LOVE LOCKS - part four - the end

Love Locks part four – the end

or is it?

XO XO XO XO

Anna looked amazingly calm as she said, “Mom, he’s fine. I just know it. It’s so hard to explain but I felt it in my entire being. He’s fine. I believe his unit is slowly making their way to the main headquarters and they’re using the back country, not the main roads. Mom, Dad, I feel it in my heart, we’ll hear something good by tomorrow.”

“That’s fantastic, sweetie,” her mom said but looked skeptically at her husband.

“Mom, I know what you’re thinking but something incredible happened on the bridge. A man stopped by where I was sitting. He leaned against the bridge and said, ‘he’ll be fine. Steve and his crew will be transferred to a new unit and will be home in three months.’ Mom, I looked at him and asked how he knew. He said, ‘let’s just say I have inside information. If it’s no trouble, could you spare a man who’s out of work one dollar for a cup of coffee?’ I reached down for my purse and when I looked up, he was gone! Just poof! Vanished! Mom it was so weird.”

One week later, as Anna and her mother sat on their front steps, Anna heard a horrific scream that seemed to permeate the entire neighborhood. “Mom, that sounds like it came from Eddie’s house.”

They looked down the street and saw the same greet jeep parked outside the Wagner’s home.

Anna looked up at her mother and whispered, “Mom, I don’t think Eddie’s coming home.”

Three weeks later, they attended Eddie Wagner’s funeral. Eddie’s and Anna’s parents grew up together as did Eddie and Anna. Eddie attended Anna’s and Steve’s wedding and they planned on attending Eddie’s wedding as soon as he came home. Anna began to cry. “Mom, I need to call Michelle. She’ll need us.” “Not tonight, sweetie. She’ll need her parents and Eddie’s. We won’t call her tomorrow. We’ll go see her. It’ll mean more.”

XOXOXOXOXO

The death of her childhood friend hit Anna hard. As a young woman, she never dreamed, not in her wildest dreams that she’s attend the funeral of one of her peers. Yet, she did, and it made her more aware of her own mortality. Hers and Steve’s.

In the few months he’d been gone, she spent more time with Steve’s parents, sharing any and all letters she might have felt lucky enough to receive.

While she worried about her husband, she poured her mind and body into her position as an ER – Trauma nurse who specialized in the severely wounded. Severely meaning, horrific accidents where limbs might be mangled or missing. Injuries that included brain trauma.

“Mom, you’d be surprised at the things I see at the hospital. While they are all accidents, some are caused by people that are just so careless. One man was brought in because while he was working on his house, he sawed off two digits on his hand with his electric saw! I mean, I know it wasn’t intentional but how careless could you be?”

She told her parents that she chose this specialty just in case she’d have to deal with anything like this when Steve came home. She wanted to be prepared for anything and everything.

The following week, the same jeep stopped at her door and the same men approached her door.

“Mrs. Duncan,” the Sargeant began, we have good news. First, let me apologize for taking so long in letting you now but everything had to be verified.”

Anna interrupted, “I understand. What’s happened?”

“Yor husband is alive and well and is at HQ with his unit. They are still in Afghanistan, but they are well.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” Anna asked, hoping for an explanation as to where he’d been for almost one month.

“It appears that they were on their way back from patrolling the area when they saw the blast. Instinctively, they knew not to return. Also instinctively, Lt. Duncan knew the blast was caused by a small ground-to-ground missile, which meant that the enemy was close by. They gathered their gear, left the jeep where it was, and traveled by foot in the dark to avoid detection. Mrs. Duncan, your husband saved the lives of six of his fellow soldiers. They are now in HQ being debriefed and, in all probability, will be returning home before the end of next month. Again, sorry all this is taking so long, but well, protocol, you know how it is.”

Anna breathed a huge sigh of relief and threw her arms around the Sargeant’s neck. “You have no idea what this news means to me, to all of us.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” With that, the soldiers turned and walked back to their jeep and drove away.

Anna immediately called Steve’s parents and told them everything.

That night, Anna, her parents, and Steve’s enjoyed a joyous dinner to celebrate the good news, however, secretly, Anna’s father prayed it was not a prelude to bad news yet to come. He understood war and prayed for the safe return of Steve and his unit.

XO XO XO XO XO XO XO

For the middle of October, the weather had turned, not just cool but very cold. “It’s going to be a very cold winter”, Anna said to no one but herself.

Anna’s supervisor at the hospital approached. “Anna, you have a phone call. Please take it in my office.”

Anna’s heart froze in place. No one, I mean NO ONE ever called her at work. She felt as though she was about to vomit when she picked up the phone.

In hardly a whisper, she answered, “Hello? This is Anna Duncan.”

“And hello to you, Mrs. Duncan. This is Mr. Steve Dunca. I’m coming home!”

It didn’t sound like Steve. Not at all.

“Who is this? This isn’t funny!”

“Whoa, wait a minute, honey. It IS me. I’m whispering because I’m not supposed to be using the captain’s personal phone. I just wanted to tell you that my unit has been given orders to report back to Brooklyn by October 24th. We’ll be in debriefing for a full week, then we’ll all receive an honorable discharge. I’m coming home. I know it’s been almost eight months, but I promise you, it really is me.”

Still a bit skeptical, Anna asked, “What do I need to do?”

Steve heard the doubt in her voice, so he answered, “See if you can get 203 again. I’d like to go back for a few days.”

That was all she needed. 203 was the room where they spent their honeymoon.

“Oh my God! Steve, it really is you.” She started to cry but they were happy tears. “I’ll book the room immediately.”

“Good, I really need to get off the phone before I get caught.”

Just like he said, Steve called her at the end of October. Halloween, to be exact. She was home from work and the first thing she heard was, “BOO! How’s my girl?”

She smiled as she almost said, “Which one?”

Within ten minutes, he was ringing the bell to her parents’ home. Anna’s face seemed as though it was glowing when she opened the door and looked at Steve’s face when he looked down at her swollen belly.

“Anna?”

She smiled and nodded her head as he wrapped his arms around her and silently thanked God for taking care of his family.