"So the wedding is on I take it?" Webster asked me as we were talking through San Francisco. I was walking hand in hand with Joe, my engagement ring was on my finger and I was still trying to get used it, even a couple of days after Joe gave it to me on the bench. We were meeting with Webster for the day and catching up with him while he was in the city before he had to go back to Harvard with the rest of his classmates. It was early evening in the city, as the sky above us was tinting purple and blue now from the pink that was melting away into the Bay and ocean.
"As of right now it is still on." Joe replied to him as I then wrapped my arm around his waist and his arm around my shoulder, having me lace my fingers with his that were on my shoulder blade and we were just enjoying our walk with Webster.
"I'm glad to hear it, really I am. But it took you two long enough to actually get the ball rolling on this." Webster joked, having me see Joe scowl at him and then I chuckled from the gesture.
"Whatever, Web." Joe snorted at him as we turned a corner to walk down another busy street, having me hear the bands in local pubs as we walked by each of them. I even breathe in the smell of fresh cigarettes and stale beer.
"Oh, come on, it's been four years and you two are now finally getting married. I can name plenty of couples who are gettin' married faster than you." Webster kept teasing, having me just shake my head from the amusement.
"Sei kein Arschloch niche." Joe grumbled to him as we kept walking, having me gaze over and see Webster smirk from the insult that Joe clearly threw at him. I knew they both were playing nice with each other, no more ill feelings amongst each other that could result to bitterness.
"Beenden wird so großspurig." Webster replied back to Joe in his own snarky tone. I then smacked the both of them one at a time with my spare hand lightly.
"Quite insulting each other in German, you know damn well I can insult you back." I explained in a low tone though a smile was evident on my face as both of the guys chuckled from my antic with the both of them. I could see the lights of the buildings starting to light up, bit by bit as it was getting darker out where we were heading, which was the shopping district for some food.
"Sorry ma'am." Joe commented to me, having me punch him lightly again in the stomach and then receive a kiss on the head from him. But I gazed my attention back on Webster, whom was walking with his arms crossed in front of him and looking at the city around him with the same look of fascination on his face as he did plenty of times out of the battlefield. He looked clean shaven, still young and handsome with his bright eyes and smooth jawline.
"How's the book coming along, Web?" I asked him in a curious manner, seeing him then look over at me now with a glint in his eyes from me mentioning him writing his book.
"It's going along good," Webster replied as we were crossing the street, "I'm a few chapters in, and so far my professors like what I'm talking about."
"You're writing about sharks," Joe commented in a snarky remark, "How is it that you go to Harvard and yet you're writing about a freaking fish?"
"Be nice." I scolded him playfully, "Go on, Web."
"Sharks are fascinating creatures," Webster explained in a bold tone, as if he was trying to prove himself to both Joe and I, " You can learn a lot of them, you know? And you know what? One of these days, maybe in a year or two, I'm going to go out and see them for myself."
"And go swimmin' with them?" Joe asked him from next to me.
"Not really, though that does sound tempting." Webster sarcastically replied back, having me grin at how he was too being snarky with Joe and keeping up with his level of attitude, though they both were still playful.
"Good for you, Web. I'm glad to hear you're doing good since we came off the boat." Joe sincerely said to Webster, having me look at him and see the smile of friendship on him that he would use on Webster.
"Thanks, Lieb." Webster thanked him, having me feel a nice tender moment between the two as Webster took a nice deep breath from his spot as if taking off a heavy burden from his shoulders.
"Anyways, what's the wedding gonna look like for the both of you?" Webster asked both Joe and I, having me roll my eyes from the mere thought of planning a wedding and getting all of those things together.
"I don't even wanna start thinkin' about it." I grumbled back to him, having me feel Joe squeeze with his arm around my shoulder.
"I'm thinkin' that we shouldn't even have a big wedding at all." Joe commented from being next to me, his voice was light and he was, in fact, full of optimism.
"Try tellin' that to both of our mothers, since I'm figuring they both want us to have a big wedding. What a headache." I explained to Joe, seeing him just shake his head from where I was coming from.
"It'll be fine, Schatz," Joe reassured him, rubbing my arm with his hand that was on my shoulder, "It'll be fun. We'll make it fun, not one of those stuck up weddings that are full of bullshit."
"Well, there's one thing we can both agree on." I commented to him.
"And I take it Easy Company is going to be invited?" Webster asked me with a hint of intrigue in his voice as we stopped in front of the restaurant that we were going to eat at. I grinned from ear to ear, just thinking about the whole company at out wedding and having a great time with them. I have missed their voices and their laughter with each other, and to hear that once more at a wedding, where we would eventually turn it into a party, would be the best thing ever for me. So I looked over at Joe, seeing him watch me with hesitance in his eyes as he saw what I was thinking.
"It'll turn into a freakin' circus with those guys." Joe warned me as Webster walked into the restaurant with a grin on his face as I just giggled with Joe and I snuck in a kiss on his lips before moving away from him.
"Accept it: Easy Company is going to be at our wedding."
Ever since meeting with Web, Joe and I got things rolling with finding a new place where we can call home. We found an apartment in Sa Francisco, on the other side of town from where Joe's family lived. It was a simple place, nothing too fancy to it when it came to luxury: one bedroom and one bathroom kind of a place. I was fine with that, and I knew Joe was too though he wanted a nicer place for me. I didn't care, and our first night consisted of us eating pizza on our barren mattress in the living room, then drinking a bottle of wine and dancing together to a French record that I found in a record store down the street. It was a good first night in our apartment.
Joe got his old job back with the Cab company, and I got a job at one the bigger hospitals in the city as a nurse, and they hired me right on the spot because of my experience with the army. They have me specialize with any patients from the army and help them dealing with their PTSD and any other wounds that they were still needing mending. I helped with the amputated soldiers mostly, and then anything else they caught from being overseas and they were still needing help with. It was good work and good pay, and I didn't mind going back to a nursing role since up until this moment I was so used to being a combat medic. Nursing was a slower pace for me, a nicer pace.
After a month of getting things in order for us and having some more things in the apartment, we were finally ready to start getting the wedding on the road, though the both of us knew that it was going to be very low key. We both had to convince our parents that since it would be clear that they both were going to want us to have a nice elegant wedding or some sort. Joe worked it out with his mother while visiting her one afternoon as I was on a night shirt, and the next day I talked to my mother on the phone and I got her blessing for the small wedding as well. My mother's gift to me was going to be taking care of the food, in which Joe's mother's gift was the cake.
So far so good.
When it came to planning for the big day, which we decided was going to be in the spring since neither want of us were big fans of getting married in the winter, it seemed rather simple: we just needed a chapel and then a pace to go to after for the reception and for a get together for the friends and family coming. We found a nice small church that was in the city, small enough for us since neither one of us was huge fans of being in a large cathedral. By the time Christmas came and went, having it at Joe's old house with his family and my future in-laws, we were so close to being done with planning the wedding.
One February morning, having me at the phone and dialing the number that I've been wanting to use since I got the number from Malarky, Joe was already out on his shift that morning and I had it off. My shift didn't start until 2:00 until 10:00.
"Hello?" I heard on the other end, having me smile from just hearing the voice again from someone whom I haven't talked to since I was on the boat back to America.
"Major Dick Winters?" I asked in a hopeful tone, hearing nothing on the other end and then a small chuckle, having me sigh in relief since I thought I got the wrong number.
"Well, I'll be. If it isn't Marley La Noux. Soon to be Marley Liebgott if I'm not mistaken." He said on the other end of the phone. I grinned, already happy that I was hearing his voice once more and hearing how pleasant it sounded and now gentle.
"You are not mistaken, and that is why I am calling you in the first place," I explained to him, "Joe and I wanted to see if you were willing to come out to San Francisco for the wedding. We want you to be there, as our fearless leader and all from Easy Company."
"Well, I would be honored since I did practically see the both of you get together from the very beginning. You're making me sound like a proud father." Winters explained in a light tone.
"I wouldn't push it that far," I added to him, hearing him laugh at his side of the line, "And I do want to bring the rest of Easy Company out for the occasion too."
"Wonderful, what a nice little reunion," Winters commented, "Although, I do have a warning if Nixon is going to come."
"What would that be, sir?" I asked.
"You better hide your best liquor. Heaven knows he'll find it and drink it dry." Winters explained, having me grin as I looked at the long list of men in front of me on the paper on the desk. I had a long list of men to call, and Winters was up the top of it.
"Thanks for the heads up. However, with the whole company coming to the wedding, I think we're going to be more concerned about having all the men satisfied with alcohol." I explained to him, thinking of how we were going to try and handle all of the drinking with the company and where we were going to get it from.
"Oh, trust me, La Noux. That won't be a problem with our men. Trust me, they can take care of that part of it."
"Where are we going?" I asked Joe as he was taking me out to a mystery dinner just the two of us, but I know that something else was up his sleeve. He said nothing at first as we were walking on the side now in the cold winter night of March. The wedding was now in two days away, and the Easy Company men were apparently on their way over to San Francisco for the occasion. I talked to Bull, Malarky, Toye, Babe, Doc and Buck on the phone as Joe talked to Frank, Webster, Lipton, Luz, Spiers, Nixon, Spina and a couple others about when they were going to be coming into town. It was great that they were coming around to see the both of us get married, but it was even more hilarious that they all happened to be staying in the same hotel. I knew that could only stir up trouble, and I felt bad for the employees there.
"It's a surprise." Joe merely replied to me, not giving me eye contact and I glared at him now, not wanting to back down from the fact that I knew that he was trying to hide something from me, and he knew that I hated it.
"This is not fair, treating your future wife like this." I warned him, but he was still grinning as we were going through the city slowly, hand in hand and having me still confused as to what was going on.
"And it's also not fair that my future wife will not allow me to surprise her every once in awhile because she deserves it, but I'm going to look over that one flaw about her." Joe explained in a huff and a shrug of his shoulders though I glared at him seeing what he was doing.
"Don't change the subject: what is going on with you? You've been shifty since I came home from my shift today." I explained to him some more, pressing into the fact that he was leaving me out in the cold with information.
"I just want to take you out to dinner, that's all. You've been working hard lately to save up money for us and you deserve a nice night out." Joe replied back in a light tone, having me raise an eyebrow at him as we stopped in front of a nice restaurant. Now this got me even more confused and freak out: we couldn't afford to come to a place like this. Why would he take me here? Was this some kind of trick? I then moved to face him completely, seeing him look down at me and have me place my hands on hips in defiance.
"You're taking me to dinner here?" I asked.
"It's nice, huh?" He asked casually.
"We can't afford something like this, you know that." I countered with him, just seeing him roll his eyes and then place his hands on my shoulders, as if he was giving me some kind of pep talk as I could even hear the nice music that was coming from the place that he wanted to take me too. I felt so underdressed and too…poor though I knew that I wasn't. I had no need for money, but then again this would be an embarrassment.
"It's just dinner. Can you accept the fact that I wanna treat you every once in awhile to something nice? Or would you rather have me give you something expensive to put around your neck?" Joe challenged me, but I gave him a hard look since he knew me too well. I was no big fan of jewelry, because I almost had a heart attack from his grandmother's ring that was still on my finger.
"Don't you start with me, Liebgott." I warned him, seeing him grin again and then kiss me on the forehead, although I grumbled.
"Come on, You'll be fine." He reassured me, having me grimace at the mere thought of going into the place undressed. As soon as we walked in, one of the waiters came over to us as I was now incredibly shy from being in such a nice place.
"We're with the party in the back." Joe explained to the waiter, whom nodded his head and we were both following him through the crowded room of people eating and drinking. I was now confused out of my mind, there was a party? When was this in the cards? I was about to ask Joe when we turned a corner into the private room in the back of the place, having me then hear a uproar of cheers and laughter from the mass amount of men there in the room, smiling at me and having me loose my breath.
Easy Company.
"It's the love birds!" Buck cooed from his spot next to Malarky, the rest of the men joined in the cheer as I felt Joe wrap his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on the top of my head, though my mouth was open from the mere sight of all of Easy Company there in front of me, in San Francisco. I have missed them all so. To see their faces, hear their laughter and know that this was real, not a dream at all, it was something that made me want to cry. But there were no more tears, not from me since I was beaming so brightly that I felt like I was radiating light from what I was feeling on the inside.
Doc was the first to get to me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his arms gently as Joe was being hugged by Buck and Nixon. I grinned into Doc's hair, hearing him chuckle as he pulled away from me.
"How did you get here?" I asked him as Luz joined him next to him, along with Babe.
"Joe called us, asking us to come in a day or two early to surprise you." Doc explained in a shrug of his shoulders, "We weren't going to say no to our Red."
"Hell no," Luz added in, giving me a warm hug, "Not only do we wanna see the both of you get hitched, but we wanna celebrate with you too." I grinned from hearing the joy in his voice and seeing it in his eyes. I then looked at him and saw Toye, coming over with his own pair of crutches and I grinned, walking over to him and wrapping both arms around him and he hugged me with one arm.
"I'm so glad you're here." I said to him, pulling away and seeing that he was looking good for having one leg. I haven't seen him since Bastogne, he must have gotten hit after I was injured from the grenade. But he still had a grin on his face, the same one I saw when we met in the mess hall and when he shook my hand.
"I am too, Red." He said back to him in his cool tone, looking at me up and down, "You clean up good for a medic."
"Shut up." I countered with him, hearing him laugh as Babe joined him.
"We all came out as soon as we could. I road out with Guarnene, who was not going to miss this for the world." Babe explained he hugged me carefully and I then saw the infamous Guarnene make his way over. He was on crutches now too, since his one leg was gone clean from the Bastogne battle. But he himself looked good. I didn't think of him as different, even with only one leg now and a small part of him was lost. But he smiled, standing in front of me on his crutches and I folded my hands in front of me, trying not to cry since I have not seen him since I was taking out of combat in Bastogne.
"It's good to see you, Guarnene." I said to him in such a light tone that he too grinned. I missed his smile, the smile of a man who was on a mission and had no rhyme or reason for it.
"Same here, Red. I was shocked when I heard that you were settlin' down with the likes of that guy." He explained, looking over my shoulder at Joe, who was walking over to me from saying hi to Frank and Bull. Joe wrapped an arm around me, having me watch him and notice how he was looking at Guarnene. I was there when they fought for the phrase Son of Abraham being thrown out, broke it up and then made sure they were on good term again. Where they? I had no clue. But I then watch Joe look at him up and down, as if he was sizing him up and then Guarnene slowly smiling.
"But I can't picture any other guy for you to end up with that'll treat ya right." He said in a light tone, having Joe finally show a genuine smile and then hold out his hand for him to shake. Guarnene shook it without question.
"Good to see you, Bill." Joe said to him in a nice tone, and I could tell that he meant it.
"Back at Ya, Joe." He replied, having me get the feeling of home again with all of the men.
The rest of the night consisted of drinks being poured all around, laughter from the jokes and stories of everyone and what they were up to, past memories that were good and honest being brought to the table, and it was all good in my mind. I missed seeing them all together with no pain or fear in their eyes, and this was a time for no fear or pain on our faces or in our voices. We talked as if the war has never happened, as if we were childhood friends who met up again and had a lot of catching up to do. There was a sense of comradery over all of us, sinking under our skins and being heard through our laughter.
This was what I needed, all along when I left my home for the first time five years ago and headed to war: I needed a group of people to call my own. A group of lost souls who found each other and saw nothing else than brotherhood and family with one another. And it was true: they were my family. It was the same for Joe, I could seen in how he was burst out in tears of laughter from a joke from Bill or how he would smirk at Webster from a school joke, theses were his brothers as well.
Our brothers were back together again.
We were married in the afternoon in a small chapel in San Francisco. Joe wore his uniform, and I wore a laced dress that came to my ankles and was sleeveless with my hair down in curls behind me and my brass ring on my right finger instead of my left, where the engagement picture was. My father walked me down the aisle, as both of the sides of the aisles were filled with men from the Easy Company, all whom were in their own uniforms and looking at me with both kindness and respect as I walked down to meet Joe at the end of the aisle.
Joe looked beautiful to me, how he was staring at me made me think of how his mother stared at his father mere months before when I was first brought to his home: with adoration and love. I tried to hard not to cry when I saw him watch me as I was then standing in front of him. This was the man I fell in love with, and as I took his hand in my own and the pastor went on talking, my mind was only going back to all we have been through. He was my best friend, first and foremost, and he was much more than that now since we were standing in front of each other, about to be one for life.
I didn't care that we fought, that we made each other go crazy, or that we scared each other for being too bold and too reckless with our decisions. It was the fact that we brought each other back to reality and back to peace that mattered. We made each other better, stronger and more at ease because we knew each other's demons and fears. I found every struggle and pain was worth being in front of him and saying my vows to him. I was no longer mourning, not at this point. Since the only thing that was filling my heart and mind, the only thing going through my blood system and making me want to smile instead of scream, was Joe. He was willing to take care of me, and I was willing to do the same.
We kissed in the sunset light that was streaming through the stain glass window of the chapel, giving us a hint of purple and pink as we were officially husband and wife: finally. We could not only hear the clapping and cheer of our families who were happy for the both of us, but the rowdy cheers of the Easy Men who too have seen us from the beginning morph our friendship into something good and true. I smiled through the kiss, feeling Joe cup my face in his hands and show me that he was glad to call me wife.
And I was glad to call him husband.
Our reception was filled with dancing and laughter, being held in a park that was along the bay and hear the Golden Gate Bridge. The men brought the alcohol, their own personal gift since I knew that they each had their own picks of what they wanted to drink. But they were beyond respectful and kind to our families, whom finally got to see all of the men we talked about and told stories about. It was nice that both of our world were meshing together, and it was just for us. Toye found a local band in the city and all the men pitched in to have the band come out and play for us. It was all we wanted and more.
I got to dance with Doc and Bull, whom swept me around with grace and having me feel sheepish as the music played. Through a couple of slow songs I was dancing with Nixon and Winters as the rest of the men were just fine dancing with their drinks and having fun with one another. Luz brought Delvina, and a couple of the men brought their own girlfriends and I met them all, having me see that they too there finding hope in their lives beyond the war. Nixon gave a toast, Luz did impressions, Webster gave me a copy of love poems and a book from an New Orleans author he thought I would like, and Doc gave me a record of Edith Piaf, which made me happy since it was all in French.
Most of the time I stayed with Joe though, and after we ate the food and cake, dancing into the night, the party was long over and we headed back to our apartment, the first time as a married couple. Although we weren't drunk, since I knew we both wanted to remember this night for certain.
Joe lifted me in his arms and carried me over the threshold, having the same look of love on his face as he insisted on helping me out of my dress slowly and at a teasing rate. We made it to the bedroom, having me see him hold me close as I was getting his tie off carefully from his uniform as he was pressed against the door now.
"You better take starting your clothes off, or I'll rip it off of you." I said against his lips as he was still avoiding to touch my dress because he knew it was going to drive me crazy. I got his tie off finally, moving my hands down to his belt buckle.
"I like seeing you worked up like this, maybe I should do it more often." Joe teased me as he was getting one button off slowly and carefully, behind my back against my skin with the dress. I just leaned into him carefully, brushing my lips against me and then seeing the lust behind his eyes once more since we were so close.
"If you don't help me out of this dress, then I'll have to find someone else to do it." I warned him carefully, though he then got the rest of the buttons off and was slipping the dress off my shoulders now, his eyes never leaving my face and having me both feel trapped and free.
"Only I can take your clothes off, and you love it." Joe said back to me as he then kissed me passionately, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me from the ground as I got to work on his shirt. With every new sight of skin under the dress that was seen, Joe kissed him and had me close my eyes in peace and lust. I agreed, slipping off his jacket and shirt while kissing his neck and hearing him groan as he slipped off my dress and got his hands on my bare skin. We toppled to the bed, the pins out of my hair as he pressed open mouth kisses on my neck and collarbone as I wrapped the arms around him and held him close, the both of us falling into lustful bliss again.
It was all worth it.
Joe and I have been going through the motions of married life together. We kept that apartment for about a year or so, going through the trials of dealing with a broken heater in the winter and the crappy plumbing for the summertime. However, we were living as if we were the richest people in the world, though we were both the most frugal. And after a year or two, We had enough money to buy ourselves a house, a pretty big one that was on the far reaches of San Francisco, almost in the country really with wide open spaces around the area. When Joe took me to the house, on a crisp summer day in the late morning after getting breakfast, I looked at the house and I just merely smiled. It was a beautiful Victorian house, a bit of a fixer upper with some things to mend here and there. There was enough room for Archer to run around since now he was getting to the point of being fully grown with a lean body and his pointed ears. It was perfect me, though others would think it would far too much to fix.
But I didn't see the flaws: I saw the possibility of building something here with him.
After moving into the new house, which had so many rooms and so much space, Joe and I got to work on the house to make it our own. After it was all settled and we got the house looking the way we wanted it to, we would have friends come over and eat with us as much as we could. Archer would run around like crazy in the backyard and side areas, though I would keep an eye on him and call him back, seeing him run back to me within seconds. We didn't mind having a big house with just the two of us and Archer, giving us time to just have each other as a married couple that was young and reckless. We still worked, but we also still just drank in the silence that was around us in our new home. The silence was inviting and soothing for the both of us because we were both still trying to heal and get through the past images and flashes of nightmares.
I found out within a few months that I was pregnant. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to have children with Joe, and we were never having a concrete plan on when we were going to have children really. It just happened naturally, and it came as if it was a summer wind: suddenly and with peace. Joe was excited when he heard the news, hugging me close and kissing me all over the face, which was clearly him of course. Things were going so well for the both of us.I was beyond excited to be a mother, though it was, in fact, short-lived after a few weeks of finding out.
I had a miscarriage.
I stayed in bed for days upon days, curled up in a ball and letting the demons come over me once more. I was filled in pain, so much pain to know that I lost my child before I could even meet him or her. There was nothing more painful than knowing that I had something so good and so pure taken from me before I could even blink, and it made my heart bleed out all over again. I couldn't do anything, and Joe was there for the whole thing. He even cried when he heard about the miscarriage, holding me close in his arms and having me sob into his chest as he cried into my hair. He too lost his child, he too was in pain. But he knew my pain was worse, and he knew how broken I was again. On the night when I was sleeping on the bed, or just curled up in a ball and silent crying, Joe was rubbing his fingers up and down my back, molding against me and letting me know that he was there. He was never going to leave me be, and I needed that.
There was one night that he decided to get me better again. He lifted me from the bed, carried me bridal style again in my nightgown down the hall bare footed and then getting me into the restroom, wiping away the tears and pushing the matted hair from my face though I was still waiting to cry, there were no more tears left in my body. He just held my face in his hands, looking at me with both pains from losing our child and love for me and me alone.
"Don't fall away from me, Marley. Don't you dare leave me here." He said to me as he stroked my face gently with his fingers as I was sitting on the floor with him in our bathroom, I watched him with my bloodshot eyes, seeing what he was saying. I was slipping away from him, from what happened and losing the baby. And he knew that if I was starting to slip from him, that were was no turning back.
"We will get through this, you and me. But I don't want you to ever think you did something for this to happen, okay?" Joe asked me, having me nod my head and see that he didn't want me to blame myself for what happened. He then kissed me sweetly on the lips, having me feel it warm me up for the first time in days.
Joe then helped me get into the shower, running water and his fingers in my hair as I sat in the tub with my knees to my chest, my arms around my knees and my eyes still closed. He was trying to soothe me as he washed my hair, though I didn't even care that we I was naked in the tub. Joe was my husband, we were beyond boundaries and shyness this point. Joe even started humming Come Josephine In My Flying Machine. I finally looked over at him, hearing him hum the tune as he was rubbing my back gently with his knuckles as he was still pouring warm water in my hair.
"You're a terrible singer." I muttered to him, my voice was hollow and raspy but it was showing a bit of cockiness to it. Joe looked over at me, pushing one wet strand of hair from my cheek and then having me look back at him. He too was crying, either from losing his child or from seeing me in tears from losing our child. But I saw the glossy eyes looking back at me but they still were so warm and filled with joy and safety, as it always was since I first met him.
"Don't be a dick." He replied back to me in a snarky tone. I smiled at him though it was still a broken smile, I was glad we were both there to bring each other into the light again.
After we both called our parents and told them the news of our loss, I called Doc, Bull, and Winters and explained to them what happened. They all reassured that they weren't going to tell the rest of Easy unless we wanted them to, so we asked them to wait. Doc was so certain as to drive out to see me and make sure that I was okay, but I had to talk to him for a good fifteen minutes to reassure him that I didn't want him to come out and take care of me: I had Joe for that. It took a bit, but he was fine with what I told him and he was still going to be there for me if I needed it. Summer came and went, and healing from the recent tragedy involved Joe and I making a trip back to Louisiana to see my parents and Owen.
Owen gave me news that he was going to propose to Jane, and my parents were beyond happy to have another daughter in their lives, since they are beyond glad to have Joe as their son-in-law. Joe and I spent a long weekend with my family, all who were helping me through the pain and trying to get my positive spirits up again. I even made a side trip to see Doc, who just held me close for a solid 10 minutes and took my pain away. Just seeing the brokenness on his face when Joe and I pulled up to the house was enough for me to cry again. But he helped me in my healing, praying over me and soothing me once again. I was just glad to be home, and Joe could see that I needed this.
Months came and went, and the thought of the both of us trying for another baby went out the window. We both decided not to try, to let it happen as it may as we just went back to our jobs. I was glad to be back at work, helping out at the hospital. In the winter of 1945, I was promoted to one of the Head Nurses in the hospital, the Head Nurse in the Military Branch with the wounded and amputated. That was a good moment for me, and Joe was doing so well with his job at the cab company, always getting plenty of tips from his drives and bringing in good money. We were at peace again, and it was a beautiful peace.
Right after Christmas, two days after Joe and I came back from being with his family for Christmas, I found out I was pregnant and this time, I was terrified. I was only 10 weeks along, a week longer than I was before when I lost the baby. As soon as I found out, I then had a sinking feeling in my stomach, could I loose this one too? There was always a possibility, and as a nurse I wanted to make sure for certain that I was going to hold onto this one tightly and not let go.
I told Joe as soon as I came home from work, though I beat him to it since he walked through the door at least 15 minutes after I did. He looked worn out from work, but as soon as he saw the look on my face and how I was wrapping my arms around my stomach, he knew something was going on with me. I explained to him about me being pregnant, and he just held me in the middle of our living room, not like before when he was hugging me close and kissing me all over the face with vivid joy seen from him. But this time, he was way more intimate with me, just holding me there and not letting me go once. I held him back, the both of us realizing that we were going to get through this hurdle together.
I made it past the 1st trimester, seeing my belly growing bigger and bigger as the months flew by. I was getting bigger, much to my dismay and much to Joe's disagreement. I was still working at the Hospital, but now I was mostly behind a desk since I could not move around a whole lot. It was a bit miserable, since I was a woman who needed to be moving around instead of sitting down to have a good day. So this whole pregnancy was a test of my patience.
"It just sucks, you know? Having a stomach the size of a freakin' planet is making me wanna sit down more, and I hate it. It's torture." I said Joe as I was propped up on the couch, sitting with my 7-month-old belly sticking up from my body and my feet propped up on the coffee table after my shift that day. I changed into a large pajama shirt and boxer shorts, not even caring that I looked like I was ready for bed. Joe just smiled, talking over with two mugs of tea and placing one on the table, the other was placed in my hands as he then sat down next to me, the rays of sunlight coming through the living room window over the both of us as I took a long sip from the mug as my other hand was rubbing the side go the belly, in which the baby was giving me a hearty kick.
"I know it is, but hey you get to have the next two months off after your shift tomorrow, so get you come and relax at home." Joe reassured me, though I rolled my eyes.
"I don't want to sit in a bed for the next two months, that sounds more like torture," I argued with him, seeing him just smirk as he took his own sip from the mug, "I need to be moving around, not sitting on my ass so that I can get even bigger than I was before."
"Oh Christ, you're not that big!" Joe countered with me, but I just gave him a death stare.
"Oh okay, next time you wanna carry around a child in your stomach that wants you to eat five times a day and make you feel like a cow, be my guest." I explained to him in a huff, then feeling another swift kick against my hand from my stomach, having me close my eyes briefly. I froze my hand there, having me see Joe take another sip from his tea and then look over at me with a hesitant stare.
"You okay?" He asked me, having me grab his hand and place it over the spot where the kick was.
"Your child is kicking me like crazy. I swear, I think he or she is going to be a football player." I explained to him, feeling another kick and seeing Joe's eyes go big from feeling it against the palm of his hand.
"Damn, that's a mean kick there. God I hope not a football player, maybe a boxer if he's lucky." Joe said to me.
"He? What if you have a daughter?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Then I'll teach her how to box. Hell, I'll make sure our little girl knows how to defend herself when it comes to other guys." Joe explained to me in a smirk, having me laugh next to him and take one more sip from my tea. Joe then grabbed my tea from my hands, wrapping a arm around me and moving the hand from my belly to laced our fingers together, sitting it between the both of us, having me reach up to ruffle his hair as we were enjoying our moment together on the couch.
"You think I'll make a good dad?" He asked me in curiosity with a shrug of his shoulders.
"If you are anything like your own father, then you're going to be a great one." I explained to him truthfully, seeing him smile down at me and then look over at my swollen belly once more.
"It's just….it feels real now…you know? I mean, we've been talkin' about kids and having them since we were in Germany and how many kids we want…but now it's real for the both of us, mostly for me at least." He explained in more of a serious tone, having me grin at him and squeeze his hand in my own.
"I don't want to have any kids with anyone else but you," I reassured him, leaning up to kiss him on the lips and feel him kiss me back. Once I pulled away, I then gave him a snarky glare, "Besides, we did agree on having at least a dozen."
"And you still wanna have a dozen kids, after bitching already having this one giving you back pains and apparently making you fat?" He asked me in an amused tone. I glared at him.
"Well, now that you mention it…" I trailed off, hearing him chuckle and then give me a serious stare again.
"You are not that big, you are gorgeous. And secondly, you are far too stubborn for me to handle right now. So we are going to go on long walks and make sure you're not cranky at all for me because I do not want to deal with a cranky Marley Liebogtt." Joe explained to me, pouting his finger at me and having me slowly smile at him. He was far too good for me.
"Really?" I asked him sheepishly. He just smirked at me.
"If you haven't noticed for the past 5 years, I would do anything for ya."
I woke up to the soft sound of the wind blowing into my room, and a soft shuffling of feet nearby. Blinking, I rubbed my eyes and then looked around me, seeing the brightness of the room come into my view. There was a closet, having me see both my own clothes and Joe's clothes, a dresser against the wall with some of our old army medals and memorabilia that was being held in a glass case against the wall, and other pieces of pictures and art that we collected up until this point. This was a peaceful room, our room, as I then saw someone walk into the light that was coming into the room from the early sunrise. I grinned, knowing that silhouette anywhere.
"Good mornin', beautiful." Joe said to me, having me smiled from my spot on the bed as he then leaned over to hover over me on the bed, kissing my softly and having me hum against his lips and run one of my hands in his hair, feeling how soft it was.
"Good mornin' to you too." I replied against his lips, seeing him smile and then moving the sheet from me and placing his hand on my belly, which was slightly rounded and firm. I was wearing one of my old Camp Toccoa training shirts and plaid pajama pants. My hair was to my jawline at this point, wavy and soft.
"Good mornin' Klein." Joe said to my stomach, having me grin at him as he was looking at my rounded belly with such adoration. I rolled my eyes at his antics with our unborn child, grabbing his shirt and pulling him up to be in my eyesight again.
"Someone is in such good mood this morning." I explained to him as I saw the wide grin on his face and how he was carrying himself that morning. He just shrugged his shoulders, having me see that he was once again trying to avoid me gaze and be playful.
"Hey, I can't help but have a good morning with the love of my life." Joe replied back to me soothingly, having me see him lean forward to touch my jaw with his fingers and then go onto the bed to hover over me. I just grinned, shaking my head from his antics.
"I know you far too well." I said back in a soft tone, feeling him kiss me again and I kissed him back. He pressed into me gently, hovering over me and running his fingers in my hair and over my body as we were having our own small moment together in our bed. It's always been like this, early in the morning and greeting each other in such a way that we felt like the only two people in the world. But it was short-lived, like always, when we heard a faint cry from the other room in the house. Joe groaned, dropping his head to my shoulder and I just sighed.
"Just in time, I swear she's on a freaking timeline when she wants to wake up." I breathed into his hair, seeing him shake his head against my own and then looked up at me, the annoyance on his face as the cry was heard again, wanting attention.
"I'll get her before she wakes up the boys. That'll be hell." Joe muttered to me, sneaking in one more kiss before he got up from the bed. I grabbed his arm, feeling him help me get up as I placed my feet on the hardwood floor and ruffling my short hair.
"I'll get her, you go get breakfast ready before the boys start a riot." I said back to him, seeing him nod his head and give me one more kiss before he went off out of the room. I followed, watching him for a moment before he went down the stairs, leaving me to go to our daughter's nursery that was across the hall.
Our daughter, named Josephine, was about to be 2 years old next month and she looked just like her father: Brown hair and the same nose that Joe had. Her face was warm and round, bright green eyes and a few freckles across her cheeks already. She was her father's daughter: already having a bit of an attitude about her but was none the less kind and gentle. She was beautiful, beyond that. I could see how Joe looked at her after she was born: the same way he would look at me. He was in love with her, and I think it was more than me.
"Come here my love." I cooed to her, seeing her grab at me with her chubby fingers and I scooped her up in my arms, placing her on my hips and hearing her giggle from me blowing at her face with silliness. I walked with her out of the nursery, down the hall and over to the boy's room. Opening the door slightly, I saw my two sons playing together on the floor, both of them engrossed with a comic book and were talking about it back and forth with one another.
"No way, Henry! Flash Gordon can totally beat him!" My eldest son argued with his brother, being the 7-year-old who thinks he knows all there ever was: totally Joe of course. He looked just like his face, from his nose to his ears and the hair he had. It made me think that Joe would have looked like this when he was 7 years old.
"Oh, come on, Oliver!" Henry was about to start with him, though he was gentler and had a kinder heart compared to his rough around the edges brother. Even as a baby he was very gentle and caring, not too hard to handle or fuss with.
"Boys, get ready for school. Your father's making breakfast for you so please get ready for him." I called to the both of them, seeing their heads snap over at me and freeze from their fight on the floor. Oliver, my eldest at 7 had a mixture of my hair and Joe's hair with my dark green eyes. Henry was more ginger and had Joe's dark brown eyes.
"Frühstück!" Henry said aloud in his German, having me grin from hearing him use his German nicely. Joe was teaching them small phrases and words in German, and Henry caught it the most as Oliver was more prone to my French and what I was using with them.
"Oui, venez." I said to the both of them, seeing them bolt up and go to their dressers, grabbing their shirt as I walked out with Josephine still in my arms, who was squirming in my arms from not having the attention on her. I grinned from seeing her move around in my arms as I walked down the stairs, hearing the sizzling of the kitchen food being made and hearing the soft sounds of the morning coming through the house.
"Did you have nice dreams, file?" I asked Josephine, who just cooed in my arms as I then made our way over to the kitchen to the back of the house. Walking in through the archway. I saw Joe at the stove, flipping pancakes and humming to himself as he was hard to work at the food. Joe loved to make pancakes in the morning for the boys, and who was I to stand in his way? Archer, who was now 10 years old, was sleeping on the kitchen floor with his head on his front paws, not moving and just sleeping soundly.
"Here's your little nugget." I said to Joe, seeing him look over his shoulder and smile as he saw our daughter and my holding her. As soon as Josephine saw her father, she giggle and reached out to him, opening and closing her hands in a rapid pace as I walked over to him. Joe grinned from ear to ear, placing the last pancake from the pan on the plate and then taking out daughter in his arms, kissing both of her cheeks.
"Here's the most beautiful girl." He said to her sweetly, nuzzling into her and Josephine giggling. Joe then looked over at me, having him see me glare at him playfully.
"You're my first love Marley. But come on, can you really say no to this face?" He asked me in a grin, showing me our daughter who was blowing bubbles on her lips. I laughed from hearing him, but then we both heard the sound of two pairs of set running down the hallway and to the kitchen, Archer even waking up and looking up as well with curiosity.
"Brace yourself, your sons are excited for your cooking." I warned my husband as he kissed Josephine on the head and placed her on the high chair. I grabbed the plate of pancakes and placing them on the table as the footsteps getting louder and at more of a rapid pace.
"I can't wait until they are going to slow down." Joe muttered to me with a grin as he got a plate of cereal in front of Josephine as I grabbed the milk from our fridge.
"And that will be when?" I asked him in a coy tone, seeing him about to answer me, but we then heard the sounds of the footsteps stop at the archway to the kitchen. We both looked, seeing both of our boys in their school clothes and they were waiting to come into the kitchen and start their meal. It was a rule: they would wait until we were ready for them to enter the kitchen. Joe grinned at them, then at me as I got the last of the plates out on the table.
"Come on." Joe said to his sons, the both of them walking in calmly and then sitting at their spots. I sat with them, ruffling Henry's red hair with my fingers as Joe sat with Oliver and Josephine. We folded our hand and prayed for the day, having me open my eyes briefly as Joe was reciting the prayer, looking at both of our sons and seeing them pray as well. My mother was proud enough that we were making them go to mass and praying at the meals, and Joe's mother was too was glad we were doing this to her grandchildren.
"Amen." Joe ended, all of us crossing ourselves before we ate our food. The morning was like any other morning, Oliver and Henry asking their father questions about Flash Gordon and Joe would answer them, then the boys asking me if I saw anything gross at the hospital and I would reply with maybe. I loved morning with my sons and husband, along with my daughter in which Oliver would try and have her say simple words.
"So, I just talked to Uncle Eugene on the phone from Louisiana." I said to Oliver and Henry, having the both of them look over at me with big grins on their faces. Doc was an extended family member to our house, hang me call him Uncle Eugene to them now. But he was more than that, since he was the Godfather to Oliver. Henry's Godfather was Bull, and Josephine's Godfather was Luz, and his wife Delvina was her Godmother.
"Is he coming? Like you said he would?" Henry asked me aloud in wonder and excitement in his voice. I grinned at them both since they were waiting for some kind of answer. Joe even grinned as he was helping Josephine with her cereal.
"He is," I answered, hearing both of the boys cheer slightly and then eat more of their pancakes, "And he has promised to come with us to the baseball game the night he comes." They were beaming at this point as Joe looked at his watch.
"Finish up boys. I have to get you to school and then I gotta get to work." Joe told them both, having me see the both of them wolf down their pancakes and then drink their milk in under two minutes. Sometimes they would race each other to see who would finish first. After they got their meals down, they both got up and ran up to their rooms to grab their backpacks as Joe cleared the table quickly.
"I'm gonna ask the boss today if I can be shifted over to the other side of town for work. It's a pain in the ass with the shift I have in the downtown area." Joe explained to me as I helped him with the dishes.
"He'll listen, I know he likes you," I added to him, rubbing his back as he was standing at the sink with his hands rubbing his eyes, "And I'm going to take Josephine over to work since they want me to inspect the employees that they hired for our branch of the hospital."
"Why don't you take her to my mom's?" Joe asked me, looking at me with confusion.
"She's going to see Jakub and she's taking care of Bethany for the day since she's still sick with pneumonia." I replied back, seeing him sigh and nod his head.
"That's right, I forgot. Shit, I'm getting old." Joe sighed in frustration, having me shake my head and rub his back with my knuckles in a soothing motion.
"You're not getting old, cheri. You're just becoming senile," I explained calmly to him, seeing him now glare at me as I shrugged my shoulders, "There's a difference." I grinned at him, leaning over to kiss him and he kissed me back softly.
"Besides, you're still good looking for an old man." I added as I moved away from him and over to Josephine, who was about to fuss from being left alone and un-entertained. I scooped her up as the boys got back down with their own bags. Joe left the kitchen as I followed, all four of us meeting at the hallway in front of the front door. I looked down at both of my sons with a smile on my face, seeing them look more handsome as the days went by.
"Behave at school. And Oliver, I hope I don't get another note from your teacher about you trying it play fight in the yard again." I warned my eldest, since nowadays he was prone to wanting to play a little too hard with the other boys at his school.
"Yes mom." He replied back, knowing that I meant business. I then held out my sign for I love you to the both of them, seeing it back with their child's hands.
"Do I love you?" I asked him, the same question I have asked them every morning before they would go to school. It was a tradition that I would use them since I wanted them to know that I did love them, more than they would ever know and more than myself.
"Indeed you do." They both replied in unison, but they smiled at me as I kissed both of their foreheads and they shuffled out to the yellow cab in the front of the house: Joe's cab. Joe watched them climb in the backseat as he looked back at me, the infamous smirk on his face as I watched him. He was still beyond handsome for his age, no long young and reckless but older and still on the cocky side. As he got older, he wasn't as lanky anymore but got more meat behind his bony jaw and cheeks. I loved him more and more as the years came and went with our two boys and a little girl, and with the new child on the way since I was only 5 months along.
"Do you know I love you?" He asked me, leaning close to me as he was grinned from ear to ear. We always reminded each other of our love for once another, it was something we have always done because we both knew we needed it. Even as the nightmares came every once in awhile, seeing the images of blood and war coming over us in the dead of night after years and years of not being in the war, we still had to tell each other that we were in love and nothing was going to break that. I kissed him squarely on the mouth, smiling through the kiss and getting the same feeling in my stomach that I got when we first kissed: butterflies.
"Indeed I do." I replied, seeing him sign to me I love you before he walked over to the cab with our two boys, driving them to school and then off to work. I stood there on the porch with Josephine in my arms, seeing them drive off to the city and having me smile against the morning breeze that was coming through the house and hill, the sun on my skin and I breathed out.
All was well in my world.
The End.
