NOWHERE MAN CHAPTER 2 BAD NEWS
Some time later the two lay exhausted in each other's arms. Lucy's head lay on Jude's chest while his arms held her firmly. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.
"I guess we should get up," said Lucy reluctantly. "The others'll be home soon."
Jude was pulling a t-shirt over his head when the phone rang.
"I'll get it," said Lucy who was already dressed.
Jude heard her pick up the receiver and say "Yes – oh, hi, Mom. How are you?"
Jude's heart sank a little. He hoped Lucy's parents didn't expect her to spend the Summer with them – or that he would have to visit them. He didn't dislike his prospective in-laws but he got the idea that they didn't he was good enough for his precious daughter. To them, her high school sweetheart Daniel, who had been killed in Vietnam, had been the perfect boyfriend and they had always made it clear that a working class limey of dubious parentage could never live up to him.
Suddenly Jude heard a scream. It was Lucy. He froze as another scream pierced the air. Then came an anguished howl, almost animal like. In horror, Jude ran out. Lucy was slumped on the floor, her face hidden in her hands, her body convulsing with wailing sobs.
"Lucy! What's wrong, love?" he asked, dropping to his knees beside her.
Lucy lifted her head. Her usually gentle eyes were wild and shadowed in agony, her face was a deathly white and she was shaking violently.
"It's Max," she whispered in a strangled voice. "He's missing in action!" And she collapsed into loud, anguished sobbing, her tortured cries ringing around the apartment.
Jude hardly had time to process his own reaction to the terrible news. He took Lucy in his arms and held her close, rocking her and stroking her hair as she screamed out her shock and sorrow. Her despairing wailing tore through his heart like a scythe. He knew nothing he said or did could ease her terrible pain. Never had he seen her like this. She wept ceaselessly on his shoulder and he could feel her tears soaking through his shirt. Tears gushed out of his own eyes at the thought of his good friend Max possibly never coming back but he couldn't afford the luxury of breaking down right now. He had to support Lucy although he couldn't begin to think how.
"If he's missing – then he might still be alive," he whispered, trying to put words to some hope. "There's no proof he's dead."
"But if I believe he's alive and he isn't," Lucy now raised her head and looked at him through waterlogged blue eyes "It'll only be worse when I find out the truth. I can't build up my hopes Jude and then have them smashed." And she broke down again.
Later that evening Lucy lay on their bed, asleep – the bed where only hours ago they had made love without a care in the world. She had been in such a state Sadie had called the doctor who had given her a sedative. But even in sleep the strain could be seen. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her beautiful face white and haggard and tear marks stained her cheeks.
Jude had held her hand until she had fallen asleep. But now as he looked at her his eyes had filled with the tears he couldn't shed until now. Lucy had already had her heart broken when her first boyfriend had been killed in Vietnam. If Max was gone how would she ever get over it? And how would he get by without his good friend? How could he support Lucy and heal her pain? She was usually strong but this had brought her to her knees in one fell swoop.
Jude stroked Lucy's forehead, feeling so helpless. This was the girl he loved more than anything in the world and to see her in such agony tore him apart. He would give anything to make her happy again.
He remembered the time she had first come to New York and she had confided in him her fears for Max – and Jude had breezily responded that no one or no gun could get Max. Now he felt guilty about such flippancy. He should have known that nobody was immune. Sighing, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. He couldn't go to bed yet so he sat in the darkness, his thoughts in turmoil as he tried to get his head around the dreadful news.