Chapter Five

Jesse stared down for the longest time, she still wasn’t totally comfortable talking about it, and especially to someone she hardly knew. The emptiness in her heart started to radiate through her body just at the thought of everything that had happened. It must have been at least a minute before she looked up at Jon seeing nothing but warmth shining from his eyes. He hoped he wasn’t being too forward by placing his hand out to hers and giving it a squeeze.

“Its ok Jesse, you can tell me” he said before pulling it away.

“Jason and I were married around five years, he was in the military, had been since he was eighteen” she took a deep breath. Jon just listened attentively and took another sip of his coffee.

“He was drafted to Iraq about a year ago, and was meant to be there six months, he had to go, he was very committed to his sense of duty so I was never going to stop him, in fact it was one of the things that attracted me to him in the first place” she smiled. Jon chuckled, the way she was talking about her husband made his heart melt, he hadn’t felt that way in a long time and it was nice to know that love still existed out there. Even if it had been taken away from Jesse in cold blood.

“Anyway, he called to tell me that he was coming home about six months ago, and I was so excited, in fact we both were, as we wanted to start a family and everything” she said as she looked down again.

The sound of a door knocking in the middle of the next night still rang true in her ears, she had no idea who was at her door at this time of night. She got up and wrapped her robe around herself and raced down the stairs, a small hope bubbling inside her inside her told her Jason had surprised her and came home earlier than he said he would be, he often did little things like that…. When she opened the door two military officers were standing there.
“Mrs Adams?” they asked officially, the second officer looking at her already sympathetically.
She nodded, words escaping her as her body began to shake.
“I’m sorry to inform you but Lt Jason Adams has died a few hours ago….” He trailed off to tell her how he was on route with a few other officers to the border so they could make their way to the airport when their car was ambushed by some militants and they were killed instantly. Jason was gone, her beloved soul mate, the man who made her life worth living, the man whose kiss and touch warmed her heart to her very core and fuelled her desire and passion for life, was gone.

Jon watched her as she told him the story of the officers coming to tell her husband had died, only hours away from escaping the war zone to be back in her arms.

“Oh Jesse, baby I am so sorry” he said softly again placing his hand on hers, but this time he left it there.
The pain that radiated through her body that fateful night, was still evident in her eyes, as she trembled fighting to keep herself under control in front of Jon. A tear slipped free from her eye down her cheek hitting the plate below.

“What gets me the most Jon” she continued, he could see her eyes change from the sadness to now a stormy quality.

“Is that, I understand he gave his life for his country... but what the hell did he die for?” she asked angrily staring him down as if him that was personally responsible for this mess of a war.

“You have a fine point there” he conceded shaking his head. He agreed with her. He had no idea what this country was doing sometimes.
She shook her head.

“I’m sorry Jon, sometimes I can do this fine, and sometimes...” she trailed off. Jon wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms right then and tell her it was going to be ok, but the reality was he couldn’t fix this, it was bigger than he was, so he just squeezed her hand, her tears were tugging hard at his heartstrings.

“It’s ok Jesse; you don’t need to tell me anymore” the worry lines evident on his forehead. Jesse pulled her hand away from his and wiped her cheek pulling herself together.

“Anyway, that’s it. So for the last six months I threw myself into work and everything, until recently, friends felt it was time for me to try and get back to normality” she explained.

“How do you feel about that?” Jon asked her.

“I don’t know for sure Jon, I mean, Jason made me promise before he went away if anything should happen, he wanted me to move on, he wanted me to be happy. Being a military wife, you always have to prepared I guess, but you never think it’s going to happen to you” she explained finally recomposing herself tucking a stand of her rich brown hair behind her ear.

Jon nodded, he understood what she meant. Jon checked his watch he was now late for the meeting with the guys.
“Oh god Jon I am sorry! here I am rattling on and you had a meeting” Jesse said going to grab her purse.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok” he said to her, he hadn’t regretted this at all. Jesse quickly got up and paid the bill for the both of them as agreed. And Jon followed her out. He was walking from here. Jesse zipped up her red jacket and smiled at him.

“Thank you Jon, again, for everything, you have been very sweet” she said as she gave him a peck on the cheek.
Jon felt his face flush just from the slightest touch as she kissed him, her scent of jasmine and wildflower also alleviating his senses.

“Your most welcome Jesse Adams” he pulled out a card from his wallet and handed it to her.

“If you need anything, just someone to talk to, hang with, or a knight in shining armour” he grinned, catching her blush.

“You just call me ok?” he asked raising his eyebrow at her. Jesse knew he was serious, but she had troubled him enough.

“Thank you Jon, now go, you’ll be late” she said as she flicked her hands away at him.