𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 | | 1917

17. ANDRÉ

" Had I known, I would have let you. "

-

APRIL 16th
1917
The Second Battalion

-

HOW MANY DAYS had it been? Josephine didn't know, but she could also imagine that no one here really knew.

It had all turned into one blurry mess where days felt like years and minutes at the same time. And there she was left alone, trying her best to handle the situation.

She was walking. She didn't know where, but she knew that she had been going on for a while now.
It was like always. It was normal. She had earlier helped those coming in and taken care of the wounded that were placed upon the many beds in the medical tents.

She hadn't heard from Julian in a while so she figured that he had left. She hated to admit that she almost missed him and his witty remarks. He was kind and simply someone that made life a little less of a living hell.

The sun was shining warmly onto her clothes and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Jo never really imagined that the warmth actually would come, the cold months lasting almost tauntingly long, leaving her standing there with a nice surprise for once.

There people in front of her, standing by a truck that had mountains of notes and packages pulled upon each other. All giving out and taking letters. She figured that this was the time when all the messages from home reached the longing soldiers, nurses, and officers.

They all had a soft spot for it.
Including Jo.

The fact was though, that the young nurse barely ever received any letters and even if she did, they were only from her mother.

For a second she wished that she did have one though. Something for her to keep onto and something that would give her the slightest bit of hope during these days.
But when Rosie, the small American nurse that Jo knew all too well, handed her a just that all those thoughts went away.

She smiled a smile that didn't contain much of the real happiness she wanted so badly, thanking Rosie while staring down at it with conflicted eyes.

Before she had time to open it, she forced herself away from the crowded scene, knowing that she needed privacy this time. She was hoping for good news; that her mother's and father's store was doing well and that her nana was alright. Or maybe that they had heard from André.

The thoughts kept building up in her head, scenario after scenario popping up and giving her all the chances to imagine how the world was outside the war. That same world that after such many years of this felt so distant from her.

The white tents weren't too far away. She reached the first best bed and sat down on it. Hesitating before opening up the thin, folded piece of post.
She almost immediately noticed that it indeed was from her dear mother. That she knew as soon as she saw those beautifully written letters that were neatly painted on across the first row of parchment.

'Dearest Josephine,'

Those words. Those words left her longing for nothing more than to see her mother and father's faces once again. To jump into their arms like a small child that was homesick after a long day. But in this case that long day was a year and instead of crying of happiness,
she would just cry. Cry for everything.