Sharing Corrie

Chapter Forty Three

 "Happy New Year!" the crowd in the Walkers' home cried, clinking their champagne flutes together.

Corrie leaned against Dr. Benjamin whose arm wrapped closely around her waist and smiled. It seemed wrong, she remarked, to be celebrating a new year. A new year of the War to End All Wars. A new year of sons and husbands and beaus and fathers never returning home. A new year of waiting and hoping and praying.

But this new year also brought hope. Only a few days before Christmas, Germany and Russia continued peace negotiations. This time, peace seemed a possibility. Perhaps the Germans and the other Central Powers would also consider peace talks with the Allies. Perhaps the boys could come home.

"Happy 1918, my dear," Alex whispered into her ear, kissing her temple.

Corrie smiled up at him and leaned her head against his chest as the Ragtime band played the rousing tune of "Auld Lang Syne."

"Dance with me?" Alex asked, lifting her hand and twirling her in a circle.

Corrie laughed at his boyish grin but acquiesced. He spun her again and dipped her, laughing, but then his expression grew more serious. For a moment, he held her in his arms and stared intently at her face as if he were memorizing every contour and line.

A smile playing at her lips, Corrie asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm counting my blessings," he said, pulling her close to him and rocking her in time to the music.

The soft movement back and forth took Corrie back to the night a few weeks ago on the beach when there had been no one and nothing to remind them of any reality outside of themselves. At first, Alex and Corrie had planned to postpone their wedding until after the war was over; it seemed wrong to celebrate new beginnings when there were so many endings. However, Christina insisted that they not let the sorrows and tribulations keep them from being happy, and happy was what they were. Therefore, they decided they would marry in the spring, the same time of year that Corrie had first returned to Irvington and they had met outside his practice, he a daydreaming stargazer and she a sacrificial sister.

Only a few more months, Corrie thought as she leaned her head back to gaze into her fiance's face, only a few more months before I can call him my husband.

Their new start had not been filled with only frivolity and feeling; rather, most of their time had been spent in the hospital caring for the men who had not yet recovered or returned to their families. Their days were blood drenched and heart wrenching as they struggled with rationing their meager, dwindling supplies of medication as most of it was sent to the troops overseas.

Christina had recovered and moved in with their parents to make more space in the practice; though she still could not walk, her strength and stamina had returned. Christina stayed busy and free of their parents' meddling by planning Corrie's wedding with Hannah's unsolicited assistance. Jack had returned to the munitions factory as a part time employee despite her family and friends' objections, but she spent the rest of her time at the post office. With Corrie at the hospital, Hannah had returned to the newspaper, and sometimes, in the waning hours of evening or bright moments in the morn, Alex and Corrie could steal a few quiet, uninterrupted moments together, moments that had enough enduring strength to empower Corrie for the rest of the day.

Alex and Corrie, Dr. Benjamin and Miss Walker, were as happy as they'd ever been. Within days of Alex's proposal, Corrie had read his journal from cover to cover; though his poetry was meandering and unfinished, she was shocked to see how parallel their thoughts and feelings had been: the conflict between fear and hope, the pull between duty and desire. Every line she read only reaffirmed the future they were to share.

"This year, I'll become your husband," Alex breathed softly into Corrie's hair, tickling unpinned strands of red hair.

"This year, I'll be your wife," she whispered back.

At the sound of an inebriated man yelling "Happy New Year," they both laughed and Alex whispered, "Happy new year, Corrie. The best is yet to come."

And Corrie knew he was right. No matter what tragedies the next year brought, she had found an island amidst the raging sea; they would endure the storms ahead together. Hope deferred may make the heart sick, but longing fulfilled brought life and joy.

In that book which is my memory,

On the first page of the chapterThat is the day when I first met youAppear the wordsHere begins a new life– Dante Alighieri  

~~~~~

Sharing Corrie is officially over! Thank you so much for reading and supporting this story! I hope you've fallen in love with Corrie as much as I have. Luckily, the Ragtime Girls saga isn't over yet; a new book will be released some time this fall or winter, so it's not the end to our favorite Irvington friends.

~ Hannah