Long Lost War Hero

Chapter Three

Catherine

I awoken by the sunrise shining through the window. Our house was not very big just a two bedroom house that had a partial basement. The basement filled with canned fruits and vegetables that Nicole, Rachel and I canned last summer. That summer was one that I could never forget. John and I escaped from the group into the corn field to get some alone time just for us. He asked me to marry him that summer. Of course I was shocked but agreed whole hearted. He was the love of my life, my soul mate. We fit together with everything, school was easy to capture moments with John and I steal away time from him on the farm.

I got up after reliving our love history, only to be saddened by the closet. Filled with his clothes that hung next to mine, was truly saddening. My love went to war for his nation to protect my aunt's husband to bring him home safely for her but leaving me alone right after marrying me. Ugh! My depression set in as I got dressed. It was the summer which made a lot of highschoolers go nuts with excitement. There was a party tonight down by the river. Our town was very small made up of only a couple hundred people so our graduating class was only around twenty people. One of which was my best friend Anna LeMonatine who hails from the Southern parts of the country. Bound from rural Louisiana her father found a better job up here working as a Principal of our school. Anna was our class valedictorian, she is very smart but quirky. As a smile crosses my face thinking about our outing later in that day I don on a pink flowered dress with white sandles. Just as I thought of her the phone rings in the living room.

"Hello?" I said as I answered it.

"Gorgeous, I am so sorry that John flew out today but at least the party tonight will ease your troubled mind" Anna said.

Somehow it always happened that she knew when I was thinking about her, she even knew when I was upset as if she had a sixth sense.

"He will be back hopefully before Christmas." I said saddened by the reminder.

" Well you goofy girl, I am on my way to your house so you better be ready to go grab dinner then to party!!" Anna squealed on the phone.

"Yes I am ready! I just don't know if I should wear my wedding ring to this thing, I mean isn't it in the middle of a corn field?" I asked.

"It is in a corn field but you don't want other men hitting on you! There's boys from De Moin that are going to be there. hmm city boys which I can't wait to meet!" Anna said with glee.

Anna might be smart but she was kinda a player, she had an entire football roster of boyfriend's in highschool but thankfully she was a proper young lady that she wanted to keep herself for marriage.

"Oh hush girl! You know that you only truly want that one guy to be there! What was his name again?" I asked with laughter in my voice.

" His name's starts with a J and I won't say anything else about him!" she laughed.

"Alright! Get here already! Seriously like there's only one stop sign in town on your way to my house, it shouldn't take you twenty minutes to get here!" I teased as I know she always had to do her make up before leaving the house.

In this town we always said we were on our way theory minutes before we were even ready to leave, it's just much nicer to reassure others we were on our way and that they were important to us! But in reality we always are waiting for our friends to pick us up thirty minutes too late!

"Haha okay I just got done throwing on mascara! I am locking the door right now!" She exclaimed as I heard her keys rattle.

She lived ten blocks away and could walk here if she wanted to but since she got her convertible last year she goes nowhere without it.

"See you soon girlie!" Anna said before she hung up the phone.

We've been best friends since she moved here the first year of middle school. I knew her before knowing John who was homeschooled until highschool. It was too rough on his mom once his dad died to keep teaching him and running the farm. Rachel and Leroy were high school sweethearts, married right out of Interstate Eighty Highschool. As Eighty Alumni, John wanted to follow their live story by marrying me out of highschool. It's been a tradition in his family that the men begin their adult years with a wife and then go to the military before having babies. Astonishes me that you'd want to marry a girl then leave not knowing if you'd be safely returned.

As I looked out the window I saw that she had pulled into the driveway behind my car. Anywhere we went together, it was always in her car. I walked out the front door locking it behind me. I loved her car too, it was always better in the summer than in the winter.

"Where are we going for dinner?" I asked as I got into her car.

"Well the guys locally are throwing a barbeque before the party tonight!" she said as she reversed onto the street.

" Are we bringing drinks?" I asked

"Yup, Nicole said that we should drink pop at the barbeque so that we won't be silly drunk at the party later!" She explained as she parked in the only gas station in town.

" Thankfully we are of legal age to drink alcohol but Nicole is a wise pregnant woman so let's get pop!" I suggested.

We walked into the gas station that was filled with Highschool students getting candy and pop with their tougher siblings. While we party they throw their own little parties. Every summer there was always someone throwing some kind of party by the river.