Rafe was home. He'd made it back once again and Evelyn was relieved.

It was an ordeal every time he went out on a mission but Evelyn had come to except it. She and Rafe had made the decision to stay and she knew it might come at the cost of his life, but they had both come to realize that leaving a place they had come to think of as home would have changed their lives irrevocably.

They had left their son with Danny and Sandra as they went for a walk on the beach at sunset. Evelyn had begun to blossom as her pregnancy progressed and her doctor had suggested daily walks to help with her restless legs. Rafe had his arm around her and Evelyn had her head on his shoulder. As they walked she had her eyes on the horizon and was remembering a time when she sat writing letters to him as the sun went down.

Rafe kissed the top of her head. "Hey Mrs. McCawley, where are you?" And brought Evelyn out of her reverie.

"I was just remembering how I would come to watch the sun set and write to you." She told him. "I missed you so much."

"I know, I missed you too. But you've been quiet since we started our walk, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, really. I was just thinking how glad I am we stayed and how your flying combat missions doesn't frighten me as much as it used to."

"It doesn't?"

"I pray every time you fly that you'll come home, but if something were to happen to you I have some wonderful friends here that would look after us." She explained to him.

"Are you havin' second thoughts about us stayin'?"

She stopped to take his face in her hands and she smiled. "Captain McCawley you're not listening. I am very glad we stayed and I would have been having second thoughts if we'd gone back."

He grinned at her and kissed her cheek. "Message received ma'am." And they continued their walk.

As they headed farther up the beach, Evelyn thought she saw a familiar form coming toward them. They kept walking and General James H. Doolittle came into view. His stride was purposeful.

Evelyn felt Rafe stiffen and knew this sudden visit was something he'd been expecting, but had hoped to avoid. He took his arm from around Evelyn and snapped a smart salute to his former commander and the General answered. "At ease, Captain. Mrs. McCawley, you're looking very well."

"Thank you General. I'll leave you two to talk."

"That won't be necessary because this involves you, too."

"General, if this is about my stayin' here..." He started.

"I will admit I was very disappointed that you changed your mind, but I do understand. This would be a difficult place to leave."

"It's not that, sir. Our friends are here and it's the only place our son knows. It's goin' to be hard enough on him when we go back to Tennessee after the war, so for now we felt it best to stay here." Rafe explained.

"Son, you don't need to explain to me, your family has to come first."

Rafe grinned. "That was why I was goin' to go back, for my family. I thought my wife here would be relieved to have me not flyin' combat anymore."

Doolittle looked at Evelyn. "What made you change your mind?"

Evelyn felt her face flush at the directness of the question. "I wanted my husband to stop flying combat missions but when it came down to it I couldn't face leaving everything we had here. And as it turned out, Rafe didn't want to either."

"Captain if you wanted to stay here, why didn't you just turn down my offer?"

"I thought I was doin' what was best for my family and what I wanted didn't matter."

Doolittle shook his head and smiled. "You've come a long way from that hedgehopper who used to buzz the field during training."

That comment got Rafe to grin self-consciously. "I can't argue with that sir. But it's not just me anymore and I always have to remember that."

"It would have been a real asset to have you at Mitchell, but you did what you had to."

"Thank you sir. Are you goin' to be here long?"

"For a couple of more days. Washington sent me out to see how the recovery effort is progressing. We took a hell of a beating and we're still trying to catch up."

"Yes sir."

"General we're going to be having dinner pretty soon, would you like to join us?" Evelyn asked.

"Thank you, but I'll have to decline. I'm expected back at Hickam for dinner with the brass." The General paused for a moment. "Well, I'll leave you to finish your walk. Mrs. McCawley, it was nice to see you again. You take good care of her Captain." And he put his hand out to Rafe, who took it and they shook. He looked back at Evelyn, "And you take good care of him."

Evelyn put her arms around her husband. "I'll do that General."

They watched as General Doolittle walked back up the beach and got into a waiting car.

Evelyn looked up at Rafe. "You buzzed the field?"

He grinned at her. "Never mind." And put his arm around her and they headed home.