The Widow & the War Correspondent by Linda Shenton-Matchett

Author:Linda Shenton-Matchett [linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Linda Shenton Matchett

Chapter Seventeen

Shadows lengthened as Cora glanced at Van. He’d grown pensive in the last few minutes, and she hesitated to intrude on his thoughts. Unless, of course, he needed cheering up. How was she to know what to do?

She stopped along the shoreline of the Y-shaped pond on the west side of the park and bent to pick up a stone. She’d spent many hours with her sisters skipping rocks on the lakes at home. A gust of wind tangled her hair around her face, and she scraped away the errant locks. The aroma of grass, water, and vegetation pushed the ever-present smell of coal to the background. She took a deep breath and heaved the stone toward the water.

One—two—three—four skips, then a plop as the rock sunk.

“Not bad for a girl.” The clouds in Van’s eyes had cleared, and he tossed a stone from hand to hand. “Care to make a wager that I can’t beat you?”

“Not worth my time.” Cora crossed her arms and looked off in the distance, pretending to be unaffected by his dare.

“Afraid you’ll lose again?” He moved directly in front of her and turned her chin so she had to look in his eyes.

Those startling deep, expressive eyes. Her stomach tightened. “Oh, all right. Go ahead and pitch the thing, proving once and for all that you’re Superman.”

Van swung his arm, hurling the rock toward the water.

One—two—three. Plunk.

Cora mimicked Van’s early victory dance by jogging in place, hands raised over her head. “What were you saying about my skills as a girl? And don’t you dare claim you let me win.”

His face flushed, and he chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.” He raked his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Hard to believe there’s a war on with a day like today. Beautiful weather. Lovely scenery. Time away from chasing stories.”

She nodded and gestured to a wooden bench nestled under a small tree.

They sat in silence for several minutes.

Cora licked her lips. “Life never quite turns out how you plan, does it? I mean, not always in a bad way, but we humans think we can arrange every moment, and honestly, we can’t. A ludicrous assumption on our part.”

“You’ve got that right. And like you said, sometimes it’s positive, but I certainly never expected my career to take me overseas to a war zone. I’ve had a chance to make history with some of my coverage and meet some of my heroes.” He gazed at her for a long moment. “And make new friends.”

Her heart thumped. “I’m certainly a different person than when I got here. My experiences have changed the way I look at…people, government, leadership, sacrifice, my job…everything.”

He laced his fingers and cradled his knee. “Nothing will ever be the same again. People will talk about life before the war and after. This conflict has already outpaced the Great War in terms of money spent and lives lost.”

“We’re a maudlin pair, aren’t we?” She rubbed her finger along the seam of her skirt. “Some good has come from the evil.

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