Marissa leaned her forehead against the cold glass of her bay window and pulled the Ohio Star quilt closer around her. She watched the large wet flakes of snow drift down and pile up against the window pane. It was going to be a bad night. The two lane road that ran past her home and up the hill into town was already glazed in ice and she had seen 3 near accidents as cars fishtailed and slid on the treacherous surface.
She had nothing better to do tonight - oh there was the quilt on the frames that need to be finished for Mrs. Hamilton - but that could wait a while. She needed the money the quilt would bring, but she also needed this quiet time to think about the offer she had received today. He said he would stop by tonight, but she seriously doubted he would come in this storm.
As she watched, another car started down the hill. To her horror, he started to slide but couldn't seem to get the car back under control; slipping sideways, he missed to curve at the bottom of the hill and crash into the concrete abutment over the creek. She watched, frozen, as the car slipped into the creek and came to rest with its nose on the ice.
"O-o-o-ohhh," Marissa screamed. For some reason she had to get out of the house and see what happened to the car, to the driver. She felt as if she was being pulled by an invisible force as she forced boots on her feet, grabbed her cell phone and threw her heavy winter coat over her shoulders. Rushing out the front door into the blinding blizzard, she pulled up her sleeves and attached the hood tight on her head. It was impossible to see clearly in the direction of the creek and the silent houses on each side of the street all but disappeared, absorbed by the thickening snow. In this totally white world s he was all alone.
Trudging in the snow, Marissa thought about the accident. What if it was for the offer? Thinking about it, she desperately needed work, and being governess for the children of a United States consul in England was one she couldn't refuse. Even though it meant living in a strange country, she thought that the change would be better than nothing, especially after John's death. John was her fiancé; they had planned to get married that coming spring. But when he was killed in Iraq in September his family would have nothing to do with her and eventually moved away after the funeral. She had to get away, away from that house that they had bought together just before he began his last engagement. She asked herself,"What do I know about life in England? Nothing, but at least I don't have to worry about language problems."
While all these thoughts were swirling in her mind, Marissa reached the creek and looked over the broken wall. The car was there, with the rear lights blinking. She wasn't sure, Marissa thought she saw something move. Realizing she had her taken her cell, she reached in her pocket and clicked the emergency services, which she always kept in the cell's memory. But before she could talk, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
Marissa jumped again, and turned. It was the Grounds keeper from next door. " I'm sorry Miss, I didn't mean to startle you. The Police are on the way."
Marissa gently stepped to the driver door. There she saw the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He had blood trickling from his forehead, but he was awake, eyes wide open with confusion. His eyes were blue, blue like the sky. "Are you ok?" "Don't move, help is on the way !"
Suddenly the ice started to crack ,then it was crumbling. The car shifted forward, Marissa slid with the car, feeling the ice cold water nipping at her legs. She held on to the door handle as the car slipped further. The Grounds Keeper, Mr. Flether tried to grab Marissa, but slid as well. "Stay Back !"
Suddenly there were lights from the Sky, a Helicopter was circling around. The wind from the Helicopter was forceful, and only made things worse.
God help us prayed Marissa, God help us. Marissa pulled hard to bring herself into the car window, her legs frozen.
The man mumbled something but Marissa could not hear his words. She finally managed to pull herself in and over the man. She tried to undo his seatbelt, but it would'nt budge. She tried over and over, her fingers raw.
Finally, the belt unclicked, she snuggled next to him with her coat and tried to stay very still and keep him warm. Again the ice cracked..........The car slid under the water, bringing them both down, down, into the freezing water.
Marissa held her breath and swam over the man and out the window. She grabbed him by the arm, to pull him with her. She couldn't hold him, so she grabbed his tie, and yanked him again. Finally he was coming out the window. She prayed all the way to the top, and as she reached the air, she gasped in all she could handle.
Marissa paused to rest, just taking in that cool, refreshing air. She felt her head swim and realized just how cold she was. She felt strong arms reaching for her and pulling her to safety. She was relieved that she was safe, and she turned to see if the young man was safe, too. Seeing him near her, she breathed a sigh of relief and just lay back. She started to shake, mostly because of the cold, but also because she realized just how much danger she had been in. She had gone with her instincts to save the young man without thought of herself. The whole experience left her in wonder, and she was surprised that she had ever done something like this. She sat up slowly, not wanting her head to get all fuzzy again.
All thoughts of the offer had flown from her mind, but now that she was safe they began creeping in again. She shook her head, disgusted with herself that she could even think of it at this time, not knowing the condition the young man was in. She looked over at him and saw that he was being checked out by the paramedics. She hoped he was OK. She turned to sneak off, not being able to relate well to people since she lost her John. Painful memories flashed through her as she resolutely pushed in to the back of her mind. She had almost gone to meet him today.
"Wait! Wait!" She turned around at the masculine voice calling after her. She walked back over towards the young man, noting how handsome he was. "I never got the chance to thank you. Please stay a moment." His eyes seemed to be asking her as well as his voice, and she could see the paramedics fighting to keep him seated. She held out her hand to him.
"Hi. I'm Marissa," she said shyly.
Taking her hand by way of introduction, the young man’s face lit up in a radiant smile – a smile she had only known once before in her lifetime. She should have known when she had first peered into the car and saw him trapped there. She should have recognised him then, but she didn’t. She was too consumed by the offer she’d had to see beyond that. But now as she accepted his outstretched hand and her eyes locked with his – even before he uttered another word; Marissa knew.
“John,” she whispered breathlessly. “John?”
Her eyes welled with tears and they began to stream down her cheeks. She did not feel the icy cold or the snow falling against her face. She only saw the ghost from her past, standing right there in front of her. Was this real? Or was she dreaming?
“It’s – is it really you?” she whispered again.
“Yes, it really is,” he smiled, taking her hand and placing it on his chest. “You have no idea what it was like this past year…being away from you. From us.”
Marissa burst into tears then, collapsing to the icy ground, but she felt not a thing except a mixture of love, relief and hurt. Love that was forever undying, relief that he was in fact alive but hurt, and even a little angry, that he had been all this time without a word. It hurt her that he had allowed her to suffer so unnecessarily. John reached his hand to her face, and she closed her eyes at the sheer memory of that touch she had missed for so long. Gently he turned her face to him, seriousness in his eyes.
“Marissa, please understand I had no choice. If I could have told you I would have, but to do so would have put the lives of our men as well as myself in serious jeopardy, and we could not risk that,” he spoke gently. “Consider all the wives and loved ones’ of the other men in our unit – they were all put in that same situation. They were all lead to believe their men had been killed.”
“I don’t want to consider the other wives – I only care about how I feel right now!” she sobbed tearfully. “Have you any idea what you have put me through? What I have been through? You parents don’t even want to know me anymore! They blame me for ‘your death’, and I have been shunned in their elite circle. And now here you are? Just like that – out of the blue?”
John was silent for a moment. He knew Marissa had every right to be angry – he would be too had he been in her situation, but he also knew that he had no choice. If he had not obeyed the orders of their Unit, he would have been considered a deserter, and that would be shameful in the eyes of both his comrades and the American people. But most of all so would have Marissa and he could not live with her looking at him in shame. He could bear her being angry at him for a while, but that anger would dissipate into relief, he knew, and they would go about rebuilding their lives again. They couldn’t pick up where they left off, he knew – too much had happened – they had a bridge to cross together first. And cross it they would.
“John?” Marissa’s voice broke into his reverie. “Why now? Why have you returned now?”
“Because we’d been captured not long into the operation,” his voice was barely a whisper. “Our unit was held in an Iraqi prison where we witnessed…..unspeakable crimes against humanity. Then we were systematically tortured. These men lived out Saddam Hussein’s legacy….” He paused to catch his breath before continuing. “Then a couple of months ago, another American unit infiltrated the prison, capturing most of the Iraqi soldiers responsible for the torture and the like. But then they were left with the clearing up of the mess. I don’t think they were quite prepared for what they saw. None of us were.”
There were tears in his eyes as he spoke and held Marissa closely. Her heart was breaking as she listened to the story John told her of all he had endured at the hands of the Iraqis whilst in their prison, which was not even fit for animals let alone humans. How could she be so selfish in thinking of herself when he had been through so much? Her pain was nothing compared to what he had been forced to endure.
“We were taken to a hospital in Baghdad where we were systematically assessed of our injuries, before beginning treatment and then rehabilitation which was just as arduous as the torture,” John closed his eyes for a moment at the memory. “When we were well enough to travel, they shipped me and some of the others, back home where we recuperated in the Military hospital and continued our rehab therapy there. As you can see I had some facial reconstruction done – they had broken my jawbone in various places, my cheek and a few others I can’t begin to pronounce. I guess that’s why you didn’t recognise me at first.”
Marissa reached her hand up to his face and gently ran her fingers along his cheek. No matter what he had been through she still thought he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and her heart swelled with so much love for him. He gave his all for his country, and very nearly his life.
“And tonight?” she whispered.
“Tonight,” his face lit up in that smile she would recognise through layers of surgery. “Tonight I was coming home. Tonight I intended to begin the rest of my life with you. And not even a storm was going to stop me!”