Josh had cried somewhat with her, but he didn’t let himself go. He did have to be brave, if that is the right word, and suppress the majority of his emotion for his loss. He had to be brave for Emily, he had to support her, since she came first now. Was he starting to unconsciously think and feel like their Dad did, thinking of his sister before all else?
If so, something tells him that that feeling is only going to get stronger as he starts to take full responsibility for Emily. Josh knows that is what his dad would have wanted, but perhaps he isn’t only going to do it for that reason. Perhaps he takes after his Dad in some ways and he is doing it because he feels it, an unexplainable feeling. Is this the feeling that only a parent would know or a surrogate parent as Josh is now? Josh knows one thing for sure; he is more than just a brother to his sister. He is also her guardian.
“Emily?” Josh says reassuringly, looking down at the blonde curls below him but getting no response. “Emily, shall we go downstairs and see what there is to eat?” Still no response, but Josh persists; he wants to try and take her mind off what has happened a bit and a change of scenery will help. “Come on, Emily, I’m quite hungry, will you come with me?” He moves his body under her a little bit to help try and stir her.
“Umm,” Emily growls and fidgets, and it isn’t much of a response, but it is one.
Catherine, who sits with her legs curled up to the side of the couch, in an armchair, starts to stir. Her head has been down too, her hair covering her face. Gradually, her head comes up and she looks over to Josh. She wipes her nose with a tissue that has been resting in her hand for the last thirty or forty minutes. Her eyes are puffy and red, and her makeup smudged from her tears.
“Yes, Emily, let’s have a look downstairs; we have been cooped up is here for a long time, so a change of scenery will be good for us all,” Catherine says.
“In a minute,” Emily responds, a little surprisingly, from her burrow at Josh’s side.
“Good girl. I’d better fix my makeup then. I think it is going to be very smudged.” Catherine tries to sound a bit upbeat.
“I’ll come with you,” Stacey says from beside Josh. “Do you want to come with us, Emily?”
Catherine and Stacey make a show of getting up from their seats and to Josh’s surprise, Emily does start to move. Emily rises up and off Josh. Standing up, she follows the other two towards the bathroom. Her hair is a mess around her head she walks slowly, her arms by her side and her head tilted down slightly. Josh wonders how she can see where she is going.
Moving his back off the couch, Josh raises his arms and stretches before getting to his feet.
He goes around the couch and over to Alice, who sits at a table behind. Seeing Josh come over, she puts her phone on the table.
“Sorry if it’s a bit morbid,” he tells her.
“Don’t be silly, Josh, that is completely understandable. I just sat over here because you all wouldn’t want a stranger with you at a time like this.”
“A stranger… Now who’s being silly? You aren’t a stranger.”
“Well, I’m not exactly but you know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do and thanks.”
“Thanks for what?”
“I dunno, you’ve been a good support to me, Alice.”
“I’m glad I could be of service,” Alice jokes, with a lovely smile.
“Are you hungry?” Josh asks, finding himself a bit flustered, not knowing what else to say.
“I could eat, for sure.”
Emily’s hair is back under control when they return from the bathroom and although she still looks delicate, her eyes are dry and there is even a hint of a smile when Josh holds out his hand to her.
As they all approach the exit from the lounge, the soldier who has been standing inside the door moves across it.
“I have been ordered to ask the three ladies to wait inside until further notice.”
“Ordered by whom?” Josh asks.
“By my superior, Private,” the Lance Corporal tells him.
Josh suddenly has visions of how his father would have brushed this soldier aside by bending him to his will or ordering him to move. Josh doesn’t hold the rank to be able to give any orders, nor does Alice for that matter. After the events of the last two days, he feels totally inadequate for it. He debates how to handle the situation. One option would be to leave himself and speak to a superior, possibly Lieutenant Winters—or even better, Dixon is just downstairs. Josh is sure Dixon would jump at the chance to deal with their guard. Before he formulates any more options, Catherine deals with the situation for them.
“Move out of our way, young man,” she says. “We are not prisoners; we have been in this room for hours. We are going downstairs to get something to eat and if that a problem, then I suggest you take it up with your superiors, or you can shoot us of course. Now move,” Catherine instantly regrets saying shoot us, with Emily beside her.
The soldier looks like a small boy who has just been told off by his mum; he still doesn’t move, though. He has his orders after all.
“Why don’t we compromise?” Alice suggests. “Why don’t you escort the three ladies down to the lounge area, Lance Corporal, I am sure you have had enough up here too and you’re probably hungry and could eat some food?”
The mention of the word food is a masterstroke by Alice. Bribing a young squaddie with
