Noah’s frown dissolved into a grin. “Why on earth would you think something like that?”
“Because she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Last night wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed it. I also picked up on it at the graduation ceremony last spring and the dinner party afterward. If looks could kill, Jenna would be dead and Randolph would be her man instead of Ross.”
Noah shook his head, finding the very thought absurd. “Honey, you’re imagining things. Besides, even if she did prefer Randolph to Ross she would be wasting her time. Randolph loves Jenna.”
Leigh nodded, knowing that was true. “But still, I have a bad feeling about Angela, Noah. It’s nothing I can put a finger on but there’s just something …”
Noah shook his head. “I hope you don’t tell Jenna what you suspect and get her upset. Randolph is going to have enough to deal with with Ross going away. The two of them are very close.”
“But what if I’m right?”
“And what if you’re wrong? Look, if you are right I have all the confidence in the world that Randolph will find a way to handle Angela.”
He leaned over and placed a lingering kiss on Leigh’s lips. “I don’t want to spend my last night with you talking, sweetheart.”
Leigh smiled. “Then I guess you’re going to have to give me some sort of incentive not to talk.”
“That’s not a problem,” he said as he pulled her down into his arms.
Three weeks later
“Hi, Randolph, do you have a minute?”
Randolph glanced over his shoulder and saw Angela Douglass standing there. The two of them were in Professor Wayne’s class and for the last hour they’d listen to the man give a boring lecture on the Dred Scott decision. “Yes,” he said, stopping to let other students pass. He tried to recall in all the time his brother had dated Angela just how many times he’d actually held a conversation with her and quickly concluded there hadn’t been many.
He pushed the door open that led to the outside and waited while she passed through. He remembered when he’d seen her the first day of class. She had sat in the back of the classroom trying to look like the perfect student. Although she never had a lot to say in class, whenever she was called on she was very opinionated.
“I was wondering if you’ve heard anything from Ross? I haven’t gotten but one letter from him since he’s been gone,” she said quietly.
Randolph hesitated, not wanting to tell her that he had gotten a letter from Ross practically every week since he’d left. “Yes, I’ve heard from Ross and he’s doing fine.”
“That’s good news. I was worried about him.”
Randolph stared at Angela. She had said the words so softly, so meaningfully, he wondered for a mere second if perhaps he’d been wrong about her and that she did care for his brother. And maybe the reason she’d been so prim and uptight over the two years he’d known her was due to that rigid all-girl college she’d attended in Boston. He couldn’t help but notice since attending Howard she’d become less uptight, less restrained, and wasn’t as prim and proper. She was even wearing her hair differently. It wasn’t all pinned on top of her head in the conservative style she normally wore but was hanging loose around her shoulders. It made her look younger, he thought as he continued to study her.
“There’s no need to worry, Ross is doing fine. He’ll be back home before you know it.”
“Yes and then what? Will he get orders to stay in the country or will he get sent to Vietnam?”
Randolph sighed. That question had been bothering him as well, but most of the time he just tried not to think about it. “Only Uncle Sam can answer that,” he said with a forced smile.
Angela nodded. “Randolph, I know you’ve had concerns about Ross marrying me, but I want you to know that I really do care for him.”
When he didn’t say anything she glanced down at her watch, deciding to leave now that he had something to think about. “I’d better go. My next class starts in a little while. I’ll be seeing you.”
“Okay.” Randolph sighed as he watched her walk off and again wondered if perhaps he’d been wrong about her.
Later that day Angela opened the door to the house she shared off campus with Kathy. Going into the bedroom she shook off her fatigue and changed into an outfit less confining. It had been an exhilarating day. She was pleased with the progress she was making with Randolph. Each day he was acting less and less reserved with her.
She couldn’t help noticing that he had looked at her differently today. Evidently he’d been pleased with the way she had dressed and the way she had worn her hair. She shivered. Being close to him always did things to her. Things that being around Ross never did.
It meant nothing to her that he thought he loved that nobody, Jenna Haywood. Like his grandmother Julia, she believed that in time Randolph’s fascination with Jenna would wear off.
She glanced down at her hand at the engagement ring Ross had placed there before he’d left. She trailed her fingers over the diamond, wondering how much thought he’d put into buying it. It was beautiful but it wasn’t anything she would have picked out for herself.
She wanted Randolph, and as always she would eventually get what she wanted.
Jenna received another letter from Johnny. Ellie had contacted him to let him know that her parents were coming for her. Evidently they’d had a change of heart and decided that no matter what, they loved their daughter and would forgive her for any mistakes she had made.
Reading Johnny’s letter brought tears to Jenna’s eyes. She had been worried about Ellie being without any family in California, and was glad she was going home where she and the baby would be taken care of properly.
She appreciated the way Johnny had befriended Ellie when she needed someone and was sure Ellie was grateful that Johnny had been there for her as well.
Fifteen
As most college students looked forward to a break from school over the Christmas holidays, a number of anti-war incidents occurred on several campuses that involved members of the present administration. Defense Secretary McNamara was mobbed by about one hundred anti-war demonstrators while addressing a small group of students on Harvard University’s campus; and when General Earle Wheeler, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed a gathering at Brown University, some one hundred and sixty students walked out to protest his defense of the United States’ involvement in Vietnam.
Noah and Ross had returned home from basic training with orders to leave for Saigon at the beginning of the year. Although expected, their friends and families were devastated by the news.
Noah and Leigh decided to go home for Christmas to see their families before Noah had to leave the country, and Ross made plans to split the time he had left with his two sets of grandparents, Angela and Randolph.
Leigh tried handling the news as best she could but when she began imagining all the things that could possibly happen to Noah in Vietnam, she became a mass of tears whenever she was alone though she tried putting on a brave face whenever he was around. But she couldn’t hold anything back the last night they spent together before he left. Noah had made love to her with a passion that was distinctively his, making memories the two of them would feed off from until he returned. Then he held her in his arms while she cried, and for a brief time tears had formed in his eyes knowing just how much he would miss her.
When she began crying fresh tears he leaned down and kissed them away and held her tighter. “Things are going to be okay, sweetheart. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
Leigh shook her head as more sobs shook her body. “You can’t promise me that because you don’t know that for sure. I’m so afraid, Noah. I love you so much. I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t come back to me.”
“Shhh, don’t think such a thing, baby. I’ll be back. You are the most important person in my life. You are my life. I will come back to you, Leigh.”
But what Leigh thought and what she couldn’t ask was how
would he come back. She wanted him to be alive when he returned. She didn’t want Uncle Sam returning him to her in a body bag. “I heard the Vietcongs are mean and vicious and that they would use anything or anyone to kill an American, even their women and children. How can you fight a war against people like that?”
He heard the fear in her voice and knew he had to arrest her fears. “I’ve been trained and I’m ready to do whatever I have to. My year in ’Nam will be up before you know it. When I return you’ll have finished school and then we’ll start looking for a place wherever I’ll be stationed next. And don’t forget you’ll get a chance to come to Paris when I’m up for R and R. You’ll like that, won’t you?”
She nodded through her tears. “I love you so much, Noah.”
“I know, baby, and I love you just as much.” In all the years they had been together, he had never seen her so broken up; not even when Zachary had died. Somehow he had to assure her that things would be okay. He pulled her tighter to him where his heart was pressed against hers. Her face was wet, drenched with tears, but this was the face he wanted instilled in his memory on those nights when he would be just miles outside of enemy lines, not knowing if the breath he took would be his last.
Again, he felt his own eyes beginning to dampen, but he had no shame in crying because tomorrow he would be leaving behind the most important person in his life, the woman he loved. He took his hands and cupped her face and leaned forward to kiss her. He wished this night would last forever. “No matter what happens, Leigh, always remember that I love you and I would go fight a thousand wars if it meant a better future for you and our children. There won’t be a day or night that I won’t think of you. And as long as the Lord gives me the strength to do so, I’ll come back to you. I swear it.”
He kissed her again and then he made love to the woman who would always be in his heart. They made love all that night, over and over again and when morning came and the sun shone brightly through the window, they both knew their love would always shine just as brightly and would sustain them through the coming months.
It was two weeks later and Ross and Randolph were spending the last days before Ross was to leave with their grandparents on Glendale Shores. Angela had come down for a few days and again to Randolph’s surprise she seemed genuinely concerned about his brother.
The night before he was to leave Ross went into Randolph’s bedroom after their grandparents went to bed. Both Gramma Mattie and Grampa Murphy had talked to him about keeping himself safe and not trusting any of the Vietnamese, not even the women and children.
The two brothers stood across the room facing each other, knowing there was a lot they both wanted to say but also knowing there was no need. From the time their parents had brought them into the world they had been taught to love each other and to look out for each other. They both remembered the times before their parents’ death and the good times they had shared as a family. Then afterward, at the ages of twelve and ten together they had stood before their parents’ caskets and said their final good-byes, promising to always be there for each other. Each had held the other up during that very difficult time and the times following when there was that custody fight. Neither cared which set of grandparents they would end up with as long as the two of them were not separated. There was a strong bond between them. Not only were they brothers, they were the very best of friends.
Ross was the first to cross the room to Randolph with tears unashamedly filling his eyes. It would be the first time the two of them would be separated for a long period of time. “I’m going to miss you, Rand.”
Randolph smiled sadly at Ross as tears filled his own eyes. “Same here, brother. But the year will be up before you know it and you’ll be home, and I’ll be almost finished with law school.”
Ross nodded. “Because we are brothers, at least you won’t ever have to go to Vietnam and for that I’m grateful. If either of us have to go it seems right that it be me.”
“Why?” Randolph asked jokingly, as tears continued to fill his eyes. “Because you’re the oldest?”
Ross didn’t say anything for a briefest moment, then he said softly, “No, because I’m the weakest.” His voice cracked when he added, “If anything were to ever happen to you, Rand, I don’t think I’d be able to handle it.”
Without hesitation Randolph reached out to his brother and the two men, similar in both height and build, embraced each other as only two brothers could. And at that moment they realized just how blessed they were to share the same blood.
Sixteen
March 1967
The semester passed rather quickly and in less than two months Jenna and Leigh would be graduating. Jenna had received a letter from Ellie a month ago telling her that she had given birth to a beautiful little girl whom she had named Johnnetta, after Johnny. She had appreciated the way he had been able to put the past behind them and befriend her during the time she had truly needed a friend.
Leigh had also gotten a letter from Ellie in which she apologized for the way she had treated Leigh while they’d been roommates at Howard. Leigh had written Ellie back letting her know she accepted her apology. Not one to hold a grudge, Leigh had decided the best way to handle the situation was to wipe the slate clean. As far as she was concerned, Ellie had gone through enough and had learned from her past mistakes.
Leigh received letters from Noah on a frequent basis and couldn’t wait to see him and let him know she was pregnant when she went to Paris in June. She had taken some over-the-counter medication for a cold, not knowing that certain medications could counteract the effectiveness of the birth control pill. After two missed periods she had gone to the doctor who confirmed her suspicions. Although this was not the way they had planned it, she was ecstatic.
Jenna knew that Randolph was also receiving frequent letters from Ross and many times he read them to her. In Ross’s letters he told them of the magnificent beauty of some of the places and the stink and filth of others. He told them of the people who you couldn’t trust and the women who sold themselves cheap just to get a puff from a cigarette. From his letters they knew about the harsh Asian sun that could literally bring a man to his knees if the bigger-than-life mosquitoes didn’t suck all your blood first. Then there was the hardship of having to dig deep holes in the ground which at times were the only cool place to be found, and how at night you had to be alert and on your guard against an enemy who claimed the night as his own.
Jenna knew Randolph missed Ross and was counting the days until he returned. Angela, although nice enough to her whenever Randolph was around, snubbed her otherwise. Jenna mentioned the woman’s behavior to Randolph a few times and he told her not to worry about it.
Jenna was excited about her job offer from Smith and Riley, one of the largest architectural firms that had offices all over the world. They had offered her a chance to work at their Memphis office after graduation in May. Since Memphis wasn’t that far from Knoxville and the starting salary was more than she had expected, Jenna accepted the offer. Not everyone had a job lined up after graduation so she felt blessed about it.
She and Randolph had talked about how they would handle being apart after she graduated. It was decided that she would work at Smith and Riley and then they would marry once he finished law school next spring.
At the end of March, Jenna and Randolph caught a bus to Chicago, along with one hundred other students from Howard, to participate in a march led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Over five thousand anti-war demonstrators, both black and white, participated. Leigh had wanted to participate but Jenna and Ross talked her out of it, telling her she might place the baby in danger if any violence broke out.
On April fourth Jenna and Randolph celebrated their birthdays together at the same hotel they had the year before. That night while the aftershocks of the pleasure they’d shared subsided, they held each other and whispered words of love.
“I don’t know how I’m going to handle it after you move to
Memphis, baby.”
Jenna smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder. “You’ll be so busy your final year of law school, you’ll be glad to have me out of your hair for a while.”
He shook his head as he drew her tighter into his arms. “Don’t even think that. I’m going to miss you like hell. You know how hard it was for me last summer when we were apart.”
She nodded. It had been hard for her, too. “Time will fly by quickly and before you know it Ross and Noah will be back home, and Leigh will have had her baby. Things are going to be wonderful,” she said, smiling happily.
Randolph lifted his hand and caressed her cheek. He wanted to share in her happiness but something held him back. “I hope so, baby. I truly hope so.”
A week later Randolph sat in his bedroom and reread the letter he had received that day from Ross.
March 30, 1967
Rand,
I hope this letter finds you well. Happy birthday to you and Jenna. Give her a kiss for me and tell her I appreciate the care packages she’s sending me. Toiletries are greatly appreciated over here and the cans of insect repellant are a blessing.
I have so much good news to share with you that I don’t know where to start. So I guess I’ll just go ahead and say it. I’m in love. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe but I am. And it happened just the way you said it had with you and Jenna. I saw her and wham, it was like I had been hit by a freight train or something. She works at the hospital here in Saigon. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her mother is Japanese and her father was Vietnamese. When we first saw each other, it was like some sort of soul connection. It wasn’t anything I wanted to happen, and knowing I’m engaged to Angela was reason enough to fight the attraction. And for thirty long and hard days I fought it. But the more I fought it, the more attracted to her I became, so I’ve given up the fight. She’s the one, Rand. She’s the woman I love and want to marry. Her name is Gia. I know I have to tell Angela and break off our engagement. She deserves better than a Dear John letter from me so I plan to wait until I have R and R in a few months and call her from Rome. When I return to the States in January I intend to bring Gia home with me as my wife. I know Grandmother Julia will have a cow but she can have triple cows for all I care. For Gia I’ll gladly face her wrath and then some. I love Gia just that much. Be happy for me, Rand, because loving Gia has truly made me happy.
Ties That Bind Page 17