Page 18 of One More Time

‘I hope it’s true that time heals, Charlie, because I don’t know how I’m going to get on with life without him here to share it with,’ she sobbed against his shoulder. ‘My Max was my absolute world. It feels so empty without him.’

Overcome with raw emotion, Charlie didn’t know what to say, so he remained silent, hoping his embrace was enough to bring the woman who’d raised him with such gentleness and love some sort of comfort. She deserved that, and so much more.

Her weeping eventually subsiding, his grandmother unravelled from his arms. ‘Thank you, Charlie, for coming home. I’m so happy you’ve decided to stay a little longer.’ Wiping her tears with a tissue plucked from her pocket, she offered him a wispy smile. ‘Speaking of which, how are things going with you and Grace?’

Charlie cleared the emotion from his throat as best he could. ‘I love her, Grandma.’

‘Oh, how wonderful. She’s a beautiful young woman, inside and out.’ Delight filled her blue-grey eyes. ‘Have you told her how you feel?’

‘Yes, tonight.’ His heart cartwheeled with the memory.

‘Good for you.’ Josephine patted his knee. ‘And what did she say?’

‘She told me she loves me too.’

‘Oh, Charlie. I’m so happy for you.’ Josephine sucked in a breath, her smile giving way to an expression of upmost importance. ‘You know that have a very important decision to make now, though, don’t you?’

Charlie tipped his head. ‘What do you mean?’

‘If you go back to the army, you know you could lose her.’ Josephine’s shrewd gaze was all-knowing. ‘A woman needs the man she loves beside her, not in some far-off country he might never return from.’ She made the sign of the cross. ‘Please god, never let that be so,’ she added hastily

His grandma had suffered so many years of not knowing if he’d make it home alive, and while he hated making her feel that way, it was part of being a soldier. ‘I know what you’re saying is true, and I wish it were that easy.’ Charlie swallowed hard. ‘You know how much I wanted to join the reconnaissance mission to try and find Joey, or god forbid his remains, so his family can find peace. It feels wrong of me to even consider not going back there, like I’m letting down the brave soldier who fought beside me, and saved me from being blown up that terrible day.’

Josephine placed a motherly hand on his bouncing leg, steadying it. ‘I know you do, but you need to look ahead, Charlie, not behind you, if you want to be able to look back on your life as a happy, fulfilled man.’ She drew in a breath. ‘After all this time, Joey Baker might very well be untraceable. It’s heartbreaking, I know, but it’s the cold hard truth, and you know it.’ She sighed softly. ‘Grace is your future, and from what you’re telling me, you are most certainly hers.’

‘I don’t know how I’ll live with myself if I don’t go back to Vietnam to look for him.’ With the weight of it all bearing down upon his shoulders, Charlie dropped his head into his hands. ‘I want to bring Joey home to his family in Alabama, not leave him in that hellhole, missing in action.’

‘I know, Charlie.’ Josephine looked to her hands, now folded in her lap. ‘But tell me this.’ She brought her gaze back to his. ‘How are you going to live with yourself if you go and break Grace’s heart?’

Unable to find the right words, he nodded, then heaved an almighty breath.

Josephine patted his arm. ‘Like I said, you have a decision to make.’ Bending, she plucked the whisky bottle from where he’d hidden it beneath the settee. ‘And while I’m preaching to you about doing the right thing, this stuff, my boy, will be the death of you, and of your ever entertaining a happy future.’

‘How did you know?’ He was extremely embarrassed to see the empathy in his grandma’s concerned regard.

‘I raised you. I know you better than you know yourself, Charlie.’ She offered him a gentle, all-seeing smile. ‘You have to take care of yourself, and …’ She placed a hand on his chest, ‘… your heart.’ Her expression turned a little sad. ‘Because take it from me, there is nothing worth fighting for more in this world than true love.’

Her words hit home, incredibly hard. Charlie nodded. ‘You’re a wise woman, Grandma. Thank you for loving me like you do.’

‘To know you is to love you, my darling boy.’ She leant in and kissed his cheek. ‘Now, I’m off to bed, to try and get some sleep, and you should do the same.’ The whisky bottle clutched in her hand, she rose and passed her other hand to him. ‘Because tomorrow, unlike your wonderful grandfather, you and I have the gift of a brand-new day.’

With her frail hand gently clasped within the strength of his, Charlie came to his feet and, step by step, imagined walking away from the man he believed he was predestined to be and into the house he’d found so much comfort in over the years.

Climbing the staircase, he bid his grandma goodnight before heading to his bedroom. He dressed in his pyjamas, climbed into bed and, closing his eyes against the wooziness of the quarter bottle of whisky he’d drunk, thanked god for the angel he’d brought into his life – the very woman who was going to alter his path like no other had the power to. Charlie was sure of it. And then, with his breathing slowing, he tumbled into dreamland, where Grace’s mesmerising face seemed to fill every second of slumber.

CHAPTER

6

February 1976

Cruising the leafy suburban streets of Sapphire Bay to the tunes of ABBA, Charlie smiled to himself as he breathed in every peaceful detail of civilian life; a group of free-spirited kids riding their chopper bikes, a house with giggling youngsters playing under the sprinkler with their golden retriever. The sleepy seaside town was a world away from the one he’d grown accustomed to in his khakis, and he found it hard to believe he’d spent one hundred and sixteen days back here. He wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

That wasn’t to say he didn’t feel guilt every waking day for not following through with his plan to return to Vietnam, but on the flip side, the guilt he would have felt had he left Grace behind was unthinkable. He was both nervous and eager to see how he was going to settle into life now that he’d officially been discharged from the army. He’d waited until his request was authorised so he didn’t get Grace’s hopes up, and now he couldn’t wait to see her face when he told her the news. And that wasn’t the only thing he was going to surprise her with. He just hoped, after braving a visit to her father at the high school that morning, that everything went to plan, and he wasn’t about to make a total fool of himself.

Pulling into the Denvers’ driveway, his heart vaulted towards the charismatic woman who’d stolen it. He couldn’t believe it was possible to be so in love in a little under five months, but with Grace, he was head-over-heels, ridiculously, unequivocally lovestruck.

‘Charlie!’ As if floating on the same air her sweet voice carried on, Grace flew toward him, skidding to an excited stop at his window. ‘Hey, handsome, are you going my way?’ she said, leaning in and planting a kiss on his lips before he’d even had time to answer.