Thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted or favorite-d this story! :) Please please please read and review!
Dear Emmett,
It's been nearly two weeks since I last saw you. I can't believe that so much time has passed! Are you still in California? I hope that this war ends before you have to go anywhere near the fighting. I wish that I could see you again. I told Alice about us. She has been my best friend for as long as I can remember and I thought that she would understand. But she didn't. She said that you're too old for me, that you will change your mind when you come home. Will you Emmett? I think that it will break my heart forever if you jilted me.
I don't know what it is that I feel for you, but I hope that you feel the same way. This may be forward, but I have never been one to sit idly by waiting for life to happen. Emmett, do you perhaps have feelings for me? I think I feel something for you. Especially after that night in my room…
I just realized how little I know about you! Please tell me about your childhood, where you grew up, who you were friends with. I want to know everything!
Yours truly,
~Rosalie Hale
Dear Rose,
I am in California, but we ship out to Vietnam in less than a week. By the time you get this I will probably be somewhere in that jungle. I too wish that I could see you again. Your friend Alice is a smart girl, I am older than you but I feel that we will not be affected by an age difference. Rose, I would never leave you. I too feel something; I think that I might love you.
I have something important to ask you. Please forgive me for not doing this in person, but I fear that it cannot wait. I have not known you very long but it feels as if I know all that I need to. You are a beautiful girl, on the inside and out. I could not imagine finding anyone in this world who compares to you. Would you marry me, Rosalie? When I come home from this war, I want to have someone waiting for me. No, I want to have you waiting for me. Enclosed in this letter is a ring. It's not much, a plain silver band but I'm afraid that's all I could get with my salary.
You don't have to wear it right away, 16 is too young to be engaged. Alice and I agree about that. I just want to have a family to come home to, at the end of this. So, I guess what I'm trying to ask you if you would agree to be my friend, my love, my home, my family?
I'll write again as soon as I can.
Love,
Emmett
Dearest Emmett,
Yes. Yes. Yes. I can barely see the paper right now, I'm crying so hard. They're not sad tears, they're happy ones. I can't remember being this happy in my life. Unfortunately, I seem to be coming down with something because I have not been feeling well all week.
Emmett, I want to wear you're ring, I really do. I want everyone to know that we love one another and that I am yours forever. But unfortunately, I fear their reactions to this because I am so young. Instead, I will wear your ring on a ribbon around my neck. This way, we'll both know its there, but the gossips in this town won't.
I graduate school in two years, not even. So perhaps when you get home we can announce our engagement to my mother. I truly do not know how she will react to such news. Mom married Dad fresh out of high school and though they loved each other dearly, I fear that she wishes she had done more than just get married. I don't think I could ever feel that way, especially not if I had you. But of course Mom doesn't know that. She sees me as a way to relive her life without the mistakes. But I want to make my own choices, my own mistakes. And you Emmett, are a choice, not ever a mistake.
I pray that this letter finds you safe, wherever you are.
All My Love,
Rosalie
Dear Rosie,
Please don't ever feel guilty about any of this. If anyone should feel awful it should be me. You're so young, you should be living the life of a high school girl not a grown woman.
But I see our lives ahead of us, together. I'll get a job when I get home, Rosie. Maybe I'll work on the base and train soldiers like me or maybe I'll find a job at a law firm, put myself through law school and become a lawyer like I've always wanted. I'll buy you a pretty house, a big one with whitewashed walls, green shutters and a big porch for us to sit on and watch our kids play. We'll have tons of kids, Rose. I know how much you love them and then we'll have even more grandchildren. We'll grow old together in that house, you and me forever. I promise you, we'll have that house and I'll give you that family.
I wish that I could seem braver to you, but you are the only person who I can speak to about these things. We're all scared here, Rose. Every minute of every day. But we don't tell each other such things. You know what I do when I get really scared or when it's getting kind of rough over here? I think of that day sitting down at the pier.
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile.
Don't be scared, Rose, but I'm not going to be able to write for a while. I can't tell you why, in case this letter falls into the wrong hands, but I can promise you that I'll write as soon as I can.
Forever Yours,
Emmett
I smiled down at the letter from Emmett and wiped furiously at my eyes with my hands. What was wrong with me? Letters reducing me to tears. Feeling nauseous at the smell of our old house. Throwing up every morning. Never having any energy, but eating all day long. Oh, G-d.
It wasn't as if the thought had never occurred to me, but it seemed preposterous. It was just once. I had never done it before. Emmett promised me that everything would be fine. But what if he lied. What if it wasn't "fine"? What if it was everything but "fine"? What if I was pregnant?
I ran into the kitchen and hastily dialed Alice's number on the telephone.
"You need to come over now. I think I'm in trouble. And I need your help," I said, nearly hysterical into the phone.
"Rose? Are you okay?" Alice asked, her voice frantic.
"I'm not hurt. B-but Alice, I think I'm really not okay."
"I'll be there in less than five minutes."
Please review! Reviewers will receive a teaser from the next chapter! :) :)
