October 20th - Kandahar Valley, Afghanistan
Finally, mail from home. Scott hadn't received any correspondence from home since his outfit deployed to Afghanistan two months ago in late August. Grabbing the half dozen letters he headed toward the tent he shared with five other Marines. Of six return addresses on the envelopes three were from his mom and dad, two from his younger sister and only one from Stephanie. That was disappointing, maybe there would be more tomorrow now that the mail had finally caught up to the outfit.
Saving the one letter from Stephanie until last he quickly read through the ones from his family. Mom's letters were typical mom to son letters. Everything was fine at home although his father still worked too many hours at the office. She was still active in the church ladies group sending cards and gift boxes to the troops overseas. Mom closed each letter with. "We love you and are praying for your safe return." The first letter from his sister, Robin, was full of stories about her return to college that semester, how great the football team was doing and a description of her latest boyfriend.
Robin's second letter was not as much fun to read. She spoke of seeing Stephanie several times in the last several weeks. Stephanie was always with the same guy, Kyle Johnson. Robin was not happy about seeing them together, but she didn't go into any details. She closed her letter with "hurry home, you are missed."
Opening Stephanie's letter he began to read.
September 17th
Dear Scott
I know of no other way of saying this but I have been dating another guy ever since you left. I ran into Kyle Johnson in the hospital cafeteria during my lunch break from the emergency room. One thing lead to another and he asked me to dinner and I accepted. That Saturday we went to Cafe Max and he told me that he saw you at the Hilton the night before you deployed. Remember, that was the night that I had to work overtime in the emergency room because of the school bus accident that sent so many young kids to our trauma unit.
Anyway, Kyle told me he saw you sitting in the bar. He said you told him you were waiting for me. That's when your cell phone rang. It was me telling you I would be at least two hours, or more, late meeting you. I know you were unhappy, but there was nothing I could do about it.
It was then that Kyle left you to join some friends at another table. He told me that he saw Susan Morgan come into the lounge and sit next to you at the bar. Then he told me that he saw you walk her to the reception desk, get a room key and go up with her in the elevator.
I didn't want to believe it but then I remembered how cold and distant you seemed to be with me when I finally met up with you three hours later.
Kyle has been more than a dear friend to me and has told me quite a lot about some other things he saw you doing in the weeks before you left. How could you do that to me? I never want to hear from you again!
I have fallen in love with Kyle and he asked me to marry him. The wedding is October 12th. Don't bother sending a gift.
Stephanie
Scott sat on his rack stunned, tears rolling down his cheeks. He folded the letter and placed it in his shirt pocket under his flak jacket. Just as he opened his foot locker to take out a pad of writing paper the camp came under a barrage of rifle and automatic weapons fire. Grabbing his M-16 and helmet he ran to join his squad. For the next two hours the unit was engaged in a fierce fire fight with hundred or so insurgents. During the engagement Scott was hit several times and a tiny piece of shrapnel nicked his optic nerve and everything went black.
November 2nd - Ramstein, Germany
"Well Lieutenant it looks like we are shipping you home tomorrow to complete your recovery. The surgery went well and I believe we were able to repair that tiny nick to your optic nerve. I put your chances at about seventy-five percent that you will have your eyesight fully restored. We'll have to keep your eyes wrapped for a while before removing the bandages and then we will see how successful the operation was," The doctor continued saying. "The bullet wounds to your legs did considerable damage but that also should heal nicely. You will be in a wheelchair for the time being. But with extensive physical therapy you should be able to get around, unaided, without any trouble. One of your nurses will be in shortly to get you ready to leave. Good luck to you, son." And with that he left the room.
Thirty minutes later a pretty, young red haired nurse with green eyes entered Scott's room. "Hi Lieutenant Anderson. It's me Katelin, Katelin O'Hara. I see that they're sending you home tomorrow. You even get your own personal escort all the way to the veteran's hospital in your hometown. Want to guess who it is?" And then she quickly answered her own question, "Me!"
When Scott was first brought into the military hospital Katelin had been assigned to him. Katelin was the first nurse in a program, funded by a grant, from a large and influential consulting firm. The idea was that severely wounded service personnel would benefit from having one individual to provide them with physical and emotional support that was so important in their recovery. She took more than just a professional interest in him. She could see he was a good looking young man even under all the bandages covering his face and eyes. There was something about him that captivated her. He had a very positive attitude about his treatment and recovery. It was only when she brought up the subject of him going home and who might be waiting there for him did he become depressed and stopped talking.
One day, shortly after he arrived he asked about the uniform he had been wearing on the day he was admitted. She told him it was still there, hanging in the small closet along with his flak jacket and some of his personal belongings. He sighed and asked if there was still a letter in the shirt pocket.
When she retrieved the folded letter from the shirt said he needed to answer it and since he couldn't see would she please write it or him.
"Sure, no problem," She said as she sat next to his bed. "Fire away."
"First you need to read it while I think about what I want to say," he said.
As she began to read tears soon came to her eyes and then anger. How could anyone be so cruel to make accusations like this without hearing and considering any possible explanations.
Katelin began writing Scott's letter to Stephanie.
October 22nd
