This is War✔

Twenty-Five

The next morning, bright sunlight streamed through the open window next to the bed. Before he even realized where he was, Tom registered the dim yet buring pain in his left hand. He opened his eyes and scanned the room. It wasn't his.

   The bed was soft and comfortable, and a white vanity stood directly across from the bed. It must have been Daisy's room. Why he was in hers and not his own he didn't quite understand.

   There was movement next to him. "Dad. How do you feel?" It was Andrew. "Daisy thought you would be more comfortable in her room here. Your hand got burned pretty badly and they had to operate, but you should be able to use it again come July. Sorry about that."

   "Alright, I understand. Where's Dec--" Tom stopped himself as he realized exactly where Henri and Declan were. They were quite gone.

   Andrew looked down at the ground for a moment and said, "How are you in respect to them, then?"

   Andrew looked into his father's tear-stained face. Tom looked at his offspring and sighed, an exhausted demeanor about him. "Overwhelmed. I can't believe I made it. I don't know what's come over me but I can't help but feel disappointed that It was them and not me.

   "I'm not young. They were taken and they had so much ahead. They deserved to live so much more than I do."

   At this Andrew jumped from the chair he was sitting in and began to pace the room. He was clearly unnerved and upset by Tom's statements. "Dad, don't say that! Anyone dying is tragic! I'm sorry for what happened to them, but I'm glad you're not dead! I want you to meet my child."

   At this, more tears leaked from Tom's eyes. "I want to as well. I just, don't feel like I deserve it."

   Andrew's voice cracked as he stood at the end of the bed and looked at his father. "Please, don't say that. I'll call for Daisy. She wants to see you. Get well, Dad." He strode briskly from the room.

   Tom waited a few moments. Then Daisy entered. She walked directly to the bed and took his uninjured hand in his. "Uncle Tom." She smiled at him, though tears stood in her eyes.

   "I'm sorry, I--"

   "No. Shh, shh, shh. You are not and never will be to blame."

   "Oh, Daisy. This blasted war."

   "I know, I know. I came to see you and give you this." She took the hand she had been holding and slipped something onto it. It was his wedding ring, though it was on the wrong hand.

   "What's this, love?"

   "I don't need it much any more, do I? I was going to have another anyway." She bit her lip, then continued. "You still have your love. Enjoy it, will you?"

   Tom nodded slowly. "I will."

   Daisy squeezed his hand and began to leave but Tom called softly after her in a choked voice, "Wait. He wanted you to know that he loved you."

   Daisy paused for a moment and turned around. Tears made their way down her cheeks. "I know." Then she turned and left. Tom closed his eyes. Oh how he wished this was just a dream!

   He wished there was no war. He wished he hadn't come to this God-forsaked mansion. As he thought these things, he stopped himself. But what about the people he had met?

   Granted he had lost some, but was the time spent getting to know them worth it to just end up losing them anyway? He thought for a moment and decided it was. It was worth it a hundred times over. And he knew in that moment that if he had the choice, he would do it again.

   Looking away from the past, he determined that their sacrifices would not be in vain. The future was bleak, but he and the others could honor them by giving the time they had left their all, by loving deeply, and by fighting honorably to the death.