Stone Cold (37 page)

Once in
side, he made his way to Josh’s bunk. There was another soldier lying on his cot.

“I’m looking for Lieutenant Josh Moore. Is he around?”

The young man was speechless as he looked for help from the men who had started to gather around Conall.

“Where’s Josh?” Conall waited for an answer.

“Lieutenant Stone?” said a voice from behind him.

Conall turned around to face the person who
had addressed him.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news.
I’m sorry to have to tell you this but Josh was killed in action back in May of 2007. We’ve been trying to locate you because he left a package he wanted you to have if he died. You’re a hard man to track down.”

A wave of nausea had come
over Conall. He tried to maintain his composure while the sergeant spoke but his knees were trying hard to buckle under him. The men who’d gathered offered their condolences as they patted him on the back one by one.

He was surprised at his own reaction. He’d been around death and dying from day one and never before had he felt lik
e this. Even though he should’ve wanted to kill Josh over Hannah, Conall had grown fond of him and had an attachment that went beyond the soldier bond.

One by one the soldiers left and he was alone with the package of Josh’s things - things that were probably from Hannah. He was sure the pictures must be part of it.

Conall put the unopened package from Josh in with his belongings. It would remain unopened until he was alone in his apartment back in the states.

A few days later, he wa
s finally home. He was sitting on his sofa staring at the contents of the package he’d just opened.

There was a short letter to Conall from Josh with instructions about what to do with the enclosed items which Conall read aloud.

“Dear Lieutenant Stone,

If you’re reading this it means my life has come to an end. I don’t want you or anyone else to be sad because I had a great life and I want you to have a great one too.

You’re one of the only people I shared my personal life with from the many people I met in the military. I never shared anything personal about Hannah with anyone other than you. I wrote a letter to her and I want you to give it to her along with the photos. You might be tempted to read her letter but I’m begging you to resist the temptation and refrain from doing so for her sake.

There is a catch.
I want you to take these things to her in person the next time you’re on leave – it would mean so much more to her and to me than if she received them through the mail.

Her full name and address are on the card att
ached to this letter. I would’ve given you her phone number but I want you to meet her in person.

You’re the most honorable man I know and that’s why I t
rust you to carry out my wish.

Good luck with the rest of your military service.
I hope you find your one and only and have the life that you’ve always dreamed of.

Until we meet again,

Yours truly,

Lieutenant Josh Moore
”

Conall
finished reading the letter.

“Rest in peace bro.”

He’d had a hard time reading through it without getting choked up and wiped away a few tears before he was done.

He
sat for a minute while he looked at the pictures.

Most of them
were of Hannah that she must’ve taken when he was on tour. She was beautiful. He could barely breathe.

He couldn’t help feeling a little guilty
about the mixed feelings he was experiencing. He hadn’t wanted Josh to die but he was glad he was no longer in the picture when it came to Hannah.

Josh was right. Conall
was very curious about the contents of the letter he’d written to her. He’d thought about opening it but after reading the letter addressed to him, there was no way he would go against the wishes of a fellow soldier – especially one who’d died in combat.

There was nothing more he wanted to do than to take the letter and photos to Hannah as soon as
possible but he couldn’t. In time he would honor Josh’s request and make the delivery but there was something he had to accomplish first no matter how much it killed him to wait.

He’d already missed her again in April because of
the injuries he’d sustained in Iraq. He’d been going through intense physical therapy at the time and he still needed a lot more. He also had to go through speech therapy again because his TBI had affected his speech and he needed more treatment for his PTSD which had resurfaced after the IED blew up his Humvee.

It would
take many months to complete but he wanted to be in the best shape he could be in when he finally met her again after all these years. He would be on medical leave until he completed the therapy to the satisfaction of the army doctors.

It took ten months of hard work but Conall had finally completed everything he’d set out to
accomplish in order to meet Hannah at his best. The army doctors were satisfied with his progress and allowed him to stay in the service in the National Guard but not as a ranger.

There wasn’t a day that went by that he hadn’t looked at the pictures of Hannah since he’d opened the package. He’d also studied her name and address so many times that
he couldn’t forget them if he wanted to.

With nothing else standing in his way, the time h
ad finally come for Conall to deliver the letter and pictures. After ten years of unsuccessful attempts to meet, there was nothing else to keep him from making this happen except for the enormous fear that welled up inside of him with every mile he drove toward her home. 

He thought it would hel
p if he coached himself through it.

“Get a grip on yourself Conall. Geez, you’re a grown man and you’ve met her before. You’ve been on bigger missions than this with death staring you in the face for crying out loud! She’s just a woman. You’ll be fine.”

He listened to the words he’d just said. He hadn’t had to give himself a pep talk like this before and it both angered and amused him at the same time. She wasn’t just a woman – she was ‘the’ woman and it terrified him to think any one person could have this much of a profound affect on him.

Conall continued with the pep talk for the remainder of the drive. By the time he’d reached her home he’d managed to collect himself enough so that no one could see from his outward appearance how nervous he was on the inside.

There was a car in her driveway so he parked his car on the street in front of her house. He did a quick check in the visor mirror, grabbed the pictures and letter, and exited the car.

His heart was pounding harder and faster than normal and he could feel that his palms had started to sweat. The short walk from the street to the front door seemed like it was a mile long and the usually strong muscles in his legs felt like jelly.

When he reached the door he took several deep breaths before ringing the doorbell. He could hear it ring in the house and then footsteps as they made their way to answer the door.

The door opened and Conall was standing face to face with an attractive woman he assumed was Hannah’s mom. He could see the resemblance, especially in her eyes.

Her face lit up with a smile when she saw him.

“May I help you?” she asked.

Conall resisted the shy feeling that had come over him.

“Hello, ma’am. My name is Conall Stone and this is probably going to sound very strange to you but I know your daug
hter from many years ago and I’m here to meet her and to give her something that belongs to her.”

As soon as he
said his name, Sara knew exactly who he was. She listened intently to his voice as he spoke, unable to take her eyes away from his. She couldn’t help but to notice how attractive he was and she understood why Hannah was so drawn to him, on a physical level at least.

“Hi Conall.
It’s nice to meet you. I’m Sara Perry, Hannah’s mom. Please, won’t you come in.”

Conall followed her into the house and she led him to the living room.

“Please have a seat anywhere you like. Can I get you anything to drink or eat? I was just about to get a cup of coffee.”

“Some water would be fine thank you.”

When she left the room, he sat on the sofa. There were many pictures of Hannah and whom he guessed was her sister, decorating the walls.

Sara
came back with her coffee and his water.

“I don’t normally let strangers int
o my home so readily but Hannah mentioned your name before and it’s not a common name so I’m guessing you’re the one and only.”

H
e smiled and took a drink of water. He was about to speak when Sara continued.

“You said you have some
thing that belongs to her,” she looked at the items in his hand.

“
Yes, I do. Is she here?”

“Unfortunately,
no. She’s been living in London for the past two years on a work transfer but I’m happy to say that she’s coming home for good next month in April.”

Conall couldn’t believe his luck. He was sitting in her living room and he still had to wait to meet her.

“This may come as a shock to her but I have some pictures and a letter for her from Josh. He wanted me to give these things to her in person.”

He could see t
hat the mention of Josh made Sara sad.

“I just found out about his death right before I was sent home about ten months ago.
It took me this long to bring it to her because I had to recover from being injured in Iraq.”

“
I’m so sorry you were injured. I hope you’re better now. How do you know Josh? I know how you know Hannah. I have to confess that she told me about you after Josh died.”

Conall wasn’t sure ho
w much of their story Hannah had told her mother.

“
It’s a long story but I’ll try to give you the short version to help clear things up at least.”

“Oh I
don’t want you to feel like you have to tell me anything. I don’t want to interfere in Hannah’s business. I only want to know how everyone knows each other.”

He could see the inquiring
look on her face.

“O
kay I’ll start with Hannah and me. I don’t know what Hannah told you about us so forgive me if I tell you things you already know. We met ten years ago almost to the day. We were both from different schools but ended up on the same ferry when we took a field trip to the Statue of Liberty. We got separated before we could find out how to get in touch with each other and I’ve been trying to meet her again ever since. I’m hoping that she’s been doing the same.”

Sara
’s smile was growing by the minute.

“She’s been trying to
more than you can imagine -every year. She even came home from London last year just to try and meet you.”

He was so happy to know Hannah really had been trying
to meet him as much as he’d been trying to meet her. He always wanted to believe that she was but now he knew for sure.

“As far as Josh goes, I was an army r
anger who was training some of the soldiers while waiting for our orders and he was one of them. We became friends and eventually, I found out he was dating Hannah. He said I was the only one he’d told anything about her. That’s why he wanted me to give these things to her from him if he died.”

Sara was silent while she took it all in and tried to make sense of it.

“Did Josh know you knew Hannah? Did he know the two of you wanted to find each other and be together?”

“I never told him
, so no, I don’t think so. When he told me he was going to propose to her, I tried to stay away from him from that time on.”

“So you knew he and Hannah were engaged?”

“I assumed he went through with it, yes but I wasn’t sure of what her answer had been.”

Sara
hesitated. She didn’t want to hurt Conall but he deserved to know the truth.

“Her answer was ‘yes’ but it wasn’t an easy answer for her to give. It took her months and she still didn’t want to marry him. Her heart was beating for someone else.”

Conall knew who the ‘someone else’ was that Sara was referring to.

“
Believe me, I know how she feels.”

“I was going to ask you if you wanted to leave these things here for me to give to her when she gets home but I want you to give them to her yourself just like Josh wanted you to.”

“Believe me I want to see her more than you know. When should I come back?”

The wheels were turning in Sara
’s mind.

“I have an idea. I’m not going to tell Hannah you were here. She’s coming home next week. I’ll make sure she and I take our usual yearly trip to see Aunt Grace and I’ll get her to go to the ferry landing. This ti
me I want you to be there waiting for her on the benches.”