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She injected the morphine. “Really.”
Once the fervor had settled and the injured had all been triaged, Eva and Sally brought handfuls of soiled rags to the rack beside Eddie and me.
Sally was saying, “I know you’re not on duty, so thank you for helping us.”
“It’s no problem.” Eva brushed stray hair from her forehead. “I just wish I were here longer.”
“You and me both,” Sally said before she went back to her patients.
“Are you being discharged?” I asked, halting Eva’s return.
“I thought you knew.” She crossed her arms and stepped closer to me. “I’m on leave. I’m due back to my unit in the Philippines.”
The air fled my lungs. “You came here on leave?”
“Called in every favor I could.” She smiled. “I needed to see the horses after I heard about the rescue.”
The Philippines. From internal reports, things were rough over there. As dire as the fighting had been here in Bavaria, we’d heard rumors of terrible casualties in the Pacific.
“When do you fly out?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
Her words were a bullet that tore through my every expectation. I’d never encountered anyone like her—not among the dozens of debutantes that Mother had thrust upon me before I enlisted and removed myself from the Philadelphia matchmaking pool. Nor among the hundreds of Army nurses of incredible strength and valor. Eva Bryant was something else.
What woman used her leave time to act as a veterinarian to refugee horses and then jumped into the hospital ward without hesitation? The information was all too much, too fast.
She locked those dizzyingly blue eyes on me. “Will you look after Mira and Phantom for me?”
“I promise.” I glanced at my wristwatch. “You going to stay here all night?”
She nodded and reached for another patient’s clipboard.
“I need to check in with Colonel Roland about this attack,” I said. “I’ll be back before dawn.”
“You know where to find me.”
By the time dawn broke, the boys and I had surrounded and captured the German soldiers who’d attacked our convoy, but the morning flight had left long before I returned with the prisoners.
Eva was gone.
I walked up to Mira and Phantom’s stall, and the sight of the colt comforted me, despite the deep ache of regret that I hadn’t been able to bid Eva goodbye.
Any day, Eddie and the boys and I would be sent home. I didn’t know what lay beyond these shores for me. There wasn’t anything in Philly I wanted.
At the least, I’d honor my pledge to Lieutenant Bryant and do everything within my power to take care of these innocent, priceless refugees.
One
Eva
APRIL 2, 1946
FRONT ROYAL, VIRGINIA
The smell of gasoline from the distant motor pool, the rumble of Jeeps, and the troops bustling around the military base in Front Royal set me at ease as I awaited the start of the auction. This was familiar, yet my body ached and my heart cried out for the Oregon high desert I called home.
A hundred horses were on parade after their own long journey from Nazi captives to American spoils of war. Only a few would be up for auction, and there was only one I cared about.
