Katharine,

It's like ma used to tell us, 'when it rains, it pours'. It seems since the day it began raining is the day that the sun stopped existin. We got a new officer here from the ETO, the guy speaks French and everytime I hear him talkin' I think of you when you were taking those classes with Wendy so you two could go traveling, or at least you thought you would. Got to cut this short because the rains ruined the rest of my paper. Say hi to mom and dad and John for me.
Love, Sidney

"You-hoo! Katharine!" A voice called from the foyer of the newly emptied house.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Katharine wiped at her brow, a few strands of her blond hair falling out of her bandana as she kneeled over the linoleum floor, bucket of soapy water at her side and a scrub brush in hand.

"Oh, there you are-" Baby blues peeked up to catch the sight of misses Sledge, er- She'd said to start calling her Mary, Katharine chided herself that she was really going to have to get used to that.

"Hi, misses Sledge-" Whoops.

"Now, what have I told you Katharine." The scolding was gentle as the older woman looked around the room, "Why, this place is cleaning up just beautifully. You're doing such a good job."

"Thank you." The blonde flashed a smile as she stood up, wiping off the front of her dress. "It's been a bit of an uphill battle, especially since I don't think that oven has seen hide or hair of anything resembling a scrub brush since it hopped off the assembly line." It was the God's honest truth, the darn thing had taken a good two hours out of her day.

Mary laughed, "Well, I'm guessin' it won't dare get dirty again after it's seen a bit of your elbow grease. Have you heard from your brother lately? Edward is always so curious as to how he's doing, but you know him, always looking out for his three boys."

"Yes, actually, we just received a letter in the post yesterday," She smiled, "Sidney's doing fine, as far as we can tell. He says that where they're at, there's plenty of rain so my mother always talks about sending him some of his old workboots. But, other than that, we haven't heard much, but you know how they're always censoring and reading through what they write in case something were to get in the wrong hands." Speaking of hands, Katharine made a motion to wipe them off, clearing away the bit of dirt that had settled on her palms, "And what of junior?" She inquired, raising her head and her eyes.

"Oh yes, he's been sending letters home far more often than Gene. They're in France right now, though he says they may be headed for Switzerland or even Belguim sometime soon. I told him to be sure to send us all some chocolates." Mary smiled briefly, "Which reminds me- did you get the letter from Gene? About him shipping out?"

"Uh- yes, I believe I got that one before I received one about the previous letter being a false alarm, why?"

"I thought he wouldn't be able to get a letter out to you. He said over the phone that everybody was in such a hurry. Or maybe it just got lost in the mail.. here." The brunette woman held out an open envelope, which Katharine took in a second, taking out the paper and making a note of the heavy dark lines of in that blocked out parts of Eugene's writing.

Her heart sank all over again. This time it wasn't a false alarm or a drill, her Eugene was really headed out for the war. Katharine kept a straight face, however, her eyes moving from side to side as she skimmed the words, which were obviously written in a rush judging by the mess made of Gene's usually neat script.

"Well, here's to him getting home again." It was a blunt statement, but what else was there to say? To do? Heck, by now Eugene could be thousands of miles over the ocean headed for the Japan islands themselves, who knew how long ago this letter had been written. Yet, Katharine couldn't even hope to deny the slight tremor her hand had as she offered the letter back to her future mother-in-law.

"Yes, well, he better get home and see all of this hard work you've done. And soon." Mary quipped, taking another look around the large house, "Why, I wouldn't have picked out a better place for you and Eugene myself. This place is truly fantastic."

"Thank you." Katharine repeated, brushing at that stray hair again, "It was really such a bargain with what mister Hilliard offered to sell it for. Five bedrooms and four baths, though I think Gene might end up just making the one bedroom down here into his study if he wants to, it's kind of small otherwise.. and have you seen the view out back? It faces the river-"

"Oh my.." Mary sighed, stepping around the cleaning bucket to gaze out the kitchen window, "That is a beautiful view. I remember your aunt Cindy prattling on about this place, but I don't think she quite did it justice. Have you told Eugene?"

"No, no.. I'm actually just keeping it a secret." She explained, reaching around to grab a glass of tea off of the counter. "I'm just working on cleaning up the place.. I figured Eugene and I could look for furniture before the wedding, seeing as we won't be moved in until afterwards."

Mary grinned, "And I'll always be happy to help you out with the painting or anything else you may need. Oh-" She glanced over at the clock on the wall, "Is that really the time? Why, shouldn't you be at home with your mother for dinner? I'd be happy to give you a ride if you want, it's no trouble at all. I should be getting home myself so I can make sure everything is ready for Edward when he gets home."

"Uh-" Katharine stammered, glancing at the bucket and the scrub brush. Well, there was always tomorrow, right? "Sure, I'd love to. Just let me clean up this mess and we should be ready to go."

Dear Sidney,
Has the day really come where I've heard about you complaining about the mud? Maybe I ought to inform the local newspaper or even the New York Times! Ha ha. I sure hope you're staying safe out there, mister Sledge tells me that you need to be changing your socks often so you better listen to him. Mom and dad are doing just fine, dad is still finishing up his lesson plans for the year and Alex and Cole are just excited for school to be over with. You should hear them and their plans to become soldiers like their cousin. They remind me of you and Eugene when you two would go about saying you were going to be soldiers like Pa and mister Sledge.
John is doing great, he's been starting to crawl around the living room as of lately, and he's already gotten into that phase where he chews on everything. He's definitely got that wild hair like yours, must run in the family, huh? We all miss you here, Sid, and we can't wait for you to get home. Please take care of yourself so we can see that happen, okay? And that's an order from your big sister. I'll be sure to get out a care package the next time I can, Cole and Alex want to send you some of the rocks they've found down at the creek. I love you, Sid, and I hope to see you real soon.

Love, Katharine

...

[[Hey guys! I know this update was short, but I just needed to get something out to get the juices flowing again. I'm hoping to write Sidney coming home tomorrow, so we'll see! Thanks for those of you who have stuck around and thanks to those who are just reading this. I cannot tell you how much your reviews mean to me. Honestly, today I just decided to check up on this old account and I read the reviews and I just got the muse all over again. You guys are so fantastic and you are all truly just so wonderful. Keep it up. - Carlene]]