" It's not the goodbye that hurts, it's the flashbacks that follow."
- unknown
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( a/n ) hey!! this will be my last post of 2019, and all i can say is that i've never been more thankful for all of my readers this year and everyone that has encouraged me to continue this story and to post it for people to read. i've received so much positive feedback about the story and my oc charlotte and it's never made me happier. this has been such a great thing to write throughout the year and with all the happy things people message me or comment about just makes me full of gratitude and happiness to know that whatever i'm writing has made an impact on people. i can't thank you all enough for the impact you've all also had on me. i wish you all a happy new year and that you have a fun-filled year ahead for yourselves!! you're all so lovely! thank you again for this amazing year and let's hope for a great 2020!
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The morning of Thanksgiving, Charlotte woke with a smile, as Oliver ran into her room, wagging his tail, as the wind blew outside, rustling the leaves on the ground. She stood up and raced downstairs to eat homemade cinnamon rolls by her mother, and drink the tea her father had made for the family. And it was an enjoyable morning as the Tarvers family listened to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade like tradition since 1934. Her grandparents came over that evening and the Tarvers enjoyed their meal as a family.
The entire family noticed how the young girl didn't each much, taking about 1/8 of what the rest of the family ate, and still seeming satisfied. She was still getting used to the feeling of eating big meals. The big topic of discussion though, centered around Louis and Caroline's wedding coming up in a week in a half. It was going to be held at a venue on the Potomac River, in Washington DC, where Louis would be donning his uniform. He invited a few friends from his unit as well over there, and mostly everyone they had asked to attend were able to make it. In the following week leading up to the wedding,
Charlotte finished up the majority of her school work and testing that would be due that Monday of the wedding, and Tuesday, when she'd be missing school. John had stopped her in the hallway at school again, asking if she wanted to go to dinner some time, but she had nicely answered that she had a lot of work on the farm to do, and that her school work was piling up, which was still true in all honesty.
Caroline had gone with all her friends to get her wedding dress, and bridesmaids dresses, and she had asked Charlotte and Lucie to come along as well, and that Charlotte could be a bridesmaid, and Lucie, the flower girl. The two girls happily tagged along, and loved talking to Caroline's friends. Caroline had always been one of the nicest people in town, yet she was tough and firm when she needed to be, and extremely strong mentally. Charlotte was happy for her brother's marriage to her, and she was excited to celebrate that.
December 1st, was a good and bad day. It was the first day, unofficially, of winter, and even though it had yet to snow in Virginia, Charlotte had woken up wearing warmer clothes, and not daring to go outside unless asked. Memories of Bastogne fogged up her brain and as she moved slowly around the house, she avoided looking outside of anything that dealt with outside weather. As her family ate breakfast, she was quite, but no one pushed her for questions. They figured it had something to do with the war that took her over still sometimes and decided to remain quiet. They knew just their presence would be comforting for her. It was also the day they drove up to Washington DC again.
Charlotte had packed her bags up, and carefully folded her dress that she had gotten for the wedding, neatly into the dress bag, before walking out with her small suite case and the dress bag to the car. The weather hit her a bit and she froze for a second as an icy blast hit her and she thought of the attack on Foy suddenly, before focusing again on the reality of where she was now. Louis and Catherine had already began the trek up, hours earlier, to make sure room accommodations for all the guests were ready.
The rest of the Tarvers family drove down together, arriving at about 3 that afternoon. Charlotte still felt weird with the month of December. She still got uncomfortable when her memories flooded back to her, and she'd blank out and stare for longer than 10 seconds, almost to the point she couldn't shake from it.
December 2nd was a Sunday, which meant that it was church day, but it also meant that physical preparations for the wedding were in order. There were bouquets of flowers to put together, as well as nameplates, food coordination, making sure the dresses, tuxedos, and military uniforms looked spot on.
On the 3rd as the bridesmaids were gathered in their own preparation room, and the groomsmen in their own, things really startled to settle for Caroline and Louis. But Caroline kept the atmosphere fun and light, and dreamy.
Charlotte had been assisting Caroline's best friend, Elise pull the zipper on the back of her dress up, as her other friend Emma began applying makeup. Caroline's other friend Margot had been so excited to meet Charlotte, after hearing that she had been a female combat medic in the war, stating how it was 'women empowerment'. But of course, with a wedding came a bunch of lovesick bridesmaids, so Charlotte figured it wouldn't be long before they started asking Charlotte if she was dating anyone, because she hadn't brought a date. She didn't want to have to bug any of the men from her company, and she'd rather take this on alone.
So when the question popped up, she was more than happy to answer.
" So, Charlotte, do you have a special someone?" Helena, another bridesmaid had asked her. Charlotte smiled, as she finished off the zipper on the dress.
" Well, I guess you can say I do." Charlotte said softly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
" And who happens to be this 'special someone'?" Josie, another bridesmaid, urged on stepping closer to the girl, with a smile.
" His name's Ronald Speirs." she said, " And I met him while we were in the war together. He was my CO, the commanding officer, and my captain." Her cheeks had flared to about another degree of heat, and she slowly turned to look at everyone feeling her cheeks on fire. The other girls sighed dreamily.
" How'd you meet?" Emma asked, with a squeal.
" Well," she said, thinking back, " it was more of an unexpected love. I didn't expect to fall in love with him, but it seemed to be the best thing that had happened to me after. I was told to go out on OP duty, and I find that he's there, and he opted to stay with me the rest of my time on duty."
" That's literally so cute," sighed Elise. Charlotte sighed to herself. He was really the only thing that made her somewhat happy thinking back on that terrible war she had been involved in.
" The fact that he stayed with you so you weren't alone. Oh my god that's so cute." Emma squealed again focusing back on the makeup, a wide smile on her face. Charlotte felt her heart flutter as she thought of Ron, and she smiled wider.
" What does he look like?" Caroline asked Charlotte smiling. Charlotte's face lit up thinking of Speirs in his uniform, with his soft smile and brown, chocolate eyes, and his cute nose.
" So handsome in a uniform, especially with his brown eyes and chocolate brown hair." she said, and the girls squealed. Charlotte didn't realize how much she missed being with a big group of girls and simply just talking together.
" And his hugs, they make you want to melt in his arms. And he has the softest, brown hair I'd ever felt in my life, with the cutest nose, and dimples. And his smile is always so gentle, and his eyes scrunch up at the corners of his soft brown eyes. He always made me feel better when I was sad or upset about something. He'd always find a way even when I thought it was impossible to be happy again. And he's really funny, and we just get each other. You know?" she said, imagining Ron's lips on hers again.
" He sounds amazing." Margot said smiling.
" He's so amazing, but I haven't seen him since I left Austria." Charlotte said, sort of sadly.
" I hope you see him again, you two sound adorable together." Helena said, squeezing the girl's shoulder gently.
" Me too." Charlotte said softly. Charlotte slid into her dress and glanced at herself in the mirror. She took a minute as she looked at herself. She smooth down the dress and watched her eyes staring back at her. She hadn't worn a dress like this since really before the war. She felt uncertain as she stood there, but knew she had to go out there and put on a brave face. She told herself she was fine. Charlotte met the groomsman she'd walk down the isle with.
His name was Richard Reiben.
She had walked up and immediately brought the man into a hug. He'd been one of the many to hear about Louis Tarvers' sister in the 101st Airborne with Easy Company, and for one thing he'd been amazed by her bravery. So when he saw the innocent girl, walk up in the beautiful dress, he wasn't sure if it was the same person.
" Hi, I'm Charlotte Tarvers." she said, pulling back.
" Richard Reiben, I served with your brother." he said back to her, admiring her pretty smile, similar to her brother's which he saw on a rarity over in Europe. Reiben wore his own military uniform, and had his awards pinned to the breast pocket as well. The minute they began talking they seemed to immediately click and understand each other. She found that with every person who had went through this war.
" You know, he always called you Charlie a lot over there, and what made it pretty funny was the fact that we were in Charlie Company." Reiben said. Charlotte had to smile wide, at the nickname she'd obtained from Gene to Reiben.
" Yeah, the name seems to stick." she said.
" He talked about you a lot over there." Reiben said with a soft glance to the girl. Charlotte smiled softly. A troubled look came over Reiben''s face, and Charlotte stepped forward placing a hand on his shoulder.
" We managed to meet up with some men from the 101st on D-Day, and your brother asked them if they knew if they'd seen ' Corporal Charlotte Tarvers of the 506th, 2nd Battalion, Easy Company' and they seemed to know exactly who you were. They hadn't seen you at all, but they told your brother that they'd heard all about you and they thought you were pretty nice and a great person. It helped calm your brother down....after that day. He'd been stressed enough and hearing that helped him." Reiben explained, but she saw the flashes of memories whizzing past his features. " You helped me too. I finally had some hope after hearing about you for 2 years." Charlotte smiled, and clasped her arm around his as they prepared to walk down the isle.
" I'm glad I helped." she said gently. Reiben smiled down at her with a smile, as the next pair in front of them walked down the isle. Then it was Charlotte and Richard's turn. The two soldiers walked down the isle, with soft smiles on their face, as Charlotte saw her brother at the end, with a soft smile on his face, as he saw the two soldiers walking down the isle together. Once they reached the end, Charlotte squeezed Richard's arm gently, before walking over and standing behind Margot. The rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen came down the isle, as everyone looked and watched Lucie, the flower girl, come down the isle. Charlotte watched with tears in her eyes at how graceful her sister seemed in that moment.
Then Caroline and her father appeared at the end of the isle, and Charlotte felt real tears on her cheeks. She smiled as Canon in D started playing as Caroline walked down the isle. She looked beautiful. Charlotte glanced at her brother, looking handsome in his uniform as he watched his wife-to-be come down the isle. He had a soft smile on his face, and tears in his eyes as the girl approached. Caroline was passed from her father to Louis, as the two made it up the small 4 stairs to the top. Charlotte watched as the ceremony went on.
When the now husband and wife kissed, cheers went up everywhere and Charlotte clapped excitedly, as Louis and Caroline turned, smiles on their faces, heading back down the isle, as everyone cheered them on down it. Her mother was a mess, tears falling rapidly down her face, as she looked at her father, who was clapping proudly for his own son.
And then she thought of Leroy, somewhere above them, watching his younger brother get married, and become happy again after the war. She thought of his wonderful smile he always had and the child like fights he would have with him, but then the deep talks the two would have after dinner on the porch sometimes and Charlotte smiled. Her and Louis had talked about Leroy after the war had ended, and it'd ended in tears, but they felt the were the only two who truly understood what he probably went through in the modern fighting style of war. As rice was thrown over the husband and wife, the pairs of groomsmen and bridesmaids got back together in their lines as they followed them out of the church. It had been a beautiful ceremony.
The party that Caroline and Louis had planned after, was amazing as well. Charlotte and Felix had done the best rendition on the door floor, as people circled around them and watched the brother-sister duo dance their way across the floor, just like she had with Lieb.
The first dance was beautiful, and Charlotte saw her brother constantly whispering soft things to Caroline. The father-daughter dance was even more beautiful, as her father had tears on his own face as he danced with his daughter.
The Maid of Honor speech by Elise, the Maid of Honor, was funny, yet emotional and sweet. The Best Man speech was funny yet sentimental as well. Charlotte got along well with Reiben, as the two related enough with the war background, but mostly just talked about life and their massive adjustment.
They talked for a long time, and Charlotte ended up meeting a few more people from her brother's regiment. They reminded Charlotte of the men she served with and she had to step outside for a moment to fight back the tears that overwhelmed her vision. Watching Reiben and her brother interact with the rest of the soldiers that were there, made her remember all the happen moments with her brothers in arms.
She missed them all so much, and she couldn't do anything to really see all of them at once right now. She looked out at the Potomac River and simply sighed as she did so. She wiped away the tears on her cheeks before cleaning herself up a bit more. Louis found his sister out on the big porch of the venue watching the river rushing by and slowly approached her. He placed a gentle hand on her back and she looked up at him with a sad smile. The two didn't have to say anything as she wrapped her arms around her brother's chest and sighed as she hugged him. Louis hugged back tightly, and smiled.
Once the family got back from the wedding, Charlotte went straight back to school. The 4th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was a quiet, and sobering day for Charlotte and her entire family. She didn't really talk, but neither did the rest of the family since that signalled the beginning of the war, the war they had lost their son.
Her brother had staked a claim on a house a few days prior to the wedding, and while they were there, moving trucks had begun bringing things into the humble home, and the newly wedded couple were happily living together after.
One day, a few days after the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, there was a knock on the door. She knew it was wasn't Ron, which made her heart sag a bit, he was still in Europe, but basically on his way home by this point. Charlotte stood and walked towards the door confused. She unlocked the door and slowly opened it to reveal someone she hadn't seen in a long time.
They had the largest smile on their face and their smile was just as she had remembered it.
Their eyes were bright and she couldn't contain the tears that welled up in her eyes.
His hair was fluffy, his eyes bright and alive, and he wore civilian clothes as well. He looked happy, and that's when tears filled and slowly fell from Charlotte's eyes.
It was Gene.
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thanks for reading!