A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband was not alongside of her in their bed.  She gets out of bed, puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him.

Seeing a light on in the kitchen she peers into the room and finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall.  She watches him as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee.

'What's the matter, dear?'  She says softly in a sympatric voice as she steps into the room; 'Why are you down here at this time of night?'

The husband looks up from his coffee and with tears in his eyes replies in a hushed tone of voice; 'I am just remembering when we first met 20 years ago and started dating. You were only 16 years old at the time.”  “Do you remember those days and events back then?' he says solemnly.

The wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is so caring, so sensitive.  'Yes, I do' she replies in a soft voice full of emotion.

The husband looks up at her and pauses for a few moments. The words were not coming easily.  Solemnly he asks; 'Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?'  'Yes, I do remember,' said the wife gently while putting her hand on his shoulder and lowering herself into a chair beside him.

The husband continues on slowly in an emotionally-charged voice.  “Do you remember when he shoved that shotgun in my face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter, or I will send you to jail for 20 years’?”  'I remember that too' she answers softly.

The husband wipes another tear from his cheek and says in a broken and sorrow-filled voice; 'I would have gotten out today.'