I grinned up at him and he smiled.
“I can’t wait to marry you,” I said.
“But you will, right?”
I laughed. “I will. I’ll wait forever if I have to.”
“Good. But let’s not wait that long. Deal?”
“Deal.”
He kissed me then, my fiancé, long and hard until I was breathless and tears filled my eyes, blurring his face when we parted. And when we did he pressed something into my hand. I looked down and my eyes welled once more. It was the picture he’d taken of us beneath our tree.
“I should’ve taken more,” he said. “So I have one too. Keep it safe?”
“I will.”
He hugged me to him again and then pulled away.
“Stay safe up there,” he said, pointing to the sky.
“Stay safe over there,” I said, pointing east.
“I love you, Kate. Forevermore.”
“Forevermore, William. I love you.”
And then, with a last kiss, he flung his bag over his shoulder and strode across the tarmac to the plane waiting to take him to France. Before disappearing inside he waved once more and then he was gone.
I stood alone at the edge of the runway, watching as the aircraft taxied, paused, and then began rolling, picking up speed before its wheels lifted and the plane was airborne, a gust of wind chasing behind it and swallowing my last whispered “goodbye.”
19
In the daysafter William left I felt hollowed. Bereft. And more than a little distracted, my mind constantly wandering as I wondered where he was and what he was doing. Who he was with and if they were watching out for him.
“Lieutenant?”
I looked over at Theodore, who was pointing to a soldier struggling against the straps securing him to his litter.
“Oh,” I said, getting to my feet to find the wounded man had vomited and was having trouble ejecting it from his mouth due to the stitches keeping one side of his lips and cheek together.
“I need a bin,” I said to Theodore while carefully removing the scissors pinned to the soldier’s shirt and beginning to snip, making room for him to expel the vomit.
“You okay?” he asked from where he was seated at his desk after I’d finished cleaning up my patient and giving him morphine for the pain.
“Yes,” I said, crossing my arms in defense against the cold.
“First Sergeant Mitchell returned to the front, did he not?”
“He did.”
I glanced at him, and he gave me a sympathetic smile and patted my leg.
I was grateful that he didn’t say William would be okay, because we both knew that wasn’t guaranteed. Those words only worked on those back home. For those of us with a front row seat, we knew better.
We flew in with the last planeload around eight that night. I bid Theodore good-night and stared longingly at the hospital, missing being able to pop in quickly to see William before heading home for the night. Swinging a tired leg over my bicycle, I pushed off and rode home, listening to the sound of nature falling asleep and coming awake around me.
I could hear music playing in someone’s room when I came in the front door, voices talking, footsteps thudding up above on the second floor, laughter, and the clanging of dishes in the kitchen. The sounds were comforting. It felt like home.
