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She lifted a hand and touched his cheek then slipped it around his neck, holding him like she’d never let him go. She didn’t want to let him go. Not ever. ‘Mmm, you make all my aches and fears disappear when you do that.’
‘What—this?’ He turned her around in his arms and claimed her lips. She had no chance to tell him to be careful or that someone might see them. She barely had time to draw breath before Seamus’s kiss made her forget where they were. Warm lips. Soft lips. Seamus’s lips. Even the war disappeared as she lost herself in him.
Am I in love?
When she was with him, she was certain of her feelings. Seamus was adventure and excitement, but he was also home. Safety. With him by her side she felt whole again.
Her arms encircled his neck as she pressed against him, loving him.
Love? The word felt right, and as he lifted his head and looked into her eyes, she tested it in her mind. I love you.
Seamus took a quick breath and set his forehead against hers. ‘Ah, Meg, when you look at me like that, I see all that’s good and beautiful in this world, and all I want is to be with you. To love you.’
‘You have the silver tongue of a poet.’
‘If it’s true, ’tis you who brings out the poet in me. I look at you and think of Galway’s green fields and summer rain soft as a butterfly wing on my cheek. One day, macushla, I’ll take you there and show you where I was born.’ He raised his head and his blue eyes—blue as the summer sea, she thought—pinned her.
‘Would you come with me, Meg?’
Her breath caught. His question was so much more than mere words. It was a promise. Hope. A future.
Would she leave her home and follow Seamus across the sea to Ireland?
‘Yes.’
##
‘Sister Dorset?’ Seamusstopped beside her at the foot of Simpson’s bed and spoke more softly. ‘Meg, can you get away for a few minutes?’
Meg finished writing up Simpson’s medical notes and gave her patient a smile before turning to Seamus. ‘I’ll be relieved in twenty minutes. Will that do?’
He glanced through the doorway and Meg’s gaze followed his. An army truck was offloading supplies into the mess tent and a small pile of kitbags sat off to one side. Gripping his arm, she asked, ‘Have your orders come through?’
He nodded, and a muscle in his cheek jumped. He took her hand and tugged her towards the supply ‘cupboard’, the curtained off section offering a little privacy.
Meg pulled the curtain across then gripped his hands. ‘Where are you going?’ She had to be strong. She would not cry. A handful wonderful nights making love with Seamus under the stars were not enough, but she wouldn’t send him off with tears and a blotchy face to remember her by.
‘Townsville for a start, then who knows. We’ve got to stop the Japs before they reach our shores.’
‘Active duty? But you’re not ready for that.’
‘My arm’s coming good, and I reckon the army needs all the able-bodied men it can get.’ He released one hand and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears, his fingers trailing away down her cheek. ‘You’ve got to admit, macushla—I’m definitely able-bodied.’
She caught his hand before it left her face and pressed her cheek into his palm. ‘In army jargon, your equipment’s all in excellent working order.’ Her smile trembled, and she blinked away tears that threatened to fall, despite her best intentions. ‘I’ll miss you, Seamus.’
‘And I, you. Meg, I know our time has been short, but—will you wait for me? Wait till I come home.’
‘You know I’m your girl.’
‘That you are, macushla. But I want more than that. I want to marry you and make a life together. Say you’ll marry me, Meg?’
Meg frowned. With all her heart she wanted to say yes, but she’d heard her mother’s stories about wartime weddings from the Great War. ‘They say wartime romances happen quickly because we don’t know which day will be our last. Is that why you’re asking me, Seamus?’
He slid both arms around her waist and pulled her close. ‘Of course we don’t know when our last day will be, but that’s true of life in or out of wartime. But I want to marry you because I love you, Meg. The only question is, do you love me enough to wait?’
She nodded slowly, slid her arms around his neck then pressed her lips to his. Seamus’s kisses made her forget the sounds of the ward, forget the war raging to the north. He made her forget everything except how wonderful she felt in his arms. The kind of wonderful she wanted to hold onto for the rest of her life. The kind of wonderful she had discovered on their blanket beneath the stars.
When he finally raised his head and rested his forehead against hers, his words were soft. ‘So that’s a yes then?’
