Page 66 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘Good morning, Arthur,’ she said brightly.
He just stared at her before rolling slightly and shutting his eyes again.
‘Arthur, would you like water or—’
‘Leave me.’
Eva sat silently for a moment, trying to choose the right words. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through, the devastation he must feel at what had been taken from him, but she could never seem to say the right thing to convey how she felt.
‘Arthur, if there’s anything you need, I want you to know that I’m here for you,’ she said quietly. ‘I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but you’re not alone in this, okay?’
He kept his eyes shut, still with his back turned, and Eva heard the matron calling names. They were supposed to have a meeting before her shift started, and she was running late from sitting with Arthur for so long.
Reluctantly she rose, setting his water back down and patting his shoulder, before heading toward the mess room. There were other nurses already filling the room, and she stood just inside the door, finding her way to April.
Her friend turned, smiling and making space for her.
‘How’s Arthur this morning? Any change?’
She shook her head. ‘None. I think he’s withdrawing even further.’
April put an arm around her. ‘I know we’ve all said it before, but he’s just another patient, Eva. We all get attached to some of the men, but the way you’re ...’ April’s voice trailed off.
‘The way I’m what?’ Eva whispered, head bent as the matron started to address the room.
‘It’s almost like you think he’s connected to Charlie. We just don’t want you pinning too much hope on him, and the way he’s treating you is appalling.’
‘We?’ she hissed. ‘So you and Grace are talking about me?’
April sighed. ‘We’re just worried about you—that’s all.’
Eva took a step away from April, fuming as she listened to the matron talk about supply shortages and changing rosters. She knew Arthur wasn’t Charlie—of course she did—and what was wrong with trying to help a man she felt a connection to? April reached for her hand, and Eva let her, not wanting to cause a rift. April had been unfailingly kind to her, a loyal friend, and as much as she didn’t like hearing what she’d just said, she’d rather have a friend who told her the truth than one who told her only what she wanted to hear.
If Eva had thought Arthur was difficult before, she’d come to have a new appreciation of just how difficult nursing him could be. She stood by his bed, smile fixed, ready to pepper him with care and kindness.
‘Leave me!’ he barked, glaring at her with such hatred in his gaze that she almost turned and walked back the way she’d come. But if she did that, she’d be neglecting her nursing duties, and the one thing she’d never be was negligent when it came to her work. And she also wasn’t the type to give up on someone.
‘Arthur, I know this is difficult, but I can make this fast if you’ll only let me—’
‘What part ofleave meare you not understanding.’
He was sitting with his arms folded, his head turned away from her to show her a profile that would have been devastatingly handsome had his lips not been pulled down into a scowl. Or his brow furrowed with anger, causing his eyebrows to knit tightly together.
He didn’t look at her again, so Eva moved quietly around him, filling his water cup and taking a deep breath before reaching for his bedsheet to take a look at his leg.
‘I’m just going to check your dressing to make sure it’s clean,’ she said.
The sheet was pulled up quicker than she could look. ‘There’s no damn leg to look at, is there? So why don’t you go help someone who wants it.’
Eva nodded, turning away and swallowing down the words she wanted to say to him. What was wrong with him? Wasn’t he happy to be alive? She wanted to curse him and cry out that he was so fortunate to have made it, that her Charlie would have done anything to still be alive, thatshe’dhave sacrificed anything to have him here. But she didn’t. Instead she walked away and decided to come back to him after she’d seen her other patients.
‘It’s all right, love,’ a British soldier said as she passed his bed. ‘He doesn’t mean to take it out on you.’
Eva stopped and refilled the soldier’s water cup. ‘I just have to figure out a way to help him—that’s all. I’m sure he’ll come around eventually.’
Trouble was, her belief that she could get through to him was fading, even if she didn’t want to admit it yet. She’d expected Arthur to be grateful that she’d saved his life and stuck around to help him, but instead he seemed to hate her.
‘Just give him time. He’ll appreciate you soon enough.’
