Something To Look Forward To, Part V
...For the remainder of the war
he kept to himself, since he knew
making friends set you up for pain,
there was naught to look forward too.
The months passed and Lee surrendered,
the war came to its brutal end,
Emmet did not go to his farm,
but to Tennesee he did wend.
He found himself in a hollow,
one he’d come to know all-to-well,
to let Sophie know what had happened,
to see what story she did tell.
Whether the child was alive
he did not know when he rode near,
but he saw two small graves outside,
and the truth of it became clear.
He thought about just riding off,
sut Sophie came to the front porch,
she looked as lovely as ever,
but seemed more tired than before.
When he went in to her kitchen
where such happy nights had been passed,
she drew moonshine from a large jug,
and poured it into a large glass.
He took a drink and said to her,
“I came to see what had happened.
I’d hope the child had survived,
that there would be some piece of him.”
Sophie took his hand within hers,
said, “I know you saw him like a son.
And April was very happy…
I…I wish this could all be undone.”
Emmet just shook his head and said,
“It was my mistake, all of this.
Coming here, looking out for him,
knowing all along the great risk.
“He had his life all before him,
when in truth I’d already died…
So why does God take him away,
and let a husk like me survive?”
“You mustn’t think of it that way,”
said Sophie, squeezing his fingers,
“Blue or gray, you are a good man,
regardless of all of this hurt.”
He said, “There’s nothing left to me,
I joined the war seeking an end.
A way to escape all the pain,
I don’t have the strength to pretend.”
His hand then fell on something soft,
he looked up at her, quite surprised
to find his hand upon her breast,
a look of love in her green eyes.
“Does this feel like ‘pretend’ to you?”
she said, not letting him pull back,
“We did what we could to save them,
but the fates would not allow that.
“Does that mean we lay down and die?
That I should not feel love for you?
We are not young, but does that mean
we’ve nothing to look forward too?”
Emmet was stunned, truly surprised,
his heart raced like a strapping lad,
he hadn’t known it could still do that,
for so long he’d felt only bad.
“We’ve loved before, we love again,”
she said as she got to her feet,
and led him back towards her bedroom,
“There’s no reason we can’t be happy.”
CONCLUDES IN PART VI.
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