The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

113: The Last Time

One day, she thought, she'd be able to look back on those photographs and think, "Wow, I can't believe I ever loved him so much." and that would be when she'd know she'd healed. But currently she still loved him that much, even though he'd abandoned her. Even though she hadn't seen him in two years. And, secretly, she worried she would always love him this much, for the rest of her life.

She realised a moment too late that she'd left the photo album out on her nightstand.

"What's this?"

Charlie turned and found her mother sitting on the edge of her bed, already opening it. She was powerless to do anything to stop her. She watched, horrified, as her mother turned to the first page and smiled at the pictures there. She continued turning the pages and, gradually, the smile drooped, replaced by a frown of confusion. Her eyebrows furrowed, her pointer finger tracing over the faces in the pictures, and she must have seen what everyone else had seen all along by the time she looked up at Charlie.

"Who's this?"

"That's me," Charlie hedged.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Who's the boy?"

Charlie's eyes fell shut in resignation. "That's Floyd."

"Your friend Floyd?"

"Yes."

"But you liked him as more than a friend."

"Yes." As much as it pained her, what else could she say?

"And did he like you back in that way?"

"Yes."

"So he was your boyfriend."

She was bound to be in such big trouble.

"Only at the end," Charlie replied, as evenly as she could manage. "After VE Day. Once we got to Austria."

Her mother, too sharp for her own good, flicked to the back of the photo album and took in the pictures there - of Charlie and Floyd wrapped in each other's arms, laughing, dancing, kissing. The horror of it all.

"Can you please not look at that?" Charlie asked pleadingly.

Her mother didn't make any indication that she'd even heard Charlie.

"Mom," Charlie insisted. She needed to stop her before she got to the last page and saw what Betty had seen. If Betty had been shocked by it then her mother would be at risk of heart failure. "Mom, please just -"

Too late.

"You wanted to marry him."

Charlie sighed and dropped her chin to her chest.

"Charlie."

"Yes?"

"You wanted to marry this boy."

"That's what it says, yes."

"No, that's what you wrote."

Charlie sighed once more. "Yes, I'm aware."

She didn't look up as she listened to her mother close the book and set it gently back where she found it.

"You loved him," her mother said at length. It was a statement as opposed to a question.

"Mom -"

"Charlie, you're old enough now to talk about this."

Warily, Charlie raised her eyes to her mother's. Her mother was watching her curiously, her head tilted to one side as she searched Charlie's face. "You loved him," she said again.