Ghosts of Honor

Chapter 1-4

“A valid point, my Patrick. Please proceed.”

So, I did. “Rip and I visited a romance museum way back in March, the Sunday before you and Gramma told me I was pregnant.”

Shelby had referenced the only positive event in a sea of tragedy and misery to occur in that timeframe, around April first. In the end, there was more to celebrate, but for a while, it was literally a matter of life and death for two of us.

“We came across these letters there,” I continued. “There were so many, and they had replicas for sale, all proceeds going to veterans’ charities.”

“That’s nice,” Goose said.

“Yes. A lot of these reminded us of Jefferson and Daniel, and we thought you two might like to read them, so I put them together in this album.”

“Letters?” Goose asked.

“From soldiers, it says. Love letters from soldiers throughout history.”

He leaned in closer. “Sweet…or a complete invasion of privacy.”

“I’ll read one and we’ll decide.” I turned to a random page. “Soldier to soldier, body to body, heart to heart. I assumed they would be from a soldier to someone at home,” I said. “But this note is one soldier to another.”

“Yes. Exactly like Jefferson and Daniel.”

As Goose snuggled closer, I read on. “That’s about as romantic as I can get, sweating and nervous, angry and afraid that we’re here. I’m here, at least, and you’re now God knows where. The day our fingers brushed accidentally while playing, the way you kept yours there, and I did the same thing, I’ll never forget that feeling. We looked at each other, and yeah, I wanted to rip your f*****g clothes off.”

“Oh, my.”

“Right? But I also just wanted to look at you, because I suddenly noticed how beautiful you are.” When I glanced toward Goose, he had his eyes closed, listening as I read. “That’s a lie, though. I noticed that a long time ago, the first time I ever saw you, dirty, in darkness, our only light from mortar shells exploding around us as we ran. We survived that night and so many others, and I hoped it was all for a reason. Each and every time we beat the odds and every single time you beat me at checkers, I wanted to grab you and tell you I wanted you, not just wanted you, but loved you. Now, it seems like I’m never going to get that chance. Maybe, you knew how I felt. Maybe you know. Whoa.”

“Whoa?” Goose’s eyes snapped open.

“The signature. Look.”

“You skipped quite a bit.”

“I did, Goose, but look.”

He leaned in toward the page, and then a smile lit up his face. “Davis. And look right here.” Goose pointed to the paragraph I had left unread, then suddenly was up on his feet. “Let’s get dried off.” He offered his hand. “I think we’re about to have company.”

“Company?” Then, I understood. “Yes.” I reached for him. “Company.” I got up, too.

“The spell…Nami’s spell, Halloween, these letters…Everything that happened all summer long, every bit of it suddenly makes sense.”

“It does.”

“You don’t mind sharing our wedding night, do you?”

“Not at all.” I touched Goose’s smile, and one spread across my face as well. I loved the idea as much as he did. “Come one, come all,” I said.

Suddenly, a roar, like a jet engine or the biggest train ever built was barreling straight at the building, made us look toward the windows. The glass in them rattled, and the entire structure began to groan. The one element of The Wizard of Oz we would have happily done without was the twister, yet here it was upon us, apparently. Truthfully, I was a little scared.

“Come hold on to me, Patrick.” Goose was, too.

“Gladly,” I said, just before a mighty crash outside. “That didn’t sound good.”

The roof cracked, and right at the door, on the other side, a rush of water fell in one noisy wallop, and then a powerful stream. Before I could get to Goose, the lights went out, too, plunging us into darkness.

“Goose, where are you? Are you okay? Goose?”