20To Know Him is to Love Him.
Alrighty, this is the second to last chapter! i can't believe ive finished a story! just a note, EmmyLee, is pronounced Emily, i just thought i'd spell it differently. please r&r :)
I was sitting in the garden, soaking up the sun like a lizard, keeping one eye on the twins as they gurgled happily in their cribs. Beside me, Lars was feeding little Lucas, and talking to Jane, who was also watching Emmylee and Dory.
Having those two wasn't easy, then again, when it comes to me and my family, nothing really is. A few days after they had been born, I had sent Roy a photo of the two. He sent me a letter back saying he couldn't be prouder than he was then.
Deciding Jane could cope with all three babies at once (my girls were pretty docile, all they did was sleep and eat, usually in that order, and when someone woke them up, they'd just go back to sleep), Lars and I took a nap.
We were woken shortly after, by Jane, nudging the two of us to come inside. We shared a look but went in anyway, after the excited girl.
What we found, to our delight, was the fathers of our children, holding them.
Dick had tiny little Lucas in his arms, almost engulfed by the giant man's arms. He looked so proud, but not as much as Roy.
He was sat on the settee, balancing the twins in both of his arms, grinning like a mad man. I could see the look of pure adoration on his face, and it set my heart a glow.
"Well, daddy, what do you think?" I whispered, sitting next to him as he held our children for the first time. I could tell they were going to be daddy's little girls, it was just a fact, and anyone could have seen why, when you looked at him with our girls.
"I love them. They're beautiful."
"So they should be, they take after me you know, husband."
"I'm glad they do, because you're the most beautiful thing in the world to me, wife."
"Is that you trying to get out of your grave?"
"Ah. Yeah. Worse than Normandy?"
"Oh yep. So much more worse than Normandy."
I smiled shyly, taking Emmylee, the curly haired baby, from him, and holding her myself. He gave me a full blown grin, as he kissed me tenderly.
"I love our family." he told me later, as we sat under the stars in the garden.
"Me too... Roy, what will I do if your family don't like me?"
"To Hell with them. We're our own family. We're moving a life time away, and to be frank, I'm glad. I mean, I don't not like them, it's just they think so much about themselves and so little about anyone else. I'm beyond glad you saved me from the same mind set." he admitted, gazing up into the clear, starry sky.
"That's what happens when you break through into people's hearts."
"We can have more children. Right?"
I sighed dramatically, as I moved and sat on his knee, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Oh, I suppose... ah, there's erm.. something I have to ask you about.."
He looked at me suspiciously, and nodded, signalling for me to continue.
"Well, you know Jane..."
"I know Jane, yes."
"Well... can we keep her."
Roy snorted, "She's not a dog Cally."
"I know that, but a lot of the evacuees were never sent for when the war ended. Her parents don't want her back, they've said.. and it'd mean that we'd have someone to help look after the girls.."
He sighed, running a hand through his hair, which had grown thicker over time, instead of thinning out.
"Fine. We'll take her with us."
I grinned and kissed him hard on the lips.
"We're going to have a huge family." he announced.
"I know. And we will love them all."
1945, November 7th.
A few months later, I was getting married all over again. Only this time, it was a proper wedding, in a church, with a proper dress, and everyone was going to be there. I was freaking out! Mrs Willowes, was mother of the bride, Mr Willowes was the father of the bride, and would be walking me down the aisle. Viola and Bea were my flower girls, wearing little pink dresses and a flower crown, while Jenny was once again my maid of honour. Manon had come over for the wedding with her family, and she was holding Emmylee, while Michel held Dory. Roy had asked Con to be his best man this time around, since my poor Shifty was in the hospital.
The only difference this time was, Roy's family would be here. Now I'd never met them, but they were in the front few rows, and I was panicking.
I didn't have Con to do my hair that morning, so I had to rely on Lars, who was also on my side. We'd divided it up between Easy company on Roy's side, and Alpha company on my side. The Jouberts and the Willowes would be my stand in family, while Roy had his real family.
Since my hair hadn't been cut for a very long time, and it came all the way down to my bum, Lars had no idea what to do. In the end, Madam Joubert, who had very long hair too, ended up putting my hair in an Edwardian up do, which made me feel like a Gibson girl.
The dress Manon gave me was a faded, yellowy white, with long sleeves and a panel going up across my shoulders. It was old, very old, I'd put it at Edwardian or Victorian at least. It had a train, but it wasn't very long, the only thing missing was the veil. Mrs Willowes loaned me hers, because we had insisted on the tradition of something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
The something old was my wedding dress, my something borrowed was the veil, Roy had brought me back a silver necklace so that was my something new, and he'd also brought me back some blue opal earrings to match my silver and blue opal necklace. He didn't tell me where he'd got them from, probably because he'd looted them and I hadn't been able to loot anything for myself. My friends had even scraped together some wedding presents for us.
"You know, I've never felt more honoured than this Cal." Mr Willowes whispered to me as we slowly walked down the aisle. I was glad that the veil I had on wasn't that see through, I didn't want people to see me blush.
"Mr Willowes, it's my honour to have you walk me down the aisle. And even more so, that the 5 of you stood in for my family."
"You'll always be family to us." he whispered, a little choked up, as he left me to stand in front of Roy.
Our vows were more or less the same as when we were in Noville, only there were more people around and a hell of a lot more weepy eyes. The twins slept right though it, like they did with everything, Mrs Willowes and Manon cried all the way through it...
After the service, we went down to the town hall, where the dances used to be held for us in the war.
All the tables were set out with a blue theme, (if you can't already tell, I love blue) and everyone had their proper places (because I'm very neurotic about that).
My table consisted of me and Roy, beside him, were Con, and Roy's family. On my side were the Willowes and Jen, as well as our little girls.
After the first course, Mr Willowes rose, and gave his speech.
"When we first met Cally, I could tell she was the brightest button in the box. Well not brain wise, but personality wise." he laughed. I shook my head, and rocked the baby in my arms.
"She's unique. Personally, I don't think I've ever seen anyone as embarrassed as when we brought up her husband last year. She went the most violent shade of red and stuck her head in the ground. I've never met someone so excited to be with someone either, even if they see them on a daily basis, like with Roy."
As he started to choke up, I heard one of Roy's relatives say, "I've never met her, but if she's got two children already..."
At that point Roy turned around and glared at the middle aged couple sat next to Con. He'd already pointed out to me that his dad was on the table with Lars and her family. He told me he'd rather have him sit up with us instead of his mother and her family, seeing as he and his father got on better.
"So, putting it shortly, I'm very glad that you two finally have each other."
Everyone clapped enthusiastically, except from Roy's family sitting on our table. We had the main course, which was venison, although I had no idea where it had come from, seeing as everything was still rationed. After that Con gave a short speech.
"Cally. I first met you when we joined the army, which counting from our time would be... 2010? Ever since then you've been my best friend, confidante, occasional fox-hole buddy. You've given me a few kicks recently, which I'm glad you did, because other wise, I would have lost the person who means the most to me. Roy, I met you three years ago now, and I couldn't think of anyone better to be with Cally than you. You're utterly amazing together and your kids will be the luckiest people alive."
He handed a box to Roy, to which George called out, "They've just got married Con, can't you wait until they want to kill each other?"
Everyone laughed, and he passed me a small box too.
"I bought that for your birthday before we came here, I just never had chance to give it to you. I uh, looted those for you Roy.." he smiled meekly him.
"Well now we know who the favourite is." Roy grinned at him, handing EmmyLee to Con before he opened his box. I smiled as I passed Dory to Mr Willowes, seeing the two beautiful opal cuff links. In my box I found a set of earring, in the shape of whale tails. I grinned over at Con, getting up to hug him.
"Thank you Con, I love them. Aren't they sweet Roy?" I asked my husband as I took my seat again, to which I heard someone mimicking me. I could hear it every so often and I was convinced it was coming from Roy's side.
After Con's gifts and speech it was time for desert, Eaton mess. I hated Eaton mess, so I just gave it to someone else, when someone said something about me again. I didn't realise that Roy had heard it too, and when I looked around, he was sat between his mother and aunt.
"I swear to God if you say one more fucking thing about my wife, your daughter in law, I will throw you out of this wedding. I didn't invite you here, she did, so you better book your ideas up."
"I love you." I told him, kissing him as he sat back down next to me. For the next few hours, his family at the table were silent, but had the most sour expressions on their faces I could ever imagine.
At the end of the meal, his father stood up.
"Now, Roy is my first son, my only son. I wasn't the best father when he was younger, but then again, he didn't have the best mother."
I snickered, hiding my grin behind my hand. I didn't know his mother, but if she was being like this at our wedding she could bollocks.
"He'd get into trouble a lot, and he never had the best of tempers, but he did, more or less, know the differences between wrong and right. He helped me realise that I was wrong, and I changed, for my son. He had a tough time with love, I can honestly admit I never thought I would see him here, with a beautiful wife, and two gorgeous children. I don't know you very well Cally, but I'm hoping I will, because I've never seen my boy as happy as he is with you. Thank you, for bringing him out of his shell."
Later, we had our first dance. We swayed slowly to Vera Lynn's White Cliffs of Dover, a song which never failed to make me cry.
"Roy, we're going back to America aren't we?"
"Yes, we are why?"
"I don't want to live with your mother." I told him bluntly. Over his shoulder, I could see them glaring darkly at me, making my stomach sink.
"Neither do I. Dad says we can stay with him."
"I'd like that. He's nice your dad."
1946, May 12th.
Months after our wedding, we were living in a hut in the old Camp Toccoa, with everyone else. Roy had had a furious row with his mother a few weeks before, although he wouldn't tell me what about, but it was bad enough for him to cut all ties with the woman. His dad was coming with us though.
The hut our little 'tribe' was in, was the same one I had shared with Lars and Canada when we first arrived. Only it was a little more dangerous than before, as we were running around after two small children.
Dory and EmmyLee were little chuffs I tell you.. once they ran off and Roy and I chased them all the way to the base of Currahee mountain.
They were safely tucked up in bed however, seeing as they had to get plenty of sleep for the day after, seeing as we were all leaving. While Robert watched the two girls for us, Roy and I walked up to the top of Currahee, with the rest of Easy, just to remind ourselves of times gone by. We all stood quietly in the moonlight, gazing out at the old camp that would one day be gone. After an hour, they began to leave, one by one, walking down the mountain in a steady stream. Pretty soon, Roy and I were the only ones left.
He held me closely in the cool spring breeze, just like he had done years before in the same spot.
"You remember when I carried you up Currahee?"
"How could I not. You told me I'd broken through to you, and you held me really close."
"I should have kissed you."
"Damn right you should have kissed me."