Page 113 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘Explains why you’re so good with these little ones.’
Everyone in the house was smiling at them, and before she knew it, as the smell of vegetables and spices filled the air, she was being shown all the things Harry had done during the day. More villagers came inside and showed her their mouths or feet, one of the children with an arm bandaged, all wanting to pay their respects to him.
‘You’re a good man, Harry,’ April said, when the house was almost empty again and they were being served yet more food.
‘We grew up very privileged, but my father was determined that we would understand the concept of giving back,’ he said. ‘He was a doctor, too, and we used to help him run a free clinic every month. Mothers would line up for hours on end to see him, and his doctor friends would laugh at what a waste of time it was to give up his time for the poor, but he didn’t care. He did it every year until he retired.’
‘I think I’d like your father very much.’
Harry met her gaze. ‘I have a feeling he’d like you too.’
They thanked their host for their meals, but as April went to take her first mouthful, not sure what she was eating but loving the smell of it, Harry caught her eye again.
‘When all this is over, when things settle down, I’d like you to meet my family, April.’
She couldn’t help the grin that took over her lips, and she nodded as she brought her fingers to her mouth, scooping up the food as she’d been shown the first time she’d eaten with a local family.
April ate and listened to Harry laugh and attempt to learn local words, loving the sound of his hearty laugh and the way he seemed to fit so easily into any situation. He’d been a good friend to her—she would never forget that—and maybe, just maybe when the war was over, it might turn into something more.
When it was finally time to go, they said their goodbyes, and April happily took Harry’s arm when he offered it, walking in the dark with only the moon to guide them back to camp.
‘Harry?’ she asked.
He met her gaze, looking down at her, and she could make out his smile even in the half light.
She stopped walking and touched her hand to his shoulder as he stopped beside her, then swallowed her fears and stood on tiptoe to bravely press a kiss to his lips. He was still for a moment before his arms circled gently around her, his mouth moving against hers.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered, before lowering herself back to her heels again.
‘For what?’
‘For tonight, for believing in me, for showing me what makes a great doctor.’ She caught his hand and leaned into him. ‘For everything.’
Harry tucked her against his side as they started to walk again, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as they moved in silence. They’d spent the evening sharing a meal with strangers, and yet it had been one of the best nights of her life.
Only hours after dinner, April lay curled up in her bed with newspapers stuffed around her as insulation as she shivered to stay warm. At one point during summer, they’d had to stop taking the patients’ temperatures during the day because the thermometers always ran too high due to the scorching weather, and yet now they were so cold she was convinced she’d wake up with part of her body frozen like an icicle.
‘I thought I was going to lose you both,’ Eva said, her voice barely a whisper in the dark. ‘That day, when you never came back and we were inundated with casualties, I honestly thought I was never going to see you again.’
April was grateful for the blanket of darkness as tears welled in her eyes. She wasn’t sure if Grace was asleep already, but it had been her greatest fear that day too.
‘When we were waiting on the beach, I thought it was the end too,’ she admitted. ‘I was frozen there with Grace and Teddy on one side and Harry on the other, and I didn’t think any of us were going to make it back.’
‘I remember holding Teddy’s hand, before I passed out, and wondering what I was going to tell Poppy when we arrived in heaven,’ Grace said, her voice washing over April as she lay there, listening. ‘I felt so guilty holding his hand, but I just didn’t want to let go.’
‘We’ve all lost too much,’ Eva said. ‘Why can’t someone see what we’re losing and just stop all this bloodshed? I’m so sick of it, of the loss, of all those men dying and blown to pieces every day.’
April listened, feeling the same but not sure what to say. She wondered the same thing, sometimes thought that if only the powers that be could see what it was like at the front line, what these men were actually going through, they’d see how fruitless it all seemed.
‘How’s Teddy?’ Eva asked.
There was a long pause before Grace answered. ‘He’s broken. There’s no other word for him.’
‘Arthur was broken, too—don’t forget that,’ Eva said, her voice cutting through the otherwise silent night air. ‘He was so badly broken I never thought anyone could put him back together again.’
‘And now?’ April asked.
Eva’s laugh was warm. ‘He actually asked me to marry him the other day.’
