Shattered Souls (To Love and Serve Book 1)

by Alison Mello

  About thirty minutes later a bunch of nervous looking kids file into the room. There are a few who look to be a bit older, but for the most part it’s all teenagers swearing in to fulfill their duty to their country. There are a few military personnel standing in the front of the room speaking to the group. He asks everyone to raise their right hand. “Repeat after me.” A man at the front of the room speaks clearly. “I…state your name…do solemnly swear that I will…” He continues on in bursts with the soldiers repeating after him.

  I look over to see Lexi mumbling the words along with the rest of the room. She looks so proud. “I’ll never forget the look of pride on my father’s face when I turned around a sworn in Army soldier. I ran straight into his arms, he squeezed me tight and told me just how proud he was of me.”

  I can’t stop smiling as I watch Julian make his way over to us. Amelia is crying, overjoyed with her grandson taking this next big step in life. They hug and next it’s my turn. “Listen, you go out there and you do us proud.” I slap him on the back.

  “You got it.” Julian is grinning ear to ear.

  He hugs Lexi last. With her forehead pressed to his, she says, “I’m going to tell you the same thing my father told me on this very same day.” He smiles. “Go kick some Army ass.”

  He laughs and hugs her again. “Thank you for everything, Lexi. I wouldn’t have been nearly as prepared for this if it weren’t for you.”

  “Remember what I told you. They are going to scream at you no matter how good of a job you do. You keep your head held high and you keep on truckin’. Got it?”

  “I got it.” He says filled with pride. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He lets out a deep breath.

  “Believe it, and know this, we’ve exchanged numbers with your grandmother. She’s in good hands. You do what you have to do, but call her as soon as you can. She’ll let us know how you’re doing.”

  “Thank you both so much. I think that’s the hardest part about this. Leaving my grandmother, the only family I have left, is a little nerve-wracking.” He shakes out his jittery hands.

  “We got your back, you just focus. The next nine weeks are really important for you, especially with your MOS.” Choosing to be a Military Police for his MOS is going to set him up nicely in the civilian world, but it’s no cup of tea in the Army. It’s a lot of work.

  They call out to all the troops to gather their stuff. He has one small bag since they aren’t allowed to bring a lot with them anyway. He quickly gives us one last hug before he goes. “We’ll see you at graduation,” I call out as he waves bye to us from across the room.

  Amelia follows behind, slowly watching her grandson until the very last minute. He files onto a bus, taking a window seat that faces the sidewalk. He lowers the window and calls out to her. “I love you, Grandma.” He blows her a kiss and promises to call her soon.

  Poor Amelia blows one back but breaks into tears. I hug her tight rubbing her back to console her as she watches her grandson’s bus pull away. “Let’s get you home.” Lexi hands her a tissue to clean herself up. I put an arm around her and we walk her off to the car with the promise he will be just fine.

  It’s amazing to me how three people who once were so broken manage to find and heal each other. I have no doubt in my mind if we hadn’t come together when we had our lives would be totally different. We’re no longer the shattered souls we once were, and we will forever support each other and be there for each other so we never have to go down that dark road again.

  It’s family day here on base and soon we’ll be meeting with Julian and some of the people from his company. There’s a short briefing, and then they’ll show us some of the skills they learned. When it’s done Julian will have an on post pass, so we can spend some time with him. We take our seats on the bleachers and watch the show the soldiers are putting on. They’re doing all this stuff with their weapons, Lexi tells us it’s called Drill and Ceremony. Once it’s done the drill sergeants tell the families to meet them back at the company. They have to turn their weapons in, and then they will be free to roam. When we get there, Julian is so excited he runs straight to his grandmother and gives her a huge hug scooping her right up off the ground. His drill sergeant comes walking over. “Private, is this your family?”

  Julian snaps to attention. “Yes, Drill Sergeant,” he screams out.

  “At ease.”

  Julian relaxes and introduces us. “Drill Sergeant, this is the amazing woman I told you about, Lexi Morgan. She’s the combat medic that prepared me for my training.”

  The guy holds his hand out to Lexi and they shake. “It’s an honor to meet you. I want you all to know that Private Cross did an amazing job here at Ft. Jackson. He was one of my top soldiers, always giving his best and working hard. He will go far in this man’s Army.” Julian stands tall like a good soldier.

  “Thank you. We are all very proud of him. He came from some trying circumstances, and chose this life so he could better himself. It takes a lot of guts and courage to make that decision on his own,” I praise him.

  “You know that makes me even prouder. Never once did he complain or use his past as an excuse, and you’d be surprised by the number of soldiers who would try to use that in a moment of weakness.” He shakes Julian’s hand, and then thanks Lexi once again for her service.

  Lexi shows us some cool areas of the base, and we play a round of Putt Putt while Amelia sat on a bench and watched. We went to the museum next and then took Julian for dinner.

  “You guys, it was so cool. I got to throw a live grenade over a cement wall, the thing blew up, shaking the entire ground.” Amelia’s eyes nearly bug out of her face. “It was fine, Grandma, there was a wall there to protect us..” He turns back to us.

  “What was your favorite part?” Lexi asks him.

  “Oh, I don’t know if I can pick one. I loved repelling, learning to fire my rifle was awesome, oh, and the zip line was wicked cool, too.” We can’t help but laugh at how animated he is.

  We eat dinner in between stories of basic training, and all that went down while he was here. He tells us about how one guy and girl got in trouble for sneaking off. A sergeant busted them making out around the side of the building. He laughs. “The drill sergeants smoked them so hard, the chick puked switching from sit ups to push-ups.”

  “That’s not funny,” Amelia tries to scold him, but she’s cracking up.

  “Gram, people are stupid for trying to pull crap like that. If you do that and get caught you deserve to be laughed at.” His grandmother shakes her head.

  “We had people try stuff like that, too, some got caught and some didn’t. I was glad it was no one from my platoon, the drill sergeants do not take kindly to that behavior. You’re not here to hook up.”

  I look down at my watch. “We have to get him back.”

  We drive him back over to his company area to say good night and we leave him with the promise that we’ll see him after graduation in the morning.

  “Come on, Lexi, we’re going to be late.”

  She dismisses me with a wave of her hand. “We have plenty of time. The graduation ceremony is right up the street.” She slips on her shoes. We were lucky and got two rooms on the base. She booked one for Amelia so she could have some privacy and made ours adjoin hers. This way we don’t have far to go for the ceremony. We’re also lucky that Lexi knows how quickly these rooms book up. She called the second we had a confirmation on Julian’s graduation date.

  She knocks on the door that connects our room to Amelia’s. It opens to reveal Amelia standing in a really nice floral dress that goes down to her feet. “You look wonderful.” Lexi kisses her cheek and asks if she’s ready to go.

  She agrees and we all take off out the door. Lexi is driving, she insisted since we are on a base and she has her retired Army ID with her. She says the laws on base are strict, and she doesn’t want me breaking any of them.

  We pull into this parking lot and Lexi parks the car. “Ameli
a, we have a little walk, will you be okay?”

  “Oh, I’ll be fine.” Amelia says, like she’s not in her seventies.

  “Okay, let’s go find some seats.” I help Amelia from the car, we link arms, and slowly walk over to an open field. There are signs pointing to the entrance where we need to find our seats.

  There are bleachers set up around a large track. Lexi tells Amelia this is probably one of the tracks that Julian has run for his physical training test. She smiles proudly. Shit, the woman hasn’t stopped smiling since we picked her up for the flight yesterday, her cheeks are probably killing her. When we get to the stands Lexi and I help her climb a few rows. She doesn’t want to sit on the bottom because she says she won’t be able to see her grandson walk by.

  There aren’t too many people here yet, and I don’t know if it’s because it’s early or if some people just can’t get down here to see their child graduate. I feel bad for those kids who will have no one here. This is an important day, but being someone who had zero support from his mother I guess that’s exactly how I would feel.

  Suddenly they announce A Company, and a group of soldiers come out onto the field, followed by B Company, and then Julian’s group, C Company, is called. They line the field in three clusters and the ceremony begins. It’s not very long and ends with each company marching around the track right past us. Amelia is cute, she waves at Julian, even though she knows he can’t wave back. “Oh, I’m so proud of him, I can’t thank you both enough for all you have done for him.”

  After the ceremony we meet up with Julian one last time. He explains to his grandmother that he is off to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for his next round of training. He will be there for the next eight weeks or so, and then he’ll be home for some leave. “I should be able to come home for Thanksgiving.”

  “Oh, that would be wonderful.” Amelia claps her hands excitedly.

  “Yes, because we need you home so we can get married.” I announce like it’s no big deal.

  Julian looks at me confused. “I proposed to Lexi, but she won’t marry me until you can be there, so get your training done and get back so I can marry her, will you.” I pull him in for a hug.

  “That’s awesome, congratulations.” Julian hugs Lexi. “Thank you guys again for being here, and getting my grandmother down here. I really appreciate it.”

  “We’re family now,” Keegan explains.

  “Damn right.” We hug one more time.

  “I gotta run, but I’ll see you guys after AIT.” He quickly hugs his grandmother goodbye and bolts to collect his things to get ready for his flight.

  “I’m so glad I got to be a part of this. Thank you,” Amelia says, watching her grandson take off to his next round of training.

  “Let’s go home.” I once again put my arm around Amelia while Lexi takes my other hand and I escort them back to our rental so we can get out of here. It’s been an amazing weekend, but I’m ready to spend some time alone with my fiancé.

  To our troops who need help!

  Do you have a family member or know someone that is suffering from PTSD? There are a number of organizations available to help soldiers through this trying time. Here are a few that may be able to help.

  VETSports

  www.vetsports.org

  Veteran’s Phone Line

  (813) 284-0587

  the_toc@vetsports.org

  Public Inquiries

  301-323-8063

  the_toc@vetsports.org

  Veterans Crisis Line

  www.veteranscrisisline.net

  1-800-273-8255 Press 1

  You can learn to recognize signs of suicide at

  www.veteranscrisisline.net/SignsOfCrisis/Identifying.aspx

  Honoring The Sacrifice

  http://honoringthesacrifice.com/

  info@honorhingthesacrifice.org

  Gary Sinise Foundation

  https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/

  gsf@polarispr.com

  I’m forever grateful to my family. I’m very lucky to have so many supportive people around me.

  My hubby, who helps me through scenes and talks about my characters with me when I need him. Babe, there are only so many ways I can say the words thank you, and I try to do it often. I’m so proud of all you have accomplished, and because of how hard you work I’m able to stay home to work and care for our son, and I appreciate it.

  Misty, girl, what can I say, I love you so hard. You juggle your family, the farm, and a bunch of authors, including me. Between pimping and beta reading you’re a machine, and I need you to know how much I appreciate you stepping up to help me out the way you do.

  Sara, thank you so much for stepping up to be my PA. In a short period of time you have come to be a great friend and I love you hard. Thank you for all you do for me. Your hard work and dedication to my success is amazing. I hope that our families get to meet some day.

  Deena, thanks again for being there for me when I need you. Your input is appreciated. I hope you enjoy this book because it is dedicated to awesome women like you who have served their country both home and overseas.

  To my editor Ansley, thank you so much for taking me on. I appreciate your hard work on this project. It was great working with you.

  To my formatter Silla, girl you have been amazing. This was my first self-published book and you have backed me up so much. You are a Rockstar, and I appreciate all you did to help me make this book perfect.

  Deranged Doctor Design, thank you so much for this beautiful cover. You’ve done so many of them for me now, and I love working with you.

  To my readers, thank you all so much for your love and support, without you my writing would mean nothing. You all have no idea how much it means to a writer to have a cheering squad encouraging you and asking for more.

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