North Road {HS}

8. Pierce

"Dear Mrs. Dawson,
It has come to a point that we must inform you that your husband is not accounted for. This could mean many things but we advise you be prepared for whatever news may come. The United States Army is currently putting vested efforts into searching for Sgt. Dawson and others like him..."

"What does that mean?!" asked Kitty in aggravation.

"Well, like the letter said, it could mean any sort of thing. It's chaos there. It's likely he was just separated from his regiment and had to report to another that hasn't yet passed the news on," I attempted to explain as I watched Marjorie Dawson collapse into a kitchen chair burying her face in her hands.

"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Adelaide who was just now returning from herding the children into her mother's room where the old lady could read them a story.

I could feel the situation spiraling out of control as the news began to sink in, watching helplessly as Harry ripped any thread of hope away from the women huddled around the table.

"Like the letter said you must prepare for the worst."

His voice was steely and I could recognize the anger seeping out of the holes in his old jacket as he stormed out the front door.

"Don't listen to him," I mumbled half-heartedly as I followed him out. I was no match for the wet, heavy despair that was now filling the kitchen air.

The cool, crisp February air did nothing to ease my smothered lungs as I fought to breathe it in. My feet carried me toward where I knew Harry would be. I had seen him sitting there one early morning and pretended I didn't know where he had gone off to. Harry needed his place to himself. We all had earned one after years in the muddy trenches where every dark corner was a secret hideout shared by hundreds of men.

He was in a clearing in the gulley beyond the house, sat on a rock, with his hat curled in his fists.

"You didn't have to tell them," I said, to the quiet air more than anything and as I had expected he didn't answer. I took a seat next to him on the cold flat stone, "You know how it is there. He really could just be mixed up."

Harry lifted his head to look over the water before slowly turning to look at me. There was a dampness in his eyes. The same dampness I knew had been drowning his soul. But this was the first time I had witnessed it since Lewis.

"Why does it all go wrong?" he asked. His voice which was just a hair above a whisper found a home in the ache in my soul. I knew he felt it too. More often than I did even. But we all had that hole there. The one full of hope lost. The one filled with the urge to give up.

"Not all of it. Look where we are," I attempted to argue.

"Here?! The place we went because neither of us could face to go home? Because of Art? And now he's not even coming here. We're thousands of miles from home for nothing," he stopped for a breath and shoved a shaking hand through his hair, "And just when we think we've escaped all of the death and the heartbreak we have to sit and watch as a new wave hits and all of us have to go through it again. And Art's wife and those girls have to go through it..."

He stopped when it seemed he had run out of air so we just sat silently as we let the cold seep into our bones and the sorrow seep out.

The sun was beginning to make its early winter descent when I brushed my hands down my pant legs and stood.

"Well, maybe we won't have to watch more heart break. And if we do, we just take it like the rest of them I guess," I sigh, before attempting to lighten the mood, "Except this time it's a family with a few beautiful women instead of tired, dirty men that could only dream of beautiful women."

Harry let out a quiet chuckle before standing and following me down the path back to the house

"You're besotted, aren't ya?"

I turned to look back at him.

"You might say that," I shrugged and I knew the grin on his face was mirrored on mine.
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