Page 90 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘Yeah, if you promise not to drop me this time.’
They both grinned, and she shook her head as she walked away. Either Arthur had hit his head on the floor the other day or someone had switched patients with her, because there was no way that was the same man who’d made her life hell for so long.
She passed Dr. Evans on her way to get supplies, and he winked as he strode by. ‘You look mighty happy today, Eva.’
‘I am. It’s a good day today, Dr. Evans.’
He stopped, turned, and walked slowly backward. ‘This happen to have something to do with Arthur?’
‘What do you know about Arthur?’ she asked.
‘I know that he’s a man who should be thanking his lucky stars that some brave nurses saved him, instead of acting like his life is over.’
‘You said that to him, didn’t you? I thought it was the bump to his head that had changed him, but now I’m thinking I was wrong.’
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps I did.’
Eva stepped toward him and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you, Dr. Evans. Thank you, thank you, thank you.’
He laughed and kept on walking, and she hurried to get all the things she needed, terrified that Arthur might lose his good humor if she took too long.
When she returned, she approached the bed quietly, pleased she hadn’t been called away to tend to any new traumas. He was staring at the wall again, and it took all her courage to say his name.
‘Arthur?’
He didn’t turn right away, and she held her breath, waiting for the explosion, waiting to find out that she’d imagined their little exchange earlier. But he slowly turned, and she let her breath go as he looked at her.
‘Would you like me to sit up or lie back?’ he asked.
She shrugged. ‘I’m not exactly used to shaving men, but maybe sitting?’
He groaned. ‘Maybe you should hold the mirror, and I’ll do it myself, then.’
Eva ignored him and placed the dish of warm water and soap on the table by his bed, then moved a stool closer to sit on before gently soaping his face and picking up the blade. She wasn’t fazed about shaving him, as she had a steady hand with all her nursing duties, but it was being close to him that scared her the most. As she leaned into him, staring at his face and slowly dragging the razor across his skin, she smiled. Or perhaps she wasn’t scared at all; perhaps she’d been craving the contact. It was starting to feel like a long time since she’d truly touched someone or been touched in return.
‘Tell me about your fiancé,’ he said quietly when she paused to wipe part of his face with a towel. ‘You said you’d lost him?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I lost my Charlie in Pearl Harbor. He was a pilot.’
Art stayed quiet as she worked the blade across his chin.
‘He was desperate to go to Europe and fight before America even joined the war, but I made him stay. I refused to let him go, and then he died before we’d even declared we were at war.’
She stopped and looked at Art, feeling his eyes on hers.
‘He wanted to join the Eagles?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘He did. Desperately, in fact.’
Art closed his mouth, waiting for her to start again, but she didn’t.
‘One of your friends, they mentioned you’d been an Eagle. Is it true?’
He shut his eyes. ‘I was one of the pilots who left home and joined them when we’d been forbidden to,’ he said. ‘I defied orders and went to England, and then when we joined the war, I regrouped with my old squadron again.’
Eva’s chin wobbled as she fought the emotion bubbling inside of her. Tears escaped from her eyes, and she couldn’t stop them. One fell to Art’s face, and she quickly tried to wipe it away, but his fingers around her wrist stopped her. She saw tears in his gaze, too, knew instinctively that he’d been fighting his own battles all this time, that he’d refused to cry just like she had. Had been unable to let it all out, no matter how much he might have wanted to.
‘I’m sorry, Eva,’ he whispered. ‘I’m truly sorry for your loss.’
