── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

❝ letter ten ❞

24th June 1944

My love,
                I'm not sure how much longer I will survive. My aunt and I are headed to Florida and I have left the address and some other things in the envelope with this letter. I hope that they provide you with some hope for returning home one day.

But I am not sure if I will be there when you do return, I want to be. I want to be there and have that wedding day we always planned but I am ill. I am incredibly ill and I do not see a way of making my way through it this time.

I feel worse than I have in my entire life and even writing this letter is difficult, I have to take breaks constantly and I'm almost bed-bound. But my aunt is determined to take me to Florida. She believes that it will cure me of my ailments. I don't know if she is right but I truly hope she is. Just so I can see your face one last time.

I remember that there were times when you were so ill that you could have died but you always came back stronger and braver than before. I hope that is what this is. I hope that I will come back brave just like you have because I have never been brave and I want to be this time. I want to be like you. I've always hoped to be like you.

I love you so endlessly and your bravery and kindness and resilience has gotten me through the past long months without your presence by my side. I knew that if you could make it through these months without me, I could make it through until you return to me but it seems that my heart cannot take it.

But I must survive because it seems that my father has finally agreed to allow us to marry whenever you return. If you ask him, he seems to be willing.

Although a part of me wonders if that is because he knows how ill I am. My father does not believe that I will make it through to the end of the year. He hasn't expressed that to me but when I see the way he looks at me, it reminds me of how he looked at my mother in the end.

He believes that I will be released from this world but I have to stay strong and believe that I will make it until you return back to me. I will make it long enough so that we can have this marriage and prove him wrong. You are one of the most wonderful people I know, Steve Rogers, and I will make it my mission for him to see you the way I do.

I am so tired at the moment and this war is making me equally so. It is turning around but it has been nearly five years since it began and I am very sick of the death and destruction it is causing. Some days I just wait by the door for the news that you have been killed in action but I know that you are fine and you will have survived. You are stronger and braver than I could ever be and I know you will survive this war.

I am simply not sure whether I will.

With love,
Josephine Wentforth - your hopelessly devoted love.