The Kiss: An Anthology About Love and Other Close Encounters(56)

She hummed a tune that was a favorite, the melody light but haunting, the words soft and poetic as her fingers danced across the white ribbon as she flipped the last loop and tied the bow. The paper was a crisp blue and adorned with angel’s wings. Her heart raced as she realized it would be Willy’s first Christmas present from his wife. The melody of ‘Ave Maria’ echoed through her thoughts as she remembered words to a song she dearly loved and knew the days and nights would be long as she awaited the first Christmas with her husband.

She felt the warmth of the morning sun as it lit the entrance to the hallway through the open screen door. It would be a wonderful day it seemed but the sounds of the street were slightly louder than she cared to hear this early. She laid the small package on the hallway stand, the extra bit of weight making it rock forward. She would need to even the legs out sometime, or perhaps move it to a better spot.

The idling engine sounds so close to her door were annoying. She peered out as she neared the screen and slipped the hook up out of its ring. She paused as her eyes fell to an olive-green vehicle stopped on her side of the street, one house away. Two men dressed in army uniforms stood on the sidewalk looking down at a piece of paper then up again at the houses. Her heart fluttered as she took a deep breath. “They’re not in front of my house,” she thought. Kathleen pushed gently against the wooden frame and stepped out onto the porch, the worn wood creaking beneath her feet. The single white star painted on the door seemed faded. As she looked toward them their eyes rose in unison and came squarely to rest on her.

Their first steps came her way and her heart sank into the depths of hell itself. Her face streamed with tears immediately as they neared; she knew at once they had come for her. As they began the walk up the sidewalk her legs could no longer support her and she slumped to the porch. Her cries of torment echoed down the street as she clutched the front of her yellow dress and brought nearly all passersby to a halt. Everyone knew what it meant, knew the heartache that came with the message. The first soldier reached her and placed his hands on her head, his knee bending as he came down to meet her.

“My child.” His rosary slipped out of his pocket and fell onto the porch. Captain Michael Meyer, an army chaplain and a Catholic priest had done this what seemed a thousand times, yet he could never get used to it. “God holds him now in the palm of his hands”.

Her sobbing continued until she had nothing left to offer, her tears exhausted, her dress now torn from a nail poking up from the planks. A trickle of blood ran down her leg and stuck her stockings to her skin. Captain Meyer slid his arms down about her shoulders and held her in a gentle embrace. Her head came to rest against his chest as the last of the tears left their mark on her skin.

“Ma’am?” the second soldier offered, “are you Kathleen McGuiness?”

“Lieutenant!” Captain Meyer’s tone was curt. “Not now.”

“Captain, we need to be sure.” Lt. Brandon Walker took no notice of the rebuff. They had done this many times together and he knew the captain’s heart was in the right place, but he had been wrong once. It was a difficult moment. Captain Meyer nodded in agreement, his eyes downcast.

“Kathleen?”

“Yes.” She choked back the words, fighting the tears she wished now not to show.

Captain Meyer’s eyes lit with a loving fire. His faith was strong and his will unshakable to his duties. He had seen others give this information to a grieving new widow and simply walk away. He vowed he would never do that, not to one who suffered so.

“How,” she paused, choking back the words.

“It’s all in the letter, but I don’t like doing it that way.” Captain Meyer reached up to Lt. Walker and retrieved the official notice. “He was fighting in a little French town called Mortain just south of the channel. It’s in Normandy. They were surprised by a counter assault from German tanks.” He took a deep breath, holding it ever-so-slightly. “I’m sorry.”

The official visit lasted nearly thirty minutes. As she gathered herself in the end, she managed to offer them a cup of tea. Captain Meyer’s heart ached and his faith told him he had made the correct choice in life. They politely declined and said their goodbyes. The last thing she saw of them was the rounded trunk of the army sedan driving off down the street as the sounds of the Atlantic returned to the seawall.

Kathleen McGuiness stumbled back into her home, a structure that now had no feel, no heart; it was empty. She stared down the hallway where thirty minutes before she had been a happy bride with her future in front of her. Now, she had nothing. She staggered down the hall, her hand brushing the small package as she passed, knocking it to the floor. She took no notice, her thoughts in a jumble.





*


She tightened the white belt of her coat as she stared blankly at the closet door before her. The last several months had been difficult, to say the least. She often found it hard to focus and lived day to day with no conviction, no sense of purpose. She knew she could no longer go on this way. As the summer closed and the last three months of the year took hold she had made her decision, one that would change her life forever. It was time to move on.

Her gaze passed over the surfaces of the hallway, a place that for a few months held all the hope she could imagine. Now it was empty, yet she couldn’t take her eyes off the stained door at the end of the hall. As she finished wrapping her belt, her hand slipped to the small package on the wooden table. It had been there for months. She gingerly picked it up and felt its weight. The bow was nearly perfect, the blue paper still crisp. Without another thought she purposefully strode toward the closet with the package in hand, opened the door and closed it behind her. She came out, letting the door slip behind her as she leaned back against it, the latch clicking as it closed. She stared ahead, the front door calling her to a new life, a life she desperately needed, and another door closed behind her as she made her way out into the world.