Love and Grief Everlasting by Kathleen Emerson
Disclaimer: Do I have to put this in every chapter? I don't own anything. So don't sue me, all I have is about ten dollars.
Summary: I think Winnie did the right thing by living the "life unlived" but I was watching my video and got this idea so I wrote this story. In my version of the story, Winnie's parents died in 1918 during the worldwide Spanish influenza epidemic. Overcome with grief, she decides to drink the water and wait for Jesse to return. During the years that pass she begins to understand what Tuck and Miles tried to tell her about living forever. Will Jesse find the same Winnie he left or will she have changed too much for them to find the love they had? (Does this need to be in every chapter,too?)
OK, I am not sure exactly how the nurse scene should go but I do know nurses in Britain were called sisters so Sister Catherine is British.
Part Three
France 1944
Hearing about the Second Great War on the radio had made Winnie want to do something. So she had decided to become a nurse, giving what she had to those brave men overseas. The only thing she couldn't give them was life.
Winnie looked at the soldier she had just laid in the cot. It didn't seem likely that he'd live through the night. All of a sudden, she realized what Miles had said about the Civil War was true. With death all around her, she was beginning to be more and more aware of her own immortality. It was an awful feeling, watching so many brave men die day after day and know that you'd never die.
" Sister Catherine, is there any more of that medicine Dr.Garrett sent us?" Winnie asked
" I don't think so. Is that soldier bad off?" Sister Catherine asked Winnie.
" Yes. I'm not sure he'll make it through the night. I'm going to check the medicine chests anyway to see if by any miracle we do have just a little bit." Winnie wished she was back in Treegap, by the spring that had given her everlasting life. She wished she was with Jesse, anywhere but this godforsaken battlefield in France!
There wasn't any medicine left in the chest for the soldier. Instead Winnie sat by him all night long talking to him, telling him stories and poetry, trying to lure him out of the coma he was in, hoping against hope that just this one would survive.
Just as the morning sun was rising in the eastern sky, the brave man took his last breath and died.
"No, no, no! Wake up, wake up!" Winnie cried. In war, nurses weren't suppose to get close to patients for fear of losing them but she had gotten close anyway, even though she had never even known his name.
"Sister Winifred, come away now. You've done what you could, now let him go to God in peace." Sister Catherine said, quietly, as she pulled the sheet over the soldier's head. Sister Catherine allowed Winnie to cry against her for a few minutes. "I don't know why they let so many young girls and boys come into this terrible war. It isn't a sight for such young eyes." Sister murmured, as she comforted Winnie.
"You don't know how old I really am," thought Winnie as she cried. "I'm really as old as you are, I'm not eighteen, I'm forty five years old. I should be able to do this!"
Nebraska 1945
The War ended in August of 1945, ending what would later be called World War II. Winnie choose to go West, to a new beginning, to wait for Jesse, and to think over the past years.
"Did I do wrong drinking the water? I knew what would happen, Tuck and Miles tried to warn me, oh, how they tried! But no one would have been able to talk sense to me when Mother and Father died, not even Tuck." Winnie paced the floor of her small cabin. She had bought an acre of land and had hired men to build her a small place. "Will I ever find Jesse again? Will he still love me?"
Still asking questions that only time could answer, she went out to her tiny kitchen to make herself some tea. "Time is one thing I have forever." Winnie had gotten into the habit of talking to herself because she had no one to disclose her secret to and she didn't have Jesse or any of the Tucks to talk with. They were the only four people in the world who would understand and she hadn't the faintest clue where they were.
The war had changed Winnie greatly and now she was beginning to almost regret her decision to drink the water. But it was too late, she knew, because time cannot be reversed no matter how hard we wish.
The weather was getting colder and colder as the winter months creeped up on the ranchers and Winnie. She wrapped her hands around her warm cup of tea and stopped thinking for a while. It was beautiful here, just beautiful. It wasn't Treegap but what ever would be? But thoughts of Treegap brought back memories of that fateful summer of 1914 when she had met Jesse Tuck for the first time.....
Winnie Foster stood behind a tree, staring at the young man who was drinking water from a hidden spring, on her father's land. Her foot stepped on a branch.
The young man looked up as she walked into the clearing. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Winnie. Winnie Foster." she answered shyly.
"Oh, a Foster, huh? You should be going back now, Miss Foster."
"My father owns these woods." Winnie told the strange boy. "I can walk here whenever I please. And I was on my way home, if you'd just kindly point me in the direction."
"Oh, so you're lost then."
"No, I am not. I am on my way home." She started to turn the way she had come but thought of something. "First I want a drink." She started toward the spring.
"No!" The boy jumped in front of her, startling her. "Uh, the water makes you ill. I wouldn't drink it if I were you!"
"You aren't ill. Now, please, let me have a drink, I'm thristy." Winnie tried to push past him.
"Well, uh, see, I'm not feeling so good now."
But Miles had come out of the woods then and taken her on his horse to the Tuck's cabin, ruining her scene with Jesse.....
"It is not 1914 anymore, you are no longer fifteen years old." Winnie told herself, sternly. "Jesse will find you someday, he promised he would love you til the day he died and since that isn't going to happen you'll have eternity with him when you find him."
I have decided when and where I will be bringing in Jesse but not for another chapter or so. I know the scene in the woods between Jesse and Winnie isn't word perfect but unless you're a die hard Tuck fan who has the movie memorized it isn't that bad. I was just waiting for one more review to post this and I got two!! Thanks! I have things I want to say to people who reviewed but I don't like extremely long author notes so maybe another time. Katie
GOD BLESS OUR OWN BRAVE TROOPS!
Disclaimer: Do I have to put this in every chapter? I don't own anything. So don't sue me, all I have is about ten dollars.
Summary: I think Winnie did the right thing by living the "life unlived" but I was watching my video and got this idea so I wrote this story. In my version of the story, Winnie's parents died in 1918 during the worldwide Spanish influenza epidemic. Overcome with grief, she decides to drink the water and wait for Jesse to return. During the years that pass she begins to understand what Tuck and Miles tried to tell her about living forever. Will Jesse find the same Winnie he left or will she have changed too much for them to find the love they had? (Does this need to be in every chapter,too?)
OK, I am not sure exactly how the nurse scene should go but I do know nurses in Britain were called sisters so Sister Catherine is British.
Part Three
France 1944
Hearing about the Second Great War on the radio had made Winnie want to do something. So she had decided to become a nurse, giving what she had to those brave men overseas. The only thing she couldn't give them was life.
Winnie looked at the soldier she had just laid in the cot. It didn't seem likely that he'd live through the night. All of a sudden, she realized what Miles had said about the Civil War was true. With death all around her, she was beginning to be more and more aware of her own immortality. It was an awful feeling, watching so many brave men die day after day and know that you'd never die.
" Sister Catherine, is there any more of that medicine Dr.Garrett sent us?" Winnie asked
" I don't think so. Is that soldier bad off?" Sister Catherine asked Winnie.
" Yes. I'm not sure he'll make it through the night. I'm going to check the medicine chests anyway to see if by any miracle we do have just a little bit." Winnie wished she was back in Treegap, by the spring that had given her everlasting life. She wished she was with Jesse, anywhere but this godforsaken battlefield in France!
There wasn't any medicine left in the chest for the soldier. Instead Winnie sat by him all night long talking to him, telling him stories and poetry, trying to lure him out of the coma he was in, hoping against hope that just this one would survive.
Just as the morning sun was rising in the eastern sky, the brave man took his last breath and died.
"No, no, no! Wake up, wake up!" Winnie cried. In war, nurses weren't suppose to get close to patients for fear of losing them but she had gotten close anyway, even though she had never even known his name.
"Sister Winifred, come away now. You've done what you could, now let him go to God in peace." Sister Catherine said, quietly, as she pulled the sheet over the soldier's head. Sister Catherine allowed Winnie to cry against her for a few minutes. "I don't know why they let so many young girls and boys come into this terrible war. It isn't a sight for such young eyes." Sister murmured, as she comforted Winnie.
"You don't know how old I really am," thought Winnie as she cried. "I'm really as old as you are, I'm not eighteen, I'm forty five years old. I should be able to do this!"
Nebraska 1945
The War ended in August of 1945, ending what would later be called World War II. Winnie choose to go West, to a new beginning, to wait for Jesse, and to think over the past years.
"Did I do wrong drinking the water? I knew what would happen, Tuck and Miles tried to warn me, oh, how they tried! But no one would have been able to talk sense to me when Mother and Father died, not even Tuck." Winnie paced the floor of her small cabin. She had bought an acre of land and had hired men to build her a small place. "Will I ever find Jesse again? Will he still love me?"
Still asking questions that only time could answer, she went out to her tiny kitchen to make herself some tea. "Time is one thing I have forever." Winnie had gotten into the habit of talking to herself because she had no one to disclose her secret to and she didn't have Jesse or any of the Tucks to talk with. They were the only four people in the world who would understand and she hadn't the faintest clue where they were.
The war had changed Winnie greatly and now she was beginning to almost regret her decision to drink the water. But it was too late, she knew, because time cannot be reversed no matter how hard we wish.
The weather was getting colder and colder as the winter months creeped up on the ranchers and Winnie. She wrapped her hands around her warm cup of tea and stopped thinking for a while. It was beautiful here, just beautiful. It wasn't Treegap but what ever would be? But thoughts of Treegap brought back memories of that fateful summer of 1914 when she had met Jesse Tuck for the first time.....
Winnie Foster stood behind a tree, staring at the young man who was drinking water from a hidden spring, on her father's land. Her foot stepped on a branch.
The young man looked up as she walked into the clearing. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Winnie. Winnie Foster." she answered shyly.
"Oh, a Foster, huh? You should be going back now, Miss Foster."
"My father owns these woods." Winnie told the strange boy. "I can walk here whenever I please. And I was on my way home, if you'd just kindly point me in the direction."
"Oh, so you're lost then."
"No, I am not. I am on my way home." She started to turn the way she had come but thought of something. "First I want a drink." She started toward the spring.
"No!" The boy jumped in front of her, startling her. "Uh, the water makes you ill. I wouldn't drink it if I were you!"
"You aren't ill. Now, please, let me have a drink, I'm thristy." Winnie tried to push past him.
"Well, uh, see, I'm not feeling so good now."
But Miles had come out of the woods then and taken her on his horse to the Tuck's cabin, ruining her scene with Jesse.....
"It is not 1914 anymore, you are no longer fifteen years old." Winnie told herself, sternly. "Jesse will find you someday, he promised he would love you til the day he died and since that isn't going to happen you'll have eternity with him when you find him."
I have decided when and where I will be bringing in Jesse but not for another chapter or so. I know the scene in the woods between Jesse and Winnie isn't word perfect but unless you're a die hard Tuck fan who has the movie memorized it isn't that bad. I was just waiting for one more review to post this and I got two!! Thanks! I have things I want to say to people who reviewed but I don't like extremely long author notes so maybe another time. Katie
GOD BLESS OUR OWN BRAVE TROOPS!