A woman awakes

A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband was not

in bed. She goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at
the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him. He appears to
be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes a
tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee. "What's the matter,
dear?" she whispers as she steps into the room. "Why are you down here
at this time of night?" The husband looks up from his coffee,

"Do you remember 20 years ago when we were dating, and you were only
18?" he asks solemnly. "Yes I do" she replies.

The husband pauses; the words were not coming easily.
"Do you remember when your father caught us in the garden?"
"Yes! I remember" said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside
him.

The husband continued. "Do you remember when he showed the shotgun in my
face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter, or I'll send you to jail
for 20 years?"

"I remember that too" she replied softly. He wiped another tear
from his cheek and said, "I would have been released today!"