Author's Note:
Hello, Guest! Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Yes, the story about Joe Toye's breakdown is true. Malarkey found him "climbing out on the roof of an atrium" as his book states. Malarkey had to coax him back, afraid that he'd do something drastic. He cried and confided in Malarkey about his rough childhood. Poor guy :(
Thank you missavc34 for the long and nice review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story and that you can relate to Marie. It always makes me really happy when the readers can relate to my character. I can't believe you think I'm a great writer, that's such a great compliment! And this is your first long review? Wow! I'm honored! ❤
Thank you so much LBellersen for the favorite and the follow!
Marie was surprised that they'd gotten one final day of rest before the big jump on the 17th. It was September 13th, and Easy Company found themselves in a pub. They'd moved out to get ready for the jump into Holland, only to sit around and wait for more orders. It was annoying that they were rushed out so quickly but now they were stuck waiting around again.
The atmosphere of the pub was buzzing with life, but not out of control like it had been during the relief period. Everyone was in their dress greens, killing time by drinking, talking with some English women, and playing darts. Marie watched Buck, Babe, Luz, and Toye play darts. Marie wanted to join in, but they were betting, which is something she never enjoyed in games. She'd played for money before, but that was only among her three good friends. Bull and Martin watched nearby, cheering on whomever was throwing the dart.
Babe threw the dart, Marie could already tell he was natural as it hit close to the bull's-eye. The men cheered their approval. Marie regarded the game, drowsily, her eyes going in and out of focus as the time went on.
"You're embarrassing the Lieutenant here. Have a drink." Guarnere piped up.
"Don't mind if I do, Sarge." Babe gratefully took the drink from his hands. It was amazing how alcohol had the ability to gather everyone together. Marie at times felt almost bad about not drinking. But the memories of how her mother transformed after drinking always made Marie stray away.
"Better start winning money soon, I think your buddies are startin' to miss ya." Guarnere said, pointing to a group of replacements at a nearby table. Marie followed his finger. Her eyes rested on the new replacements; she wanted to introduce herself, but she was always weary of new people. They weren't Toccoa men, she wasn't sure if she could trust them, with the exception of Babe.
Web was sitting beside her, both relaxing from the short break that they were having. Once they jumped, who knew when they'd be relieved again. Guarnere sat at the replacements table, striking up a conversation with them. Marie half listened, she already knew that Guarnere was trying to rough them up and feel out what kind of soldiers they were going to be. Marie picked up that the replacements were in Bull's squad, which was a good thing - Bull was an excellent leader.
"Web, what do ya call them letters the broads send?" Guarnere stuttered, turning his attention to where Marie and Web were sitting. "Well… most broads, with the exception of Hun and Em."
Web glanced at Marie, whom smirked at Guarnere's quick recovery.
"Uh, Dear John letters." Web answered. Marie had watched a few of the men receive those in the mail. She felt awful for them, wondering how someone's significant other could end a relationship to a soldier fighting for freedom with the memories of home being their only driving force.
"That's what happens when we're away too long. Our girlfriends start to go steady with someone else." Web muttered, mostly to himself but Marie heard him.
Marie tuned out the rest of the conversation, feeling antisocial. Large parties and socializing this much exhausted her. Marie laid her head down on the table, resting her chin on her arms. She starting thinking about Malarkey, cursing herself for fondling over him like a lovesick child. Her eyes spotted Malarkey on the other side of the pub with Muck, Emilia, and Tab. Some pretty English women were gathered around them, flirting and drinking. Marie felt a pang of jealousy as she watched Malarkey speak freely to these women - he was clearly fancying the attention. She knew that her bitterness wasn't fair, Malarkey could talk to anyone he wanted to. But no matter how positive she tried to seem, it still stung.
He's not yours, Marie. You're not even in a relationship with him. She thought.
She peeled her eyes away only to find Cobb talking down to the replacements. She disliked Cobb, he always thought he was the big shot of the company. She watched Cobb insulted the men about the unit citation they received. He was irritated because they got the citation even though they didn't participate in Normandy. She watched one replacement take his citation off and walk away, looking defeated. Marie was about to say something, but Bull beat her to it.
"Shit, Cobb. You didn't fight in Normandy, either." Bull commented.
Marie couldn't help herself but smile at Bull's truthful statement. Cobb had been wounded in the plane and was unable to assist with Brécourt Manner. Bull caught her eyes, she smiled tiredly at him and he returned it.
"Hey, ya'll, listen up! I got us an announcement to make!" Smokey shouted across the pub. Marie looked over at him. "This here is Carwood Lipton."
"He's already married, Smokey!" Malarkey joked. The men laughed, and Marie found herself cracking a smile.
"This is Carwood Lipton, the new Easy Company 1st Sergeant!" Smokey continued. Everyone clapped and cheered, congratulating Lip. He acknowledged all the praise humbly. Marie whistled her approval, happy for Lip to be moving up in the ranks. She couldn't think of anyone who deserved it more. "As befitting his position, he says he has to make an announcement." Smokey continued.
"Well, hate to break the mood here boys and girls. We're moving out again." Lipton stated. He left shortly after, leaving the men and their let down feelings. Marie felt bad for Lip, always being the one who had to make the tough announcements.
Marie stood up and started toward the pub exit. She thought she might as well get her gear ready now, considering she had nothing else to do. She was too bored and tired to focus on anything, and it had been quite a long time since she'd jumped out of a plane. She needed to go over everything to make sure she remembered. As she walked by, Emilia reached for her forearm. Marie looked into Emilia's face, her cheeks flushed and her smile lopsided from drinking. Tab had the same goofy expression on his face.
"Why in such a rush, chica? We knew that this was coming sooner or later." Emilia sighed. Tab had his arm around her, Marie forced herself not to give Em an impish smile.
"You know the briefing will be starting soon." Marie replied simply.
"She's right. So long, ladies." Muck said, waving goodbye to the giggling English women. Malarkey and Muck continued to look back at them as they made their way out of the pub. Marie rolled her eyes, growing irritated.
"I'm sure gonna miss England." Muck sighed dreamily.
"Really? Because I'm getting sick of this place." Marie grumbled.
"Feeling threatened are we?" Muck teased.
"Leave her alone, Skip." Em said, smacking Muck upside the head.
"You know there's no girl that could replace you, Hun." Malarkey chuckled. "Those women are just looking for some easy guys in uniform."
Marie grinned to herself, and continued to walk on ahead of them.
Winters and Nixon stood in front of Easy Company, all growing anxious as the battle plans were laid out during the briefing. Marie sat squashed in between Muck and Malarkey as she listened intently to every word. Winters pointed to a map as he explained the operation.
"As you can see, this is called Operation Market Garden. In terms of Airborne Division involved, this one's even bigger than Normandy. We're dropping deep into occupied Holland. The Allied objective is to take this road in between Maas and Rhine so the two British Armored divisions can move up toward Arnhem. Our job is gonna be to liberate Eindhoven, stay there and wait for the tanks." Winters nodded and turned to Nixon, signaling him to continue on for him.
"Entire European Advance has been put on hold to allocate resources for this operation. Montgomery's personal plan will be under British command." Nixon went on. Everyone groaned at this, no one liked Monty. "The good news is if this works, the tanks will be over the Rhine and into Germany. That could end the war and get us home by Christmas."
Marie chuckled in disbelief at this. Getting home by Christmas seemed like a long shot. She saw Malarkey nod his head, weighing the possibility. He caught eyes with her, she made a face, indicating that she didn't believe it. He shrugged, showing her that the outcome was uncertain but not impossible. He nudged her with his forearm.
"Don't be so negative." He whispered in her ear.
"Shh!" Muck shushed them.
"It'll be a day time jump. Intelligence doesn't except much opposition, they think the krauts in Holland are mostly kids and old men, and we should take them by surprise. Any case, say goodbye to England, I don't think they're going to call this one off." Nixon concluded.
Outside of battalion, everyone prepared for the jump into Holland. It was very similar to the day that they all had prepared for the jump into Normandy, only this time everyone's minds were a little more at ease. Marie spotted Muck and Malarkey standing by a truck. She jogged over to him, seeing that he looked upset. She saw that his motorcycle was being confiscated.
"Aw, that's a bummer." Marie commented.
"Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better." Muck chuckled darkly. Marie followed his gaze to see Sobel driving up in a jeep with Popeye. Her stomach dropped at the sight of their old CO. She was hoping that she'd never see that man again.
"Shit…" Marie muttered.
Sobel climbed out of the truck, glaring at all the men who looked upon him with caution. They remembered what his instruction was like; no one approached him or said hi. He was like the plague to the men of Easy Company.
"I heard he's the newly appointed supply driver." Muck informed Malarkey and Marie as he watched Sobel prowl around the grounds.
"Really?" Malarkey questioned.
Sobel's eyes locked with Malarkey's. "Malarkey!" Sobel bellowed. Muck quickly made a beeline, leaving both him and Marie to wait for Sobel to march up to them. Sobel cast Marie a vicious glare that made her flesh run cold. "Docherty." He mumbled through gritted teeth as he stood in front of them.
Marie and Malarkey both snapped their hands up into salutes. Sobel raked his eyes over the two of them, making Marie feel uncomfortable. His towering gaze rested back on their eyes.
"Sergeant Malarkey." Sobel acknowledged his promotion, saluting back. He ignored Marie, but she already expected that from him. He'd never called her Sergeant since she'd met him. Sobel glanced back at the motorcycle and turned his head back to Malarkey. An amused grin spread across his smug face. "You thought you'd get away with it?"
"What do you mean, sir?" Malarkey answered in an innocent voice.
Sobel grew irritated instantly at his response. "Sergeant, that motorcycle is United States Army property. That may not mean anything to you, but it means something to me. Where'd you find it?"
"I didn't find it, sir." Malarkey replied coolly.
"Who did?" Sobel pressed.
Malarkey didn't answer. Marie gave him a nervous glance out of the corner of her eyes. Sobel's looming glare settled on her, making her shift in place. She couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes.
"Still causing trouble, Docherty?" He sneered.
Marie remained in attention, suppressing the urge to kick him in the groin. She hated Sobel with a burning passion. She wished that he would just leave her and Malarkey alone and never come back. He closed the distance between them, her face almost touching his chest. Her stomach clenched up with nerves as she broke into a cold sweat. She clenched her fists, forcing them not to tremble.
"I haven't forgotten what you've done." Sobel whispered to her, leaning down as he did so. His tone was menacing. Marie saw Malarkey move from her peripherals. He was ready to lunge if Sobel laid a hand on her. Marie could tell that Sobel was still upset about the little pregnancy issue that happened so long ago. It wasn't her fault, it was Florence's but Sobel didn't care. He tried to get Marie kicked out of the Airborne but instead just burned himself in the process.
"The day you mess up, I'll be waiting." He growled.
Instead of saying or doing anything else, Sobel turned on his heel and marched away. Marie exhaled in relief; she didn't even realize that she'd been holding her breath the whole time. She shakily wiped the sweat off her brow, feeling afraid from his threat.
Malarkey placed a protective hand on her shoulder, now standing in front of her as if to shield her body from Sobel. She saw Malarkey openly staring daggers at the back of Sobel's head.
"You okay?" He asked her in a soothing voice.
"Yeah… yeah. I'm alright." Marie assured him.
He tucked a loose stran of hair behind her ear. His dark, large eyes studied her for a moment. When he saw that her gaze didn't waver he looked away and started to gather his things.
"Malarkey! Marie! Stop lollygagging, let's go!" Guarnere called.
"Christ, we're comin', Bill!" Malarkey called back.
Marie saw Sobel staring at her from across the field. Terrified, Marie clung to Malarkey's arm and they went off to join 2nd platoon in packing all their gear and checking the chutes. She could feel Sobel's eyes still on her; the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She couldn't wait to go to Holland now, if it meant getting away from Sobel.