by Stacy Henrie
Her head screamed at her to leave, but she hesitated, torn between helping him and safeguarding her and Ralph’s secret. When Joel turned back to look at her, his stare piercing, she realized it was too late to flee.
“You don’t have to say it, Evelyn.” His voice carried to her ears alone, but she felt as if he were shouting it from the hospital roof. Icy shards of fear caused her to shiver. She folded her arms against the rising nausea and dread. “I’m the oldest of six siblings. I know the symptoms when a woman is…you know…”
Anger whooshed in at his nonchalant tone, sweeping away the cold terror, even if only for a moment. “I answered your question, Corporal Campbell,” she bit out with all the steeliness she could muster. Ralph’s friend or not, he didn’t need to act so arrogant about guessing her condition. “I’ll get your morphine now.”
She marched into the supply room and unlocked the cupboard door. Her shaking hands would hardly cooperate.
If he says anything to anyone before my pregnancy is obvious…
Evelyn shut her eyes and rested her forehead against the cool metal edge of the cupboard. She gulped in several long breaths. But her heart rate still felt too fast, her chest too tight. If she felt this way after talking to Joel, how would she ever face telling her grandparents the truth, even in a letter?
She grabbed the morphine and slammed the cupboard door shut. The rattling of bottles sounded from within as she locked the door. She would write soon, telling her grandmother and grandfather what had happened, and that she would be home soon—but not until after the baby was born, if she had her wish. Surely the passage of time and their love would soften the blow of her news.
Without a glance at Joel, Evelyn left the supply closet and approached Nurse Kent. “Corporal Campbell has agreed to take the medication now.” She handed the other nurse the morphine shot.
Nurse Kent’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Thanks, Evelyn. He was so adamant. I’m glad you talked him into it.”
“You and Irene look like you have everything in order here, so I’ll return to the other ward. Come find me if you need anything else.”
“We will.”
In the hallway, Evelyn finally felt able to take a deep, cleansing breath that pushed air all the way to her lungs. She’d played Joel’s little game by answering his question and now he knew her secret. But that didn’t mean she had to continue to converse so openly with him. From now on, she would avoid talking to him as much as possible. Until he either disclosed the truth about her himself or she could no longer hide her pregnancy from the rest of the world.
Chapter 4
The woods around him lay cloaked in eerie stillness. Joel swallowed hard. The quiet unnerved him more than the rat-tat-tat of machine guns or the explosive sounds of shells. At least, running pell-mell toward an erupting battlefield left little to the imagination. On the other hand, the absence of noise conjured up a host of unknowns. Silence meant hidden dangers and the possibility of an ambush.
If only his men hadn’t been pinned down at the beginning of the battle. Now they had to play catch-up with the infantry.
Joel scrutinized the shadows. Out ahead he’d been told there were ravines, dark and foreboding, the perfect hiding place for the Germans to wait.
Someone bumped his shoulder—Ralph. “We’re right behind you, Campbell.”
He straightened his shoulders and gave a decisive nod. They were counting on him to get them back to the infantry, as unscathed as possible. They’d been lucky so far, despite taking heavy fire earlier. He’d have to trust that luck—and God—would be with them again, whatever the unseen challenges ahead.
Joel motioned for the group to move forward, keeping them close to the trees as much as possible. When the ground started to slope upward, he signaled for everyone to stop once more.
Could the Germans be hiding out on the other side? Joel hated the idea of dividing his men, but their odds of surviving were better in two groups than one. Then they’d be shooting at the Germans from both sides. It was their best chance. He would lead one group, and Ralph would take the other.
Before Joel had even finished outlining the plan, though, Ralph began shaking his head. Irritation rose inside him. There wasn’t time for arguing—they needed to reach the rest of the Army, and fast.
“Send Davis with those guys,” Ralph reasoned. “You and I are a team, Campbell. We work better together than anyone else here. And you know it.”
Joel hesitated, suddenly unsure of the right course. It wasn’t a familiar or pleasant feeling. Should he use his position as squad leader to force Ralph into compliance? But it would be futile. Ralph did what Ralph wanted.
“Fine,” Joel snapped. He hated Ralph’s obstinacy at times, but it did make his best friend a good soldier. And right now, walking into the unknown with someone as bullheaded and loyal as Ralph didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
While Davis and his group headed northeast, Joel guided the rest of his men southeast into the trees bordering the hill. They inched through the woods as quietly as they could, though the sound of snapping branches and heavy footfalls couldn’t be silenced completely.
Near the brow of the hill, Joel stopped the group. He scanned the ravine below, but he couldn’t see any enemy soldiers. To the north, Davis and the others were moving into a meadow, several hundred yards off the ravine.
“He’s marching too fast,” Joel muttered over his shoulder to Ralph.
“Let’s pick it up then.”
They maneuvered down the hill. Joel held his breath as they reached the bottom. But no Germans appeared. No machine guns burst into life. Farther ahead, he could see Davis waiting for them at the edge of the meadow.
Joel blew out a sigh. Maybe he’d been too cautious. Glancing back at Ralph and the others, he smiled reassuringly.
He turned forward again, only to have the air explode around them. Joel’s lungs filled with the concussion, and his body flew backward. He plowed through a bush ten feet away, landing on his left arm. He heard the ugly crunch, and somewhere his brain registered the broken bone. But the pain coming from the lower half of his body blocked out all other thoughts and senses.
“Campbell? Campbell? Can you hear me?”
Joel forced his eyelids open. How long had he been out? Davis hovered over him, his expression bordering on panic.
“There were…” Davis sucked in a hard breath. “Germans. Germans in the ravine. They launched a shell—right in the middle of…of…” He shuddered and ran a hand over his dirty beard.
“The others?” Could that whisper of a voice be his?
Davis glanced away. “We’re applying what aid we can, but you’re the only one conscious right now.”
The overwhelming pain fought against his mind again and won. Snatches of movement and conversation flitted through his thoughts of home and family. The agony of his broken body pushed through the numbness now and then, especially when he felt himself being hoisted into the air or bumped.
When he managed to open his eyes again, he was staring at the canvas ceiling of a tent. Waves of hurt rolled through him. He turned his head to look for a doctor and discovered Ralph lying in the cot next to him.
“Kelley?” he croaked out of his dry throat. “You alive?”
Ralph didn’t stir. A blanket had been drawn up to his chin. Fear momentarily blocked the pain of Joel’s injuries. Something wasn’t right. Why wasn’t Ralph moving or cussing Joel out for getting themselves shot?
“Kelley,” Joel tried again. He put all of his waning energy into making his voice heard.
This time Ralph moaned. Only it wasn’t a moan; it was a name.
“Evelyn…Evelyn…”
So that was her name—the girl Ralph had talked about for weeks now. The beautiful nurse he’d met on leave. There was only one reason Ralph would speak her name out loud. Tears burned Joel’s eyes. “What can I do, Kelley?”
“Tell her…”
Tell her what? That Ralph loved her, tha
t her name had been on his lips right before he died? How would he even find this girl?
But Joel couldn’t refuse his best friend. Not now. “I will, Ralph. I will.”
A doctor bustled over to Joel’s cot, throwing out orders to the medical orderly behind him. In the flurry of having his body bandaged and his arm temporarily set, Joel couldn’t see or talk to Ralph again.
Finally the doctor straightened. “Try to rest, son. The ambulance will be here shortly to take to you to the nearest hospital.”
Joel tipped his head in Ralph’s direction. “My buddy…Private Kelley…Can you help him, too?”
The doctor glanced down at Ralph and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Corporal. Your friend didn’t make it.”
The words echoed over and over in Joel’s mind—“didn’t make it, didn’t make it.”
Guilt every bit as suffocating and sharp as his pain overwhelmed Joel. He couldn’t get enough breath to fill his lungs, and the blanket on top of him felt as hot and smothering as fire.
“Corporal?”
What did the doctor want now?
“Corporal Campbell?”
The voice wasn’t the doctor’s; it was a feminine voice—one he’d heard before.
Joel opened his eyes and sucked in a shuddering breath. The scent of iodine and floor cleaner filled his nose and anchored his chaotic thoughts. He was in the hospital.
He peered at the figure standing beside his bed. “Evelyn…” The name slipped from his mouth before he could stop it, a remnant of the day he’d just relived in his dreams. Her eyes widened in response before she glanced over her shoulder with a frown. “I mean, Nurse Gray. You…uh…startled me.”
“You were restless.” Her voice carried defensiveness. “Perhaps I should have let you keep sleeping.”
He pushed off his blanket and felt instant relief from the heat and sweat of his nightmare. “I’m fine. Just…warm.”
“Would you like a glass of water?”
Joel looked past her to find the other two nurses in the room occupied with other tasks. So that was the reason Evelyn had come to assess his restless sleep. Not out of choice but duty. That explained her guarded tone and confirmed what Joel already suspected. She’d been avoiding him, ever since their last conversation when he’d guessed about her being pregnant.
Evelyn tapped the toe of her shoe against the floor. “If you don’t want the water—”
“I don’t. But do you need some?”
The tapping stopped. Even in the half-lit room, Joel could see the lines of fatigue on her porcelain face. She didn’t look as pale as she had the other night, but working the night shift couldn’t be easy for a woman in her condition.
“Are you planning on walking again and procuring me a glass?” Her deadpan expression might have fooled him, but her dark eyes glittered with what he guessed was a trace of amusement.
“I could…but then, you might not get the water until tomorrow morning.”
A faint chuckle and a shake of her head followed his remark. “In that case, I’m fine. Thank you.” She brushed some hair from her forehead that had escaped her nurse’s cap. One black curl refused to stay tucked, brushing her eyebrow in rebellion. “Is there anything I can get you?”
He tried to think of something to detain her at his bedside, but he had nothing. “No. I’m all right.”
“I might as well check your injuries now that you’re awake.”
Was she searching for a reason to linger, too? He dismissed the foolish notion. Evelyn was nothing if not professional, at least until it had come to Ralph.
Joel gritted his teeth against any embarrassment as Evelyn pulled back his blanket to examine his wounds. He still hated the personal intrusion that came with this part of hospital care.
Remnants of his dream still clung to him like cobwebs. And yet it was more than a dream. He’d been reliving the horror of that day as if it were happening to him all over again.
If he’d insisted that Ralph lead the other group, his best friend would still be alive. And now he had the added guilt of robbing Evelyn’s unborn child of a father. Joel welcomed Evelyn’s attention on his injuries instead of his face at the moment. He feared she’d read the searing self-reproach in his expression.
He could easily envision Ralph and Evelyn married and settled somewhere in the Midwest, a whole passel of rascally boys and pretty girls of their own. Ralph would’ve taught his sons how to shoot a gun and spit watermelon seeds. Evelyn would’ve taught her girls how to cook and properly bandage a cut. His own regrets at not being able to have a family might have been easier to bear if he’d been able to share in Ralph and Evelyn’s joy.
If he only he could go back, make a different decision, alleviate the responsibility eating at him. Especially now that he knew about Ralph and Evelyn’s baby.
“I think your leg needs redressing.”
Joel swung his gaze to hers. He’d been so caught up in his reproachful thoughts he’d nearly forgotten her presence. Evelyn raised her eyebrows in question. “That’d be fine,” he replied.
Evelyn returned a few minutes later, her hands full of supplies, which she set on the table next to his bed. Now that he was wide awake, he figured he’d work on strengthening the hand of his broken arm. He clenched and unclenched his fingers, his eyes trained on the window, while Evelyn bent to cut away his bandage.
A sharp intake of breath followed by the clatter of metal against the wood floor jerked Joel’s attention back to Evelyn. She stood frozen beside his bed, holding one hand in the other.
“Nurse Gray?”
When she didn’t respond, Joel scooted higher up on his pillows. The action brought a temporary wave of pain, but he was beginning to move about in bed without constant agony from his injuries. Nurse Thornton had told him he could try walking tomorrow.
“Evelyn?” He kept his voice low. “Are you all right?”
She peered down at him, her face white. “I—I cut my finger with the scissors. I’m not sure how it happened.”
“How bad are you hurt?”
“I’m bleeding. And I can’t stand the sight of my own…”
Joel reached out to grip her wrist when she started to sway. “Do you feel like you’re going to faint?”
“I think…I…might.”
“Sit down.”
She shook her head and tried to pull back against his hand. “No. I can’t. It’s not…proper.”
Joel stifled a laugh. Of all the rules she was afraid to break, sitting on the edge of his bed had to be the least worrisome, especially given her time with Ralph. “I think it’ll be fine, just this once. We don’t want you hurting yourself”—he refrained from adding and the baby—“if you faint.”
She hesitated a moment longer, then removing her hand from his, she sank onto the bed. “I—I’m sorry.”
“How bad is it?”
“I can’t look.” She pressed her lips together and turned her head.
Joel extended his good hand. “Can I see?”
Evelyn placed her fisted hand inside his palm. Slowly he began uncurling her fingers. In response, she shivered as if cold. How soft her skin felt beneath his touch. He absently rubbed his fingertip over one of her knuckles. His heart pumped faster as the same electric feeling they’d shared the other day shot through him again. Joel glanced at Evelyn’s face to see if she felt it, too, but her eyes were glued elsewhere.
Get a grip, Campbell. This is Ralph’s girl.
Inhaling a breath of stale hospital air to clear his head, he moved her fingers to find a splotch of blood near her pinkie. Joel set her hand on the bed and reached for the bandage she’d brought for him. After dabbing the cloth against the cut, he examined her hand again.
“It doesn’t look deep, but I’ll tie this around the cut to help stop the bleeding.” He used his teeth to rip off a smaller section of the bandage. Tying it with one hand wasn’t easy, but he finally managed it. “There you go.”
She lifted her hand and inspect
ed his handiwork. “Thank you.” A flicker of a smile relaxed her mouth. “Maybe you should have been a medic.”
“Maybe,” he said with a soft laugh. He wanted to make her smile fully, to do what he could do to ease the burden he’d unknowingly placed upon her with his decision the other day. “How did you become a nurse if the sight of blood makes you faint?”
Her smile deepened, as he’d hoped. “It sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it? But it’s only my own blood that bothers me. I can doctor anyone else’s cuts and hurts as long as they aren’t my own.” She climbed to her feet, bringing instant cold to Joel’s right side.
Why did he like having her sit beside him? Or talking with him? No wonder Ralph had fallen in love with her after only a day or two. Evelyn was not only beautiful, but compassionate and funny and brave.
“Will you be all right?” he asked, trying desperately to derail his own thoughts.
She nodded. “I’ll get another bandage and finish up here.” Her tone sounded almost curt, which meant she’d reverted back to her role of practiced nurse. The wall she’d been erecting between them since Joel had learned of her pregnancy had returned. Only Ralph had successfully broken through that barrier—and now he was gone. The tiniest spark of jealousy ignited inside Joel, but he fought it off by pushing it deeper within himself.
When she’d finished redressing his wounds, she pulled his blanket back up, but he noticed she was careful not to brush her fingers against his nightshirt. “Is there anything else you need?”
He shook his head, but Evelyn didn’t move.
“Please don’t say anything,” she pleaded in a near whisper, “about sitting on your bed. Or about Ralph and me…and our…” A sigh escaped her lips as her hand rose to touch the middle of her nurse’s apron. Was the movement unconscious?
Joel waited until she looked at him with those lovely, dark eyes. “I won’t. I promise.”
The relief and gratitude shining in her gaze nearly had the power to make him abandon all his well-meaning thoughts about her being Ralph’s. With great effort, he forced his attention back to the window across the room. The darkened window. It was like looking into his own future.
