Tara was a total orphan, raised by her maternal aunt. Along with Tara, Aunt Sarah was bringing up three daughters of her own. Consequently, she treated her niece with indifference, and at times outright irritation, viewing the poor child as a financial drain. Uncle Bill was no better; he constantly scowled and would grumble in frustration:
"We've got our own girls growing up. We need to think about their weddings and scrape together decent dowries. On top of that, we're stuck trying to settle Tara's life. Maybe we can find someone—anyone—who'll take her without a penny to her name."
As it turned out, such a man appeared soon enough. A year before the war broke out, Tara turned eighteen, and her resourceful uncle managed to betroth her to a widowed neighbor named George Miller. No one, of course, asked for the poor girl's consent. They had taken her in and raised her; that was supposed to be thanks enough.
George was nearly ten years older than Tara. His first wife had died in childbirth, but the baby had survived. George named him Jack and handed him over to his own mother to raise. He took little interest in the child himself, preferring to spend his time drinking and chasing after fast women. Marriage wasn't on his mind; he had grown quite fond of the carefree bachelor life.
This might have gone on indefinitely, but his weary mother finally reached her breaking point.
"Listen here, George, enough is enough. I'm not young anymore, and I'm exhausted running this farm alone. Looking after a toddler and keeping up with the housework is too much for me. My health is failing. It's time you got married and brought a mistress into this house. So go on, find yourself a good wife."
Tara suited him perfectly. There was no promise of a dowry, but she had a submissive temperament. She had no parents and nowhere else to go, which meant she wouldn't be making any demands. The fact that it was a loveless match didn't bother him in the slightest. As long as she took care of the house and the boy, he was satisfied. As for his "needs," he could always find a pretty face elsewhere. Take Daisy, for instance—she was tired of her drunkard husband and was always happy to see George. She'd be the first to call him out to the hayloft. And she wasn't the only one; young widow Anna was just waiting for a little attention.
When Tara heard about the upcoming marriage, she didn't argue. On the contrary, she was almost relieved. Now she would no longer be a dependent relative; she would be the mistress of her own home. She told herself she would surely grow to love her husband, bear him many children, and be a wonderful mother.
On the day of the wedding, George showed up looking sharp in a new suit. However, his treatment of Tara was cold—there were no kisses, no tender words. He simply picked up her things, and they were married that same afternoon.
There was no reception; George didn't want to waste the money. He made up a different excuse, though, claiming that it wasn't proper for a widower to have a big celebration. Nevertheless, that very evening, he went out to party with his friends. "Gotta have a drink for Tara!" he told them.
Tara didn't sleep at all that night; she sat up waiting for her husband. He didn't return until dawn, and in his drunken stupor, he didn't even recognize her at first. When he finally remembered who she was, he dragged the frightened girl to bed without a hint of ceremony.
Realizing there would be no joy in her married life, Tara cried for a while and then resigned herself to her fate. She couldn't go back to her aunt's house, so she had to endure it. Her husband cheated on her openly, her mother-in-law burdened her with chores, and no one offered her a hand, a kind word, or a bit of sympathy.
Her only joy was George's little son, Jack. The boy's father never spoiled him and had no interest in playing with him. So the child grew attached to his stepmother, following her everywhere like a shadow and eventually calling her "Mama."
***
In early 1942, George was drafted and sent to the front. As she saw him off to war, poor Tara burst into tears. Even though she didn't love him, she felt sorry for him and feared he might never return. Little Jack didn't understand why his mother was so distraught. Surely Daddy would beat all the bad guys and come home a hero!
At first, there was no word from him, and Tara continued to mourn. Finally, a letter arrived. But there wasn't a single warm word in it—only a request for her to send a care package with treats.
Tara dutifully sent the packages. She wrote to him about Jack and his mother, sharing all the news from the neighborhood. The fighting hadn't reached their town, so life went on. It was difficult, and at times they went hungry. Tara made sure to feed her mother-in-law and the boy first and worked hard to assemble George's packages, thinking of herself last. She decided to keep up a brave front, writing only about good things so as not to upset him. But soon, tragedy struck. Her mother-in-law fell seriously ill, remained bedridden for three months, and eventually passed away. Tara couldn't hide such a thing and sent the tragic news to George. But no reply ever came.
***
Time passed, the war ended, but George did not return. "The notice must have been lost in the mail," Tara thought, weeping bitterly in the kitchen.
A few years later, a new local deputy was assigned to their district. This young man's name was Victor Sorokin. During the war, he had lost both his wife and daughter, and life had seemed to lose all meaning. But after meeting the kind and gentle Tara, his heart began to thaw, and his soul found a bit of peace.
Realizing he couldn't imagine life without her, he gathered his courage and presented her with a modest bouquet of daisies. Then, he confessed his love. Tara blushed and grew shy, but she couldn't suppress a smile. Victor's feelings were reciprocated, and soon he moved in with her. Jack became very attached to him and listened with rapt attention to Victor's stories about the war. Victor was modest by nature; though he had several medals, he spoke less of himself and more about his brothers-in-arms. The boy admired their bravery and dreamed of becoming a soldier himself one day.
One evening, Tara and Victor were having tea and discussing their plans for the next day. Suddenly, they heard someone walking through the yard, cursing at a frisky puppy.
"That's George's voice! It can't be! I'm going to go look," Tara cried out in shock, rushing to open the door.
Indeed, it was George standing on the threshold. He looked grimly at his wife and then at Victor, who was standing beside her.
"I see you haven't been wasting any time. Is this how you welcome a husband home from the war?"
Tara tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come. She froze, turned deathly pale, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. A startled Victor carried her to the bed and spoke to George with strained politeness.
"So, you're George. I'm Victor, the deputy here. Look, this is a mess, I get it. You're the master of this house. But the war ended five years ago. Tara didn't think her husband was still alive. She was struggling on her own, and the boy needed a father."
"And you were happy to take advantage of someone else's misfortune, weren't you? Walked right into a ready-made life and made yourself comfortable!" George spat. "I've suffered so much, spent years trying to get home—wounded, exhausted, sick. Get out of here, now! And don't let me see your face again, you hear me?"
"Fine, I'm going," Victor said sharply. "But listen to me: don't you touch Tara. If you dare lay a finger on her, you're going to jail. I promise you that."
George flinched, then shrieked hysterically, "Don't you threaten me! I went through the whole war! I was the first one into the charge, I didn't know the meaning of fear! So don't try to scare me, understand?"
Sensing the cowardice in the man's voice, Victor calmed down slightly and spoke softly to Tara.
"Don't worry, he won't touch you. Just rest and try to sleep. I'll come by tomorrow morning, and we'll figure everything out."
Heading out into the yard, Victor ran into Jack, who was just returning from a friend's house, and told him his father had arrived. The boy jumped for joy and flew into the room to hug his dad. But George pushed him away, scowled, and barked angrily:
"Quit bothering me, let me rest and eat. And you, wife, what are you doing lying around? Get the table set!"
Seeing that Tara couldn't get up, he waved a dismissive hand and stomped into the kitchen. While he ate, a heartbroken Jack cried quietly to himself. Later, driven by curiosity, the boy opened his father's rucksack. He couldn't believe his father had come home empty-handed; he was sure there must be presents hidden inside, so he started rummaging through the gear. At the very bottom, he found a small notebook. Jack turned it over in his hands and was about to put it back when his father returned and began to scream.
"You little brat! Don't touch my things! Don't touch them, I said!"
In his fright, the boy dropped the notebook. Two photographs fluttered out and landed right by Tara's bed. She picked them up in silence and began to study them closely. In one, George was wearing a chef's hat, standing next to a field kitchen. In the other, he was embracing a somber, thin woman, with a little girl sitting beside them.
"It's all clear now," Tara said sternly, looking at her husband with a mocking smile. "So this is the 'hero' in the chef's hat. 'First into the charge,' you said? And then straight home, I suppose. Only you found someone else along the way. You lived your life and didn't give us a second thought. Fine, you don't need me. I get it. But how could you abandon your own son? And now you're playing the victim? You think I'm going to beg for forgiveness and start catering to you? I was a fool back then, putting up with your wandering. Not anymore. I won't live with you, and I don't care what the neighbors say. They'll gossip for a while and then move on to something else."
Her indignation gave her strength; she swung out of bed, pushed past her stunned husband, and ran out of the house.
***
The following day, George went to register at the veteran's office, and that was when the whole truth came out. After the war, he had met another woman and stayed with her; soon after, they had a daughter. He didn't want to explain why he had left that woman, but people could guess. His common-law wife likely couldn't stand his constant cheating and kicked the good-for-nothing George out. Not every woman was as patient as Tara.
At first, Victor and Tara rented a room from an elderly lady named Mrs. Peters. With the help of the local community, they eventually built a sturdy house, settled in, and started a large farm. Later, they had two wonderful children—a son first, then a daughter. They lived a quiet, happy life in peace and harmony.
Jack didn't stay with his father. Tara was his mother, so he went with her. He never regretted it; the family treated him as one of their own. Of course, he remembered his father and visited him often, but George was always drunk and did nothing but yell at his son. Yet he should have been proud of him: Jack studied hard, graduated from college with honors, and became an aerospace engineer. A few years later, he tracked down his younger half-sister, and they became fast friends.
As for George, he lived out his days in solitude—drunk, bitter, and full of spite.
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