Promises

Love can fly in the face of danger...but can love really conquer all?

"The train leaves at 11:06; I can't stay."

She kissed him once more. "Come back to me; promise!"

He said nothing. He turned and walked away, looking guilty.

         @-----@-----@

"I'll wait for you," she had written.

"The thought of coming home to you is the only thing that keeps me alive here," he replied, the first explosions of the night beginning to crump in the background.

         @-----@-----@

The box was much too big for the ring as he opened it.

"I promise I'll come back. I'll come back to you, and we'll make it official."

He put the ring on her finger, then joined the rest of the men climbing up the gangplank onto the ship.

"I'll come back!" he hollered over the noise of dock. But he wasn't sure if she had heard as she stood staring down at the ring.

         @-----@-----@

She smiled at him and put her hands on her dress where it flared out from her tight round belly. "I love you, and so does little Petey. We'll make a happy family when you come home."

         @-----@-----@

He looked through her as she said goodbye, a dull stare at something she could never see. He kissed her mechanically, then plodded off to the waiting jeep, alone again.

         @-----@-----@

"It won't be for long; they say the Germans are ready to give it up as a lost cause. I'll be back by Christmas." He kissed her and walked away.
         @-----@-----@

But he didn't come back. And she didn't wait. It was never made official, and the baby was born to a widow. It was two more years before Germany "gave it up." It was too many years, too much waiting, too many lives, too much lost. And everyone realized one fact that is discovered and rediscovered throughout time:

Nobody truly wins a war.

NOTES: ▼

Word Count: 300
Submitted for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 
Prompt: Use the words "train," "leaves," and "box."