Red, White, and Beautiful Blue Eyes

The day I got the phone call was the worst day of my life, or so I thought. My name is Claire and I live in New York City. Sometimes I wish I lived in a Hamlet, make things more easier, you know? Well anyways, when I got the phone call I was 22 years old and I was madly in love with a boy named Brad. He was very amicable, tall, had brown hair and the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen on a man. Also he had this strange pallor to him, but it all worked out. He was in the army and was shipped off to Iraq after 2 years of us being married.
On Tuesday, August 17, 2007, the phone rang. I ran to the phone and picked up nervously. I hadn’t been getting letters from brad, and it worried me. I answered:
“Hello?”
A man with a deep voice answered me, “Hello, Mrs. Manning?”
“Yes, this is her. May I ask who is calling?”
“My name is Mr. Monser and I am the doctor who gets injury calls from Iraq. I received a call about 30 minutes ago that you may want to hear. This morning around 9:28 am, your husband, Brad Manning, was reported dead. I am very sorry ma’am. We will be over sometime this week to discuss memorials.”
As soon as he said that, I dropped the phone and cried. My whole body was numb and I didn’t know what to do at that moment. I had just lost the one person I really loved and had to myself. This was all so unheralded. I felt feeble and I just fell to the ground. I’m pretty sure the man called my neighbors because a covey of them ran over and helped me off of the ground and tried to calm me down. For years after, I sat in my home, went out rarely, and just mourned the death of Brad. He was all I wanted, and there was no way of getting him.
It was September 28, 2009 when he caught my eye. The date reminded me of Brad, he was reported dead at 9:28 on his day of death. Anyways, I was walking down the street on my way to a bar to meet some of my girlfriends and I was excited to be out again. I probably looked like i had xenophobia since I wasn’t used to seeing all of these people, but it was nice. All of the lights on the streets gave me some strange pleasure, and i really liked it.
As I walked into the bar, heads turned. People knew who I was. “Oh look, that’s the army wife whose husband got killed.” That is what they say. I ignored the stares and whispers and walked straight over to my best friend. Her name is Kallie and she is the best person in the world. She visited me everyday and sat in my room while I just cried. She gave me a huge hug and then I moved to my other two best friends, Jessica and Nora. They were also there everyday to bring me dinner and I was so happy at that moment to be with the three girls that meant most to me.
We were laughing and smiling and reminiscing. Also our 24 year old selves couldn’t help but have a drink. While we were talking about some of our best memories from high school, a handsome man walked over to me. As I looked at him, something about him looked so familiar. I just couldn’t pick it out. As I stood up and introduced myself, I realized what it was: he had beautiful blue eyes, just like Brad.
“Hello, ma’am, I couldn’t help but notice you sitting over here without a man by your side. My name is Jacob and I would like to change that.” He said with a wink and a smile. I could not resist and my friends were practically pushing me into him, so I went and had a dance with him and he bought me a drink. He was just so benevolent and adorable! We sat down after a while and started talking about each other’s lives. As I told him my story, I could tell it hurt even him. So as I finished my story, we were talking for hours, and it was time to go. We exchanged numbers and left each other with the best hug I have ever received.
Jacob called me the next day and asked if I would meet him for lunch at a diner. I told him that I would see him there. As I walked to the diner, my heart was pounding. I just kept asking myself: How is this happening? Do I actually care for someone again? Can he handle all of my past and still love me for me? He met me at the door and we talked for so long. At the end of that lunch, we decided it would be a daily ritual. Jacob and I had lunch every day for 9 months. After those 9 months, I knew I was in love. We were dating by then, and he was all I wanted.
On September 28, 2010 Jacob asked me to dinner rather than lunch. I didn’t know why we needed to change the time, but I went with it. As I walked into dinner, I saw that no one was there. All I saw was Jacob sitting there willy at a table. I was a little leery and taut, but as I sat down, Jacob told me something.
“Claire, I’ve been hiding something from you for the past year. The day I met you the story you told had me too heart broken to tell you. But before I tell you that, I wanted to tell you something else. I greatly extol you and everything you've been through. I just want to let you know that I love you, and I want to be with you forever,” he then got down on one knee, “will you marry me?”
I was in complete shock. I didn’t know what to say or think. Thos four words alleviated any memory of Brad and all I could think about was Jacob. So I just nodded my head and started bawling. He stood up, gave me a kiss and a hug, and sat down to eat. But before we could eat, I was still pondering on what he had to tell me. “So what was it you wanted to tell me?” I asked.
“Well, I didn’t want you to not get to know the real me, so I never told you this. Also this would have deffinatly become a quandary and I didn't want that. But anyways, I am in the army and I was ceded to be shipped to Iraq within the next year.”
When he said that, I got almost the same feeling I got as the phone call. I did not know what to think at all. "How could you hide this from me? After all you know I have been through. Why?" Luckily no one was in there to see me that much of a mess. Jacob tried to calm me down but at that point, I didn't even want to see his face. I stormed out of the restaurant without a single look back.
***
As I walked down the street and looked into a window, I saw him. I knew who that man was. Its now August of 2017, and I have not felt the same about any man since Jacob. The man looked back at me, so I decided to take a closer look. When I got closer, I knew that man immediately. He also knew who I was. It was Jacob.
He got out of his chair and ran towards me. He gave me a hug and it brought me back 8 years earlier when we first met. I fell in love with him all over again. I sat with him and his friends from Iraq and they explained it all. But the whole time they were explaining all I could look at was Jacob's beautiful blue eyes.