Carrying the Torch

Chapter 12

(Warning: short chapter!)

I started chores early and finished as fast as possible. Today is the day.

Today is the Sunday of our FaceTime. I can't wait. I get to see and talk to my fiancé for the first time in a month. I miss him so much.

I'm currently eating pizza waiting for the call to come through. I am scrolling through Pinterest, although I'm not truly looking at the pins.

I'm thinking about him. I hope he hasn't changed much. I mean, I don't know. He was perfect before. People always say war changes you. I'm not worried, he won't ever stop annoying me.

And that's another thing I love about him. And that is why I won't cry. I need to be strong for him. And he needs to be strong for me.

Wedding pins. Pins reminding me of my wedding that is no longer a month away.

But that doesn't matter now. My fiancé is calling me any minute now. I'm so excited!

My MacBook screen goes dark for a second and I start to freak out, until a FaceTime call appears. It's him! I click the green button and his face appears.

"Hey, Beautiful!" He says, smiling.

"Hey!" I say, already holding back tears. He looks amazing, stronger than he was before, and his hair is shaved. "How are you?"

"Better now. And how is my beautiful fiancé?"

"I'm holding up. But I am lonely."

"I figured you would be. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Reynolds!" someone calls from Luke's room. His smile falls and he looks up. He is focused on someone behind the screen. He listens intently for a minute then turns back to me.

"Sargent wants me. I will be right back. I'm so sorry." His hand reaches up to close his laptop, but I stop him.

"Wait. We might not be able to connect again. I will just wait here."

He shrugs. "Okay. I will be back soon. I love you Autumn."

I smile. I love hearing that. "I love you too."

He disappears from my screen and I sigh.

Not ten seconds later, three men appear in the screen. They are all built with short hair. They aren't ugly either...

One is tanned with a hooked nose, a crooked smile and brown hair. The one in the middle is dark-skinned and has bright blue eyes. The last one is a ginger with a child-like face.

"There she is," the brown haired one says.

"The famous Autumn," says the dark one.

"Nice to finally meet you," the ginger says.

"So apparently you know who I am, who are you?"

"Sorry, I forgot. I'm Tim," says the dark one. "That's Alec," he points to the brown haired one," and that's Dalton."

"And Luke wasn't called to the Sargent. We told him that so we could meet you. He talks about you all the time and we wanted to meet you." He talks about me all the time. That feels great to hear. I think about him all the time too.

"I'm flattered, but you know that when he comes back he will murder all of you?"

"Yeah. We figured that would happen," Dalton says.

"We thought it would be worth it... and we were right," says Alec as he winks at me. I blush.

Something flies at the screen and hits it. I see a lot of movement but the video is fuzzy and I can't tell what is happening.

Luke's face suddenly appears. His face is red. "Hey cutie," he smiles at me.

"What did you do to them?"

"Just brutally murdered them," he smiles at me.

I glare at him. "If they wanna talk to me, let them. I'm serious." He rolls his eyes at me, calling to someone just behind the screen.

The guys reappear in the screen.

And we talk about everything. The not-wedding. Our farm. Our crops. My job. It seems like ten minutes, but our time is up before I realize it. Luke makes the guys go away so we can talk. "You made friends!" I exclaim.

"Whatever," he jokes. "I gotta go. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," I frown at him.

"Then don't frown at me. I love your smile. Your dimples and the way you push your tongue to the back of your teeth when you smile."

He makes me smile when he tells me things like that. "Bye. I love you. So much."

"I love you too. Stay beautiful."

And the screen goes black.