Half an hour later, the taxi had pulled up outside Evangeline's family home. She swallowed nervously, slowly stepping out of the car with her things at her side.
Flicking through what Dollar notes she could find, she handed the taxi man the correct amount plus a few extra for the trip, he refused, handing the money straight back to her.
"Ain't no way I'm taking money from a Marine- you guys went through hell out there" He saluted and chugged away, leaving Evangeline slightly stunned , watching his car kicking up dust clouds whist it rumbled along the gravel path.
She was now left in silence. Standing at the end of her drive way, the hot morning sun beating down and the slight chirp of early birds twittering everywhere. She was so used to waking up to bombs exploding, to her,it just seemed like a dream.
Evangeline took another deep breath and began the short walk to the front door.
Thankfully it was unlocked, She turned the handle and nervously walked inside.
Hearing cutlery, pots and pans and plates being washed and stashed away.
Her stomach lurched, bringing Her straight back to the day She left. Everything was the same, it was like nothing had been touched.
Evangeline walked towards the kitchen door and dropped her bag on the floor, her mother jumped, almost dropping what she was holding.
"Evangeline!" she spoke in a shocked whisper.
"Hey ma" Evangeline squeaked out, her voice breaking at the sight of her older looking mother.
She had a full head of grey hair now and was a lot skinnier to when Evangeline had left her.
"Oh my sweet child!" Her mother cried, rushing over to hug her, eyes welling with tears.
"I Missed you so much!"
"Me too Ma" Evangeline cried into her mother's shoulder, hugging her as tightly as she could.
For a moment, Evangeline finally Felt at peace, enveloped in those familiar arms, she felt as nothing more could hurt her.
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The rest of the day consisted of a awful amount of questions.
Her Mother asking how she was doing and where she had been over the years, carefully treading around the conversations of war and asking about the people she had met.
Evangeline tried to answer everything as close to the truth as possible, She mentioned the mortar boys, a ghost of a smile on her lips as she mentioned Eugene.
Sidney and the boys from H company.
However she had avoided the questions about combat just answering with " i don't want to talk about it just yet".
Which her mother understood completely.
Walking into her bedroom again was something else, seeing her bed, all the books and photographs of her 'old' self, the genuine smiles eched over everyone's faces in the frames.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her note book, still caked with mud and god knows what, Evangeline was surprised the thing didn't fall apart as she opened it up.
She took the muddy photograph of 'the last family vacation' and propped it up on one on the high shelves next to the photo of her brother, with that cheesy smile of his in his marine uniform.
"My Handsome boy" Her mother hummed, sitting down on the end of Evangeline's bed, looking up at the photograph." My Brave Brave boy"
"He was" Evangeline swallowed, stepping back and sitting back down with her mother, Putting her arm around her shoulders.
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Evangeline thought she would adore sleeping in her own bed again, but for how ever long she tried, she couldn't get comfortable and even when she did, eventually close her eyes to sleep, visions and nightmares of the muddy battlefield flashed through her mind.
She tossed and turned for hours until she finally gave up, slipping out of bed with a exhausted huff.
Carefully padding down the stairs, wincing at that they now creaked under her weight.
She pulled open the door to her front porch and sat down on the white swinging chair, looking up at the stars.
Evangeline wondered if she'd ever get used to the night being so quiet, no flashes of light, no enormous thundering of shells and bombs exploding.
Lifting her knees up to her chin, she rocked herself ever so slightly, looking up at the stars.
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The Weeks that passed were indeed tough for Evangeline and her mother, the constant nightmares were not only keeping Evangeline awake but worried her mother to death.
They visited her Fathers grave frequently, Placing new and fresh flowers every time they went, and making sure to take a walk down to the Sunday markets at they used to.
Evangeline's mother was still a regular church goer, but as for her daughter, not so much.
Evangeline had lost what little was left of there faith on Okinawa, watching the helpless civilians get caught up in the crossfires and the men in her company go from living and breathing to rotting in the mud within a second.
A few of the boys had kept their promise, writing to her almost weekly, she found out that Robert Leckie, after being injured, got back home and he and Vera were now courting.
Burgin wrote, Saying Florence had finally arrived in Texas, they planned to get married next month.
Much to her disappointment, there was nothing from Shelton or Eugene, but she continued to write to them in hopes that they would reply to at least one of her letters.
Sighing at another batch of letters at her desk that were not from the two, her mother called her from the kitchen.
"You're Aunt Betty and Uncle Brian wrote! - they want us to come and stay with them at their new farm house for the summer" She smiled.
"That would be nice- where did they buy in the end?" Evangeline answered, leaning against the doorframe.
"Yes - and look, the address is in Moblie! not far from here at all" Her mother continued.
Evangeline nearly choked.
"Mobile.... isn't that where one of the mortar boys you served with is from? - Maybe you could Meet up with him?"
"Ma, please don't start this again" Evangeline moaned, remembering how last Sunday she pointed out almost every boy at the market, hoping Evangeline would take a liking to one of them.
" He hasn't written to me since I got back, what makes you think he'll want to see me"
Evangeline turned, not letting her mother see her face, her eyes welled, remembering the kiss and the promise she made him on the train platform, wondering If he'd meant any of it.
Maybe he'd met another girl, someone beautiful, blonde with red lips, like the photo of Peck's muse.
Someone who want covered in scars and spend the past years rolling around in muck trying to not get their fool heads shot off.
Maybe he was finally happy.
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Summer came around quickly, and it wasn't long until Evangeline and her mother were making the trip up to her aunt and uncles summer house.
Evangeline had offered to drive the two of them to Mobile, which didn't take them as long as she thought it would've. They drove mostly in silence, her mother muttering the directions every now and again.
"I don't know why your worrying dear, its only you aunt Betty and uncle Brian" Her mother spoke as the car rolled up the pathway and stopped outside the front door.
"yes I know MA, I was just thinking She replied, stepping out the car, looking over at the house, her aunt and uncle were already sat on the porch drinking iced peach tea.
"Carol-ann!" her aunt called quickly getting up and speed walking over to them, careful not to fall down the porch steps.
"Nice to see you Betty" Evangeline's mother replied, hugging her sister tightly.
Uncle Brian swiftly Passing her, helping Evangeline grab the suitcases and bags out of the back of the car.
"oh Evangeline, look at you!" Aunt Betty beamed, stepping over the stone floor and placing her hands on Evangeline's scarred cheeks, carefully running her thumb over one of the more noticeable ones.
"thank goodness your ok" she smiled before swiftly turning around and leading the two into the house whist fixing her hair.
"look at you your as thin as a pin!" she mumbled marching off infant.
Uncle Brian had just finished greeting her mother and followed Evangeline with some of the bags to help carry them in, joking about how he wasn't as strong as he was in his youth.
Uncle Brian was a short man compared to Evangeline's mother and aunt, he was balding and wore small circle glasses.
Their thick southern drawl accents immediately reminded Her of Eugene.
She felt that sick feeling return in her stomach, her mind torn on whether she wanted to see him again.
by the time Evangeline and her uncle had made it into the house, aunt Betty had already shown her mother to the bigger guest bedroom.
"Brian dear, show Evangeline to the room up in the attic , i'll start some lunch" She called from the kitchen.
Evangeline's uncle smiled at her and quickly placed her mother's case outside her room and lead Evangeline up the steps to the attic room.
The room was quite large with creaky floorboards and a huge window looking over the nearby field and forest.
"I'll give you some time to settle in" Uncle Brian coughed, flicking the old light switch by the door which flickered and then sent a burst of light throughout the room.
"sorry its not much- "he began sticking his head back into the room.
"Its perfect, thank you" Evangeline cut him off putting Her case on the squeaky bed.
"alright darlin', I'll come get you when lunch is ready" he smiled finally leaving the room and going down to the kitchen where her mother and aunt were, leaving Evangeline to unpack.
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The next morning Evangeline woke with a start, the nightmares had gotten less frequent but when they did happen it was more awful than before.
Thankfully no one was awake yet, she stumbled down the stairs to make a fresh pot of coffee.
Sitting at the kitchen table for what seemed like forever sipping on her cooling coffee, her mother made an appearance.
"good morning dear, you're up early" she hummed leaning against the kitchen counter.
"I couldn't sleep" Evangeline mumbled not looking up from her empty cup.
"nightmares again?" she asked.
Evangeline only nodded.
"oh they seemed like they were stopping - maybe its the new surroundings" her mother wondered.
"Maybe" she replied, cracking her knuckles.
"How 'bout you go into town today? Aunt Betty says they have the most wonderful flower stall in the middle" Her mother suggested, waddling over to sit at the table with her daughter .
"yeah" Evangeline replied, " that'll be nice"
"OH - And Betty says theres a ball tonight, down at the church hall, for all the serving men and gals why don't you go? find yourself a nice man to dance with?" her mother pushed, smiling hopefully.
"I don't do balls mother" Evangeline sniffed, knowing that if she did go, she'd be faced with loads of soldiers In their dress blues, something she didn't want to deal with ever again, and with that she put her coffee cup in the sink and went upstairs to change.
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Once midday hit Evangeline was out the door faster than a bullet, she insisted on walking down to the markets, kindly refusing he uncle insisting that he would be more than happy to drive her.
The markets were surprisingly busy , filled with loads of stalls, full of fabrics, fruits, veg and worthless things.
Evangeline wandered for an hour, finding the flower stall, feeling complied to buy a bunch if blue flowers the stall owner said complemented her eyes.
She looked in every shop window, looking over every stall she came across when suddenly a familiar laugh rang out behind her , paired with a high pitched one.
"Don't be so silly" the young female voice rang out.
The deeper voice chuckled back, Evangeline looked around to see Sydney Philips, arm in arm with a black haired girl. Evangeline smiled slightly shimming her way through the crowd of people.
"Sid?" she called out to him, "Sidney, Sidney Phillips!".
His head turned to face the direction in which his name was being called.
"My lord!" he laughed, pulling the confused girl over to Her, "Evangeline Yoet!" he turned to the girl, brushing down his coat.
"Mary, this is Evangeline, she was the corpsman for Eugene's company" he explained, Mary continued to look confused as he lent in closer to her ear. "you know, the one he told us about?" Mary suddenly smiled and shook Evangeline's hand, "nice to meet you Evangeline" her accent as thick as Sidneys.
"what the hell are you doin' in Mobile?" Sidney asked, as the three started to walk along the small lanes In the market place.
"My ma and I are visiting my aunt and uncle" Evangeline explained, " we're staying at their summer house for a bit" She swallowed slightly "how is Eugene?" she asked, wanting to jump straight to the point, hoping to get some context into why he hadn't been writing.
"he's doin' ok I think, I mean as well as he could be, his mother and father tell me he had constant night terrors-" Sydney explained, stopping by a shiny car, parked down a side street.
"that makes two of us" She sighed quietly, shoving her hands into her trouser pockets.
"Say, Sidney and I are goin' to the Sledge's for lunch, I'm sure Mrs Sledge wouldn't mind a extra person, hey Sid?" Mary cut in walking round to the passengers side of the car.
"oh no!" Evangeline panicked quickly interrupting , " I wouldn't want to intrude!".
"Don't worry about it, i'm sure it won't be a problem" Sidney smiled, motioning for Evangeline to get into the backseat of the car , before getting in on the drivers side.
Evangeline took a deep breath and nodded slowly, squeezing herself into the back of the car. She shuddered slightly , not thinking that this morning she would be on the way to see her foxhole buddy, unsure if he wanted to see her.
The drive itself wasn't as long as she thought it would have been. Every inch they got closer to the house Evangeline's mouth got dryer and her stomach did a million flips.
Once they had pulled up outside the house, Sidney laughed slightly, looking behind at Evangeline's worried face.
"Evangeline, you have run at Japs head on, and this is what scares you the most?"
Suddenly a white glove smacked his arm, " you leave her along Sidney Phillips!" Mary scolded him, " I aint forgot how scared you were when you asked me out - shaking like a leaf!"
Evangeline breathed a laugh, watching him silently grumble about her being a mad woman.
They all clambered out of the car, Sidney and Mary leading the way to the front door. Evangeline nervously followed them, focusing on the way the gravel path crunched under her feet, thinking about what she would say to Eugene or his family.
Sidney glanced back before knocking on the door and throwing his arm around Mary's waist.
The door opened to reveal an older looking woman with brown greying hair.
"Sidney Philips! Mary Huston! Lovely to see you both!" she beamed.
"Afternoon Mrs Sledge, nice to see you again" Sidney smiled back.
"And who's this?" Mrs sledge asked quickly, peering over the couple.
"Evangeline Yoet ma'am" She swallowed thickly, stepping forward to Shake her hand, "I-I was in the same company as Eugene".
"Private Yoet?" she questioned.
As Evangeline nodded her head. She pulled her into a welcoming hug, before stating at the three:
"come in, come in all of you!"
Sidney and Mary walked inside, leading the way into the kitchen area, as Mrs sledge stepped aside to let them through.
"You have a wonderful home Mrs Sledge" Evangeline said as Eugene's mother closed the door.
"thank you dear"
Walking into the kitchen area, Mrs Sledge pointed out to the Garden, "Eugene's out there with his brother, i'll fix you with a drink".
Evangeline felt sick again, nerves almost blurred her vision as she smiled a thank you and slowly walked out the back of the house, carefully walking down the decking steps towards the two men. Eugene was sat on a wooden chair, facing away from the house.
"There weren't any women in my corner of the pacific, only nurses, they were off limits" She heard Eugene say. " and Evangeline".
Evangeline stopped dead in her tracks once She heard her name, the southern drawl of his voice cutting through her like a knife through butter, her breath caught in her throat.
"Who's that?" his brother asked, leaning forward in his garden chair, "who's Evangeline?".
"K company Corpsman, well corps-woman" Eugene swallowed, "she was the best Corpsman in the whole of the Pacific " he chuckled dryly.
"I wouldn't say I was the best, that's a bit of a stretch Eugene" Evangeline choked out, her voice cracking, whist mentioning his name.
Both boys turned to look at her in surprise.
"Evangeline?" Eugene quietly spoke, slowly raising from his chair.
"Nice Pyjamas Sledgehammer" She chuckled as he quickly attempted to tie his dressing gown, trying to hide his blue striped Pyjamas.
He shuffled over, trying not to trip over his slippers. hesitating slightly before pulling her into a hug, which she enthusiastically returned.
"Im sorry I never wrote" he sniffed, trying to keep himself together in front of his brother, " I-I just-"
"Its alright" Evangeline shushed him, pulling back and placing her hand on his cheek, resisting the urge to pull him into a kiss there and then.
He then stood back, standing straight, looking back at his brother, still holding on to Evangeline's hand,
"Go get changed you moron" his brother laughed at him.
"I won't be long" Eugene mumbled letting go and rushing off across the garden to the house.
"Edward" his brother smiled, shaking Evangeline's hand. he was dressed in a military uniform, Eugene had mentioned in the past he was out fighting in Europe.
"Evangeline"
"you know" he began as they slowly walked back to the house, "I was just telling him about this ball tonight, told him he'd be a damn fool for not going and wearing his dress blues"
"My mother suggested the same thing but uh, I said no" She said, stepping through the back door and back into the kitchen area, " I don't ever want to see a Marine uniform again".
Edward nodded unsurely, but Evangeline could tell he still didn't understand why the two didn't want to go.
"well at least you're all home and safe, that's all that matters" Eugene's father said, walking over to his wife. "nice to finally meet you Evangeline".
"same goes to you sir" She chuckled.
Eugene had now retuned from changing, he wore a white shirt and brown trousers and had ditched his slippers for some black polished Oxfords.
"i'm going to take Evangeline for a walk ma, if you don't mind?" he questioned, looking at both Evangeline who nodded slightly and then to his mother.
His mother smiled, at the two of them, clasping her hands together, " well Lunch will be ready in an hour so you better get going'".
"yes Ma'am"
The two left the Sledge household arm in arm leaving the booming laughter of Sidney behind.
Eugene had taken her to the Corn field behind their house and walked through the anchors of forest until they finally came across a field full of flowers for all the eye could see.
They sat under a big oak tree, looking out on the emptiness of it all.
Evangeline's head rested of Eugene's shoulder whist he played with one of the daisies he had picked, holding it up to the blinding sun before gently tucking it behind her ear.
"Eugene Sledge how I missed you" Evangeline hummed, glancing up at his clean, freckled face.
"I got worried when I hadn't heard from you, thought you'd forgotten all about me"
Eugene sat up from his relaxed position.
"I could never forget about you Evangeline" He quickly breathed, leaning over to softly peck her on the lips.
Evangeline laughed through the kiss, laying back on the grass, Eugene crouched over her, resting his chin on her stomach looking up at her with a small smile on his face.
She could tell by his body language this was the most relaxed he had been in a while, the creases of old frown lines could be seen around his face. She reached down to run her fingers through his ginger hair.
"imagine if Shelton could see us now" Eugene mumbled.
"Good old Snafu would probably tell us to get a room" Evangeline stated," no doubt he'd made a bet with Burgie, the two of them chuckled slightly, enjoying each others company.
The hour flew by quicker than the two would've liked, Eugene hesitantly clambered up from the floor, playfully pulling Evangeline up with him, pulling her into him for another cheeky smooch before the both wandered back to the Sledges house.
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Lunch went as well as imagined, the house was lively filled with laughter and love.
Very little was spoken about the war, much to the dismay of Eugene's brother Edward, who was adamant on telling a story about when the Americans ' liberated ' holland.
Evangeline sat back in her seat, thinking how different the war was in Europe.
Eugene brought her out of her day dream, placing his hand on the small of her back,
"you ok?" He asked quietly.
"yeah, I'm ok" She smiled back.
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It was now getting dark, and Evangeline was getting ready to go back to her aunt and uncles.
Sidney and Mary had left hours ago, and his brother had retired to his own bedroom in the house.
She thanked Mr and Mrs Sledge for a lovely afternoon, and collected her things.
Mrs sledge had her house maid call a taxi, which she and Eugene were both waiting for on his front porch, sat on the steps looking out onto the acres of land that surrounded his house.
"Thank you for coming today " Eugene spoke softly, leaning against the banister.
"Reminder to thank Sid for that later" she smiled back at him, catching her bottom lip In her teeth.
"I'm sorry again about not sendin' any letters - I just couldn't bring myself to write anything since -" Eugene began to be cut off by Evangeline,
" do not apologise, you've got nothing to apologise for Eugene Sledge".
The headlights of the taxi could be seen rumbling up the driveway, a slight sadness filled Evangeline, not wanting to leave him.
Now standing on the porch, Evangeline pulled Eugene into a hug, capturing him in a long kiss and resting her forehead on his.
" I don't think I want to leave just yet" she admitted, ignoring the honk from the taxi cab.
"you won't have to wait to long, just until I make you my wife" Eugene cheekily smirked.
"Better be a promise Mr Sledge? " she giggled, pulling away.
"I love you Evangeline"
" I love you more Sledgehammer".
THE END