PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Shapeshifter Romance: The Vampire's Stolen Bride (BBW Fantasy Alpha Male Romance Books) (New Adult Vampire Fun Mature Young Adult Billionaire Steamy Love and Romance Novella) (48 page)

The Touch of a Soldier

Aaron was twenty when he was deployed to fight against the Nazis. He was engaged to his high school sweetheart, and ready to start his life. He never thought he would have to go to war.

Aaron grew up in a small town in the middle of the United States. He lived what most would call a normal life. He grew up with both parents—his father owned an auto shop, and his mother stayed at home and took care of the children. His father always made sure that the lawn was mowed and that the bills were paid on time, and his mother kept the house neat and tidy. Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary happened in Aaron’s life until the day he was flying over Germany.

He had been sent to strike the Nazis from the air, but the Nazis were not to be caught off guard. As Aaron watched the missile approach his plane he quickly ejected, only to see his plane explode mere seconds later. Aaron was hit by several large chunks of hot metal and was knocked unconscious, but was lucky enough that his parachute was still intact and able to safely bring him to the ground.

Searches went out immediately, and after only a few hours, Aaron was found lying on the ground outside of one of the local military bases, still unconscious. He was quickly transported to a field hospital where his injuries would be treated.

Paula was one of the nurses that worked at the field hospital. She was young, barely twenty, and had very little training in the medical field, but nurses for the soldiers were in short supply and she was more than happy to do whatever she could to help them.

Paula had grown up much differently than Aaron. Her parents had both died when she was very young and, having no one to take her, she grew up in an orphanage. When Paula had the opportunity to help the soldiers and receive training to be a nurse, she jumped at the chance. She knew that it might be her only opportunity in life to make a difference and to matter to anyone.

Each day, Paula knew that the soldiers' lives were in her hands and that each of them were grateful for her taking care of them. It was the closest thing that Paula had ever experienced to a real family. It was also the closest thing she had experienced to love.

That was until Aaron was rushed into the field hospital. As the soldier was brought in, she saw nothing but a bloody mess over an unconscious young man. The doctors quickly performed surgery, removing all of the metal from his body and stitching him up before he was moved to an area of the field hospital where he would be under constant observation.

Paula stood at the end of Aaron’s bed, looking down at his broken and bruised body. It was the first time she had seen a man in that condition. When she had first started serving as a nurse, she was in charge of taking care of minor issues—cuts, scrapes, and sick soldiers that did not need long-term treatment. The worst thing she had seen was a soldier that needed a few stitches; but things were getting worse and the Nazis were causing increasingly severe injuries.

As Paula looked down at Aaron, she thought of the time before she had become a nurse. The US had stayed out of the war for as long as possible. To her it felt as if the war really wasn’t real. She could not believe that the things that she heard about were actually happening. As she looked down at Aaron, it became all too real to her that people really were dying and there really was a war going on.

Even after she had been stationed in the field hospital, it had not registered just how bad things had gotten. The soldiers seemed as if their spirits were high and she had gotten to know a few of them. They had told her about their lives back home and talked about how the Nazis were advancing through Europe, but never had she seen any of them doubt that they would win. The broken body before her made her wonder if things really would get better.

Most of the men would not see those that were severely injured or those that had been killed while serving. It was kept a secret in order to keep morale up, but Paula knew that she would be seeing more and more men in the same condition as Aaron, if not worse.

Paula shook her head and went about her duties. It was her job to clean Aaron and change his bandages each day. She wondered if it would cause him pain when she cleaned him. Tears filled Paula’s eyes as she wondered if she had made the right decision. She had never really known fear before, even growing up in an orphanage did not prepare her for the fear that she was facing at that moment. Fear that the camp would get bombed, fear that the Nazis would invade and do the same thing to her that they had done to Aaron.

As she walked through the field hospital, administering the other patient's medication and checking to ensure each of them were comfortable, she wondered if Aaron had anyone back home thinking about him. She knew that there was no one wondering if she was safe or if she was even alive, but she was sure that on the other side of the ocean was an entire family that would be terrified if they knew of Aaron’s condition.

That night, Paula could not get Aaron out of her head. She assumed it was because he was so close to death and she did not know if he was going to make it. The doctors said that he would, and as soon as he was able to, he would be heading back to the States. She did not understand how a man who was almost ripped apart could survive to live.

As Paula lay on her cot that night, she began to think more and more about what she had heard about the war. She wondered if all of it was true. The thought of one man causing the death of millions of people was not something that she could fully understand at the time. She wondered why it was taking the entire world to stand up to this man and why anyone would go along with what he had to say. She knew that there were people in the States wearing the Swastika and thought that there was no way they really understood what they were representing.

Paula only slept for a few hours that night, just as she did every other night. The sound of bombs exploding and gunfire in the distance refused to allow her or anyone else to sleep. Most of the time she felt as if she were in a daze; a fog was over her mind and she knew that it was from exhaustion. She could not imagine how the soldiers must feel, knowing that they were not sleeping either and that they were forced to fight while being so far from their loved ones.

As she dressed, she smiled thinking how odd it was that she felt pity for anyone. She had always thought she had a really bad life when she was growing up. When her parents died, she was faced with the fact that no one wanted her. None of her own family was willing to take her in and she did not know how life could get any worse. She had never bonded with anyone at the orphanage, never thought of them as family as some of the other children did.

She learned about the bad side of people at an early age as she saw her friends get beaten for the smallest offense. She watched as babies lay in their cribs all day long with the same wet diaper on that they had worn the previous night. She knew the effects of not knowing affection and watched those around her break from the inside. She always had pity on herself for having to grow up in such a way, but never did she think anyone else could have been any worse off.

As she was growing up, she began to think of herself and the other children as the rats of people, the ones that were not wanted and the ones people did not want to see. Now she was beginning to understand that even though she would have loved to have a normal family and a normal life, she was lucky that she was not going through what the Jewish and Polish were going through.

Her heart ached for the children in the orphanage, but it was nothing compared to the ache it felt for those that were having to go through the war and the soldiers that were having to fight. Paula headed out to do her morning rounds and made sure that everyone was taken care of before she checked on Aaron.

He would take most of her day to care for and she wanted to ensure that she was not interrupted while she was taking care of him. Several of the soldiers had been released during the night and a few more had come in with minor issues. Paula administered the medications that the doctor had prescribed, made sure that those who were dehydrated had a full IV bag, and that those who were suffering from exhaustion were comfortable. Then, she made her way to Aaron’s bed.

Everything looked the same as the night before. Aaron was covered in bandages. Some of them had a bit of red on them, telling Paula that she would have to check his wounds. He was hooked up to several machines and she could hear his slow but steady breathing. She was glad that he was breathing on his own and that he had made it through the night without incident. Paula checked all of Aaron’s vital signs and documented them on his chart. Knowing that he was fighting gave her a bit of hope in what seemed like a hopeless situation.

Paula gathered clean bandages as well as a sponge and tub of warm water. It would take a long time to clean Aaron but she was willing to do what it took. She looked at the man that lay in the bed in front of her, knowing that no matter how long it took to get him better, it was going to be worth it because he was willing to give his life to help someone he did not even know.

Paula began unwrapping one of Aarons arms and noticed that he flinched slightly. She looked up and saw that his eyes were open and he lay there watching her.

“I am sorry,” she whispered to him. “This is going to hurt a little. Do you remember what happened?”

Aaron looked past Paula as he thought about what he remembered last. He had no memory of the accident and the last thing he remembered was leaving his fiancé when he was drafted. He looked at Paula and she could see the confusion on his face.

“You were in an accident,” she said softly as she continued to unwrap his arm. “Your plane was shot down by the Nazis but you were lucky that you ejected just in time.” She smiled as she talked to him. If there was one thing that this war had taught her, it was that men were not as tough as she had always thought they were.

When she was growing up, she viewed men almost as if they were superhuman. She did not think that they felt pain in the same way that she did and she did not know them as emotional beings. She had always been taught that men did not cry; they did not get scared, and when they were hurt, they just sucked it up. Since treating the soldiers, she found out that none of that was true.

When she spoke to soldiers about their families or what they had seen while fighting, she had seen many of their eyes fill up with tears. She had seen them suffering from not only emotional, but physical pain in much the same way she would. She had learned that she had to be just as gentle with these men as she would expect someone to be with her.

“I have to change your bandages and clean your wounds,” she continued speaking as she worked. She knew that it was good for Aaron to be engaged and that it was important for her to keep him calm. “The doctors say that you are going to be just fine, and when you are well enough, you can go back to the States,” she tried to speak with excitement, even though she could tell that Aaron was not listening.

Aaron was focused on remembering what had happened to him and was busy trying to figure out where he was. He remembered hugging his fiancé, telling her that he would come back to her and then getting on the bus. There was not much after that, just a blank spot and then waking up in the field hospital. He did not remember going through any training and had no memory of being in a plane.

Paula could see that he was struggling with his own mind. “Sometimes when we go through traumatic events,” she stopped working and looked up at him. “Our minds black them out so that we do not remember.” She wished that he was able to speak, but knew that it would be hours before he could even answer a question.

While the doctors were doing surgery, they had to place a tube in his throat in order to ensure that he did not stop breathing, which caused a lot of irritation and swelling. “Don’t you worry,” she continued as she picked up the sponge and began washing his arm. “You are going to be able to talk again really soon and I will answer all of your questions.”

Aaron turned his gaze at the nurse who was washing his arm, and it occurred to him that he had not even tried to talk. She began to explain about the surgery and how the doctors had to ensure that he did not stop breathing. She told him that he would be able to talk again by the end of the day and that she would do her best to answer any questions he had.

As she spoke, Aaron could not help but notice what a beautiful woman she was. She had dark hair, pale skin and the bluest eyes. She was a larger woman with big breasts that kept getting in her way as she worked. Aaron could not see below her waist, but he imagined she had a round plump hips and thick thighs. She was just the kind of woman that Aaron had always dreamed about.

She was completely opposite of his fiancé back home. Angela was a thin blonde that barely had any breasts at all. He had met Angela in high school; he was on the football team and she was a cheerleader. Of course he did what was expected of him and asked her to go steady. She came from a good family, which made his parents happy, and after they graduated from high school, Aaron went to the local community college while Angela stayed at home with her parents.

She was raised to be a housewife, and that was what she wanted to be. So while Aaron learned how to make a living, Angela learned how to cook and clean. She talked about having babies in the future, and although Aaron wanted kids, he wanted to be established in life before that happened. Angela had started talking about marriage, so about six months prior to Aaron being drafted, he did what he thought was right and asked her to marry him.