We packed up our temporary lives in Austria and headed back to England as a company. We were only in London for a few hours when Malarkey returned to us via train. I let out a loud shout of delight and collided into my best friend. Malarkey scooped me up and kept my feet off the ground for a minute before setting me back down.
The ship leaving for the States wasn't nearly as crowded as the ship that brought us to England. I actually got to sleep in my own cot, and I flashed back to when I had to sleep crammed between Toye and Guarnere. The thought made me feel sad, thinking about all of the men who weren't returning with us. The bright side was that Liebgott and I found several deserted areas to be alone.
One of the first mornings on the ship, while everyone was eating breakfast, Liebgott and I snuck off to an empty bunker and we didn't waste any time taking our clothes off and falling onto the bunker floor. Liebgott's mouth explored my jawline and neck, his tongue briefly grazing the scar on the base of my throat. I let out a groan that was cut off as he went straight back to my mouth. I gently bit his lip, and he was so close I could practically feel the smile on his face.
Since we were no longer at war, and since we would no longer be needed to fight, Liebgott and I didn't bother hiding the relationship anymore. Anyone who hadn't known now knew, and those who had known wouldn't stop talking about how they were so glad we were able to let out some steam. Luz was the worst.
"I gotta tell you, the sexual tension between you two was killing me." Luz said one night during dinner. "Thanks for getting that over with. Be sure to name a kid after me." I threw a dinner roll at him. It hit him on the nose and he quickly picked it up and started eating it.
On our final day at sea, Liebgott and I were laying on the floor of an abandoned room. We laid there afterwards, Liebgott's fingers tangled in my hair, I suddenly remembered a moment from back when we were on Hitler's front porch. I had heard Lipton begin to talk to Liebgott, but I hadn't heard what he said. I grabbed Liebgott's hand and lightly traced his long fingers with mine. I brought up what Lipton said and asked him what it was about. Liebgott thought about it for a moment before smiling.
"He told me that I needed to wait until the war was officially over and not before then." Liebgott said with a smile. "He also said that the company would never forgive me if I was the reason you were sent away. And that Malarkey and Luz would beat the shit outta me."
I laughed. "Well, we should really thank Lipton for butting in. This was worth the wait." I could imagine Liebgott's smirk in response. Liebgott's fingers gently roamed the scar tissue of my ruined ear and it sent shivers through my body. Several minutes later, we heard an announcement saying that we were approaching the harbor in New York.
We made it to the railing of the ship just in time to see Lady Liberty waving hello to Easy Company.
As we got closer to New York harbor, we saw the overwhelming sea of people waiting to greet us. I stared at them all with wide eyes. There had to be several thousand people here, just to welcome us home. As we got closer, Webster tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out a massive crowd of women. I stared at them, some of them holding up signs with my name on them. My friends noticed the crowd too and were glancing between me and the unknown women.
The ship finally docked and we waited what felt like hours to get off. When my feet finally hit American soil for the first time in three years, I felt a heavy weight being lifted off of my shoulders. As I stepped towards the crowd, a proud-looking woman approached me. Liebgott was at my shoulder, eyeing the woman. The older lady stuck out her hand and I shook it firmly.
"Diana McCall?" The woman asked. I nodded. She gave me a thin smile as she inspected the medals and badges on my uniform. "My name is Bernadette Palmer. On behalf of the Women's Right Movement, I'd like to say thank you for your service. And judging by your uniform, your men were lucky to have you near."
"We were," Liebgott muttered from behind me. Bernadette narrowed her eyes at Liebgott but gave him her thin smile anyhow. I shook the older woman's hand once more before we had to continue moving on.
We were herded toward the trucks, but the crowd kept trying to grab onto any part of us that they could. I looked out at the sea of faces and felt a tightening of my stomach. I got the feeling of not being able to breathe and I didn't waste any time getting onto the first truck I could reach. Liebgott, Malarkey, Luz, Perconte, Buck, and Lipton crammed into the truck with me.
The trucks pulled into a train station in New York. This was a big one; most of the men separated here and would continue in their general directions. Roe and I would go on a train heading south to Alabama and Louisiana, respectively. But my other friends would continue north or west.
I hugged each man as tightly as I possibly could. Men like Martin and Welsh were going home to their wives. Some of the men had girls they had been writing to ever since we left American soil. Luz hugged me hard and kissed my cheek, "I'm gonna miss you so much, Diana McCall."
"Keep in touch, George Luz." I said, squeezing his biceps tightly. "We'll see each other again, right?" Luz laughed and nodded enthusiastically. We said goodbye to each other about twenty more times before Luz finally boarded his train to go home. I did the same with Perconte and Lipton, hugging them both and wishing them the best.
"The same goes for you, McCall." Lipton said with a smile.
When I said goodbye to Malarkey for the second time, I felt tears start to push their way to the surface. This time, the goodbye felt more permanent. "We'll be fine, Di." Malarkey said, looking over to his train. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me. "I'll be visiting you in California soon, okay?"
"I'll have a couch ready for you," I said before hugging him yet again. Then he turned and boarded the train, leaving to go back home.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Liebgott. He was heading to Michigan before continuing on to California. We double checked our contact information again before I threw my arms around him. "I'll miss you, Lieb." His arms tightened around me and I felt him kiss the top of my head.
"We'll meet again, Di." He muttered. "Not sure when, but we will. Soon. I swear to God; I'm coming back for you." I looked up at him, locking eyes with him.
"I know you will," I said, more tears threatening to choke. Liebgott bent his head and kissed me goodbye before boarding the train. I sighed to gain my composure before going off to find my own train.
When the train pulled into Montgomery's station, I squeezed my hands together. Roe sat beside me, looking out of the window. He gave me a look and we hugged each other tightly as soon as the train stopped. "We'll meet again, Diana." Roe said. I said my final goodbye with one last hug and I kissed him on the cheek. For his credit, Roe turned a faint red and mumbled goodbye once more.
Once I was off the train, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of people, many of them standing and waiting to see which soldiers were coming home. When I came out wearing my Army uniform covered with my medals and awards, a few people stared with surprise. But several others smiled kindly at me and saluted. I nodded and smiled at them back before heading off to find a cab.
It didn't take long to find a cab to take me to Wetumpka. And when we stopped outside my older sister's house, I tried to pay the man but he refused. "On the house, ma'am. Anythin' to say thanks." He saluted me. I saluted him back before grabbing my duffel bag to walked up Mary's front porch. Once I was up there, I stared at the front door for a few seconds, not knowing if I should knock or just come in. I decided to ring the doorbell.
For a second I heard someone moving around inside. Then the door opened and I saw my older sister for the first time since nineteen-forty-two, three years. In that time, Mary had turned from twenty-two to twenty-five, a newlywed to a mother expecting her second child. Her chestnut hair was cut into a bob, but other than that, she looked as she always had. Mary swung open the screen door separating us and threw her arms around me.
I held onto Mary as tightly as I could. Her growing belly was poking me in mine, and I felt tears spring to my eyes as I laughed about that. Then I heard a gasp just beyond us and I opened my eyes to see my brother-in-law, Phillip Holbrook, smiling at me as if he was seeing an old friend. Mary released me and I was hugged tightly by Phillip, who started to salute me several times. I finally met Rodger; he was a chubby toddler, almost two years old, who looked just like his mother.
I was there with Mary and Phillip for a few hours before Mary went to go tell Elizabeth that I was home. I made sure to tell her that I only wanted Elizabeth knowing I was home. Sally wasn't to know. Half an hour later, Elizabeth burst through the front door. My reunion with Elizabeth was very tearful on her part. My eyes got glassy, but I didn't manage to shed a tear.
That night Mary and Elizabeth both cooked a huge dinner. Elizabeth proudly boasted that she learned to cook fried chicken while I was away. I ate more than my fill of fried chicken, baked sweet potatoes, buttered greens, corn bread, and several glasses of sweet iced tea. I hadn't had the drink since leaving Benning, and I hadn't realized how much I had missed it.
My family wanted to know everything, from being stationed in England to the men I met to how I lost my ear to the battles. I talked about England freely, told them about Malarkey, Luz, Perconte, and Roe. I got teary eyed when I spoke about Skip, and I would tell my younger sister the very next day about my relationship with Liebgott and how he was coming here for me. I told them about how I lost my ear, but I wouldn't go into details about the battles and the chaos that ensued. And for reasons I still cling to, I didn't tell them about the concentration camp; I wouldn't tell them about that for another twenty years. They understood my silence for the most part and didn't pry.
When the welcome home party quieted down, Phillip drove Elizabeth back home. According to her, she had told Sally that she was just at a friend's house for dinner. While they were gone, I confided everything about Liebgott to Mary. Everything ranging from how we met to how we said goodbye. She was staring at me with wide eyes and she looked so happy with me.
Once in my new room, I got out of my uniform and into a night gown Mary had gotten for me. It seemed so frilly compared to the clothes I'd been wearing for the past three years, even though there wasn't a sign of lace on it.
That night was the first time I woke up screaming. Mary came running into my room and was able to shake me awake. I ended up falling out of bed and onto the floor; my sister fell down with me. The scent of urine soon filled the air and after realizing what I had just done, I wept from fear and embarrassment. Mary gently pulled me into my bathroom and helped me into the bath; I was shaking so much I could barely stand. She brought me back a fresh night gown and tucked me back into bed when it was all finished. She left my bedroom door open so that a light shined inside.
It wasn't the dark that bothered me. It was the images of gore and hostile Krauts and mortar explosions that I saw every time I closed my eyes.
Like most soldiers coming back from the frontlines, I had some trouble adjusting back to civilian life. Nightmares filled my head every night, showing me images that I wanted nothing more than to forget about. Explosions, screams, and torn flesh became normal occurrences in my dreams, causing me to wake up my sister and my brother-in-law every other night.
On one particular bad night, Mary came into my room to wake me up. She didn't leave right away like she had done before, instead she sat on the bed beside me, patting my hand and sighing every so often.
"What was it like, Diana?" Mary asked softly. I blinked and didn't reply. Mary sighed again. "I know that you've told me about your friends there and the places you went, but you've been tight-lipped about what it was actually like."
I heaved a sigh. "I...I can't put it into words. It's something no one can describe, not unless they've been there." Mary looked at me sympathetically, glancing right at my old ear injury. Tears stung my eyes and I wiped at them roughly. Mary reached out and grabbed my hands, looking down at the small burns there.
"I'm so sorry that this happened to you," Mary said quietly.
It was a long moment of silence before I softly said, "I'm not. It changed me, yes, but who would I be if I didn't volunteer?" Mary didn't answer, knowing exactly what I would be like.
Mary should've known that it would've been a matter of time before Sally found out about me being back. I was sitting in the kitchen with the black maid, Rose Marie, when the front door slammed open. I didn't have time to react before I heard my mother's voice yelling for me. I stood up out of my chair. Sally McCall never yelled.
She entered the kitchen, looking just like how she had when I had last seen her. Sally's graying chestnut hair was curled and pinned into what was considered fashionable nowadays. She was wearing a bright green dress and white heels. Her analytic green eyes took me in, from the stump that was my ear to my ragged fingernails to the clothes I was wearing.
"How long have you been here?" She asked in a deadly quiet voice. Rose Marie slipped out of the kitchen, probably to go get Phillip or Mary.
"About a week," I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as I desperately wanted to feel. Sally narrowed her eyes at me and took a few tentative steps forward. I remained rooted in my place, not leaving her eyes, refusing to back down. Sally was finally within touching distance. She responded by slapping me across the face.
"That's for volunteering the Army without any kind of permission," She spat. She hit the top of my head and I barely had time to block her. "That's for making a fool of me in front of the entire town. And this is for-"
But before Sally could hit me again, I used the muscle Sobel had given me and shoved my mother far away from me. Her heels caused her to stumble and she caught herself on the kitchen counter before she could fall. She stared at me with her mouth opened, not believing what I had just done.
"I've suffered through basic training," I said in a quiet voice, imitating her's. "I had to proof myself to those men countless times. I've been shot, stabbed, and had my ear blown off. I've been accused of hiding from the fight. I have stitched men together and put shoulders back into their sockets." I paused, heartache filling up my stomach. "I lost one of my best friends and all I found of him was a few stains on the snow. I've watched men die in front of me with no way of helping them."
My mother was staring at me as if she didn't know who I was anymore. Maybe she never did. Mary's face was peeking out from the hallway, watching the scene with wide eyes. Rodger, who was in his mother's arms, was silent as well. As if even he knew that he shouldn't interrupt. I turned my glare back to our mother.
"Throughout all of that hell, I found a family. One that is a thousand times better than the one you tried to force me into." I said. She met my gaze. I smirked. "Oh, and I had unprotected sex with a Jewish man. Several times."
Sally stared at me. She looked furious, disappointed, every kind of foul emotion. I felt a sick sort of pride as I watched her struggle with all of this new information about me. Before she could say anything else, I added, "I'm gonna be leaving soon. I'm going west and I don't think I'll be back any time soon. This is going to be the last time we see each other for a long time. There anything you want to say about that?"
She locked eyes with me before huffing. "No. I have absolutely nothing to say to you." With that, she stormed out of the kitchen, somehow still getting the last word.