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1942

“Evelyn?” My head turned back to his voice. I was trying to process what the love of my life had just told me. He'd enlisted in the navy. That meant he could be shipped off into this ugly war at any given time. I knew it was possible. There was a draft but he just up and volunteered himself without so much as telling me. How was I supposed to feel? Pearl Harbor had just been bombed not two months earlier and here Joseph was telling me he was going into the same service that was so heavily affected by it.

“What?” My voice was shaky. I really didn't want to look at him either. I was afraid to. Can you blame me?

“Please don't be mad at me Evie.”

“How can I not be. You're choosing to leave me.”

“Is that what you think?”

“What else am I supposed to think?”

“You're supposed to think what a brave man I am for leaving his home and family to serve his country in it's time of need.”

“Seriously?” My brow rose as did my eyes. I wasn't angry really, just frustrated.

He'd kept his distance but I heard his voice get closer.”Oh baby, did you really think I'd ever leave you without good reason? “His hands sliding over my folded arms.”Evie. Please look at me.”

My gaze had dropped to the floor yet again. I love him so much. I felt his finger under my chin tilting it back up to his gaze. The most beautiful pair of blue eyes I'd ever known in all of my twenty two years on this earth. The color of the sky on a summer day to be exact.”I'm sorry Joseph. It's just that, well, so many have already lost their lives. I don't want you losing yours.”

“Evelyn. Didn't our Fathers make it home from the first world war?”

“Yes but this is different. This is real. Those are just stories. You're leaving in three weeks and I can't do a think about it.”

“You can write me a letter every day just to tell me how your day was.”

“It won't be the same.”

“I know it won't be but I have to do this. It's who I am.”

I sighed. He was right. It was whom he was. I wouldn't have loved him any other way.




THREE WEEKS LATER


So there we stood. Tears streaming down my face. He was really leaving. I knew I told him I would be okay with it but in a few short hours the train that was carrying him out of my life would taking him to a place that would be putting him the middle of the ocean for god only knows how long. I tried to smile but it was a weak attempt. I knew he was struggling too but the time had come. He took my face in his hands and brushed his thumbs underneath my eyes.

“I'll be back before you know it.”He promised .

“You don't know that.”

“Your Dad made it back. My Dad made it back. I'll make it back because I have something worth making it back to.”He smiled.

I was a good girl and I should have let him kiss me but I needed to feels his lips pressed against mine if it was going to be the last time they were. My hands slid down his lean, muscular arms; grasping the forearms that still held my face. I felt his tongue slide over my lips and I parted mine. His hands had slid down my body and pulled me tighter against his as our tongues twisted; tasting one another. My fingers slid into his hair. I felt his hand venture where I'd never let it go before. Below my waist and that's when the train whistle blew for the second time. Breathlessly we broke apart with one last brush of the lips.”Be strong. I love you.”

Those were the last words I heard from his lips for two months.