“Post? Are you here?” Jamie perked up instantly at hearing his name.
“Right here.”
“You got a letter, buddy.”
“Thanks, Miller.”
Jamie accepted the bright red envelope and felt his heart hammer with excitement—before slowing to a crawl. It wasn’t a letter from Annabelle.
Opening the envelope, he pulled out a bright glittery card and felt himself smile as it dusted his lap. Glitter always created a happy mess, but what was Christmas without sparkles, tinsel, and lights? Staring at the flocked and glittery card, he slowly opened it and read the script inside.
May you and those you love
find peace and joy this holiday season!
Merry Christmas Jamie—and thank you for your service.
~ Lucy
P.S.—it was great to see a friendly face during my assignment, Jamie.
Write when you can.
Feeling despondent, it stunned Jamie that a person he considered an acquaintance had enough thought to write him a Christmas card. His own fiancée couldn’t be bothered to do so herself? It was staggering and cut him deep to the core. Even his own parents had sent him a care package a few days ago with a few goodies, yet nothing from his Annabelle. Was she mad and holding a grudge?
Jamie couldn’t bear to toss away the glittery Christmas card and didn’t want to consider the reasons. Instead, he tucked the card in his footlocker along with his long since dead cellphone—both reminders of things he couldn’t have right now.
Chapter Four
April 2016
“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked curiously, handing Annabelle and Marie a cup of coffee. She was so relieved that they had put a Starbucks in the building's lobby. It saved her time on her commute and started her day out with a jolt of caffeine. She still couldn’t believe how well her piece on the soldiers had done last year and the page counter was still getting hits. She’d taken her own advice and written Jamie a Christmas card—only to hear nothing in return.
Ohhhhh the guilt she’d felt mailing it!
Lucy had thrown up for two days thinking of what a horrific home-wrecker she was becoming by betraying Annabelle and writing her fiancé. She’d mentioned sending out Christmas cards and casually brought up the idea over lunch one afternoon in November.
“I love sending out cards,” Lucy had admitted with a shy smile. “There’s something so magical and nostalgic about getting a letter in the mail from someone—instead of a bill.”
“Seriously? I’d rather get a gift card or a small gift bag than a cheap card.”
“What are you getting your family?”
“Gift cards, duh.”
“And Jamie? Are you two lovebirds exchanging gifts this year? I bet there are some really neat artisan pieces made there in Afghanistan—or he could order something online if he has access to a computer. Didn’t you mention that there was one on base now and they had assigned times?”
“Hopefully Jamie doesn’t dip into the account and buy anything. He’s wanting a big wedding, and it’s so much money,” Annabelle said tightly. Lucy glanced down at the woman and barely held her tongue. If things were tight financially, why was she the proud owner of a new Apple watch?
“Maybe you could make a photo book for him? Those aren’t too expensive and you could drop it in the mail today if you get it printed at the store.”
“Aren’t you the creative one?” Annabelle said snidely, glaring at her.
Lucy dropped the subject immediately.
It wasn’t worth picking a fight with the woman they tasked her to work with daily. Instead, Lucy went to Hallmark that evening and picked out the most festive Christmas card she could find, ignoring the extravagant price tag. She could only imagine what it must feel like for a soldier to be away from home at Christmas and wanted to cheer him up. There was nothing worse than being alone during the holidays—and she should know. This was the first year she would be on her own, in her own home.
After hearing Annabelle on the phone at the office, Lucy realized that something wasn’t right. That original nagging doubt was back, and her hunches were usually spot on. Why was Annabelle telling Jamie not to come home for Christmas? Didn’t she want to see him?
What if Jamie got her card and told Annabelle that Lucy had mailed it? She instantly regretted sending it and that doubt lingered for weeks on end—thankfully the nerves that tore up her stomach did not. She then realized that Jamie would not write back and felt like a fool. She wondered if he and Annabelle had a good laugh or thought it was sweet that the card addressed the both of them—even if she didn’t give a Christmas card to Annabelle.
Months passed with no word and Lucy set it aside. There was no point in worrying about it now. If Annabelle knew, she never said a word. It was now April with utterly not a peep from either of them. Lately her coworker had been happier than ever… which was strange for the mercurial woman, but not today.
Today, she looked positively green around the gills.
“Annabelle are you coming down with something?” Lucy asked kindly, handing the coffee cups out.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Not anymore,” Annabelle snapped, yet Lucy didn’t back down or take the warning. The other women grew silent and looked at her warily.
“Is Jamie hurt? Is he okay?”
That was obviously the wrong thing to say and the straw that broke the camel’s back. Annabelle glared at her, got to her feet, and picked up the coffee cup. For a moment, Lucy was positive she was about to be doused in white chocolate macchiato with extra whipped topping—but instead Annabelle flung it into the trashcan with a passion.
“Jamie! Jamie! Jamie! That’s all I hear from anyone anymore! No one cares about me, how I feel, or what a mess everything is,” she snarled at Lucy, her eyes flashing angrily. It was almost comical at the quick change in her behavior, as her eyes suddenly got wide just seconds before she threw up in the trashcan where the coffee was deposited prior.
“Can someone fetch her some crackers or mints,” Lindsey called out, setting her coffee down.
“Maybe we should get her some Pepto or an Uber home?”
“Mary, can you call Joe and tell him to take Annabelle to the doctor?”
“Girls, she’s got a stomach bug and needs some rest,” Lucy said, shocked at the way everyone was acting around the vomiting woman. “She needs fluids and something to settle her stomach. Feel her face, does she have a fever? Mary, can you get some water instead—and who exactly is Joe?”
The four women straightened up from where they were standing, holding Annabelle’s hair out of the way sympathetically, and looked at Lucy strangely.
“Wait… Joe? Joe from lighting?” Lucy gasped, horrified, looking at the puking woman again and her coworkers’ faces. “Is she pregnant?”
“Don’t… you… say… a word… ohhhh!” Annabelle moaned, her voice echoing in the plastic trashcan.
“What about… never mind… No! Not ‘never mind’ - you have to tell him,” Lucy said flatly, feeling significantly distraught at being caught in the middle of this dramatic fiasco.
“Joe already knows and is ecstatic.”
“No—she needs to tell her fiancé, Jamie!”
“Are you sure she hasn’t?” Mary said, her face growing pale with dawning comprehension. Lucy nodded in silence and felt her own stomach turn over at the thought of what news like this would do to Jamie. He’d been infatuated with the woman for years—only to be betrayed in the cruelest way possible.
“I thought you said you broke it off with your fiancé?”
Mary’s expression was telling and the other women that had been trying to help hold back Annabelle’s hair suddenly dropped it, stepping back. The women had been closer to Lucy’s coworker than she’d ever imagined, but even then—there was an unspoken code. Annabelle was jilting Jamie with another man. She was pregnant and Jamie was overseas with no idea
of what was happening.
It was pathetic and shameful.
“What about the wedding plans?” Lucy whispered aghast as thought after thought hit her with the realization that Annabelle probably hadn’t even made any plans. She’d been spending Jamie’s money on herself—and her boy-toy.
“It’s none of your business. Go away—all of you.”
Annabelle got up and wiped her face before yanking her purse up from under her desk. She had streaks and smudges of mascara under her eyes. The smell hovering around the desk was bitterly pungent. Glaring at her, Annabelle stuck her finger not a half inch from Lucy’s nose.
“You want him—you can have him. He’s pathetically clingy and you’ll regret it just like I did. Maybe you can find him a nice glittery ‘I’m breaking up with you’ card from Hallmark too—just drop that in the mail for him - from me,” Annabelle snarled before walking off. She slammed her hand into the office doorway angrily before stomping down the corridor.
“Someone please call down to maintenance to clean up this mess,” Lucy said numbly in the surrounding silence. She was mortified to find out that apparently Jamie had said something to the pregnant woman about receiving the card, yet Annabelle hadn’t said a word. She just stewed on it repeatedly.
“Lucy, can I see you in my office?” her boss said quietly.
Stepping inside the office, she wished the floor could just swallow her up. She was utterly embarrassed and Annabelle had the last jab, deflecting quickly away from her pregnancy to the fact that Lucy had gone behind her back. The clever woman was having the last laugh, apparently.
“Is something going on?”
“No, sir.”
“Is this going to cause a problem with your team?”
It took several minutes before she could answer him.
“It shouldn’t because work and personal are separate. I can keep it that way—I promise.”
“Can she?” he asked, pointing out the doorway of his office.
“I hope so,” Lucy whispered softly, realizing that Annabelle would affect her life once again if they weren’t able to mend the rift between them. The sooner the Band-Aid got ripped off, the quicker that they could try to start again. In the meantime, she would update her resume—just in case.
That evening, Lucy was drinking Pepto from the bottle and crying for a man she barely knew, as she drafted a letter that would impact all of their lives. She couldn’t tell him, nor could she let Annabelle’s treachery go on.
Jamie deserved the truth—but from Annabelle.
Lucy also knew that sending him the letter was going around her coworker once again and putting her job deliberately on the line. She had no qualms at Annabelle’s deviousness anymore. The woman was a snake hidden behind a beautiful mask that men fell for.
Jamie,
It’s with a heavy heart that I write you this letter at all - and I fully know of the impact it will have. You need to contact Annabelle immediately and ask for the truth of what is going on.
I am so very sorry,
Lucy
Sealing the envelope, Lucy immediately began applying for other jobs online. She could not work with Annabelle anymore. It was time her life took a different direction altogether or the Pepto would not be enough to soothe her nerves.
“I’m incredible and I know my value,” she whispered aloud, “I also know right from wrong and trust in doing the right thing. I would want someone to tell me, no matter how much it hurt, so I could move on—just like I am now.”
May 2016
Ghazni, Afghanistan
“Wilkes are you skipping your turn online again this week?” Cooper asked Wilkes as they all laid there on their bunks in the stifling heat.
They were all trying to pick up morale after Ethan lost his leg a few months back. Wilkes was taking it hard and possibly going to end up court-marshalled or dishonorably discharged. Griffin had long ago left, writing when he could. Apparently he’d settled down quite nicely with his girl and had popped the question. Jamie was so glad he had Annabelle in his life waiting for him.
“Yooo-hoo!” Cooper yodeled, waving his hands in Wilkes’ face. “Seriously dude. I could use your internet time. I am killin’ it in Candy Crush right now and that thing is addictive.”
“No. I need to email my parents.”
“Post!” Cooper shouted suddenly, jumping to his feet. “Post, man – you gotta let me use your minutes,” Cooper whined.
“Cooper, I’m supposed to email Annabelle. She’s picking out the stuff for our wedding next year and I gotta keep my girl happy, you know?”
“Man, you are a stick in the mud—if she wants to be happy, she’d be dating someone else with a personality.”
“Some women like a strong, patient man.”
“Stick…in…the…mud…” Cooper repeated, sticking out his tongue. Jamie immediately put Cooper in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles against the man’s dark buzz-cut on his head.
Chapter Five
August 2016
Months had passed quickly as Jamie tried to keep himself busy. He volunteered for every patrol and tried to be a part of the gang to keep from sinking into a funk. The phone calls he shared with Annabelle were few and far between now. She was busy at work or didn’t answer—until one day, she had, and the conversation had been ugly.
Jamie never intended for it to be.
He loved her and whatever was wrong, they could get through it as a couple. The letter he’d received a week ago had stunned him and made him think the worst. Had his Annabelle been in an accident or hurt? Was she deathly ill and keeping him away for a reason? Every excuse ran through his mind - except the one she uttered flatly on the phone.
“Lucy told you—didn’t she?”
“No, she said that we needed to talk—and I happen to agree. What’s wrong, Annabelle? Is it the wedding plans? Are you sick or hurt?”
“Jamie—you’re a naïve idiot. I’m pregnant.”
“Excuse me?”
“I. Am. Pregnant.”
“I see,” Jamie breathed, his mind racing as the pain of her betrayal hit him like a ton of bricks. “How far along are you?”
“Does it even matter?”
“Not really but it seemed polite to ask.”
“The wedding is off,” Annabelle said calmly in the phone and Jamie couldn’t help the short bark of laughter that escaped.
“You think? In what way did you think being pregnant by another man would ever be okay?”
“I didn’t. It’s over. You don’t have to be hateful about it.”
“Hateful is what you did to me—what I’m saying to you is the truth,” he snapped, his hands shaking as he held the receiver to his head. His heart was pounding in his ears as his temper rose and rose.
“You lied to me, dragged me along, played me like a fool—all the while saying that you were saving for our future. So, since it trashes our future - I’m guessing that the savings was a lie too? Tell me I’ve been out here for years, Annabelle, for us—but there was no ‘us’, was there?”
“Sure there was, Jamie. I just moved on.”
The casual tone of her voice went right through him like a dagger. He surged to his feet and threw the phone across the room angrily before picking it up. “How much Annabelle? How much is in our account or did you spend it all?”
“The account has about a thousand dollars in it.”
Jamie sat down hard in the chair before he collapsed. He’d been overseas for years on end and every check, every cent, went into an account they’d shared.
“You’d better go get it before I do because that will be the last dime you ever get from me,” he whispered flatly before hanging up the phone. Luka was standing there waiting to use the phone as Jamie looked up.
“C’mon man, let’s shut your account and drinks are on me tonight,” Luka whispered, patting Jamie on the back. He couldn’t say a word; the depth of the betrayal was so bitter that it seemed almost unfathomable.
�
�Call your family first,” Jamie mumbled and Luka just shook his head.
“You are like family, brother. Let’s get you taken care of first. The phone will be here later unless you just broke it.”
Nodding, Jamie allowed himself to be led out of the small office. They went straight to the makeshift bank that had been set up in a tiny building nearby. He couldn’t even say the words aloud; thankfully Dylan Luka had no problems sharing what needed to be done.
Annabelle was wrong on the dollar amount. There was almost four thousand in the account because of his last paycheck. They immediately moved it over to a new account, allowed him to use a computer to change his direct deposit information and issued him new cards—locking everything else down.
“Do you want to press charges or go after her for the money?” Dylan said quietly. Jamie shook his head. He felt like he was just as much at fault as she was. He shouldn’t have left her alone for so long, nor should he have listened to her when she told him to stay there. He felt like an idiot for not checking the account over the last several years, but he’d trusted her implicitly and it suited him to do so.
“No. What’s done is done.”
“You sure, man?”
“Positive. The sooner I can put it all behind me—the faster I will heal.”
“You know what heals a broken heart?”
“What?”
“Another one,” Dylan said with a wink. “You need to find yourself some girl, before finding yet another girl, and another. I’ve got friends all over the world that simply want my company and a handsome smile.”
“That’s not me.”
“It’s not me either, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to kiss another girl when the moment is exactly right. You ought to try it—find someone to replace Annabelle when you are ready.”
Remember Fate Page 3
