13Sorry this update took forever… I wanted to get it just right. :)
"And they were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die."
Chapter Five: Sentimental Journey
"Calm down, Floyd." Winters smiled into the phone, "She's just fine. We'll send her home. Yes, yes…" Richard held his hand over the mouthpiece and looked over to Essie, "Will you come calm him down, please?"
"Hand it over," Essie laughed, handing over the resting newborn to Nixon who was laying next to them on the bed. Her knees still ached as did her back as she waddled slowly but surely over to the phone.
"Shush, babe. I'll be home soon. Yes, the baby is fine… No! You are not coming over here!" Esther planted a hand on her sore hip, grumbling irritably into the phone. She knew there was no point in arguing with the man as stubborn as her. "What about Ginia? Fine… I'll see you in two. Love you, hun."
Essie looked over her shoulder, glancing at the two exhausted men sitting at the creaky table. They had dark circles hanging ghostly around their lifeless eyes, and Nixon's face was darker than usual. He had quit… and all he did was complain about his headache.
"You two look dreadful… get some rest."
Richard's ears perked up with her voice and disagreed immediately.
"That's an order," Essie warned, gently taking her newborn from Lewis.
"I thought I was the major around here?"
Esther smirked, "But I'm the grumpy mother… shit rolls down hill, Dick. Rest, now."
With the infant taken from his arms, Nix crossed he elbows across the table and instantly began snoring. Grudgingly Winters shuffled over to the guest bedroom, as Nix's bed was still drenched in blood.
A small rocking chair was sitting humbly by the window. A few pegs were missing from the back, but it looked inviting enough. Esther smiled lovingly at her newborn as it cooed into her chest. Her weathered heart throbbed a strong maternal love as she curled her fingers gently through the dark curls on the child's soft head. As she carefully lowered down, Essie pulled back the towel covering Dixie's face. She had Floyd's bright eyes.
Rolling her bare feet from toe to heel, they rocked in time with a memory rich song. She looked up from Dixie and glanced to her dark-haired and now sober friend. He meant so much to her… at times as much as Tab did. She loved him in a different way though, a love like an indecisive switch. Esther loved Lewis, but she didn't. Her heart quivered with the thought of how many times she had broken his already demolished heart. As a stone grew in her tight throat it pushed up a lyrical tune:
"Gonna take a sentimental journey, gonna set my heart at ease." She swooned the silent infant, singing back the tears. Memories of singing with Taletta to Hoobler and the rest of Easy flooded her unbalanced mind. "Gonna make a sentimental journey, to renew old memories."
Nixon stirred as he slightly raised his head from his makeshift pillow, "Were you singing?" He cracked open an eye, just enough to see a lone tear cascade down her cheek. "Hey, don't be crying now, Es." He came over to her and sat on the windowsill. "What's the matter?"
"I still miss Hoobler, Nix. I miss him so much, it hurts-"
"Shush… do you hear that?" Nixon put a finger up to his lips. "I hear a voice… it's singing. Hey, it sounds like Don to me. He's singing, 'Never thought my heart could be so yearny, why did I decide to roam? Gotta take that sentimental journey… I've gotta take that sentimental journey home.'"
Nixon finished singing for Hoobler's angel, his voice cracking ever so slightly at the simple word 'home'. "All of Easy Company men's homes are in your heart, Esther." He touched his hand above her chest, and then placed a light hand on Dixie's body. "All of our hearts are now in Dixie's to. I think I hear Muck and Penkala laughing joyfully about the baby too. They're all happy for you, and I know they wish you would be happy too."
"How the hell am I supposed to respond to that?" She laughed, wiping away a tear with the back of her hand.
Lew chuckled lightly, "Smile… it looks beautiful on you. That's how you respond."
She couldn't help but smile as Dixie wrapped her minute hand around her mother's pinky finger. Essie's grin pushed up her high cheekbones, and her eyes laughed in merriment. Hoobler was right. She was married to the man that held her through a war, her best friend had quit his alcoholism and she was rocking a child of her own to sleep.
"Lew… do you remember when you saved my life?"
"I did no such thing," he raised his thick, black brows.
Essie looked up to him, "Yes you did. Remember… after the jump? We all landed in the wrong DZ, and I waltzed into a group of Krauts. I caught a bullet in the thigh and somehow managed to kill the guy. I don't really recall the rest, but I do remember how as you stood by that lake, you looked like an angel. You came and took me to Doc… if you weren't there, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be holding this child in my arms and-" She choked on her words, and Lew scooped up her trembling hands.
"I don't know what I would do with myself if I hadn't been there, either. Essie, you mean a lot to me. I know you'll never be mine, and I'll never get to hold you like Floyd does. I know that as well as I know I'm lucky to be talking to you now. I don't know much, but I know you were put into Easy company for a reason… the big guy up there was looking out for all of us when you stumbled into that barrack."
Essie was sobbing quietly, careful not to wake the baby, "I love you, Lew."
"I love you too, Esther."
"Tab's coming to get me… he says I can't travel alone." She wiped away the clear drops lacing her cheeks.
"Even though you're leaving, please still talk to me? I can't bear to be separated from you. I mean, it's not like we spent five years together in the same foxhole or anything." He winked.
Essie curled her free pinky around Nix's, "I promise."
Dixie's hand was holding on to one pinky, and Lewis held the other… she had never felt so content with her life.
B.o.B.
Two days had passed quickly, filled with starry nights and days of reminiscing. Between Winters and her, there were enough stories to write a book. Lewis though, seemed to have a whole other 'perspective' of the whole ordeal. Essie suggested it might have had something to do with his good ole Vat69.
"Tab will be here soon," Essie flipped over her wrist to catch the time.
"You still address him by Tab?" Winters cocked a thin, auburn eyebrow.
She shrugged her shoulders, "That's all I called him throughout the war… I guess I'm bad at breaking habits."
Moments of steady discussion later, the wobbly door bell button was forced into the wall and the shaky tone rung through the apartment. This startled Dixie, and Essie instinctively rushed over to soothe her ruffled feathers.
"I'll get it," Dick stood, smoothing out his trousers. He had been without a change of clothes for three days… all for his favorite female paratrooper.
"Ohh! Sergeant! So good to see you!" Winters vigorously pumped his hand with Floyd, a bright beam slathered across his freckled face.
As Esther walked over to meet her husband and other daughter, Nixon quickly caught her shoulder.
"I wish you didn't have to go…"
She slowly raised her pinky, the same one they had sworn on two days earlier, "I promised, Nix. I'm going to keep it."
He wrapped his longer finger around hers once more, grinning, "Just to be sure…"
She gave him a reassuring nod before continuing her journey to her family. Inside, she prayed Lewis would know the feeling was to have a family of his own.
The newborn drawing nearer to Floyd, cradled in his wife's arms instantly stole his attention. He said absolutely nothing as he took his child from her arms. Floyd would also agree that Dixie had his eyes, but her mother's beautiful expression.
He pecked Essie's cheek, not taking his eyes from his daughter. Virginia gripped onto Tab's trousers, terrified.
"C'mere, baby girl," Esther called, kneeling down to her level.
"Mama!" She cried, falling into her open arms. "I missed you!"
Essie buried her face into the girl's soft thin hair, "Oh, I missed you too! And you better believe it!" She held Virginia a little further away, and tapped her little nose playfully. Lewis watched quietly from behind, admiring how good of a mother Essie was.
"You wanna hold Dixie?" Talbert lowered his voice down to his first daughter. She hopped down from her mother's lap and hopped up and down in excitement. "Now be very careful. Sit down cross-legged and hold still. Here, hold her head, and support her back… that's it. Good…" The proud parents smiled down at both of their beautiful babes, the ones Essie had dreamt about back in Hangenau.
Nixon also observed how good and patient of a father Floyd was. The corners of his lips raised, content with the picturesque scene unfolding before him. If Essie was happy, then he would be happy for her.
"Long time since I've seen you, Captain," Floyd approached his old comrade, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.
"How've you been, Talbert? It's good to see you," Nixon held out a shaky hand.
"I've been doing real good, Nix. You look good yourself," he pumped his hand up and down, smiling kindly across to Lewis.
Winters was kneeling down beside Virginia, cupping his hands over her small ones, watching carefully over the two girls. Essie was smiling contently as she watched the two men she loved carry on a full conversation about everything under the sun. She had a family, she had her comrades, she had her father's and Easy's departed souls watching over her.
All… was… well.
"Where The Story Ends"
"Trying not to lose my head but I have never been this scared before
Tell you what I'll do instead, lay my body down on the floor
To forget what I've done, silhouette 'til the good Lord come
But this is how the story ends
Or have we just begun
To kiss away the difference
I know you hate this one."
Well, that's it. It's over… or is it?
Yes… that's it.
Review! :D
But, for realz… I'm rewriting THoaS…