Page 70 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
He didn’t reply.
‘Arthur? I thought you might like—’
‘You thought wrong,’ he muttered. ‘Just get this over with.’
She hesitated, staring at him and hating the way he wouldn’t look at her. Did he dislike her that much, or was it that he was embarrassed? She wasn’t so sure anymore.
‘It’s important that you breathe in some fresh air and have the sun on your skin,’ she said, deciding to keep her smile fixed and continue on as if he hadn’t refuted her. She was going to take it as a good sign that he was letting her go about her nursing duties instead of fighting her now.
‘Is that doctor’s orders or just some fancy idea you’ve had to get me out of this bed?’
She froze and looked up, expecting to see a smile to go with that little bout of sarcasm, but the second she met his gaze, she saw that he wasn’t trying to be funny.
Eva checked his dressing and took his temperature before setting her things down and sitting on the edge of his bed. The hospital beds were narrow, but with his leg not taking up the space on one side, she could fit beside him.
‘I’m not sure if anyone’s told you, Arthur,’ she said softly, wishing she could take his hand but knowing that he’d refuse the contact, ‘or even if you remember that day you were rescued, but it was me.’
He folded his arms, always in the same position with his shoulders slumped and his arms crossed, his lips permanently pulled into a frown.
‘I was walking that day, the day you were found. I heard a noise and found you, and I helped to carry you back here,’ she said. ‘You were in such bad shape, but you looked at me; I held your hand and you told me your name, and I stayed with you until you were rushed into surgery.’
His eyes were dark and stormy now as he slowly turned his head. ‘You?’ he asked.
‘Me,’ she whispered. ‘And I sat with you when I was off duty, all those days until you finally woke up. I was here with you.’
He looked away again, and she wanted to scream at him to look at her, to be grateful, to not give up on living. The words choked her, the anger pulsating as she tried to breathe and couldn’t. She folded her hands so he wouldn’t see them shaking, staring down at them, and his words took her by surprise when he finally spoke.
‘Why?’
‘Why what?’ she asked.
‘Why did you save me? Why didn’t you just leave me to die?’
Eva studied him. She wanted to tell him about Charlie—she wanted to tell him so many things to make him appreciate his life—but she couldn’t. ‘Because I saw a man in pain who needed help, and the second I looked into your eyes and saw your injuries, I knew I had to get you back here. You’re one of the lucky ones, Arthur. You get to live. You get to go home.’
It was the first time he’d maintained eye contact with her, the first time he hadn’t turned away in a huff and refused to engage with her.
‘Well, you should have left me,’ he muttered. ‘I’d rather be dead than a cripple.’
‘You’d rather be dead?’ she echoed.
He didn’t reply.
Eva looked at the pillow propped up behind him, wondering for a split second if she could grab it and smother him, bury that angry, ungrateful face of his and suffocate the life from him. But she didn’t. Instead she took a deep breath and stood, her hand resting where moments before she’d been sitting.
‘Fine, then,’ she said, glaring at him as she thought of Charlie, as she imagined what he would have given to survive, whatshewould have given for him to survive. ‘You want me to leave? I’ll leave.’
‘Go,’ he said, defying her, his stare arrogant, as if he was daring her to actually walk away from him.
She stood there, watching him, waiting for him to change his mind.
‘Go!’ he suddenly shouted, his voice reverberating through her, hitting her hard like a punch to her body.
She sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as tears pooled in her eyes, but she refused to give in to him. Her father had treated her like this and gotten away with it all her life, but this man couldn’t hurt her with his fists. He couldn’t even get out of his bed.
‘I’ll go,’ she whispered, leaning closer to him so he could hear every word. ‘But I’m the only person you’ve got on your side now, and one day I might just leave you here and not come back.’
She watched him, saw recognition flicker across his face, before turning and leaving him, her words weighing heavily. She’d been cruel, but Arthur had been just as cruel to her, and unlike him, she was only trying to be helpful.
