he wasn’t in the library and he wasn’t with Charles, all he did was think about Jen, Katie and Sarah. How had Sarah become so important to him? She was his sister-in-law but somehow she was a lot more. She had been his best friend for most of his adult life but there was more to it than that. He felt drawn to her. He couldn’t put it into words but she was very important to him. Mark had never felt anything like this before, except when it came to Jen. It wasn’t the same as he felt for Katie. Katie was his daughter, that kind of love has no comparison. That was it! He loved Sarah, but how could he? Asuune get one love and there was no doubt in his mind that Jen had been his perfect partner. His feelings for Sarah felt exactly the same as his feelings for Jen. How could that be? How could he love Sarah the same? Despite his reservations Mark knew he loved Sarah. The more he thought about it the more sure he became. He loved Sarah exactly the way he had loved Jen. The problem was that Sarah already knew who her partner was, her one, he would just have to live with being her best friend. If she ever came back.
After almost two years Sarah finally returned to the small town Mark called home now. She was greeted like a celebrity. Nearly everyone in the town knew Sarah and nearly everyone came to find out where she had been. Like Mark always did, he waited in the back of the line. He didn’t want to seem too eager to see her. He didn’t want to smother her. She was just his friend, that’s all she could ever be. He needed to learn to live with it.
When the crowd had died down and only Mark, Agnus and Charles were left, Sarah ushered them to the library. She had news, news that wasn’t appropriate to share with everyone else. When the four of them were finally alone Sarah rushed at Mark. She threw her arms wide and Mark nearly had to catch her.
“Oh I’ve missed you,” Sarah said as she dug her face into his chest.
Mark didn’t want to look too excited but he couldn’t help himself. The warmth of her body pressed against him, the smell of her, he couldn’t resist. He hugged her back much longer than he thought he should have but Sarah didn’t seem to mind. This only confused Mark more.
“So, I have a lot to tell you,” Sarah said when she finally decided to let go of Mark. “And damn you’ve gotten strong.”
Agnus gave Sarah a disapproving look.
Sarah smiled at Agnus and put her arm around her shoulders then spoke to Mark.
“Has she ever told you why she is called Agnus?” Sarah asked with her contagiously upbeat attitude.
“No, actually, she never did,” Mark smiled, he couldn’t help but match Sarah’s demeanor.
Agnus looked at him curiously, she was clearly trying to figure out why Mark was so happy to see Sarah. Mark decided he needed to act less happy and more like he had for the last two years. Sarah didn’t need this. It would make things weird between them. He wanted to be near her, even if it was just as friends, it would be enough. Mark forced his smile away and tried to look more serious.
“Well, you know how she doesn’t like swearing?” Sarah asked.
