A Tale of Wordplay & Woe: Ryan & Kayla's Incredible Escape

"What in the blue blazes are you thinking? I thought you loved me." Kayla said her voice filled with tears.

"Of course I love you, but I want to be something more than just a farmer's daughter. I want to be respected, and to have a future." Ryan said softly his eyes locking into hers. They were sitting on a bench overlooking a large field in the center of the small town they lived in. This was the first time they had been alone since Ryan announced his plan of winning her hand by becoming a Labrador, and it was certainly not how Kayla saw this afternoon going.

Ryan had been pestering her for quite some time about marriage, only for him to tell her that he would never marry a woman who wasn't taken seriously by others. So when he brought up the idea about becoming a Labrador she was dumbfounded. She couldn't understand why someone so smart could be so foolish.

She didn't doubt Ryan's intelligence, he had even gone against what his father wanted for him and become a farmer himself. He had always been an ambitious man, but this latest scheme pushed it beyond reason. His father had always spoken of his son as being more of a scholar than anything else, but Ryan had decided to follow in his grand-fathers footsteps and join the military instead of going to university. He was still young though and she hadn't wanted to stand in his way. Instead she decided that if this was what he truly wanted then she would support him in any way that she could, which quickly led to them getting married shortly after.

This got them both out of their parents houses and left them with enough money to buy their own small farmhouse near the outskirts of town. While things started out good after their marriage things soon soured between them as he began spending more and more time away from home on work related trips or training exercises with other men from the military base close by. It hurt her deeply knowing that he didn't seem to have time for her anymore, but whenever she tried talking about it with him he would just brush it off and say that once they moved to the city things would be different. She knew better than most how hard farming was so hearing those words made her heart sink even further knowing that there was no way that they could afford moving into the city anytime soon. Still she loved him enough that she never wanted to stand in his way so whenever he came back home she jumped at any chance she could get to try and make things right between them again.

"I just don't understand why going down this path is going make me more respected." Kayla said softly wiping away a few stray tears with one hand while trying desperately not show too much emotion on her face as she looked at Ryan.

"You know we can't go on living like this forever?" Ryan asked putting his arm around her shoulders as they sat side by side looking out over their land toward the sun setting behind the fields of corn, wheat, rye and hops that surrounded them on all sides "I have worked my whole life for nothing more than what my family have already given me." He continued "If I can do something great then perhaps I can make my family proud for once." He finished softly pulling Kayla closer to him as he spoke into her ear. Her anger slowly melted away as she felt herself pulled into him, feeling safe for the first time in what felt like ages despite knowing what he planned on doing was not safe at all... especially for someone who was starting to feel sick just thinking about it!

"I'm just worried that this plan isn't really thought through... What if it goes wrong?" Kayla said trying not to think about how many times people said something similar before being sent off to fight some war only never returning home again... where did those people end up? Were they killed during battle or did something worse happen? Was there something worse than death? She dared not imagine! "We've been struggling here for years now, do you think we will ever get out of debt if you don't even have time for us anymore? What kind of man wants this kind of thing instead of being with his wife." The anger slowly returned but this time directed at herself more than anything else "I'm sorry Ryan I don't mean..." She couldn't finish as tears started streaming down her cheeks again only this time without stopping until finally she broke down sobbing uncontrollably into Ryans chest...