Hello again! I said I wouldn't post every day, but then I sat down and write maybe ten chapters yesterday- i am really trying to keep them short for a while so they're easy to stay on top of.

I am so dazzled by all your reviews and stories in regards to the era, and I am so glad you enjoyed Corporal Masen's first letter!

Let's see how Bella reacted to the Corporal's words...

~~oo~~

The thrill that came over me over Corporal Masen's letter was so much more than I had imagined. I felt a deep regret at having forgotten all about my pen pal. It had been over two months since I had written to a soldier, I had dismissed not receiving a correspondence too quickly.

Now, I had a tattered letter in my hands, two roommates who teased me for my enthusiastic reaction to the correspondence, and a burning desire to write this lonely soldier back immediately.

Just like that, a letter had changed my outlook on life.

Here was someone to offer hope to, simply by my words.

The words however, were harder to come by than I had imagined.

I stayed up late, struggling to write to a complete stranger who was depending on me to send him hope and encouragement. I still had real issues to deal with. I had to find a job, how to pay for my room at the boarding house. How to ignore Alice and Rosalie as they tried and succeeded in reading his words. Tried to ignore their teasing words about having written to a stranger in the first place. But all those things were trivial compared to the need to write something that made the person reading it smile and maybe for just a moment, enjoy something from home.

I laid in bed, his letter tucked under my pillow, feeling foolish for having such a strong reaction to the man on the page beneath my head. His letter had tugged at my heart.

And now more than ever, I wanted to get to know this man.

The light from the city outside was my only source of illumination as I cracked open his letter for what seemed the hundredth time.

A small stain at the top where his ink had stained, possibly from the rain.

The neat script of his words, the gentle arc of the letters in my name.

The creases sharp in the folds of the letter, as if he had folded it carefully, making sure it wouldn't become damaged in transit.

The torn corner where the envelope had been ripped away somewhere between there and here.

But it had made it. A letter, from a soldier in need.

Corporal Edward A. Masen.

I wondered what the A. stood for.

I wondered where he was fighting.

I wondered if he had friends in his troop. Surely at least one. I felt my heart clench once more as I read about his family. I assumed no brothers or sisters.

He was alone.

Suddenly my desperation in my life seemed trivial. My troubles were nothing compared to his.

I lay in a warm bed, dry and free the cold and the damp as the rain fell outside. I wondered if it was raining where he was. Did he have enough to eat? What did he sleep in?

A tent? A hollowed out building that he had taken with his fellow soldiers?

Had he found a girl there? Some French girl or maybe an Italian? Or maybe an English girl.

Would he do that? Like Rose's airman had?

He didn't seem the type. But then again, I knew so little.

Where was he?

What did he look like?

Maybe he was married. But he would have said that, yes?

So many questions. What could I ask and not offend?

I slipped from my bed and quietly pulled out the pen and paper from the desk drawer, settling into the seat by the window so that I could see while Rose and Alice slept peacefully a few feet away.

I couldn't help it.

I just wanted to write to him.

I needed to make this next letter better than the last.

I had so many questions.

And so much trouble putting them to paper.

AN: Bella's return letter next. Thank you so much for all the incredible recollections, stories and insight you have offered me in your reviews. I'm so excited that you are enjoying this!

More soon! yeah, probably tomorrow- lol. I can't pace myself if I tried...

MWAH!

steph