Chapter 1:
HD: Wait
The year is 1932.
And despite the problems in Europe, America is thriving, as it always has. The lives of American citizens have finally calmed down after the long, 'Great war', all the soldiers were returning from their overseas stations, and prohibition was finally over. Sufficed to say, everything was going pretty well.
However, right now, she wasn't thinking about America. She wasn't thinking about the war, and she most certainly wasn't thinking about prohibition. At this moment, all she could think about was the 9:45 train, and how it was always late.
Why was it always late?
It was a very busy day at the Chicago Union Station, with the place being full of naval officers returning from duty at last. There were couples reuniting for the first time in years, it was quite the scene, and like any good Navy gal, Harper Davies was sitting on a bench off to the side, watching the clock and waiting for her turn to get smooched by her man and make all the other girls glow green with envy.
Until then, she wasted her time picking at her skirt, or rereading the big board of arrivals and departures that continually changed, noting that the 9:45 still read 'Delayed'. Sighing heavily, she unfolded the brochure for the Navy that she had been keeping safe in her dresser drawer at home until this day. The day he'd told her they would come home.
From above, a bell sounded, announcing that another train was pulling into the station, and Harper looked up hopefully as the giant tin can pulled to a screeching, smoke filled stop. "Oh please…" She whispered quietly to herself, wringing the papers in her hands with her big, blue eyes locked unwaveringly on the doors of the train.
They opened slowly.
Rows of Navel men poured out onto the smog filled platform, and the noise of dozens of girls screams mixed with the sounds that trains always make that she really hated. Her eyes scanned the crowd, scanned the faces of the men for him, but she didn't see him. Why didn't she see him? Where was he? A horrible fear filled her heart as she slumped back in her seat.
"Guess who?"
She felt a pair of strong, but thin hands cover her eyes before she could protest, and a wide grin spread across her face. In a quick movement, she pulled the hands away, turned around and planted a kiss on his face. It was only after she did this that she realized these hands were not the ones she had been waiting for. Pulling away, she realized it wasn't her fella at all, but someone who was almost as important. "Gosh, Dame, I d-didn't think you'd be that happy to s-see me." He said quietly, a shy grin on his pale as ever face.
"Sorry, Jim, I thought you were…well, you know." A light blush painted her face as she stood from the bench and cleared her throat, trying her best not to be embarrassed, but ultimately failing. "He said he would be here now, so…"
"I'm sure he's just l-late. You know how he is. Gets distracted talking to all the good looking-…men."
Harper grinned, looking down at the papers that were now a crumpled mess in her hands. She knew he had a hard time keeping his mind straight, and he got distracted easily, but she would wait for him all day, if that's what it took to have him in her arms again. "It's alright. I know, and I don't want to keep you. You have your own dame waiting for you, dontcha." She said, nudging him gently in the side. "Go on, I'll see you later."
She watched as he tipped his cap and headed straight for the tall, crowded doorway, and couldn't help being just a little jealous.