The time had come for Rafe to make a decision about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

He had asked Danny and Sandra to come stay with the kids so he could take Evelyn out to dinner and talk to her without being interrupted by their son and daughter for one thing or another. Their date was two fold because he needed to talk to her about their future and he owed her an engagement dinner. Evelyn had not mentioned it again after she teased him about it, but it was something that had been in the back of his mind for the last month. Besides, she needed a distraction because she missed Barbara so much.

The two girls had already been burning up the telephone wires with their nightly calls telling each other what was going on and Evelyn having to give her friend regular updates on how she was feeling and how the baby was doing. Barbara had called her that first night from New York and as fate would have it, she and Martha had been posted to the same hospital where they had all been in 1941. She couldn't resist in teasing Evelyn about it and how she'd sat on the same bench as her two friends had when Rafe had popped himself in the nose with the cork from the champagne bottle. What a thing for her to remember.

Rafe had asked Evelyn to wear her very best dress for the occasion, which got him a look from her. "What did I say?"

"Rafe McCawley, I don't fit into my very best dress anymore in case you hadn't noticed." She was indignant.

To be perfectly honest, he hadn't. What he did see was that his wife had a glow about her and that she was more beautiful than usual. She had started to blossom and every visit to the doctor was good news. What made them the happiest though, was when her doctor told them he felt the risk had passed. Evelyn had just moved into her second trimester and that was well past her last pregnancy. The doctor, however, stressed the continued need for caution. "I'm very pleased at your progress Mrs. McCawley and I don't say this to panic you in any way, I just want to continue to play it safe."

Rafe had come with her to this checkup and sat next to her in the doctor's office holding her hand. "Can she still miscarry?" He wanted to know.

"I never like to rule anything out Captain McCawley and the chance of your wife losing this child is unlikely now. But with any of my mothers who have had miscarriages, I always like to ere on the side of caution."

Rafe and Evelyn looked at each other, their joy at the good news tempered by the sobering words from her doctor.

When Danny and Sandra got to the house that evening, Rafe was in his dress uniform pacing nervously. He and Evelyn had been married nearly three and a half years, but he felt as though this was their first date and he was anxious to see her.

"I'll check on her Rafe." Sandra told him and headed down the hall.

Evelyn was looking at herself in the full-length mirror and not quite liking what it was she saw. She turned toward the bedroom door when she heard a soft knock and when it opened, Sandra was standing in the doorway.

"Ev, Rafe is waiting for you."

She nodded. "I know. I just wish I looked better."

Sandra frowned. "What are you talking about? You look lovely."

Evelyn smiled at her. "Thanks. Barbara helped me pick this out before she left. She wanted me to have something to wear if my husband ever took me out to dinner."

"So then what's the problem?"

She frowned. "It's beautiful, but it's a maternity dress."

"Ev, you hardly show at all."

That got Evelyn to smile. "Don't mind me Sandra. I'm just feeling sorry for myself today."

Sandra gave her a quick hug. "I know how much you miss Barbara. You two were the closest of all of us and I know how much you confided in her."

"We roomed together in nursing school and helped each other earn our nurses' cap." Evelyn remembered.

"Are she and Martha going to be able to come back for Thanksgiving?"

"She doesn't know yet. Rafe said Red is trying to talk Gooz into coming back so we can all spend the holiday together."

"I'd really like it if they could." Sandra told her before she touched her arm. "Are you ready now? You have a very nervous pilot waiting out in the living room for you."

That got Evelyn to flush. "Rafe doesn't get nervous."

"You haven't seen him Ev. He's nervous." She smiled as she walked to the open doorway and waited for Evelyn.

"Rafe, you're goin' to wear a hole in the floor if you don't stop pacin'." Danny observed and tried not to laugh.

"This is my life we're talkin' about Danny."

Danny looked at him in confusion. "You're takin' your wife out to dinner. A little overdressed maybe, but it's just dinner."

"It's not about dinner, it's about our future. Evelyn's and mine and the kids."

"Have you decided anythin'?"

"No. I'm under the gun now and I still have no idea what I'm goin' to do."

"Are you ready to go Rafe?" He heard Evelyn and turned toward the hallway where she stood with Sandra behind her.

How did he get so lucky? "You look very lovely this evening Mrs. McCawley."

"You look very dashing yourself Captain McCawley." She smiled at his formality.

"I was just waitin' for you." He smiled back.

"Those reservations won't wait, so let's go." And she headed to the front door. Rafe looked at Danny and shook his head.

She didn't know how he'd managed it, but her husband and Air Corps pilot had gotten them dinner reservations at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It was only the most expensive place to eat on Oahu, but Rafe had told her he wanted to do it right because she was worth it. What could she say to that?

They were shown to a secluded table and after Rafe had ordered himself a bourbon and soda, he wanted to get the serious part of the evening out of the way.

Evelyn had declined anything to drink and waited because she knew he had something on his mind.

"Honey, you know my enlistment is coming up soon." He started.

She nodded. "And I thought the plan was to go back to Tennessee."

"Evelyn, my commander wants me to stay here as a flight instructor." He blurted out.

She looked at him. "So this is what's been on your mind. What do you want to do?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "To tell you the truth, I don't know."

She laid her hand on his and looked him in the eye. "Rafe, it seems to me that if you really wanted to be a flight instructor you would have taken the job without a second thought."

"I'd still be flyin'."

"But it wouldn't be the same would it?" She sighed. "Remember when you were going to take the instructor's job in New York and then changed your mind?"

"That was because you wanted to stay."

"So did you, otherwise we would have gone to New York anyway." Evelyn reasoned.

"Are you sayin' we should go back?"

"I'm saying that as much as I know how much you love the Air Corps and living here, maybe you're ready to go home and put it behind you."

"What about the kids?" He frowned.

"They're young and they'll adjust. Rafe, as long as we're together that's the most important thing."

"I know how much you love it here."

"But I love you more and I want you to do something for yourself this once. You always put us first and that is such a noble thing, so I'm asking you to put yourself first in this and if it's what you want we'll stay."

He sat across from her and took the hand that lay on his and was quiet for a moment. He sighed and looked into her eyes. "I don't want to make a decision that we'll regret."

"Honey, you can always re-enlist later if it's what you want, but for right now what do you want to do?"

He looked at the hand he held and lifted it for a kiss before he sighed again. "I think it's time to go home."

She smiled at him. "Then we go home."

"I love you Evelyn."

"I love you too Rafe." She answered as the waiter approached their table to take their order for dinner.