When they arrived
back at the apartment Leslie was amazed at the way everything looked, Jamie had
bought a small wedding cake and set it out on the table with a bouquet of
flowers, he also had two crystal goblets set out and a bottle of sparkling white
grape juice in a bucket of ice.
“Oh, Jamie” she
gushed “it’s beautiful”
“Only the best for
my wife” Jamie grinned “I love the sound of that …Mrs. Jamison, my wife.” He
pulled her close and kissed her for the 100th time since the chaplain
had pronounced them man and wife. “Wait
till you see the bedroom! But first let’s have some cake and bubbly.”
After cutting the
cake and drinking some of the sparkling juice Jamie excused himself for a
minute came back and swept Leslie up into his arms and carried her back to the
bedroom where he had lit some candles and covered the bed with rose petals. He
sat her gently on the bed and kissed her “Welcome home Mrs. Jamison” he said
with a really big grin.
When Jamie came
home early Monday morning, after working all night, and woke Leslie up so he
could take her to work, she clung to him not wanting to leave, but unfortunately
the weekend was over and they were forced to go back to the real world.
“It’s really not
that bad,” Leslie told herself as she worked to clean up the kitchen on Wednesday afternoon, “I get to see Jamie almost as much
as I would if we were living together and this way I’m making a little extra
money too.” Jamie still came by Burger King in the evening for supper, and
called to talk to her at least once in the afternoon and once right before bed.
“With us both working it’s not like we’d actually see much of each other
anyway. And we’re half way to the weekend now.” More than half actually because
Jamie was using their now familiar ruse to pick her up early on Friday even
though he had to work that night so they could spend the afternoon together.
The plan was that Leslie would tell her folks
that she was picking up a Saturday shift at Burger King and wouldn’t be able to
come home on the weekends, all the while letting the Hollands think that she
had gone home to visit her parents as planned. One weekend a month Jamie had to
go to Drills so on that weekend she would actually go home and visit her
parents so they wouldn’t get suspicious. Then two weeks before Christmas Leslie
and Jamie would take their honeymoon, a trip to Spain, letting her parents
think she was still working and the Hollands think that she had gone home. Then
after their trip they would surprise her parents by showing up at their house
on Christmas Eve.
Everything was going as planned Leslie stayed
at the Hollands and worked her job during the week and then on the weekends she
was Mrs. Jamison, Jamie’s wife. At the Holland’s she wore lose fitting shirts
and skirts deftly camouflaging her slowly expanding belly. On the weekends she
wore maternity clothes and was getting rather excited about the prospect of
becoming a mother. She still hadn’t seen a doctor yet since they had decided to
wait until right before their honeymoon to get Leslie’s name changed on all her
documents so it wouldn’t affect job. On her trips to Jamie’s house on the
weekends she would leave with a full suitcase of her things and come home with
an empty one slowly moving all of her things from the Holland’s to Jamie’s apartment.
She did the opposite when she went to visit her parents, she took an empty
suitcase with her and brought a full one home. She figured that way if her Dad
got mad and threw them out after they told him what they had done, at least she’d
have most of her stuff.
This was it she was returning from her last
trip home, Leslie was a little surprised that no one had caught on to their little
scheme, they had done it! They were home free, two weeks on the beach and then
she would finally get to go home as a married woman. The thought of taking
Jamie home to meet her parents made her positively giddy, she could hardly
wait. Leslie was humming as she pulled
her cell phone from her purse and dialed Jamie’s number. She frowned when it went
straight to voicemail “Jamie, honey, it’s me Leslie I’m about 30 minutes away
from the station, see you in a bit.” “That’s odd,” she thought to herself, “he
should be on his way to the station by now, oh well, maybe his phone is still
off from Drills.”
A half- hour later the train pulled into the
station and Leslie stood on tiptoe scanning the crowd for a glimpse of her
husband but he was nowhere to be found. Frustrated, Leslie lugged her heavy
suitcase from the train and headed to the parking lot “I hope he’s just running
late,” she muttered starting to feel a little worried when she reached the
parking lot and Jamie’s white pickup was nowhere to be found. She pulled her
phone from her purse and tried calling him again still no answer. She sighed, “I
bet some bozo decided to break the rules again and so everyone is having to
stay late at drills. Jamie warned me this might happen sometimes, I guess I’ll just
get a taxi or take the trolley to the base or as close as I can get.” Leslie grabbed
the handle on the suitcase and swung her back pack up on her shoulder, “at least
this stupid thing has wheels”, she muttered as the suitcase bumped and jumped
over the rough cobble stone street. As she neared the corner that lead to the
main street heading into town she noticed flashing lights and billowing smoke ahead.
Her steps quickened and then she screeched
to a halt as she realized that the flames were billowing from the remains of a white
pickup truck. “JAMIEEEE!!!!” Leslie shrieked
dropping her bags and running toward the scene of the accident. She was stopped
by a German policeman who explained to her that the soldier who had been driving
the truck had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital. He called a cab
for her and helped her load her suitcases before sending her on her way. Leslie sat in the cab stunned, staring blankly
at the scenery as they drove to the hospital. When they pulled up to the hospital she asked the
cabbie to wait while she ran in and found out what to do next.
Entering the lobby Leslie quickly walked to the
nurse’s station and asked for Jamie Jamison. The nurse looked puzzled as if she
didn’t know who she was talking about. Leslie explained she was looking for the
American soldier who had been brought in by ambulance. The nurse nodded in understanding
and motioned for her to follow her down the hall, as they walked she explained
that they had called the base and that someone should be on their way from the
base to get him. Leslie frowned wondering why they would consider moving him,
the police officer had indicated that he was very badly injured. Then they
walked around the corner and the nurse pushed back the curtain revealing a bed
with the sheet pulled all the way up the nurse leaned over and pulled the sheet
down revealing Jamie’s battered and burned face . Leslie shook from head to
toe, tears filled her eyes as she sank to her knees beside the bed “no!no!no!NO!!!”
she cried. She reached out and touched
his face but it was hard and cold, not her darling’s soft, warm skin. The room
began to spin and her stomach began to churn, she tried to stand and lunged for
the trash can but her legs were too weak she didn’t make it. The nurse helped
her to the bathroom and assisted her as she cleaned herself up. When she
returned she found that Jamie’s body had been picked up by the MP’s and taken
to the base morgue where it would be prepared for the trip home to Tennessee.
She hurried out to the taxi and had him take
her to the morgue where she quickly found her lack of military ID to be a huge obstacle.
Because the paperwork had not been completed she was not listed as his wife and
therefore not awarded spousal privilege, she couldn’t get his things, she
couldn’t even see his body one more time. She headed back to the apartment, alone
and scared she didn’t know what to do. She searched the apartment for their
wedding certificate and the paperwork to no avail. It was gone, the only things
she had to prove her marriage were her wedding pictures and the ring that Jamie
had given her, everything else, all the official paperwork was missing. The only
thing she did find was $2,000.00 in cash and their train ticket and reservations
for their honeymoon. Tears ran down her
face as she quickly packed her things, she knew that in two days they would be coming
to pack his personal belongings and ship them to his parents, carefully she sorted
making sure not to leave any of her things in the apartment. She didn’t know
what she was going to do but it was obvious that she couldn’t stay here. She
also couldn’t go home, not yet, not until she figured out a way to convince her
dad that she had been married. He would never believe this story, never! The
only logical conclusion was to go to Spain on her honeymoon alone, maybe they
would exchange Jamie’s ticket that would give her some extra cash, maybe going
away would buy her some time and she could figure out what to do. Weary from packing
and crying she slept soundly, only to awaken to the horror of reality all over
again the next morning. After a quick shower she called a cab while the cabbie loaded
her suitcases in the car she had one more quick look around, snatching up Jamie’s
T-shirt from the sofa where he had thrown it the day before she held it to her
chest and with tears falling down her face locked the door and tucked her key
under the mat. Then she had the cabbie drive her to the train station, as the
cabbie unloaded her luggage for her, he smiled at her and said in broken English
“he will come for you, yes? He will not let such a pretty girl get away” Leslie
smiled and thanked him but shook her head as tears poured down her face. Then
she turned walked away to the platform marked Madrid, Spain.
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