Page 85 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘So what are we going to do about your Dr. Grey situation?’ Eva asked.
April stood and started to peel her clothes off to reveal her undergarments beneath. ‘I have no idea. I keep trying to remember that afternoon, that particular surgery, but there were so many, and I can’t seem to get my thoughts straight.’ She sighed. ‘The only thing I’m certain about today is that we’re getting in that water and swimming until we can’t catch our breaths. Deal?’
Grace shrugged and glanced at Eva. ‘Deal,’ she said. ‘Just as soon as I finish this orange, because it’s the best thing that’s happened to me all week.’
They’d swum in the Mediterranean Sea for hours, floating, faces turned skyward. Grace hadn’t thought about it at the time, but they’d hardly spoken until they’d all slowly made their way back to their clothes and sat in the sun to dry off.
‘It’s hard to believe it’ll be cold here soon,’ Eva said as they dressed. ‘This heat has been unbearable.’
They’d all been warned how cold it could get over winter, but until she felt it for herself, Grace couldn’t believe it.
‘Grace, what’s that?’
She froze as April’s fingers closed around her wrist, forcing her arm up. She’d forgotten about her bruises as she’d slid from the water. Fortunately her sister couldn’t see the ones on her waist, but the inside of one of her arms was still a muddy brown color from the fading mark.
‘It’s nothing.’
‘It’s not nothing. How did you get a bruise like that there? Was it a patient?’
Grace glanced at Eva, but Eva wasn’t making eye contact. She knew it was unfair to involve her; it wasn’t Eva’s fault she knew her secret.
‘If it was a patient, you should have reported him. They’re not allowed to hurt us.’
‘It wasn’t a patient,’ she said, removing her sister’s fingers from her skin. She finished putting her clothes on. ‘I’m fine.’
‘You’re not fine. Someone hurt you.’ April was like a dog with a bone; there was no way she was going to give up.
‘April, there are some things I don’t want to share with you, and this is one of them.’
Horror passed over April’s face. ‘Oh my God, was itTeddy?’ she whispered.
‘No!’ Grace yelped. ‘No, it wasn’t Teddy. He would never hurt me.’
‘You’ve been strange ever since that night you saw him. Tell me what’s going on.’
She stood there, like an animal who knew she’d been cornered.
‘April,’ Eva said gently. ‘Sometimes there are things we need to keep to ourselves. Come on; let’s go.’
‘You know what’s going on, don’t you? Am I the only one who’s being kept in the dark?’
‘Stop it!’ Grace said. ‘You promised me I could make my own decisions and that you’d stop looking over my shoulder, and this is me making a decision, April. Just let it go.’
‘I can’t let it go!’ April looked furious now. ‘I don’t care what I said; I’m your—’
‘Sister,’ Grace said, her voice low, hating how cruel the words sounded. ‘You’re my sister, April, not my mother.’
They stood, all staring at one another, and Grace watched the heavy rise and fall of April’s chest.
‘Tell me one thing,’ April said. ‘Are you wishing you’d listened to me about not going out that night—is that what this is about?’
Grace bit down on the skin inside her mouth for a moment, trying not to cry. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to talk about it.’
April nodded. ‘It’s okay. Just know that I’m here for you, if you need me. Promise?’
Grace sucked in a breath. ‘Promise,’ she whispered.
She was torn; part of her desperately wanted to open up to her sister, but if she did that, then she’d be doing exactly what she’d always done before. She’d asked to stand on her own two feet without April behaving like her mother, and she needed to do it.
