Flying Angels(68)

   “Will they hate me?”

“No. But they won’t be happy about it. My father will be all right. My mother will be difficult. It’s my life, Dan.” She knew what she wanted. She wanted a life with him in Pittsburgh, whenever they decided the time was right for it, and she hoped it would be soon. They didn’t know each other well enough yet, but he had promised to come to New York as often as he could. They had talked about it as soon as she got to Paris. He wanted to ask her father’s permission and get engaged as soon as they got home.

“You know, I thought Omaha Beach was the worst thing that had ever happened to me,” he said, thinking about it. “Now it turns out it was the best thing. If I hadn’t been sent there, I’d never have met you, and none of this would be happening. I’d be sitting at a café in Paris by myself, watching all the guys with their girls and lonely as hell.” He was smiling as he said it, and he leaned over and kissed her. “I want to take you to Twenty-One for dinner, as soon as I dock in New York. Where are we going to go on our honeymoon?” he asked, and she laughed.

“Shouldn’t we get engaged first?”

“I feel like we already are.” Everything felt so comfortable between them. But she didn’t want to rush things. She wanted to savor it and get to know each other.

“So do I.” She smiled happily. The hard memories were already starting to fade, all the men she’d seen suffering, and the ones who had died. She was going to miss the nurses she had worked with and lived with. They were bonded forever. Lizzie and Louise, and Emma. They all still missed Pru and Audrey. Those memories would never leave them, and the good times that they’d shared. They had all grown up together.

   He took her to dinner at the H?tel Ritz that night. The Nazi High Command had lived there for the Occupation, but there was no sign of them now. Parisians were treating American soldiers like royalty, and the sight of him kissing a woman in uniform made people who walked past them smile. It was a familiar sight. Everyone in Paris seemed to be kissing someone.

She told him when she left that they were the three happiest days of her life. He was coming back to England for their award ceremony on the tenth, right before he shipped out. His ship was leaving from Southampton on the twelfth of June. She was flying home three days after he sailed. It would give her a few days to prepare her parents before he got there. They were expecting her to come home and settle into the life they wanted for her, and instead she was going to marry a wholesale butcher from Pittsburgh. It was going to be a shock. But whether they liked it or not, she knew that it was the right path for her, and he was the right man. He was different from every man she’d ever known.

He took her to the train for Calais, and from there she would take the ferry back to England. She had already promised Lizzie that she would come up to Boston for a weekend before they both found jobs.

It was going to be hard leaving Emma in England. But she had Max now. Things had been progressing nicely for them for the past five months, since Christmas. And Emma was going to spend time with his family in Yorkshire with him that summer. They all had new lives to begin. They all had plans now, and hope for the future.

   There were missing pieces and missing people, but there were friends who would always be part of their lives after what they’d been through together. Louise wanted them to visit her in North Carolina.

Lizzie had slipped away to a hotel in Brighton with Ed the weekend that Alex went to Paris to meet Dan.

They walked down the boardwalk arm in arm and felt the sea breeze on their faces. She was looking out to sea when he slipped down on one knee next to her, and she looked at him in surprise. He’d been planning it for weeks and wanted to wait until their weekend away together.

“What are you doing?” she said, looking startled.

“You said not to ask you till the war was over and we were both alive, so here we are.” He smiled at her. “Elizabeth Hatton, will you marry me?”

“I…yes,” she said softly, and he stood up and kissed her. As soon as they came up for air, she asked him a question. “Where are we going to live?” She didn’t want to move to Ireland. She had to go home to Boston, for her parents. They had lost one child, they couldn’t lose two, if she moved away. That didn’t seem fair now.

“My cousin is going to sponsor me.” Ed smiled at her. “He’s already started on the paperwork. I want to apply for citizenship. And I can get veterans’ benefits, to pay for medical school,” he said calmly, and kissed her again, and she was smiling too.

   “We have Audrey’s money too, don’t forget. When are we getting married?”

“As soon as your father says yes. My cousin is sending me a ticket, and he can give me a job at his restaurant. I’ll fly to Boston as soon as I get released by the RAF, probably in the next month or two. You can start planning the wedding as soon as you want.” She knew her parents would be shocked, but she wasn’t going to give them a choice. They were both going to apply to medical school and go through it together. They had so much to look forward to, and they had survived the war. That was the greatest miracle of all. So many hadn’t. They walked back to their hotel then, disappeared into their room and closed the door. It was what they had dreamed and hoped for since the day they met, and now it was all within reach. They were just sorry that Pru and Audrey weren’t there to share it with them, but their memories would live on forever in their hearts.