War Torn Hearts

War Torn Hearts - Prologue

Broderick and Brianna walked down the beach together in silence for several minutes. “What do you think is going to come of the war in the States?” Brianna suddenly asked.
Broderick shrugged. “They’ll probably kill each other off completely. The North should have let the South secede if they wanted to. It wasn’t hurting anyone.”
“It wasn’t just the secession, Broderick, and you know it. Those slaves deserve to be free. What would your Grandfather think to be hearing this? You know, he freed his slaves before it was even a law.”
“I know,” Broderick cut in. “And he’s been revered for it. I’m sick of hearing that story. Yes, he’s a great man, but he was still human, Bri.”
“Hey you two,” a voice cut in. Broderick and Brianna looked up to find Cara walking toward them.
“Hi, Cara,” Brianna happily called.
“Hello,” Broderick said.
“What do you think about that war over in the states?” Brianna asked Cara, hoping for an ally.
“I believe that the North is doing what they think is best, and the South is doing what they think is best, and unfortunately they have a very big disagreement on their hands.”
“But do you think, they should have gone to war?” Brianna persisted. Cara shrugged. “I don’t see how they could help it. Neither side was going to give in peacefully.”
Broderick smiled triumphantly.
Brianna scowled.
Cara didn’t notice. “Well, I’ll see you two later,” she said as she continued her walk in the opposite direction.
"I always knew that girl had a good head on her shoulders,” Broderick commented after Cara was out of hearing range.
“You like her,” Brianna accused.
“I do not like her as anything more than a friend,” Broderick defended.
“You lie,” Brianna persisted.
“I’m not lying,” Broderick insisted.
The two continued their walk, arguing the whole way.

War Torn Hearts - Part One

Cara and Broderick went for their weekly outing the next day. Cara packed a lunch and Broderick brought their blanket, and they walked out to a secluded glen to just waste the day away.
"What would I look for in a man?” Cara asked.
“Yeah,” Broderick assured her. “That’s what I’m asking.”
Cara thought for a moment. “He has to be taller than I am, have a good sense of humour, strong but gentle, and he can’t be too serious. Why?”
“Just wondering,” Broderick told her.
“It doesn’t matter though,” Cara stated as she picked grass distractedly. “With the luck I’ve had in the past, it doesn’t look like I’ll ever find who I’m looking for.”
“Cara,” Broderick began.
She didn’t want his sympathy so she interrupted him. “What do you want in a girl, Rick?”
He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his sand-coloured hair. “You’re impossible, Cara.”
“Well,” She persisted. “What do you look for in a girl?”
“Shorter than I am. She can’t be some mindless weak female, she has to be independent.” He paused as he continued to think. “She of course has to be able to handle my jokes and pranks. Other than that, there’s room for compromise.”
“That’s not much of an ideal,” she told him laughingly. “You’d settle for just about anyone.”
"I don’t want to set an unrealistic one,” he said to her in an accusing tone.
Cara abruptly stopped laughing. “That was mean, Rick,” she said as she began to pack everything up.
He grabbed her hand to stop her and she just looked up at him. “Cara, I want to ask you something.” He licked his lips and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came.
“Well?” She urged.
“Cara, I like you,” he said. “I mean, I really like you. As more than just a friend.” Broderick completely ignored the shocked look on Cara’s face and continued. “Please, don’t answer me right now, I know that you’ve had a lot of bad luck with men in the past, but please consider me, Cara. I would never hurt you the way they hurt you, I promise you that.”
Cara stared open-mouthed at Broderick. That had been the very last thing she had expected him to say. “Rick,” she began. “You’re a good friend. The best I’ve ever had. I don’t want to ruin that by taking some silly chance at romance. Rick, I’m so sorry, please understand.”
Before Broderick got a chance to answer, three men seemingly came out of nowhere. “Cara, run,” Broderick yelled. When she hesitated, he yelled more forcefully, “Run!” Cara then ran as fast as she could back toward their homes. She turned to look back and was horrified at the sight she saw. Two of the men were holding Broderick and the third was talking to him. She saw Broderick shake his head, and then the man took out a gun and shot. Broderick slumped to the ground, and Cara turned and ran back home as if minions from hell were chasing her.

War Torn Hearts - Two

“It’s not your fault,” Jessica consoled through her own tears.
“How can you say it’s not my fault?” Cara wailed. “I should have stayed with him, I never should have listened. I could have helped him, I could have.”
“No, you couldn’t have. If they had a gun, do you think they would have hesitated for a second to kill you? Use your head, Cara, you’re a smart girl. There is nothing you could have done.”
"I never should have left him,” She persisted. “Your son is…is…” she couldn’t even bring herself to say it. “He’s gone because of me. How can you not hate me for that? I hate me for that.”
Jessica shook Cara until her teeth rattled. “You listen to me, Cara. You don’t know that he’s gone.”
“Do you know what our last conversation was?” Cara sniffed.
“What?” Jessica asked her.
“He told me he cared for me as more than a friend. He begged me to give him a chance.” Her eyes welled up with tears again. “I told him that I couldn’t. I would give anything to be able to tell him that I was wrong,” she cried.
Jessica wiped the tears from her own eyes and the two women rocked each other while they waited for the men to return home.
Long after dusk, Todd walked in. The two girls looked up and Todd only shook his head. “We’re not going back out tomorrow,” he said after a few minutes. “It’s been a fortnight and I’ll not be keeping false hopes alive that long.” He then walked up the stairs to his chamber.
“How can he be so cold?” Cara asked. “It’s his own son.”
“He’s a highland laird,” Jessica reminded her. “He doesn’t know how to show emotion like this. Believe me when I tell you he’s just as upset as you and I are. Why don’t you stay here one last night?” Jessica asked. “You can go home tomorrow, ok?”
Cara nodded.
Long after Jessica had gone up to bed, Cara sat in the drawing room. She was determined to find out once and for all what had happened to Rick. She grabbed her cloak and silently slipped from the house after packing some food and money and leaving a note promising to return it when she got home.

War Torn Hearts - Three

Rick slowly opened his eyes and blinked back both the garish lights and the pain in his head and the right side of his body. “He’s awake again, General,” a voice called. Rick then heard booted footsteps coming toward him.
“How are you doing, Officer Edan?” The uniformed man asked.
"Officer Edan?” Rick asked. Rick tried his best to remember something, anything. He began to panic when he couldn’t. “Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?”
“Slow down there, Edan,” the General said. “Let’s start with what you know. What’s your name?”
“Officer Edan as far as I can tell,” he replied.
The General smiled conspiratorially at the other uniformed man in the room, but Rick was too panicky to notice. “Let me tell you exactly who you are,” the General told him. “Your name is Broderick Edan and you are a soldier for the Union Army in the Civil War. You are known for your skill with a sword and can fire a steady shot when needed. You are the North’s best asset.”
“I am?”
“Yes, Officer, you are.” Rick wasn’t about to argue with that so he took it as bible truth. He wondered, however, if he was such an asset, why he was only an officer.

War Torn Hearts - Four

Cara coughed back the dust as she was transported to her newest assigned post. She had been in the U.S for over a month, and had been a field nurse ever since she had got there. The U.S. was the closest place to Barbados that she could imagine people taking Rick to, and so she had begun her search there.
The war wasn’t making things easy for her, but she knew that he was there. Almost immediately she had heard word of him. Everyone she asked had a different tale of how Brave Broderick Edan had saved over a hundred men’s lives. It didn’t make any sense to her because he would have only been there a short time, but she wasn’t about to argue. She had found Rick and that was all that had mattered.
He was fighting under a General George Meade, and that’s where Cara had been assigned to go. She prayed that she wouldn’t see him until night fell, because if she saw him before then it meant he had been injured. Cara finally arrived at her destination and found the head nurse right away to get her instructions. She was thankful that she wouldn’t be primarily helping the surgeons this time, she would be administering the medicines instead. It was a small consolation, but one that she didn’t complain about.
“The Rebels are on the march,” Cara heard one nurse yell. She knew what this meant. There was going to be a skirmish at the very least, and that meant wounded men. She began helping the women set up at a dizzying pace. This, at least, kept her mind off of Rick.

War Torn Hearts - Part Five

Soldiers poured into the infirmary all day. Cara wondered if she would ever get to rest.
“We need a nurse over here to bandage this man’s arm.”
“Dr. Johnson needs more nurses to help with the operation.”
“This man needs more medication.”
The voices overlapped and drowned each other out. Cara was beginning to feel light-headed and dizzy and would have given anything to just sit down for a moment. She was beginning to feel very claustrophobic too.
“Make room for Officer Edan,” a nurse yelled. The river of nurses parted like the Red Sea, and Cara couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Two men then entered carrying a third. Cara took one look and was positive. She rushed over to the nurse that was treating him presently. “Let me take care of this man, please.” The nurse saw the determined look in Cara’s eyes and agreed. The nurse went to help somewhere else and Cara was left alone with Rick.
He was unconscious. She saw he had a bullet in his left shoulder and she called for something to alleviate the pain. She also ordered that he be put onto one of the beds, and she sat by him for the remainder of the day.
Shortly after the fighting had stopped for the day, Rick opened his eyes. He groaned and that’s what got her attention. “Rick!” she exclaimed, but held herself back from hugging him. She didn’t want to hurt him anymore than what had already been done.
“What happened out there?” he asked her in a raspy voice.
“Rick, the surgeons will get to you shortly, I wish you would have stayed unconscious for just a while longer.”
"Damn you, what happened out there. I don’t care about any surgeons,” he yelled at her.
Cara was shocked but decided that he was in pain and probably didn’t realise it was she. Either that or he was still angry with her. Cara didn’t want to think it was the latter, so she just didn’t think about it at all. Instead, she told him what had happened. “The Union troops were pushed back to Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge by the Confederates under Hill. The estimate is that 5,000 are hurt or captured.”
“Damn,” he breathed. “We’ll get them tomorrow.”
“They will get them tomorrow, you’re not going anywhere, Rick. Not in the condition you’re in.”
“Why are you calling me Rick? You are supposed to respect the soldiers, you haven’t been given permission to use any type of nicknames with me, so I would ask that you don’t.”
Although he had been polite, it was an order and Cara saw it as such. “My apologies, Officer Edan,” Cara said coolly. She determined that he was very angry with her and he had every right to be. She decided that she should tell him now that she was sorry. “Broderick,” she began. “I want to tell you how sorry I am for that last meeting. I was wrong. I didn’t mean a word I said and I’m so sorry. I’ve been looking for you everywhere, and-”
“Who are you and what are you talking about?” Rick interrupted. “What last meeting? I’ve only met you today.”
Cara stared down at Rick in pure disbelief. She looked in his eyes and a stunning realization hit her. He was telling her the truth.

War Torn Hearts - Part Six

Cara walked outside to breathe in some fresh air and clear her head. Rick had lost his memory. She couldn’t believe it. Then again, it would explain a lot of things. Why he hadn’t gone home, for one thing.
“He was hit on the head after he was shot,” a voice said from behind Cara. She turned to see one of the nurses standing behind her. “General Cartwright had heard of Broderick Edan. His skill is well known everywhere. Legend has it he has a flesh and blood highland laird for a father.” Cara made no comment to this. “Cartwright is a bloodthirsty man who will do whatever it takes to win this war. He thought that Edan was exactly what it took. He arranged to be at sea and he stopped in Barbados to ‘pick up supplies,’ he didn’t feel the need to tell anyone what those supplies were. He asked Edan if he would come fight with him, and Edan refused. Cartwright then fired a shot into the air to scare Edan, while his accomplice bashed Edan’s head against a tree. They hoped that he would lose his memory, and he did. They told him what they wanted him to believe, that he was a soldier and a war hero in the making. Edan had nothing else to believe, so he took it as the truth.”
“He wasn’t shot?” Cara asked. The nurse shook her head. “I suppose you’re the girl they talked about. The one who fled from them.” Cara nodded. “Make Edan remember who he is.” The nurse then left Cara to her own thoughts.
Cara decided that she was going to take the nurses advice. She was going to make Rick remember if it was the last thing she did. She went back into the infirmary and sat herself by Rick’s bed.

War Torn Hearts - Part Seven

Rick slowly opened his eyes and groaned again. Not because of the pain this time, but because that annoying nurse was still by his bed.
Do you hurt?” She rushed to ask him.
“Not any more than I did yesterday,” he told her.
“I know, I’m hurrying the surgeons along as best I can. You’re the next one in. It’ll probably be another half hour.” Cara gave him a look that said she was both thankful he was finally going to be operated on, and she pitied him because of how much it was going to hurt him. “I want to talk to you,” she said suddenly.
“I’m not in a position to stop you,” he replied.
“Do you remember anything about your life before the accident?”
He looked at her questioningly. “How did you know I was in an accident?”
She took a deep breath. “This is going to sound crazy, but I swear to you it’s the truth. You aren’t a soldier. Well, at least you weren’t until they stole you away.”
“What are you talking about? No one stole me away. I’ve always been a soldier, ever since this war started.”
“Listen to what I’m telling you, Rick, you are not a soldier,” she said forcefully.
"I thought I asked you to stop calling me ‘Rick’,” he told her. “I hate that name.”
Cara smiled, “I know. I was the only person you let use the name ‘Rick’ with you. Not even your parents used the name.”
“I’m taking away the privilege,” he told her. “You can call me Broderick if you must use a first name.”
Cara’s face fell. She had never realised how much the use of the name “Rick” had meant to her. “Ok, Broderick. As I was saying, you weren’t a soldier. You were brought up on Barbados.” She stopped. His personal history wasn’t going to help him; he needed specific events to focus on. “I’m going to tell you about your last day at home. You and I would go out for an afternoon every week and just spend time together. This particular week we decided to go out on a Sunday. I packed a lunch and you brought the blanket. We always went to the same secluded spot, just over the last sand dune and about one hundred yards into the woods. There is a perfect glen there. Do you remember any of this?” She asked him.
He shook his head. “Not a thing.”
She kept going. “You and I started talking about what out ideal life partner would be. First you asked me and then I asked you. Then, you shocked me by telling me that you cared for me as more than a friend,”
“I don’t believe you,” he cut her off.
“Broderick, please. I’m telling you the truth. I told you that I could never care for you in that way and that’s when we were attacked.”
“Attacked? By who?”
Cara shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought they were highwaymen, but I suppose they weren’t.”
“I don’t believe a word you are saying,” he told her. “You’re probably just some nurse who wants to be remembered for being the love of Brave Broderick Edan. I don’t believe a word of it, and you’re not going to fool me. I’m not as weak-minded as you think. You could have heard about that accident anywhere. I don’t like you in the least, get out of my sight.” He ordered.
Cara hardened herself against him. “I don’t care what you believe, I don’t care what you think of me. I’m going to stay with you for the remainder of this bloody war and see that you get home in one piece to your parents. They are worried sick about you, and I hope your father sees you in the lists for what you’ve done.” Cara then turned her back on him. It was then that the doctor came for him. His bed was wheeled behind one of the many makeshift curtains and two nurses held him down.
“This is going to hurt very badly, Officer Edan,” the doctor told him. “With any luck you’ll pass out before long.” His shirt was then cut and his left shoulder exposed. The doctor began digging for the bullet and Broderick bit back his screams of pain. Eventually blackness descended over him.

War Torn Hearts - Part Eight

Broderick found himself in the middle of a glen that looked oddly familiar. He knew he wasn’t truly there. He couldn’t explain it, but he knew. He heard someone coming through the foliage and he turned just in time to see that nurse burst forth from the trees, along with a man. On second glance, Broderick realised that that man was he. He watched the scene intensely. They had a picnic lunch, the nurse had brought the food, and he had brought the blanket. He realised that he was dreaming exactly what that nurse had told him, and he wondered if he was going crazy. He tried to pull himself from this dream, but it wasn’t possible. He sat down, defeated, and watched what happened. It was exactly as the nurse had described it. He began to lose interest in the people and began studying the surroundings that seemed familiar to him. He wanted to make a mental picture, but was soon distracted from that by a frightened gasp. He looked up to find himself yelling at the nurse to run. She hesitated and he yelled at her again. That time she took off running. The three men surrounded his other self and two of them held him by the arms. He knew he’d never win and that was why he didn’t attempt to fight.
“I have a proposition for you,” the third man said.
Broderick knew this man’s voice and he came closer to get a better look at his face.
“If you come fight for the Northern Army in the Civil War I’ll let you live. What do you say?”
“Never,” he heard himself say.
“Have it your way,” the man said, and fired a shot into the air. It was at that point that his head was knocked backwards against a tree, and he saw his body crumple to the ground. He looked up at the man and saw General Cartwright’s face staring back at his. That was the man that he had woken up to in the first place. Slowly, Broderick found himself being pulled from his dream. He opened his eyes to see the nurse sleeping with her head by his arm. He moved his right arm and gently stroked the top of her head. “Sleep well, Cara.”

War Torn Hearts - Part Nine

Broderick reached out with his right arm for Cara and was surprised to find she wasn’t there. He opened his eyes to find the whole infirmary rushing around at a dizzying pace. More soldiers were being rushed in and he figured that the fighting had begun again. He called to a nearby nurse and asked for Cara. The nurse told him she was busy and asked if there was anything she could do for him. He told her he was fine, and didn’t need anything.
General Meade then came in and walked over to Broderick. “I only have a moment, but I wanted to check on my best fighter.”
“I’ll be all right,” Broderick assured him.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Gen. Meade asked.
After thinking for a moment, the answer seemed obvious. “I want my own nurse whose sole purpose is to take care of me and only me,” he replied.
Gen. Meade laughed. “Rather full of yourself, aren’t you, boy?”
“It’s not about me. It’s the girl. I need her to be around me, I need to talk to her. I can’t explain it, you wouldn't understand, but please get me Cara for a private nurse.”
“I understand perfectly,” Gen. Meade laughed, and Broderick didn’t bother to correct him and his assumptions. He then called the head nurse over and told her that Cara was to be with Broderick day and night, and no other nurse was to take care of him. The nurse agreed, after some fighting, and Cara was sent over to him immediately.
“What do you want with me?” She asked him.
“Sit,” he ordered her.
"I prefer to stand,” she insisted as she crossed her dirty arms over her chest.
Broderick tried to shrug, but a sharp pain coursed through his entire body. He inhaled sharply and Cara forgot her resolve and bent over him immediately.
“What are you trying to do? Kill yourself?” She demanded. “Don’t move that shoulder,” she ordered him as she sat down in the chair beside his bed.
“Tell me more about where I come from, Cara,” he told her.
“How do you know my name?” she asked.
He thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” was his reply.
Cara was momentarily elated at that sign that he was regaining his memory, but immediately fell back down to earth when she realised he still didn’t fully believe her. “Why can’t you accept that I’m telling the truth?” she queried.
“Would you believe you if you were in my position?” he asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I don’t know,” she conceded. “But I wouldn’t have flown at myself the way you did to me yesterday. I’m only trying to help you.”
“I’m sorry for that,” he told her. “What you said was a little more than just a shock. What do you say to us starting over?”
Cara thought that this was a start and agreed. “Yes, we can start over. I’m Cara,” she said extending her hand to him.
“I’m Broderick,” he told her, clasping her hand in his as best he could.

War Torn Hearts - Part Ten

“What’s going on?” Broderick asked in an urgent tone.
“Men are being rushed in even more quickly than yesterday,” Cara told him. “Would you like me to find out what’s going on in the field?”
Broderick nodded and she got up to see what she could learn.
“Meade formed a horseshoe with the men,” one soldier told his nurse.
“Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge,” another said.
“Up to Big and Little Round Top,” a third joined in.
“Rebels took Peach Orchard and part of Culp’s Hill,” the second soldier added.
“They couldn’t break our line though,” the first soldier said proudly.
“Meade’s holding a war council tonight to decide if he should retreat, hold, or attack,” the third soldier confided. “I think he’ll attack.”
Cara hurried back to Broderick to tell him what had happened. “Meade formed a horseshoe extending from Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge, all of the way out to Big and Little Round Top. The Rebels drove us out of the Peach Orchard, but they couldn’t break our lines on Culp’s Hill or Cemetery Ridge. Meade is going to hold a war council tonight to decide what to do.” Cara didn’t say anything else, she knew he was picturing the battle in his head because he wanted to be there so badly, and she left him to his twisted fantasies of war.
After a while he shocked her by saying, “I had a very strange dream while they were operating yesterday.”
“Oh?”
He turned his head toward her. “Wouldn’t you like to know what it was?” She nodded and he began his recitation of the dream. “I dreamt about that whole scene you told me about. About how we were picnicking and then the men came and took me. I yelled at you to run, and at first you didn’t listen. The second time I yelled, you did what I told you.”
“Do you remember being shot?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “I wasn’t shot. They fired into the air and my head was hit against a tree.”
“Before that happened,” she began, “you shook your head at them. Why did you do that?”
"hey asked me to come fight in this war,” he told her in a confused tone. He looked at Cara and wondered to himself if maybe she was telling the truth, and his dream was really a memory.

War Torn Hearts - Part Eleven

The silhouettes of soldiers could be seen on the canvas walls that separated Broderick from the war he so desperately wanted to be fighting in.
“I say we retreat,” one voice ventured.
“We are not retreating,” Meade told his men. “We held them off today, we can fight them off tomorrow. If we push them back far enough we can win this battle, and then they will have to fight a defensive war and not an offensive one. They don’t have the supplies for that. We can turn this war around. What do you all say? Do you want to be a critical player in the winning of this war?”
All of the soldiers made their shouts and calls of confidence into the otherwise silent night.
“If willpower and confidence alone could drive them, we would have won this war ages ago,” Cara commented.
“You forget that the South is just as confident as we are,” he told her.
She sighed. “This whole thing seems so silly. I mean, does anyone truly know what the war is about anymore? It started as a war for southern independence. Then the slavery issue was drawn into it. Now I’m wondering if it’s a war of pride.”
Broderick had nothing to say to this so he changed the subject instead. “How did you know that I was asked a question before they knocked me unconscious?”
“I turned back,” she said simply. She turned her head from him and stared into nothingness for a few moments.
“Cara,” he called in a comforting tone.
"I blamed myself, you know. If I hadn’t listened to you, if I had stayed by your side then maybe none of this would have ever happened.”
“Oh, Cara, you can’t truly think that. There were three men there, you wouldn’t have lasted a minute with them. You did the right thing by running.”
“So now you decide to believe me,” she accused.
“I believe you, isn’t that enough?”
“No,” she told him. “It isn’t.”
“What else do you want?” he yelled at her.
“I want to know why you believe me all of a sudden,” she yelled back in a tone to match his.
“When did I turn into the bad guy?” he asked her.
“You’re not the bad guy,” she said shaking her head.
“Then why are you getting all jumpy and mad at me?”
“Do you know what the conversation was that we were having that day?” she asked him. Broderick knew exactly what day she was talking about, and he wished he had been paying more attention to his dream. Instead he had to shake his head. “I told you before, but you were so caught up in not believing me, you weren’t paying attention,” she accused. “You told me that you cared for me as more than just a friend. You begged me to give you a chance. You see, I’ve had some men whose ‘close friendships’ have turned out disastrous to say the least. I didn’t want that to happen with you. You were my closest friend and I didn’t want to ruin that on some silly chance at romance.” She paused. “That’s exactly what I told you. You didn’t even have a chance to respond before the men attacked us. When I found that you were gone, I hated myself for the way I treated you. I would have given anything to be able to see you one last time and apologize for everything I’ve done. Now, I find you here and you’re not who I know you to be. I’m sorry, but that gets a little frustrating at times.”
“That’s understandable,” he told her.
“I don’t mean to get so angry with you, but I can’t help it. I’ve found you and I still can’t apologize because you aren’t really the man that I hurt.” She got up from her chair. “I need some time to think, I’ll be back later.” She left without waiting for his response.

War Torn Hearts - Part Twelve

“It’s going to end today,” Broderick said to no one in particular.
“I hope you’re right,” Cara voiced.
“Can I ask you something without you getting frustrated again?” He asked.
She shrugged. “I suppose so.”
“Could you help me sit up first of all? I’m sick and tired of lying down all day and night.”
“The doctor said,”
“I don’t care what the doctor said,” he interrupted. “I want to sit up and I’ll do it with or without your help.”
Cara rolled her eyes and helped him sit up. The one thing that hadn’t changed about him was his obstinacy. “Is that all you wanted?”
"No. I want you to tell me about my family and my friends and my home.”
“Are you sure you want to hear it?” She asked. He nodded. She smiled as she thought of the perfect place to begin. “Your father is a real live Scottish Highland laird.”
“I’m serious,” he told her.
“So am I,” she laughed. “How do you think you became to adept at using a sword? Your mother hated your father teaching you that, but your father prevailed. You had a sword in your hand by the age of three,” she said with a nostalgic smile. “You’re grandparents on your mother’s side were the first people in Barbados to free their slaves.”
"They freed them even before the law decreed that slavery was abolished,” he added.
She smiled broadly, “Yes! Your best male friend, Bay, was married last year and he has a daughter. Do you remember her name?” Broderick thought for a moment, but had to admit he didn’t. “Her name is Sharon. Do you know the name of the woman Bay married?” Again, Broderick had to say he didn’t. “Her name is Madison. Your parents are Todd and Jessica. You have two uncles. Corey, who was named after your grandfather, and Joshua.”
“How do you know so much about my family?” he asked her.
“My family leaves much to be desired,” she said emotionlessly. “I spent more time with you and your family than with mine. Your family accepted me when mine didn’t. In a way, I’m already a part of your family.”
“Oh,” was all he said.
“Now, Joshua married-”
"I don’t want to hear who married whom,” he interrupted. “Tell me about who they were. Did I get along with them? Were we a close family?”
“Very close. Your mother is the kind of person who puts everyone before herself. She loves history and can even speak many outdated languages fluently. Your father was always strict with you, but he loved you more than anything else in this world. He brought you up to be a warrior and you became well known for it. You don’t have any brothers or sisters, but another of your very good friends was always like a little sister to you. Her name was Brianna. The two of you grew up together and at times are inseparable. There was talk of the two of you getting married, but you agreed when she said that it would be absurd. You were too much like siblings for marriage.”
“What about you?” he asked her. “How did we meet?”
“We met at a party. Brianna invited me to get my mind off of the latest man to crush my dreams, and she introduced you to me. We hit it off and have been best-friends ever since.”
“You’ve been hurt a lot,” he ventured. “By men, I mean.”
“Let’s just say I haven’t had the best of luck. I was actually engaged to one of them,” she took a deep breath. “That was, until he eloped with some dark-haired woman from England. I have no desire to ever try romance again. That’s what I wanted to explain to you that day. You were such a good friend; I could tell you anything and not worry about you judging me. I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose you. But that’s exactly what happened,” she finished.
Broderick understood how he could have fallen for this woman. She was strong, yet still vulnerable. She was very proud, but could admit when she was wrong. But most of all, she was the bravest girl he had ever seen, yet she was scared to death of losing him. He wanted to ask her exactly how she felt about him now. He wondered if she still held to her original thinking of just friends, or maybe he had lost that position too and now he was just some lost man she was trying to help get back home. He wanted desperately to hear what she thought of him, but he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle the answer.

War Torn Hearts - Part Thirteen

Cara walked toward where Broderick was lying so that she could tell him what had happened that day. He looked up at her and she told him, bluntly, what she had heard. “The Rebels made a suicide charge on Meade’s men at Cemetery Ridge. They made it through the first line, but once they hit the second, they were wiped out. They fell back and retreated. The estimate is that they lost over half of their men with that charge. Meade believes that this battle is over.” She turned to leave but Broderick called her back. “What?” she asked impatiently.
"Why are you mad at me again? I haven’t talked to you since this morning, and you didn’t seem angry with me. You are such a moody person, do you know that?”
“Don’t you dare call me ‘moody’,” she said, levelling a finger at his nose. “You don’t know me, you don’t know how I think, you don’t know how I act. You have no basis for such a judgement,” she added in a fierce tone.
“I want you to start calling me ‘Rick’,” he told her.
“I don’t want to call you ‘Rick’,” she yelled back at him. “You aren’t Rick. You’re Brave Broderick Edan, not Rick. Rick would never have come here. Rick would have come home as soon as he found out where he was. Rick would have at least sent a letter home after finding out who he was. Rick would have apologized for worrying everyone so.” By now a crowd had gathered around Cara, but she wasn’t paying attention. “Rick would have told me that everything is going to be all right, that he’s coming home as soon as all of this battle stuff is over. Rick wouldn’t have just sat there listening to me recite his entire life story like it was some fantasy tale, giving me false hopes that he would one day be himself again. You are Broderick, and you’ll never be Rick again.”
Before Broderick knew what he was saying, it was out of his mouth. “I love you, Cara.”
“Don’t you ever say that again,” she screamed at him. She turned and fought her way out of the infirmary, leaving dozens of bewildered faces and one very broken heart behind her.

War Torn Hearts - Part Fourteen

Cara didn’t return to see Broderick that night. He lay in bed thinking about her and trying his best to remember his life before the accident. He loved her, he knew he did. He had lost her once and he wasn’t going to do it again. He spent the entire night thinking of things that he could do to show her that he was Rick, despite what she thought. He dug into the deep recesses of his mind and fought back the black nothingness there to remember something, anything, of his past life.

War Torn Hearts - Part Fifteen

Rick didn’t see Cara until the following night. She wasn’t coming to see him, she just happened to be walking by and he called to her.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said as she kept walking on.
“If you don’t listen to me, I’m going to get out of this bed and follow you until you do listen.”
Cara made no sign that she heard him, and so he sat up and swung his feet to the floor. He stood up and steadied himself before making his way slowly to where Cara was tending another patient. “Now will you listen to me?”
Cara turned with a shocked expression and just stared at him. “What do you think you’re doing? Get back in bed, right now.”
“Not until you listen,” he insisted.
Cara looked around nervously. “You’re making a scene, please just get back in bed. We don’t need these men excited at all. They might do something stupid, like getting out of bed with a shot-up shoulder.”
“I’m not moving until you agree to listen to me,” he said.
She looked up at him and believed it. He had that determined look in his eyes. She led the way back to his bed and insisted that he get in. He only did so after she promised to stay until he was finished. “What do you want?” she demanded.
“I remember,” he said simply.
“What are you talking about? What do you remember?”
“I remember our weekly picnics together. I remember the time that you forgot to put the sugar in the lemonade but I drank it anyway. I remember the time we both got lectured by my father because we were pretending to be daredevils on his horse.”
Cara listened in stony silence, not sure if she should believe what she was hearing.
“Cara, I remember the night that I knew I loved you. Do you want to know when that was?”
“When?” she asked softly.
“It was the night that I met you at that party. It was love at first sight, but I didn’t want to risk losing you by telling you that. That last picnic we had together was something I had been planning for weeks. I knew that I was going to tell you that day, I couldn’t have held it inside any longer. I never did get to ask you what I wanted to that day,” he said.
Cara stared at him, unable to say anything even if she had wanted to.
He pulled a white rose from his bedside table and handed it to her. “I had one of the nurses go into the town today to find this for you. I would have got you red, but I think you’ve seen more than enough of that color in the past four days.”
"Broderick,” she began.
“I’m Rick,” he told her. “I’m your Rick and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, Cara.”
“Oh, Rick,” she said as she leaned down to kiss him.
“Lee is retreating!” A soldier yelled into the infirmary, but Rick and Cara didn’t hear him.

War Torn Hearts - Epilogue

“What are we going to tell everyone?” Rick asked Cara as he kissed the top of her head gently.
“That I fell in love with a war hero, married him, and came back with child?” she asked with a laugh.
“Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to cut it,” he told her.
She turned in his arms and hugged him as best she could. “I don’t care what we tell them as long as we get some peace.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get much peace for a while. First I’m going to be grilled with questions, and then our little angel is going to be born. No, we won’t have any peace for a long time.”
“As long as it isn’t war keeping us apart, I think I can handle it,” she told him.
“I couldn’t agree with you more.”

Email: Starsweeper3478@aol.com