Page 108 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘It’s not my story to tell, April. You’ll have to ask her yourself.’
She squeezed her hand and left the Bellamy sisters to recover, relieved that she hadn’t had to say goodbye to another friend. She’d only just emerged from the dark cloud of Charlie’s death, and Poppy’s, and she didn’t ever want to be sucked back under.
Eva hurried into the other ward to check on Art, knowing he’d be awake still, waiting for her to say goodbye before she left for the night. Sure enough, the moment she tiptoed down the row of beds, his twinkling eyes met hers.
‘Sorry it’s so late,’ she whispered, not wanting to wake the other men.
Art’s hand found hers, and he pulled her closer. ‘Your friends are okay?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘They’re going to make it. April, Grace, and Teddy, they’re all alive.’
She started to cry then, the exhaustion from so many hours on her feet working, fighting to save lives, and the desperation of nursing her friends and praying they’d survive sending a huge wave of emotion through her.
‘Hey, don’t cry,’ Art murmured. ‘You’ve just told me everything’s going to be fine.’
‘I can’t, I can’t lose anyone else again,’ she sobbed. ‘I don’t even know how I lived through what happened before, what—’
‘You’re the strongest person I know, Eva. You just need a good cry.’
The tears flowed as Art pulled her closer, his hand on her back now, drawing her in against him until she was curled to his body, her leg against his, her cheek to his chest.
All those months she’d never given in to her pain, but in Art’s arms, she cried like a baby.
‘Shhh,’ he murmured, cradling her and kissing her hair. ‘You’re not going to lose anyone else; everything’s going to be fine.’
‘It’s not,’ she whispered, raising her head and looking into his eyes. ‘Art, I’ve seen the papers. You’re to be sent home soon.’ She tucked her head back to his chest, whispering, ‘I’m about to lose you.’
He went quiet then, his fingers still circling her back, stroking her, his mouth still against her hair, but as she slowly drifted to sleep, he never said another word.
‘I’ll bet your mother will be happy to have you home for Christmas,’ Eva said as she pushed Art’s wheelchair out of the hospital building and into the cool air outside. A shiver ran through her body, but she ignored it, not about to let a spot of cold weather dampen her spirits. It had been a week since her friends had arrived back, and they were both recovering well, but she needed to get away for the afternoon. Away from the stench of death in the hospital, the echoes of young men whose lives had been snatched away, and the reality that soon she was going to have to face nursing without Art to brighten up her day.
‘It’s going to be hard leaving here.’
‘Hardly.’
‘I’m serious.’ The gruff tone of his voice made her slow.
‘You’re not looking forward to going home? To getting away from this godforsaken place?’ She laughed. ‘Where it’s possible to fry like an egg in summer and freeze to death in winter?’
‘Stop this damn chair!’ he swore.
Eva froze. ‘Art? What’s wrong?’
She could see his shoulders rising and falling, could tell how angry he was even though she had no idea what she’d said to make him so mad. Eva slowly moved around the chair.
‘Art?’
‘You think I want to leave you?’ he asked, shaking his head. ‘You made me want to live again, Eva. Without you, I can’t see the goddamn point of it all.’
She opened her mouth and shut it again. ‘You don’t want to go because of me?’
He glared at her. ‘For an intelligent woman you can be as stupid as a donkey sometimes.’
Eva laughed when she saw a smile spread across Art’s mouth, finding it impossible not to giggle. Soon they were laughing together, and she went back to pushing him, wanting to get farther away from the hospital.
‘You know,’ she teased, ‘donkeys can be highly intelligent.’
‘Don’t pretend you know anything about donkeys,’ he muttered. ‘But I am sorry I compared you to one.’
