I'll Continue This Tomorrow

I wanted to explore more, further south, but you brought my hands up then as you looked back grinning over your shoulder at me. I kissed the side of your cheek in appreciation of the thrill you brought me and began to kiss your neck, making it your turn to shiver. Your bum, firm but well rounded and surrounded in the finest silk, pushed back against me, my manhood straining as you rocked from side to side over it.

I felt your rib cage on each side as you slid my hands up, and then you stopped again as I just brushed up against the bottom of your breasts, so soft, so warm. I wanted you so much, Mary, wanted to explore you further, but you stopped me there for a moment as you breathed deeply and then let it out slowly. Your head leaned back against my shoulder and you twisted around toward me to whisper, "I'm yours, my love. Do with me as you will."

Your momentary resistance was gone and I slowly pushed our hands up together over your perfect breasts, bringing a moan from you and one from me. You struggled for a moment then, turning in my arms toward me, and you continued removing my clothes as we kissed. Mine were gone seconds later as you removed them and then loosed the ties on my shorts. As I ran my hands over your back, I discovered that your silk knickers were gone, too.

"Take me, Henry," you told me. "Please?"

I laid you on the bed and joined you before we came together and began our sweet union, our first of what I hope and pray will be many.

My friend David, who was recently promoted to corporal on my becoming sergeant, said I tossed and turned and even moaned for a bit, as if having a nightmare, he claimed, before I awoke with a start, remembering what I've related with great delight and secretly knowing that it was far from a nightmare...well, other than the shock of having to get up and change into my fresh undergarments due to our dreamtime fun feeling so real while in the frigid cold.

My sweet Mary, my night dream made me believe we really were together and loving each other, in mind and body, particularly considering the end result. Of course, it was a dream, but a most pleasant one that I will always remember with great fondness. And yes, my dear, I love you with all my heart just as I know you do me, and I look forward to us loving each other in truth with our bodies soon, too, when we unite in holy matrimony.

It is already late, with lights out some time ago and the last page or more written by shielded candle (I've exercised the privilege of rank for once), so I must turn in, hoping to dream sweet dreams of you again tonight as I hope you do of me.

So, all of my love, dear Mary. I'll continue this tomorrow.

***

[The rest of the page is blank, but there is more writing in a different hand at the top of the last page...or as it was folded, perhaps that was actually intended to be the first page?]

[Redacted] France, the Western Front

Friday, 22 February, 1918

Dear Miss O'Grady,

My name is Corporal David Villiers and I must offer my most sincere condolences on the most unfortunate death in combat of your betrothed, Sergeant Henry Adam Bankston.

I am so sorry to be the bearer of this news but fear the company headquarters may not inform you since you and Henry, while engaged, were not yet married. However, he was my immediate superior, our recently promoted section sergeant, and my best and most trusted friend over the past few years as we have fought together. Therefore, I am quite certain he would want me to share this despite the pain that it will undoubtedly bring you.

Henry led our section on a recon sortie yesterday, 21 February, to [Redacted] He had done this any number of times before, but this time we encountered a similar party of their troops. Henry was up front leading as always, so he exhibited great courage as he called for our

{At this point, a number of lines were redacted by the army censors before the writing continued.}

four of us, [Redacted], went out last evening after nightfall to search for him to bring him safely back to our lines. Unfortunately, we found him too late, having fallen while providing that covering fire for us. We struggled through the night to return his body for burial. In the end, we were successful in bringing him back, but not as we had planned or hoped.

It is doubtless little consolation to you but Henry died a hero saving us, and I and all the men of our section will be forever grateful for his great sacrifice even as we are greatly and eternally saddened by his loss.

On our return with his remains, I found the accompanying letter in the pocket of his uniform and the address of your duty station in his other effects. Since this letter was addressed to you and since Henry told me many times of his great love for you, of his engagement to you, and of his hopes and dreams for your future together, I am sending it to you with my condolences and word of my prayers rather than returning it to his parents with the rest of his effects.

In closing, Henry also told me, many times as well, of your equally great love for him and the care you, his beloved "angel in white," gave him during his convalescence last year. Please understand that his love for you was unconditional and unending. When Henry meets with Saint Peter, his patron saint, at those pearly gates, he will undoubtedly ask the good Apostle to let him know when you finally arrive—hopefully many, many years from now—so you can be together once more.

My sincerest condolences,

Corporal David Villiers

British Expeditionary Force

_____________________

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading this story, which tells a bit of Henry's side of his romance with Mary in his own words similar to what she did in her journal in "Calling the Stork." This letter is mentioned in that story and also in "My Sister's Love," where Mary tells Clara of her lost love. Though all three of these stories stand alone, if you choose to read the other two, I suggest reading them in the order listed to minimize spoilers in the parts where they overlap.

Thanks, too, for any comments, follows, or likes. They are also greatly appreciated.

Finally, I do a lot of research for my historical pieces such as this and often include historical notes. This time, the info was incorporated into the story, so I don't have other notes to include, but a few of the items researched included life in the trenches in WWI, British officer command structure and the leave system for British officers and enlisted men in the war, British army positioning and movements in February 1918, and, yes, barbed wire, nocturnal emissions (wet dreams) among soldiers, and the vast array of colors (and patterns) of dried bloodstains on various types of paper!