Mary and Sophia had left the hospital and William a few hours ago and now they were back in their tiny room taking the rest of the day to relax. They were quiet the entire way home, knowing they would speak about it when they finally got some privacy.
"He's very quiet. William always seems like he's ready for the Germans to come and ambush us."
"He fought in the war for over a year, what did you expect?"
"Not like that; I meant that he seemed like he'd never trust someone again. It must be difficult to love him, but know you'll never fully understand what he went through."
"I'm trying my best, and I told him that if he were ever ready to speak about it, I'd be willing to listen. I've already told him that I know that I'll never understand, but it's better than having no one."
"I'm not very cheerful, I'm sorry." Mary sighed, but nodded, forgiving her friend. She knew that Sophia didn't mean her words in a hostile way. "He spoke about your brother with me. Well, I asked him how he seems to know you so well for only having just met and he says that there's a lot of similarities between you and Tom. He must have spent some time with your brother to know him that well."
"Tommy never left him alone. Tommy just followed him around until William just accepted that he has to just accept Tommy's friendship."
"William must have been so lonely before."
"He was in the Somme."
"So?"
"He lost all his friends that day. He watched everyone he was close to die while he survived. He was most likely injured too because he got a medal which isn't given lightly. That means he was probably injured while doing something that could've cost him his life. It makes sense that he wouldn't want to make any other friends while in France. We may not understand anything that the soldiers we through, but that's easy enough to understand. You and I would be the same way if we were in William's place."
"I didn't know that he's been in the war for that long." Mary stayed silent. She didn't like thinking about it. "He must have gone through more than you know."
"He's never told me about it, but Tommy wrote to me saying that the other soldier that he was becoming friendly with had gotten a medal is The Somme but Tom was terrified of asking him about it."
"Why?"
"Have you ever met a soldier who survived The Somme?" Sophia shook her head. "I haven't either, but Tom and Joseph have and they said the soldiers, when asked, get stoic and they get almost like a stone statue. I'm afraid to ask William about it, but I've told him I'll always be here if he would like to speak with me. At the moment, he's not speaking of what happened with me, but he knows that he's able to at least."
"What will you say if he ever does talk about what happened?"
"I'll say what feels right at the time, I suppose. I'm not really sure. I'm pretty sure that he will never speak of The Somme. He already wrote to me about almost everything else so if he ever speaks about it, I won't be that surprised."
"One day he may be able to speak about it."
"He may, but I won't push him. I don't think I need to know everything that happened in France. Will you ask Jack to tell you everything?"
"He already has." Mary turned around, looking at her best friend who took a seat at Mary's desk. "He talked all about what happened to him over in France. He has no issue in talking about it."
"Well, I supposed every soldier is different."
"Or William doesn't trust you enough." Mary frowned. "Sorry, I just can't imagine not knowing what happened to the person I care about over there. You're just okay with the mystery?"
"He told me what happened during his first mission with Tommy and then he told me about when he was sent back. I don't ask about The Somme because I know he won't want to talk about it. I'm okay with not knowing everything since it was traumatic for him. I wouldn't want to be pushed to talk about it either. I'm giving him time to be completely fine with what happened."
"You and I are different then."
"If Jake went through everything William did, you'd also be okay with him not telling you what happened to him. I know enough to know not to push him. Besides, you saw what happened the other day, we don't need that again, alright?"
"No need to get defensive."
"It seems like you want me to believe that William is keeping things from me because he doesn't trust me. That's not being supportive of anything that he's been through or of our relationship."
"You barely know each other!"
"You barely know Jake!"
"That's different! We met in person at first."
"William and I are closer than you and Jake ever could be because we were each other's only comfort during the time we needed it the most. Besides, you were fine with it this morning, what happened?" "Nothing," Sophia tried to brush it off meaning that something did happen and it wasn't anything good." "Sophia."
"Just, I saw the way Dr. Anderson looked at you and you're absolutely clueless, but he has a stable job and he's not broken like William-"
"William isn't broken, Sophia, he fought in a war and almost died. He's fucking traumatized, but he's not broken, he never was broken and he never will be. If you think that having moments of sheer terror and shell shock after being almost buried alive because of a trip wire explosion, your best friend dying in your hands, running across the front line of war, and then being shot at, is something a man should just get over and come back like nothing ever happened to them, then you and I are more different than I thought."
"Mary-"
"No. William is no less of a man because of what happened to him."
"That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that what if a few years from now you want children, but William still jumps at loud voices? How are you going to have children? Or how is he going to be able to provide any money for you if he barely can stand a car backfiring?" Mary was hurt. She thought that Sophia would understand, especially since she lost her fiance in the war, but Mary was mistaken. Mary knew that William wouldn't ever be completely okay again, but she knew that over the years, he'll be able to do some things he may not be able to do right away.
"Sophia, I'm not talking to you about this anymore. It's clear you and I have very different views about this. I'm going to get ready for dinner, I suggest you do the same." She said no more, turning her back on her best friend, not wanting Sophia to see the stray tears that Mary was shedding.
