A Solider's Love (Mudbound Fan Fiction)

He's Home

Since it was getting later in the summer it was getting too hot for the girls to play outside all day, so they spent most of their time inside, playing with their dolls. One afternoon, while the girls were in the living room playing, Laura was sitting with them, relaxing, while I had been cleaning the dishes from lunch. Amanda Leigh called out to Laura. "Mama, somebody's coming!" Amanda Leigh looks but out the screen door and smiles. "Uncle Jamie!"

Isabelle looks out as well, "Uncle Jamie!" The girls know Jamie from photographs mostly. Amanda Leigh may be old enough to have some real memories of Jamie, but I don't think so.

The girls run out as Laura and I get to the door, seeing Jamie squatting in front of the girls with his arms outstretched. "Now come give your Uncle Jamie a hug." He chuckles as Amanda Leigh jumps into his arms, "Is that my little Amanda doll? And who is this? My little Bella." Jamie hugs the girls tightly, "Oh you have grown so big."

As Laura and I step out onto the porch as Henry comes running up, "Whoo-hoo-hoo! Jamie!"

Jamie turns to Henry and laughs, "Now, who's that?"

Henry doesn't stop running until he hits Jamie, almost knocking them over. Laura gestures for the girls to come back onto the porch, "Come on, girls."

Henry stops and looks at his brother, "You look good, brother."

"You look like hell," Jamie responds.

"Don't sugarcoat it now."

Jamie chuckles, "Don't sugarcoat it?"

"Come on!" Henry grabs Jamie's suitcase and heads up the stairs, gesturing up to Laura and I, then back to Jamie, "You see him in his uniform?"

When Jamie gets onto the porch he greets Laura first, "Oh, my sweet sister-in-law."

"Welcome home, Jamie."

Jamie stops on the step in front of Laura so he's the same height as her before giving her a hug. Henry heads over to Pappy, who is on the front porch, talking about all of Jamie's medals on his coat. Jamie smiles to Laura, "How are you enjoyin' it here in Henry's version of paradise?"

I take a breath to say something, but Pappy beats me to it. "You'd think a son would see fit to say hello to his own father."

"Oh, dearest Pappy. God, how much I missed you."

Henry nods, "He's missed you, too, though he won't admit it."

"Yeah. Well, I bet he's quit chewing chaw and joined the NAACP too." Pappy spits out some of his chaw as Henry and Jamie laugh. Jamie looks around for a moment, "Now I know there was a bigger reason I came all the way out here. It was almost like love was callin' me."

Amanda Leigh and Isabelle giggle, "You came for Aunt Liz."

Jamie gasps and looks down at the girls, "I did?" The girls laugh as Jamie looks up to me and smiles, the same charming dashing smile I fall in love with. "That's right, I did." He steps onto the porch and over to me, taking my cheeks in his hands as he pulls me in for a deep, passionate kiss. As he does I place my hands on his forearms, once he pulls away he smiles again, "Whoo! I missed you!"

I giggle softly as he pulls me into a hug, "I missed you, too."

Henry laughs as Jamie pulls away from me, "come on! I can't believe you walked out here!"

"Well... I didn't wanna bother you guys."

I look up to Jamie as he puts an arm around me as we walk into the house, "It wouldn't have been a bother, we would have been happy to see you off the bus."

"I know, but you'll have so much to do out here."

As the night goes on, after we eat dinner and clean up, the boys sit around the table, drinking, and sharing war stories. With the house being so small Laura and I can hear the boys even when putting the girls to bed, laughing and joking. Once Laura goes to bed, I sit in the sitting room, waiting for them to call it a night before I can go to sleep.

"So what's it like being a big war hero?" Pappy asks.

"Shit, I wouldn't know." Jamie laughs, as he takes his cigarette out of his mouth.

"No, don't give me that. Army wrote me letters about your fancy medals. Said it was the highest honor an airman could achieve."

Henry looks over to Pappy confused, "They did?" He looks from Pappy to Jamie.

"Well... I was lucky. Other men weren't." The smile fades from Jamie's face as he pours another drink of the whiskey the boys had been working on.

"Yeah, Well..." Pappy clears his throat, glancing over to me, "I bet you got plenty of tail out of it, too."

Henry chuckles, "Oh, Jamie never needed medals to get girls, Pappy."

"Mmm? Takes after me that way." Pappy chuckles. As Henry and Pappy joke Jamie looks over to me and I smile over to him sweetly. I don't really want to hear this, but I don't have anywhere else to go. Pappy continues, "Your mama was the prettiest girl in Greenville. I had 'em all sniffing up after me." The three of them chuckle.

"Yeah, well... I had the prettiest girl in Mississippi, maybe even the whole world, waiting for me at home. Why would I need anythin' else." Jamie smiles over to me.

"I'll tell you one thing for sure. You had to kill a whole lot of Krauts to get them medals." Pappy laughs, "How many did you take out, you reckon? Fifty? A Hundred?"

"Oh, I don't know." Jamie shakes his head.

"Take a guess."

"I don't know..."

"Man ought know how many men he's killed."

Jamie sighs, pouring himself another drink, "Well... I'll tell you one thing." He pauses for a moment, "It was more than one."

The mood shifts and the smile is wiped off of Pappy's face. "Well, son... at least I looked my one in the eye before I shot him. Not like dropping bombs from a mile up in the air."

Henry tries to calm Pappy down. "Pappy. Pappy come on."

"To hell with him." Pappy gets up and heads out of the house.

I stand up and smile, "I think Pappy finally had a good idea. It's time to hit the hay."

Jamie nods, "Yeah, tell me, Henry, where has my radiant wife been sleeping."