Hold My Hand - A Civil War Love Story

Part 2: William Joseph Reynolds

Author's Note: Please tell me what you guys think by voting or commenting!

"Cathleen, wake up." A gentle voice, obviously Isabel’s calls out.

"What time is it?" I ask in a complete daze.

"I have no idea, but I think your two hours is up."

I trot back to the building while straightening my plain black nurse dress. I remember when the head nurse decided to hire me, even though I was a lot younger than what they usually allow. She told me in a stern voice, "No frill, color, or shape. If it looks good on you, it is probably wrong." For about three months I have been wearing those kind of dresses, and would love to wear one of the nice things my mother made for me. But at the moment, it’s just not practical.

Only two men have passed away in my rows, and it was in their sleep. I take a moment and say a prayer, but I know I have to move on. After a moment of silence, I find one of the burial specialists and have them take the men away. Some of the soldiers that weren’t as hurt as others were already wanting to leave, so around noon we had some room for more men. Isabel and I usually work together, keeping eachother company. I’m better at feeding and communicating with them, but Isabel can change their bedpans and bandages while holding down her lunch. I only do that work when I have to.

I take notice to a young man, practically still a boy motioning for me to come over. He can’t be much older than me. I walk down the aisle towards him. He must of just came in today because I’ve never seen him before now.

"Hello sir, do you need anything?" I ask him in a gentle voice.

"I just wanted to talk to someone. I’ve never seen a nurse this pretty." He answers in a daze.

My cheeks turn a bright red shade. "Sir, you must be a little groggy. Did you take your medicine on an empty stomach?"

"No, I ate all my hardtack don’t worry." He answers with I slight smile. "I am waiting for the medicine to kick in. My head is killing me"

"Maybe you should get your bandage changed." I offer.

"Alright miss."

I slowly take the dirty bandage off of his head. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be, only a small gash on his forehead.  I quickly clean the cut off and replace it with a clean white bandage.

"Alright, finished." I say.

"Thank you. What’s your name?" He asked me.

"Cathleen Charlotte Grace, and yours?"

"William Joseph Reynolds, pleasure to meet you Cathleen." He shook my hand.

"The feeling is mutual William. Now, get some rest and you will probably be able to leave tomorrow morning." I prescribed in my ridiculous nurse tone. I sound like a lady twice my age, but Lillian my boss said that we have to act professional around the soldiers. No funny buisness at all.

He gives me a slight smile before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. The rest of my shift, I could not get William out of my mind. His blue eyes looked like the sea, and his smooth tone was like velvet. I kept trying to shake these thoughts out of my mind. We are caught in a Civil War! Men are dying left and right, and I’m supposed to be helping them, not day dreaming.

Isabel came over to me and whispered, "The Union army is leaving in three days. They said whoever’s not well enough will stay behind."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Lillian told me, she gets the information from one of the generals or whomever. Besides, if they cannot recover in five days, they are usually not going to get well enough to fight." She told me eagerly. We carried on once Lillian walked in so we wouldn’t get scolded for "taking a lazy man’s break" as she puts it. She also doesn’t want us discussing that sort of matter around the wounded soldiers. It adds even more stress to them.

I work the rest of the day until all of the soldiers have been taken care of and are asleep. Then, I walk over to the nurses’ quarters so I can have a few hours of rest. Luckily my schedule is daylight, so I don’t have to adjust to sleeping during the day whereas the other nurses are completely nocturnal.