to do this. Even if it might just break her heart. And his.
When Mrs. Walker had asked Lorrie to give that letter to Curtis, she’d felt a band tighten around her heart. She’d known it was from Gerald, and she’d known what it was going to say. The same thing every letter from him had said since the day Gerald had learned that she and Curtis had married.
Gerald thought it would be best for Curtis to go into the service.
Lorrie didn’t agree.
However, she had to admit that her feelings were entirely selfish. She didn’t want Curtis to go away. She didn’t want to have to spend her days without him. If he did go, where would that leave her? She couldn’t live here by herself. She had no way to support herself. What if she had to quit school and go to work? Where would she work? What would she do? She knew how to type a little. Maybe she could do that.
As she stood in the kitchen, trying to give Curtis some privacy to read his letter, she watched him. He looked torn as he stared at the page. It broke her heart that he might be considering it, but she understood. And she also understood that it wouldn’t be simply his willingness to fight for his country that would drive him away.
It was her.
It was them.
It was the fact that she was sixteen and they were married. She was still in high school, still merely a kid in so many ways, though she no longer felt like a kid.
She swallowed hard.
Regardless of his decision, she decided right then and there that she would support Curtis wholeheartedly. Whatever his decision, she would accept it, and she would make herself understand his reasons.
Because she loved him.
And nothing would ever change that.
chapter TWELVE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1964
I don’t know that I can find the words. We just heard that Gerald was shot. He’s in the hospital, and they expect him to make a full recovery, but still. The thought of him so far from his family is what hurts most.
I know that Curtis has been trying to decide whether or not he would enlist, and I think this is going to push him to do it. Ever since he received the last letter from Gerald, I could sense that something was different. We’ve been growing apart, although we haven’t really gotten close yet. Which is all my fault, I just know it.
Updated tonight
I knew it was coming, and yet I had hoped it wouldn’t, but Curtis enlisted today. We had our first argument right before he left the house, and I knew it was coming as I sat in my bed and cried, waiting for him to come home.
Curtis doesn’t seem to know how long he will be gone before he gets to come home or where he will go, or if he does, he isn’t telling me. He signed up for three years. Three!! I don’t think I can live without him for that long. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he nailed my heart to the wall when he told me it might even be more. I don’t think I’ve cried this much in my entire life. I thought about pleading for him not to go, but I know that’s selfish. He is doing this for me and everyone else.
I’m scared. Terrified, actually. I don’t want to be away from him, but more importantly, I wouldn’t be able to go on living if something bad happened to him.
Curtis had made the hardest decision of his life today. At least thus far.
As of this afternoon, he was officially enlisted in the Army.
He was still a little numb, but he knew it was the right thing to do. For him. For Lorrie. For their marriage. For… Well, those were what mattered most to him. He understood that the war with Vietnam was still underway, knew that it could get worse before it got better, but he wasn’t looking forward to leaving his wife. It might be the right thing to do, it might be what they needed in order for their marriage to survive, but it still caused him a great deal of pain.
Three years.
That wasn’t terrible, right?
In three years, Lorrie would be nineteen. She would be finished with school, so when he came back, they would spend the rest
When Mrs. Walker had asked Lorrie to give that letter to Curtis, she’d felt a band tighten around her heart. She’d known it was from Gerald, and she’d known what it was going to say. The same thing every letter from him had said since the day Gerald had learned that she and Curtis had married.
Gerald thought it would be best for Curtis to go into the service.
Lorrie didn’t agree.
However, she had to admit that her feelings were entirely selfish. She didn’t want Curtis to go away. She didn’t want to have to spend her days without him. If he did go, where would that leave her? She couldn’t live here by herself. She had no way to support herself. What if she had to quit school and go to work? Where would she work? What would she do? She knew how to type a little. Maybe she could do that.
As she stood in the kitchen, trying to give Curtis some privacy to read his letter, she watched him. He looked torn as he stared at the page. It broke her heart that he might be considering it, but she understood. And she also understood that it wouldn’t be simply his willingness to fight for his country that would drive him away.
It was her.
It was them.
It was the fact that she was sixteen and they were married. She was still in high school, still merely a kid in so many ways, though she no longer felt like a kid.
She swallowed hard.
Regardless of his decision, she decided right then and there that she would support Curtis wholeheartedly. Whatever his decision, she would accept it, and she would make herself understand his reasons.
Because she loved him.
And nothing would ever change that.
chapter TWELVE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1964
I don’t know that I can find the words. We just heard that Gerald was shot. He’s in the hospital, and they expect him to make a full recovery, but still. The thought of him so far from his family is what hurts most.
I know that Curtis has been trying to decide whether or not he would enlist, and I think this is going to push him to do it. Ever since he received the last letter from Gerald, I could sense that something was different. We’ve been growing apart, although we haven’t really gotten close yet. Which is all my fault, I just know it.
Updated tonight
I knew it was coming, and yet I had hoped it wouldn’t, but Curtis enlisted today. We had our first argument right before he left the house, and I knew it was coming as I sat in my bed and cried, waiting for him to come home.
Curtis doesn’t seem to know how long he will be gone before he gets to come home or where he will go, or if he does, he isn’t telling me. He signed up for three years. Three!! I don’t think I can live without him for that long. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he nailed my heart to the wall when he told me it might even be more. I don’t think I’ve cried this much in my entire life. I thought about pleading for him not to go, but I know that’s selfish. He is doing this for me and everyone else.
I’m scared. Terrified, actually. I don’t want to be away from him, but more importantly, I wouldn’t be able to go on living if something bad happened to him.
Curtis had made the hardest decision of his life today. At least thus far.
As of this afternoon, he was officially enlisted in the Army.
He was still a little numb, but he knew it was the right thing to do. For him. For Lorrie. For their marriage. For… Well, those were what mattered most to him. He understood that the war with Vietnam was still underway, knew that it could get worse before it got better, but he wasn’t looking forward to leaving his wife. It might be the right thing to do, it might be what they needed in order for their marriage to survive, but it still caused him a great deal of pain.
Three years.
That wasn’t terrible, right?
In three years, Lorrie would be nineteen. She would be finished with school, so when he came back, they would spend the rest
Similar Books
