All We Know of Heaven.

by Phyllis Halldorson

Ensign Heath Tanner had spent six years a prisoner of war -- six years of private hell. Throughout, visions of his angelic wife, Michaela, had sustained him. He'd dream of one day returning home, of Michaela welcoming him with open arms....

Finally Heath was free, but he found himself a stranger in paradise. The world was so different, his place in it unsure. The navy had declared him dead, and Michaela...well, she'd borne their son alone, and she'd made plans for a new life, a new marriage. Heath could still see the passion in her luscious brown eyes, but could he ever recapture the heavenly love that fate had so cruelly snatched away?

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1990

Reviews

[ANGELIA · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was good, and you can sympathize with all the characters and what they go through. The H was a POW (presumed dead), and wants to get back to his family, especially his wife, his selective memory only recalling the good times. Meanwhile, the h, thinking she's been a widow for six years, is about to marry the H's older brother, who's been good to both her and her son. She tries not to think of the past, and has memories that were good, but some that weren't. She and the H married too young and too soon and had to grow up before they were ready. When the H leaves on a naval assignment (and is later thought to have gone overboard and drowned), the h hadn't told him she was pregnant, as they had barely made up after a bad argument and short separation.

And she learns he's still alive on her wedding day!

There's a lot of emotional angst, including a jealous H resenting the OM (his own brother), the OM having to let go of the life he had planned, the h (whose love for the OM was never a romantic one, just a need for security, a father for her son and a stable, calm relationship after all the passion and insecurity she had with the H) wanting a life with the H and at the same time wanting him to accept all the changes in the present and acknowledge the mistakes in the past, and a little boy torn between getting to know his father, missing his uncle, and resenting his world being turned upside-down.

There's also the trauma the H goes through as he readjusts to the world after being in prison for so long, press conferences, public scrutiny, intrusive reporters, and having to make decisions about what comes next, while they find their way back to each other.

There's also a side story, about a heart problem their son was born with, the surgery he needs to correct it, the h's overprotectiveness as well as reluctance to consent to the heart operation, and how this puts her at odds with the H.

There's a lot to this story, and it's well written.