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Sometimes, Capt. R.E. Ludlow was both tickled and properly put on alert as to the type of woman he had married. He was a whole 33-year military veteran, survivor of countless deadly engagements, a man who had released souls from bodies left and right and slept well because unlike his family members, he was no murderer.

The widow Thalia Green, in the late middle of her future husband's career, had actually attracted him because of her kind, inspiring, but great personal strength, a strength that inspired a man and a restaurant to become a five-star operation in a single afternoon.

“I'm not the type that wants a weak woman,” the captain had once said to his therapist about his second wife. “Weakness can't survive around a man like me. I grew up among strong good and strong evil – that's why I struggle so hard internally, but also why I basically can eat almost anyone else up without even trying. Thalia is as good as she is strong, and as strong as she is good. That is what I need in my life, and I thank God she actually loves me, because it would go hard for me if she didn't.”

“Look, Robert,” Mrs. Ludlow had said to him once, “if I stop loving you, I'm leaving, and you will not know where I left my last track because there are men higher than a captain who my first marriage gave me access to that can cover my tracks. Just know going in that this is how it is going to be – but if you keep loving me, I'll keep loving you, and there will be no problems at all.”

That “California liberal” attitude had caused some fussing from the conservative Virginian, still somewhat in the mind of a wife being the property of her husband, but … .

“I married her anyway,” he said, “because I understand and am up to the assignment of loving her until death do us part, and I have had no problems at all.”

Sometimes, though, from the side of Mrs. Ludlow's life as an administrative nurse, Capt. Ludlow got a view into what it would be liked to not be loved and respected by Thalia Green Ludlow, and it was a spectacular reminder to stay on point with his assignment.

“Look, you go on and tell him I said it – tell him exactly what I said and I will say it slow so you can get it – tell him I said the best thing that ever happened was that he folded his chubby hands and got too bored and lazy to be meddling in the project – in fact, put him on the phone! Just put him on the phone and you can keep your position with the man since you want it! He doesn't own me! Oh, he doesn't own you either – well, good, I don't need to talk with you any more since you have sense enough not to be his slave. Get him on the phone!”

In the living room, grandsons George (9), Grayson (6), and Lil' Robert (5)were slowly backing up …

“You know that extra meal of French toast we were going to ask about?” George said to no one in particular. “I don't think now is a good time to ask Grandma for that.”

“Look, I'm never letting my hands get chubby,” Grayson said.

“Gotta keep up the exercise – I mean, I could go harder, but you know, Papa is old,” Lil' Robert said.

Capt. Ludlow walked in, and the three grandsons hid behind him.

“I hate it when Grandma gets like this –I mean, we expect it from you, Papa, but gee whiz!” George said.

“It would be the end of the world,” Capt. Ludlow said, “except she loves us. Those are decision-makers she is talking to who aren't doing their job keeping people safe from Covid. Your grandmother and forever mom is a captain of a different kind of war this year, and so she is fighting for the people.”

“Look – I already have the video! Never mind how I got it! You're not dealing with some pitty-pat little nurse fresh out of school! No matter what way it goes, you're done – you can either leave quietly or have the governor and all the press on your neck! You let me know what you want to do … right. Enjoy your retirement. I better hear that you are packed and out of there by the end of the week! Oh, I would love to see you try that with me where I live at the Veteran's Lodge, and me married to 'Hell to Pay' Ludlow! Yeah, you think about that, and go on and enjoy your retirement and stay alive. I'm trying to save lives and you're trying to get killed!”

“She knows you would get him,” George said. 

“Absolutely,” Capt. Ludlow said. 

“And you would have plenty of backup, too,” Lil' Robert said, “because I wanna know who it is who has Grandma bothered! He needs to be beat up – he needs it!”

“I probably have just enough time to build us a few Lego tanks, too,” Grayson said. “Beat him up, and then blow him up.”

“I don't think we will need to do all that if the man has any sense at all,” Capt. Ludlow said, “but it is good to be ready.”

“Right on,” George said, and put on his heavy boots.

“Mission accomplished?” Capt. Ludlow said and opened his arms as his wife came out of their bedroom.

“I hope so,” she said, and went right to his embrace. “I hate to have done that, but thousands of lives were at stake because of some foolishness. I need a moment, and then I'll get lunch into the oven.”

“Already did it, Thalia, when I heard the way the conversation was going. You've done your work for the afternoon – just rest.”

“Thank you, Robert – I really do need a little while.”

“We'll stand guard!” Lil' Robert said, and Mrs. Ludlow smiled as her three youngest grandsons all positioned themselves around the sofa, and built Lego tanks to make sure she was safe.

Capt. Ludlow went out into the garden, picked his wife some fresh flowers, and made her some tea, because …

“It could have been me on the other side of that – or not, and the best thing in my earthly life gone from it, because she wouldn't have even bothered to argue like that with me if I dropped the ball to that extent – she told me what she was going to do, so, Lord, thank You for helping me understand and do the assignment, because ain't no Ludlow ready to be on the other side of Thalia Green!”

Some time later …

“You really do love Grandma, don't you?” eldest grandson ten-year-old Andrew said as his grandfather pulled lunch out of the oven for all of them.

“Yes, Andrew, I really do,” Capt. Ludlow said. 

“I mean, I knew that,” Andrew said, “but today I kinda see it differently because she had to put up a real fight, and you just switched over to support that quick.”

“Let me tell you a secret,” Capt. Ludlow said as he put lunch on top of the stove to cool. “In a real family, you do what you need to do. 99 times out of 100, I do the fighting, and she does the kitchen work – but on the day it needs to be different, it's different, because your forever mom and I have a real marriage with a real family, and in a family, like in a military unit, you do what you need to do so the family keeps moving forward and takes no losses. So, here I am, making sure the family keeps moving.”

Andrew came and embraced his grandfather.

“I love and respect you so much!” he said, and got up on the step-stool and carefully took the lunch plates down to help his grandfather. “I want to be just like you!”

“You are well on your way to becoming just like the loved and respectable parts of me,” Capt. Ludlow said, “and I love and respect you too, Andrew.”

By this time, Mrs. Ludlow had fallen asleep, so Capt. Ludlow fed his seven grandchildren on the “tiptoe brigade,” and put his lunch with Mrs. Ludlow's back in the oven so they could eat when she woke up.

“Oh – didn't mean to fall asleep – have the kids eaten yet?”

“All done, Thalia. They are on tiptoe brigade – relax and enjoy your lunch.”

So they sat on the sofa and ate together while their grandchildren settled in quietly all around them, and then Mrs. Ludlow put her head on her husband's shoulder and kissed him.

“Thank you for loving me, Robert,” she said.

“Any time and all the time, Thalia.”