"The long dark loneliness before dawn"

You arrive home to find wet footprints in the hallway, suitcases inside the door. Your heart leaps into your throat. He's home. You can hear the shower running. Discarding your hat, coat, shoes, you tiptoe into the bedroom. His clothes are piled on the floor. Going back out into the hallway, you lean against the doorjamb and hug yourself. Everytime he leaves you go through this, wondering if he'll be the same man now as he was when he left. How long had he been gone this time, and how much longer would it be the next? Would he leave someday, and never come back?

You don't notice the water has stopped until you suddenly feel him behind you. He's still wet, and you can hear the water dripping onto the floor. Closing your eyes, you turn. You open them to see his eyes, those wonderfully expressive eyes, and before you can speak, he lets go of the towel around his waist and pulls you into his arms, crushing you under his kiss. Every doubt you had runs back into the shadows of your mind, and you reach up to touch his cheek, to run your fingers through his wet hair. He wraps your other arms around his neck, and lifts you off the floor into his arms. "I missed you," he whispers. In that moment, you know, he'll come back to you forever.