Read A Life Worth Fighting for Free Online

people say that we need to fill our hearts with loving kindness. I did that twice tonight. Once was when I gave the girl the money. The other time was when I filled my heart with loving kindness for all battered women just before I hit the two men who attacked the girl and then me.
    The police come and immediately send the girl away in the ambulance before they interview me. I tell them what I saw and that the guys came at me fighting, one of them with a knife. I give them my name and information and watch them handcuff and place both guys in the back of the cruiser. Once the police tell me I can leave, I walk back to the hotel.
    I lie in bed and my mind drifts back to when I was a small child. Dad was gone on a business trip and our neighbor, Mrs. Michaels, came over crying. She was bleeding and had red marks all over had happened to Mrs. Michaels. I cracked my bedroom door open and listened. The police came and she told them Mr. Michaels had hurt her. I was so mad, and I decided the next time I saw him, I was going to tell him off. I never did see him again. It was that day that I decided I would always treat women with kindness and respect.
    I have breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel with Dad and Gus before we catch our flight home. Missing Leah, I decide to call her and make sure she is safe before turning my phone on airplane mode. I am anxious to get home and be with my wife; although I was gone for only one night, I have missed her. I tell her that I will be home soon.
    Leah
    When I hear the car, I walk over to the kitchen door and wait to open it until the guys get out of the car. I am bracing myself for the worse when I see Robert. I know he was hit pretty hard last night. Robert stands from the car, wearing a crisp white tee-shirt, a pair of holey jeans, and his signature boots. His eye is still swollen but not as bad as I had prepared myself for it to be. I breathe out a sigh of relief. I open the door and walk out to greet him. He turns to me with a beautiful white smile.
    Robert surges ahead, leaving his dad and Gus behind. He holds his arms out for me and I run to him. He kisses me like he hasn’t seen me in years. We stop when we hear laughter behind us. Our mothers are both laughing at our affectionate greeting.
    Robert slowly lowers me to the ground as his dad and Gus approach us.
    “I missed you,” Robert says.
    “Me, too. How long were you gone?” I ask, laughing.
    “Just a day but it feels like weeks,” he says.
    I hear someone clear their throat and I peer around Robert. “I also missed my favorite father-in-law and Gus, too.”
    Walter walks up and gives me a big hug. “I missed you, too, Leah.”
    I hug Gus and Dad next. “You had nothing to worry about, Leah. I brought him home in one piece.”
    “I can see that and I appreciate it, but I can’t help but worry. Ace, don’t you ever scare me like that again,” I say in between kisses.
    “I’m sorry, Sweets.”
    When he finally puts me down, I inspect his hands — his knuckles are red, of course — and he has to bend down for me to examine his face. The man towers over me. I cup his cheeks and turn his head side to side. I can see the laceration above his right eye and his eye is beginning to darken from a bruise. He has some redness on his right cheek. “Say ‘ah,’” I say and he laughs.
    “What?”
    “Say ‘ah,’” I repeat and he does. I look inside his mouth. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but I don’t see anything alarming.
    He smiles and asks, “Are you done?”
    I smack him on the arm and smile, “I am.” I watch as he stands tall.
    We have lunch together before we part.
    Alone with me, Robert asks, “So, did you decide to have a party to celebrate my win?”
    “No, I decided not to have a party.”
    “Really? Are you feeling all right?” he asks, sounding concerned.
    “I feel great. I thought about having you a party, but then I thought some alone time would be a better idea.”
    “Alone time?”