Surreal

Chapter 20 | Albert

The same sadness is in my eyes, for James will never return to me from France, and everything we cherished together is gone.
Little Joey will never meet his father. Hercules will live the rest of his life in confusion of why his best friend never came home.

But this one chance I await is one of the few things left of James, and with everything in me I hope it is true.

The soldiers from Devon return today, and as news quickly spread of the Devon-raised "Wonder Horse" that survived in No Mans Land, I had my assumptions and quickly raced into town, my poor Joey in tow.

A silver band plays triumphantly as they village awaits the return of their boys, but in my mind I know it foolish to greet them with such joy and happiness. A young woman shouts joyously as she spots the first of the men, and she races out of the town to greet her lost hero. My grip tightens around Joey as I bury my head in his shoulder to shield my tears, and he wraps his loving arms around my neck.

"Mummy, the horses are coming," he whispers informatively, poking my head with his finger and quickly pointing to the soldiers.

Sniffing, and wiping clean my tears, I lift my head to search the returning men. A young boy, with his arms wrapped around the young woman, is first to enter the town and be greeted by swords of people and a loud band. He smiles and embraces his friends and family, but his eyes glisten with tears.

Many more soldiers enter, but very few with horses in tow; one young boy with an aged grey mare, another man with a large, chestnut stallion.

They are greeted warmly, and I begin to feel strange as I stand behind, watching the many families reunite. But then, out of the corner of my eye, two figures walk slowly into the town, and as I turn my head to gaze, my heart leaps.

A young, strong lad enters, with a beautiful bay horse at his side. With four white socks, and a star on his forehead.

He is swarmed by people, all cheering and shouting and eagerly pushing through to try and pet his horse. The horse is calm and stands patiently as the people marvel at his beauty, but quickly the boy tugs the reigns and leads the horse away with an encouraging, "Come on, Joey. We've got to get'ome now."

Joey. And in that moment my brain seems to click back in place as I realize who I'm looking at.

Pushing Joey securely against my chest, I jog across the square, avoiding the crowd as much as possible as I race to catch the young man. The clomps of Joey's hooves on the cobblestone fade away as they move over to the dirt road.

"Wait!" I call, desperate now as I can't seem to catch up, and Albert snaps around with raised eyebrows.

I set Joey to the ground, and together we close the distance between us and Albert.
The boy looks at us strangely, but a hint of familiarity comes over his face as he stares at me.

"I'm sorry, miss. Do I know you from somewhere?" he asks confusedly with furrowed brows.

"I...I just wanted to see your horse," I admit, suddenly embarrassed with my actions. Of course he won't know I'm James' wife.

"Do forgive me for bein' impolite, miss, but you seem terribly familiar to me," his stern gaze tears through me as he desperately tries to put a name to my face.

"I'm sorry, but we've never meet. I-"

I am about to tell him my name, Captain Nicholls' wife, but he seems to settle my familiarity as his eyes widen and his lips go slightly ajar with shock. In nervous, slow movements, he opens his jacket, and from a hidden, inside pocket his pulls out a small sketchbook, worn from age and creased with use. It looks strangely familiar, and it all is starting to feel odd.

He flips it open and carefully turns through the pages, landing on one near the end of the book. Flipping it around to face me, he nervously clears his throat as his eyes begin to glisten with tears.

"You're Captain Nicholls' wife, aren't you?" he asks shakily, quickly glancing down to little Joey.

James' sketchbook. And it all quickly become clear to me.

My hand instantly covers my mouth to hide a shock-filled gasp as I stare at the page in the sketchbook. A woman, with bright curls and big eyes covers the page, and on the bottom right corner it has been entitled, "My Darling Katherine."

Tears stream down over my cheeks as I stare unbelievingly at the page. My heart burns with pain, that familiar pain, and it takes so much strength to restrain from screaming.

"How did you get that?" I question through a quivering voice.

"It was sent to me by mail, miss. When they gave me word of Captain Nicholls...how he...I'm not sure why it came to me miss," he explains solemnly, gently closing the book. "It's yours, miss. It belongs to you."

He holds the sketchbook out to me, completely willing to give up something he obviously cherished enough to keep with him. Slowly, I accept the book. Searching curiously through the aging pages, it hurts terribly to flip through the memories. Gail and Hercs side by side, his quant farmhouse, the old sketch he had so timidly drawn of me.

But new pictures cover the last pages, pictures of Joey, and even some of myself, including the one Albert had shown me.
Albert nods politely and begins to leave, but I quickly grab his arm to stop him.

"Albert," I say quietly, taking the bunch of pages that James had dedicated to Joey and carefully tearing them out, "He drew these for you, and I want you to have them."

His eyes light up, but only for an instant as he gratefully accepts the drawings. "Thank you, Mrs. Nicholls. Thank you kindly. I will cherish these," he nods sadly, "Your husband was a good man, a right good man. He took well and good care of Joey, and I'm thankful to him for that. He deserved to see the end of this and I'm terribly sorry, ma'am."

The steady flow of tears only grows at Albert's kind words. It calms me to know that James was so greatly respected, but it pains me all the same.

"Katherine," I smile weakly to him, "Call me Katherine. And this is my son, Joey."

"Joey?" he sounds surprised.

"James was very fond of your horse, Albert. He would have wanted his son to be named after something so courageous."

Albert nods, and kneels down to little Joey, "Your father was a good man, little Joey. You don't forget that. And if you're wanting to, you come down and see us, alright? I'll let you ride Joey, just like your father did."

"Like daddy?" Joey asks happily.

"Just like your daddy, Joey," Albert smiles sadly.

"Thank you," I gratefully whisper, "Thank you so much."

Albert grabs the reigns he had let loose, and slowly pulls Joey around, back on their way home. "Thank you, Mrs. Nicholls...Katherine," he smiles faintly, "He was a good man. A right good man, if I ever saw one."

--

A/N:

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you think by either commenting, voting, or both if you're an amazing and generous person ;)

One more chapter and then the Epilogue...thanks to those who have read this far - I appreciate your kind support! And thanks to everyone else too :)

- 〽️iddleAsgard, at your service.