As it is mentioned further back in this serial tale (added onto by one story at least, every day), Capt. Ludlow married upon his graduation from West Point to a woman who he did not vet ... so not only did his children not have HIM during the times when he was away on military service, but their mother was out there spending his money on other men and good times... so, they, completely abandoned, turned to drugs, and the drugs eventually are what did them in. But two years after his divorce, bitter and broken and certain he would never deal with a woman again, but having asked for and received a transfer stateside to try to work things out with his children, he met a widow named Thalia Green ... and the rest is history.
Thalia had raised her children to adulthood by that time, and had been an excellent mother, so, she combined her abilities with Capt. Ludlow to love on Capt. Ludlow's children enough to get them and their partners into rehab a combined seven times ...so grandchildren Eleanor, Andrew, George, Edwina, Amanda, Grayson, and Lil' Robert would be born healthy. Capt. Ludlow, who loved his second wife greatly before that, cannot look at any of his grandchildren without remembering who labored with him to make sure they had a healthy chance at life. In addition to that, since her children were grown, the second Mrs. Ludlow had a chance to quiet her husband's fears about leaving a wife behind him ... she has mobile working skills, and so traveled the world with him on his deployment ... and then when they got back, she was right in there with him mourning for the loss of his children and scooping up those grandchildren and preparing for the adoption of all seven ... and this is why, at age 58, Capt. Ludlow knows for certain what he felt would be true at age 42: Thalia Green Ludlow is the love of his life.
Oh. Makes sense now. I just can't place when I hear women spend their husband's money on men. There's something disturbing about it to me. Beautiful story @deeanndmathews
It IS disturbing -- disrespectful and evil -- but many veterans go through this, and, even decades later, the pain is still there ... their children suffer greatly too ... a lot of what I write is stories I have been told, reworked ... giving a voice to those so often unheard ...
To see what some of those ten children of the Ludlows and Trents are like, here is a story about the five youngest that I posted in the Comedy Open Mic community ... get ready ...
https://peakd.com/hive-164166/@deeanndmathews/how-gracie-helped-her-amanda-and-edwina-get-their-crowns-with-some-engineering-support-from-lil-robert-and-grayson