4. Dark Days Arrive (2/2)

but then… she realised the cause of this sudden proposal; troy may not come back to her. she may not see his handsome face again or hear him whisper in her ear… whenever she thought about the risk of troy or merry not coming back, she never truly belived in this possibilty. but now she did, she finally realised that it can happen, and there is no way to guarantee that it won't happen. it was almost as two pieces of her heart were borrowed with no promise of returning them back to her.

julia gulped "i won't promise you that i will marry you." she whispered eventually with her hands shaking from emotions.

"why not, my love?" troy asked her in a surprised tone. he was aware of how every other girl from glen st. mary would react to his proposal.

"i can't promise you because i don't know if i love you enough to… marry you." she replied looking helplessly at the ground.

troy put his hand under her chin and raised her head so that she could look in his eyes "then let's say that we are just engaged; and it will be our own engagement." he whispered and grinned knowingly.

"what do you mean?" she asked, her eyes lightening a little bit.

"you will take the ring, and think of me whenever you will look at it. then, after i come back from the war, you will say either yes or no to my proposal." he said with a smile.

julia grinned at him and slowly took the ring from his hand "i will put it on a string and wear it proudly as my necklace for we aren't exactly engaged. but i accept your offer troy." she said and kissed his cheek with laughing eyes.

troy laughed merrily and bent down to kiss her passionately "now i have another reason to fight!" he said joyfully.

"yes, you do." julia agreed and chuckled quietly.

troy looked at the sunset behind julia and kissed her once again on the forehead "i have to go back now. see you tomorrow at the station. don't forget!" he teased.

"i won't. farewell, mr rogers." julia said with a shaking voice.

troy kissed her hands and turned around swiftly. he then marched to the rogers' farm, not even once turning around to see his girl looking at his back for another ten minutes until he vanished from her sight completely.

when julia got home, she found her mother, father and merry chatting together while sitting on the sofa in their living room.

her parents got over the shock of merry's new uniform and the fact that he would be leaving the next day. faith was keeping up with her name and her husband could be nothing else but proud of his son who was so much like himself in his age.

julia sat in front of them. although during her meeting with troy she felt peaceful and calm, now she felt as if her heart was stuck in her thoat making her unable to speak or even think. she was choking with fear of the future ahead.

"i am partially engaged." she announced without any emotions whatsoever.

her parents looked at her with really confused expressions but julia explained to them what "partially engaged" means and both of them looked pleased with this kind of engagement, even though they weren't exactly hoping for julia to marry troy whatever happens.

"to whom are you engaged, may i ask?" merry inquired with a funny look crossing his face.

julia turned her head towards her older

other. she would normally jump on him and laugh with him till both of them would lie on the floor together, just like they always did when they were small children. however just in this moment the realisation of what's to come the next day hit her so unexpectadly that she indeed jumped on him but with a horrible sound of sobbing filling up the whole room.

"what will i do without you, merry?" she cried in his chest.

"you will always be our bathsheba. and you will take care of everyone, won't you?" he asked her tenderly stroking her hair.

"certainly better than you ever will." julia's face lightened up a little bit when she realised that she has to get stronger for her family, no matter how much she felt like crying in that moment, she had to keep a stiff upper lip and dry off her tears.

merry and her parents chuckled quietly.

"probably yes, but will you take care of everyone for me?" he asked once more, looking in her eyes with enough strength to make julia sit up straight and smile.

"i will take care of everyone, i promise. as long as the stars are spread over the night's sky." she vowed.

the glen st. mary's train station wasn't exactly full of soldiers, it was mostly filled with the soldiers' families.

marshall douglas, mary vance's oldest son, joined up just few days before leaving for training and now he was kissing his little mother's hands with greatest dignity, looking from the corner of his eye at julia's cousin cilia who also came along to say her goodbyes to both her sweetheart and her cousin merry.

it was decided that only jem, his wife and their children will gather on the train station. everyone wanted to come of course, but then, if the whole clan of blythes, merediths and fords would come to say goodbye to merry, there probably wouldn't be enough space for at least half of the other soldiers' families to come to the train station.

julia was dressed in her very best navy-blue pleated dress with a round hat covering her red curls and small black heels on her feet. her appearence caught everyone's attention and even mary vance didn't have anything against the appearance of "jem's girl" that day.

julia promised herself that she won't cry nor that she will say that she doesn't won't her merry or her troy to go, because it wasn't exactly true after all. she knew that she had to let them go, no matter how hard it was for her to do so. and so the

ave bathsheba kissed her

other's face tenderly and hugged him very tightly with no tears in her eyes.

"be careful merry, darling. and write to us!" she whispered to his ear.

"i will be the most careful man in the army." he whispered back.

"if only i could believe that." she laughed and her

other winked at her in his old "naughty" way.

merry went over to his parents who both had radiating smiles on their faces and hope in their eyes; and to his small sister cee whose face looked really miserable but, the magnificent thing still managed to grin when merry lifted her up and kissed her small forehead.

"well now, my julia. promise me that you won't let anyone kiss you until i come back." troy said decidedly when he held julia in his arms.

"i promise, dear troy. and will you promise me the same thing?" she asked him with a grin.

"of course, sweetheart, but to be honest i don't think i would have a chance anyway." he chuckled looking around at all young soldiers around him.

"if a man wants something desperately, he will do everything to get it, you know that perfectly well." julia said and smiled calmly.

"all aboard!" the dreaded voice of a conductor was heard.

"already?" faith said in despair and kissed merry's hands once more before he jumped on the train with marshall and troy by his side. julia stepped on the train's footboard quickly and let herself to be completely lost in troy's last and final goodbye kiss.

"write to me! both of you!" julia said to her

other and her sweetheart with whom she was still holding hands, just before she came back down to the ground.

her boys nodded gracefully with smiles on their faces and a reflection of an adventure forming in their eyes "goodbye, julia!" troy said eventually when the train started to move. he squeezed her hand assuringly.

"goodbye. i'll see you soon." she said, no longer able to hold back her tears which started strimming down her cheeks.

"see you soon, sister o'mine! bye mum and dad and cee!" merry shouted to his family from the distance. julia couldn't keep up with the train anymore and her hand gently slipped out of troy's and merry's hands.

she was in a complete shock. she could still feel the warmth of their hands on her own hands, she could still feel troy's burning kiss on her lips and she could still see the awaiting of an adventure in each of their eyes.

and she didn't even realise when the small spot of a train, vanished from the line of the horizon, leaving so many people behind with nothing else but a war between fear and hope in their hearts.