TELL IT LIKE IT IS by Stanalei Fletcher
EXCERPT
PROLOGUE
December 12, 1944
My Dearest Rosalee,
The cold, winter nights come quickly these days. But when I think of you, my heart remains warm. Your last letter, dated August 17, has only just reached me, I have no idea where you might be as I write this. I can only pray you're safe. I know you refuse to abandon your duty, so I won't even try to convince you otherwise. Besides, if it hadn't been for your desire to serve, we wouldn't have met. However, I truly wish you were state-side. Sometimes it seems that it's the only place on earth where the Christmas holiday will be enjoyed without the sound of artillery shrieking through the night or soldier's boots pounding the ground.
Some of our unit's restrictions have been lifted, but I still can't tell you where we are. Mansfield thinks I'm foolish for even writing since you probably won't get this letter until Easter. He's been very anxious to start our next assignment. I can only tell you we'll be moving into Marseille soon. I don't know when we'll be back in England. I had hoped we'd find our way through Italy, but our missions continue to take us north. And of course, you know who is there.
I'm enclosing my journal with this letter. I'd like you to keep it for me until I return. As we prepare to move out, I feel the risk of having it with me is too great. I know it's against regulations, but writing in it has kept me sane. I trust you to keep it secure and not let it fall into the wrong hands, the same way I've trusted you with my heart.
Thinking of you keeps me strong, my dear Rose. When I dream of our life together once this war is over, it helps me endure our long separation. Be safe my love. I'll be home before you know it.
'Til we are one.
Jimmy