Like a Bird Drawn to the Call – A Tale of Love, Loyalty, and Life’s Twists: From My Grandmother’s Wisdom and Parents’ Lifelong Marriage, to Broken Trust, Forbidden Affairs, and a Second Chance Family with My True Soulmate

LIKE A BIRD TO A CALL

Girls, you only marry once, and it must be for life. You stay with the one you love until your last breath. Dont flit about endlessly, chasing soulmates. Thats how youll end uplike a picked-over apple, fit for no one.

A married man is off limits, I used to say. Dont even try to get involved, thinking itll just be a harmless fling. Youll both go tumbling over the brink, and happiness will flee far from you.

My parents had spent fifty years together. Their union was my guiding example. From their love, I resolved to find my own destiny and guard it with all my heart. Those were my words, spoken with conviction to my friends on the day I turned twenty. The wisdom came from my gran, whose voice carried such weight that I never doubted her teachings.

My friends would laugh in unison.

Dont make us giggle, Alice. Wait til you fall for a married chap; lets see if you can really walk away then…

But I never told the girls that my mother had had my elder sister before she ever married, born of someone no one ever mentioned. In our little village, it was a stain that never quite faded. Five years later, I was bornto a husband head-over-heels in love, who promised his devotion and never looked back. Wed had to leave that village for a new start. That was why, from girlhood, I sworenever would I have a child or a man out of wedlock.

Yet fate wrote its own tale for me.

My sister, Mary, and I rarely found common ground. She forever imagined our parents favoured mepampered me, not her. Marys jealousy ran deep. Unspoken, there was always a rivalry between us over who could capture more of our parents affection. Childish, in hindsight.

It was at the local dance hall that I met Edward. He was a cadet; I worked as a nurse. The evening was in full swing when that spark shot between us. Within a month, we were married. Happiness overflowedI followed Edward as if I were a bird drawn to his call.

After Edward finished his military training, we moved to his posting. The garrison lay far from home, and soon enough, quarrels brewedmisunderstandings, disagreements. There was no one to turn to, no shoulder to cry onMother was now in another country.

Our daughter, Annie, was born. It was the ninetieseverything uncertain and shaky. Edward resigned his commission and took to drinking. At first, I pitied him, tried to comfort himThings will settle down, just hold on.

He listened, or seemed to.

I know you mean well, Alice. But I cant stop. After I drink, I feel like Im above it all, rosy spectacles and all.

Edward started vanishing for days, then weeks on end. One time, he returned after a whole month, setting a case packed with wads of pounds on the table.

Where did that come from? I asked, suspicion gnawing at my mind.

What does it matter, Alice? Take it. Spend it. Theres more where that came from, he said, beaming with pride.

I hid the case awaynot daring to touch it, seeking to keep trouble at arms length.

Edward vanished again, reappearing half a year later; thin, gaunt, and bitterhis eyes hollow and strange.

Alice, take off your gold trinkets. Ive a debt that needs settlingserious people, he said, glaring from under his brow.

They were gifts from my parents. Ill never give them up, even if you threaten me. Edward, whats going on? Where have you been? Youve a family, lets not forget I broke off, shouting.

Dont shriek! Theres things you cant imagine swirling around me Will you help me, wife? Edward was looming closer.

Frightened, I fetched him the case from the kitchen.

Take your riches. Annie and I will manage, whatever comes.

Edward opened it. Have you used any?

Not a penny. That kind of money isnt for us…

Still, it wont be enough, he sighed. Never mind. Ill think of something.

That night, he swept me up, wild and hungry. I loved him with all my being, forgiving all, drawing near.

Come dawn, he prepared to leave.

How long, Edward? I asked, gazing up at him.

Cant say, Alice. Wait for me. He kissed me and closed the door behind him.

And I waited. A year, then another.

At the hospital where I worked, a doctor named James took an interest. He was marriedthat held me back, along with everything else. I was trapped between worlds, suspended, not knowing how to act. Technically married, I hadnt seen my husband in over two years and he never wrote, never sent a word.

As Christmas neared, orange and evergreen filled the air, everyone caught up in cheerful bustle.

A knock sounded. There stood Edward.

I flung myself at him, kissing wildly.

At last, youre back! Where have you been?!

Hold on, Alice. Dont smother me with kisses You see, we need to get a divorce, sharpish. I have a son nowI wont have him grow up fatherless, Edward mumbled, shifting awkwardly.

The world blurred. Where love had once blazed there was barely an ember, smothered under ashes. Yet I could see the pattern now, and didnt even flinch.

Very well, Edward. As they say, you can’t collect spilt water. I wont keep you. After the holidays, well sort the papers. My world turned upside-down again.

Dont you want to see Annie? Shes at her friends. If you wait, Ill fetch her. Shes your daughtershell be fatherless now, too, I said, unable to stop myself twisting the knife.

Sorry, Im in a rush. Ill hug Annie another time, said Edward and left.

But that other time never came. Edward never saw his daughter Annie again. Our meeting ended with strangers where family ought to have been.

Doctor James, sensing my loneliness, swept me up in a whirlwind romance. By then, I didnt much care that he had a wifemy boundaries crumbled.

James was charming, attentive. I let myself drift in his spella sweet captivity. The affair lasted three years, until he asked me to marry him.

No, James. We cant build happiness on another womans tearsor your daughters. Our paths are different. The words stuck in my throat.

But I managed to break from that madness, shifting to another hospital to keep himout of sight, out of mind.

It was then I met William.

William was raising his son alonehis ex-wife had found someone else, leaving their boy behind.

William came to my hospital as a patientalways joking, always smilingand somehow, jokes became love.

His son, Daniel, was seven; my Annie was eight. We formed a new family under a lucky star: all was smooth, loving, with work and kids keeping us busy. William and I faced everything together, harboured no secrets. I was fortunate in my second marriage, cherishing him more than my own sightWilliam, my light.

Thirty years of marriage

Not long ago, Edward rang my mother:
Ive never met another woman like AliceYears later, on a golden autumn afternoon, Annie and Daniel ran across the garden, their laughter threading through the air like music. I watched from the kitchen window, Williams hand warm over mine as we shelled peas for Sunday supper. Contentment, in its gentle, steady way, had woven itself around usin each shared routine, each soft word at dusk.

Sometimes, memories of my old life would ache unexpectedlyEdwards wildness, Jamess heated promises, my own certainties turned to dust. But as William squeezed my fingers, I realized none of that had been wasted. Loving the wrong men had taught me what right looked like: steadfastness over allure, kindness over grand gestures.

Through the open window, I heard Annie call, Mum, come see! Theres a robin in the apple tree. She sounded just how I must have, oncefull of hope, unaware of all the storms ahead.

I stepped outside, letting the crisp wind and childrens joy brush away the remnants of regret. The robin cocked its head at me, unafraid. For the first time in years, I felt completely rooted to the earth beneath my feetnot drifting between heartache and duty, but finally at home.

William kissed my cheek. Were lucky, you and I.

I nodded, my heart light. Luck had nothing to do with it. We just kept choosing each othereven when it hurt.

The robin sang. I smiled.

In the end, you dont fly to happiness. You build it feather by feather, from all the lives youve lived, all the lessons youve carried. And when you finally come home, its not to a place, or even a personits to yourself.

And that is where you stay.