The Purple Heart (2 page)

I had just seen so much of their
suffering, and I really wanted to help them when they returned
home, maybe help myself a bit, too. These soldiers had seen and
done so much more than I had. Some of them were so young. They
needed my help to acclimate back into a peacetime world. They
needed help to forget. I hoped it would help me forget also, but
some things were just embedded too deep within our soul to be
forgotten. So I helped in any way I could.

I headed downstairs to put a pot of
coffee on; it’d be ready once I’d showered. My footsteps echoed as
I climbed the stairs. This house was too big for me. I had
inherited it from my parents. It wasn’t a mansion by any means,
just too much for one person. The house itself was beautiful
though, and I loved it. It was a two story with cathedral ceilings
and hardwood floors throughout. The entire house was very open and
you could see every room from, well, every room. Even the second
floor had a landing overlooking the bottom floor. I kind of liked
that aspect of the house. I was nervous being alone all the time,
and it was comforting to be able to see there was no one lurking in
the corners. Even though I was in a development, my house sat back
from all the others, in a secluded wooded area via a long gravel
driveway. I had my privacy, but sometimes I longed for the company
of my neighbors. I had no idea who any of them were by name. I
never even saw them except when driving down the street, offering a
casual but friendly wave out of simple politeness.

My house was warm and cozy, even though
it had a ton of open space. My earth-tone couches were big and
cushy, with patterned throw pillows galore. I had pictures of my
parents and much of my childhood, scattered amongst candles, which
were everywhere. But these candles were the battery-operated kind,
the ones on timers. This way, there was always some sort of light
in the house when I got home, and it made me feel like someone was
there, waiting to welcome me. I had toyed with the idea of getting
a pet for company, maybe a cat, but didn’t want a cat to feel
lonely while I was at work. I actually hated being
alone.

I showered quickly and began getting
ready for work. Working was pretty much all I seemed to do these
days. I was a solitary person, but truly not by choice. Work was
the only place I actually had any type of social life, except for
any time I got to spend with my best friend Cheryl, and her wife
Gina. Cheryl and I worked together, as it were, anyway.

I knew I didn’t have any appointments
today, so I considered dressing casually. I’m not sure why I even
bothered because I struggled with this decision every morning, but
could never bring myself to do it. My mother’s words would ring in
my head, as she always told me how I would be respected more at
work if I dressed the part of a professional. I’d always given in.
I opted for a black blouse and an ecru skirt with matching pumps.
The golden highlights in my dark brown hair seemed to sparkle in
the sunlight that was streaming through my bedroom window. It hung
in natural loose waves over my shoulders. I applied light make-up,
as was my usual routine. My eyes were a very light hue of
greenish-blue, so if I globbed on makeup, it looked as though I was
heading out for a photo shoot at some swanky magazine. I was more
the surfer-girl-next-door-type. I was pretty down-to-earth, yet
classy, which was a statement unto itself.

I grabbed a travel mug of coffee, light
and sweet, and headed out the door for my semi-short commute. I
emerged from my house and the sunlight blinded me. I wasn’t sure
why. This time of year, the leaves usually blocked the direct sun
in the front of my house. It was a pure bright white light and
everything erased from my vision for a short time. I quickly
covered my eyes, which then caused complete darkness. I wondered if
I was having a stroke, because the extremes were so blatant. I
tried my best to shake it off. The one thing I always seemed to be
able to do was “shake it off.” It was an expression my father
always used with me when I was young and not feeling well. My dad
had been such a huge influence in my life. I missed him terribly. I
wished he was still around to continue giving me his words of
wisdom and needed advice. He just had a way of making everything
seem easy to handle.

When my eyes had completely recovered,
I headed for my car. I drove one of those cute mini-coupes and
absolutely loved my little black car. It was probably not the
safest car due to its size; it sure didn’t feel safe when a
tractor-trailer was driving next to me on the highway, but I loved
it just the same. It was zippy. I parked in my usual spot, and
headed into the building while fumbling to get my ID clipped onto
the waist of my skirt.

“
Good morning, Ms. Porter,”
the guard said, tipping his hat to me, as I walked through the
metal detector.

“
Harry, haven’t I told you
a hundred times
at least
, to call me Sydney?” I kidded with
him.

“
Yes, Ma’am, but you won’t
stop and talk to me if I do that.” He smiled, and handed back my
purse from the x-ray belt.

“
I’d talk to you anyway.
You’re my morning sunshine and one of the only people I know who
smiles around here.”

“
Well, seeing your
beautiful face every morning, how could I not smile?” Harry was old
enough to be my grandfather, but he was still a huge flirt. He was
probably in his mid-seventies. He had gray-peppered hair, and his
uniform was always perfectly pressed. His wife must iron it every
night. I smiled and shook my head as I aimed toward the
elevator.

When I arrived at my office, there was
a case file already sitting on my desk waiting for me.
Interesting.
They normally came through via an email alert
first. I picked up the file to peruse it while I sipped on my
coffee.

Attn: Sydney
Porter

New Case Management
File

Security Clearance: Highly
Classified

Highly Decorated
Officer

Included was a hand scribbled
note:

This case is to take highest
priority.

All of your other cases have
been moved to other case managers.

No additional cases will be
sent to you.

Appointment scheduled for
10:30 am today. Incoming.

I began to read up on my new
one and
only
case. This guy must be someone special, or more likely, be
related to someone in the high ranks. Sergeant First Class Aiden
Thane. He was seriously decorated, too. He had the Purple Heart,
the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal and the
Army Distinguished Service Cross. I hadn’t met a soldier decorated
with all of those medals before. He had no family listed, and no
formal education after high school. He seemed to have joined the
military right after graduation. In fact, there was really no more
information listed, other than his army career. He was being
granted an honorable discharge. I’d get the whole story in person
from him, I was sure.

With no other work to do until half
past ten, I grabbed my coffee, and set off to visit Cheryl, who
worked Triple-D (Death Detail Duty) as we called it. It was her
task to deal with the dead, those poor souls who never returned
from war. She was given lists of all the deceased, waited for their
bodies to be delivered home, and then made sure they arrived safely
to wherever they needed to go. I was so much happier working with
the living. She seemed to prefer working with the deceased, because
she didn’t have to worry about every soldier hitting on her. Her
wife Gina greatly appreciated her work ethic. Cheryl was downright
gorgeous. She had shoulder-length, bleached blonde hair and a face
that could have any man crouching at her feet. And the gorgeous
didn’t stop there. It went from the top of her head to the tip of
her toes. She was just stunning. Gina was quite the looker, too.
She was the tiniest thing, and every movement she made was a bounce
full of energy and grace. Her reddish-brown hair was cut into a
cute bob, which hugged her petite facial features. She was a dance
teacher, which probably explained the bouncy, graceful part. She
was a delight in every way; always happy and never a bad word
escaped her lips. The only way to describe her would be as angel
embodied in human form. You just couldn’t help but to be drawn in
by her enthusiasm for life.

“
Hey, babe, what’s
happening?” I smiled and said, as I graced the edge of her desk
with my backside.

“
Oh, I’m doing just great;
ten more incoming this morning alone. It’s such a shame. All
babies, too. Good morning back, by the way. How about you?” She sat
back in her chair and put her feet up on her desk, and
smiled.

“
Well, looks like I’ve been
given a
special assignment
,” I said, making quote marks in
the air above me. “They pulled all my other cases for this one
guy.”

“
Seriously? What’s so
special about this one?” Cheryl was the best sounding board for
pretty much everything. Since I no longer had my dad, she was my
go-to-girl.

“
Highly-decorated. You
should see the list of medals he has. Other than that, I’m
clueless. Guess I’ll find out at 10:30; we have a scheduled
appointment already.” I gave her the double-eyebrow salute. I
usually scheduled my own appointments, but this one really was
making its own path.

“
Well, this should be
interesting. I love hearing about all your guys,” she teased. She
was always pushing me to date, and often with soldiers I worked
with.

“
Okay, I’ll stop back after
I meet with him. Are you and Gina still coming for pizza and a
horror flick this Friday night?”

“
Wouldn’t miss it for the
world!” she said as she spun her chair around to face her computer.
She lazily waved goodbye to me over her shoulder.

“
Right. See ya later,
babe.” I turned and headed back to my office to get all my
paperwork in order for my meeting.

Since Cheryl and Gina were my only
social life, we had designated every Friday night as pizza and
horror flicks at my house. This was not to be confused with
Chick-Flick-Sunday, the second Sunday of every month, which was
always held at their apartment. We ordered Chinese or Thai food,
and made sure we each had our own individual box of tissues. I knew
the girls wanted to start a family soon, and were in the process of
looking for a house and a good sperm donor, so my time with them as
my entertainment was limited. I had to enjoy every little bit. Soon
they’d be leaving their little one with Auntie Nini (they had
already informed me of my name and future babysitting job). It was
fine with me. I loved kids and couldn’t wait. It seemed the chances
of ever having my own were pretty slim at this point in
time.

I often wondered if I would ever find
the kind of love they had. What they possessed was not your
traditional
marriage, but their love was constant,
unconditional, and unbreakable. I was sure many people would die
for a relationship like they had together. I knew I would, and
wanted to find someone but just didn’t click with most of the men I
met. With me, the connection had to be there from the start. Maybe
I was just being too picky. I never threw caution to the wind. In
the end, it would probably be my downfall, and I would end up
old spinster Aunt Nini
.

I got back to my office and started to
ready forms by filling out what I could. I looked up at the clock
and realized I only had a short time before my meeting. I grabbed
the paperwork and headed for the elevators.

I hit the button and waited for my ride
to the third floor. The door opened and I noticed no one else would
be sharing it with me. It was unusual for this time of day, so I
leaned back against the wall to relax, watching the doors slide
close. The elevator started its ascent and then I felt it bump,
heard the motor stop and the lights went out. It was pitch black;
not even an emergency light was on. My heart started to race as I
felt my way over to the buttons to hit the alarm. Right when I
reached them, the elevator jarred back to life. I felt a bit
shaken. Getting stuck in an elevator was really not my cup of tea.
I giggled with relief when I reached my destination, and the doors
opened. I literally leapt out before they had a chance to close,
trap me inside and cause my early demise by some freak
accident.

I headed over to Incoming to meet my
important soldier
. The third floor was entirely empty. No
one was bustling around as usual.
Strange.
This entire day
was just not sitting well with me. The place was freezing, too. I
was really wishing I hadn’t worn my short skirt to work today. I
could feel the goose bumps starting to rise on my arms. I peeked
down the long empty hallway, and saw one lone man sitting on the
benches. He looked like a ghost in a deserted town.

“
Excuse me, Sergeant
Thane?”

The soldier stood up, perfectly at
attention, and addressed me with a serious, military tone and utter
respect.

“
Yes, Ma’am.” He offered
his hand to shake mine.

My breath hitched in my throat
immediately. Any man in uniform was to die for, but he was just
drop-dead gorgeous. His dark, messy hair was longer than it should
be for someone returning from a tour, and appeared as though he had
just rolled out of bed. Sex hair is what I would call it, although
others might refer to it as bed head. He must have been at the
infirmary for some time. His face was squared and chiseled, and
accentuated by a shadow of scruff. His eyes seemed to be piercing
right through me. They were a deep shade of blue, but somehow had
the appearance they were glowing. I bet now that he was home, all
the girls would be knocking down his door, if he didn’t have
someone already waiting for him. I couldn’t imagine he wasn’t
already spoken for, unless he was a player.