To my Dearest Jeanne,


I am sorry it has taken me so long to write, but training has kept me busy. I so enjoyed our time traveling together and I hope we’ll have the opportunity for it again someday. The scenery was beautiful, but I think it was the good company that really made the journey. Perhaps at my first leave, you’ll be able to orchestrate some time off for yourself at the same time and we can make the trip in reverse. As I am sure you have heard from the residents of St. James by now, Shawn came to enlist as well and we met up straight away. He is doing incredibly well. He’s given up the drink and has used his size and strength to great advantage in training. Though it’s clear he still mourns for our lost Erin, as well all do, his spirits are much improved and I credit that to the distraction of intense physical labor.

All in all, I’d say things are going pretty well. There was a small incident in the first few days, but nothing too serious. Suffice it to say, it was friendly fire and I am healing well. The doctor tells me I should be able to put weight on my leg again in just a few days and then it should be only a matter of weeks on crutches. It is unlikely that I’ll suffer from a noticeable limp for more than a few months, a year or two at the outside. I am thinking of this as just another adventure; as way to prove my capacity for resilience.

Did I get you? You’ll have to be honest and tell me if I did since I can’t see your face. The truth is I am sound and fit and enjoying the work. Except for soldiering, there’s really not much doing on. Though, I think, perhaps, I may be in love. I will tell you the story.

A few of us were asked to attend to a local school house to assist with some manual labor. It seems lightning struck the schoolhouse in a storm befitting the ire of Poseidon and the locals needed some strapping lads to help set things to rights again. Well, we weren’t long at work when the young school mistress, Polly Franklin, arrived to thank us and provide us with water and lemonade and such. Miss Franklin’s was such a picture that I could hardly breathe. It was as if her beauty filled up my insides so that there was no room left for air. Quite honestly, I stood dumb when she spoke her thanks to me directly and then managed to pour lemonade down the front of my shirt and trousers when she handed me the glass. Miss Franklin, of course, was all grace and just smiled the sweetest, kindliest smile and offered me her handkerchief to dry myself off. If only you or Celeste or Ella or Minnie had been there, you may have guided me to make a more impressive first impression. Still, I have not given up hope. We’ll have a few hours off in the afternoon of next Saturday and I plan to make my way into town to make her acquaintance better. I am not sure yet how I will break the ice between us, but I was considering perhaps a practical joke.

Yours always,

Cole