It was going to be their first dinner party since they had gotten married and Red's new bride was nervous.
At Amy's request he had invited Rafe, Evelyn, Danny and Sandra for dinner to show them their new home. Red grinned that she also wanted to show them that he was being taken care of.
"Please don't tell her I told you that." He asked Rafe and Danny as they sat together. They had been briefed that morning and had been told that they were being put back on rotation in a week's time. "She's really nervous about this because she knows how much the girls cared about Betty."
"Don't worry about them Red." Rafe told him. "The girls really like her and they always have. What you need to do is figure out how you're goin' to tell your wife that you have to fly out."
"My wife." Red repeated with a smile. "I'm still not quite used to saying that."
Rafe looked at Danny with a smile of his own before he looked back at Red. "It's somethin' you never really get used to. Evelyn's been my wife for almost nine years and we've got three kids and sometimes I still can't believe she is."
Danny nodded in agreement. "I've been wakin' up next to Sandra for the last five years and we've got our two girls and I sometimes wonder if it's all a dream. I think I can speak for Rafe when I say that when you find the right girl it's somethin' that's so amazin' you can never really believe how lucky you are."
Rafe's smile became a grin. "And you call me corny when I talk about Evelyn."
"That was before I got married Rafe. Now I'm just as corny as you are." He looked at Red. "And when you've been married to Amy for awhile, you will be too."
"And sound like the two of you? I'll pass." Red told them.
Rafe and Danny looked at each other and grinned with the knowledge that he would more that likely end up just like the two of them.
The rest of the day passed quickly. There were maintenance checks, two short flights and another briefing to get through before Rafe was on his way home. It never ceased to amaze him how much he'd missed his life in Hawaii until he'd gone back to Tennessee. It was something that he wanted at the time and hadn't thought about what he would do with his life when he got home. Evelyn had told him that he could always re-enlist if he wanted to, but at that point all he wanted was to be a civilian.
He felt almost immediately after he and Evelyn had returned that he'd made a mistake. He'd attributed it at the time to the normal readjustment his commander had cautioned him about. It would be normal for him to feel a little out of sorts for awhile because the structure of military life would no longer be there, but given time and patience he would adjust. He never really did.
Part of it was that Danny had stayed after he and Sandra were married. He'd been lucky to be there when Sandra had had the girls so he could give Danny the moral support he needed. But he and Evelyn had not been able to stay and watch the girls as they learned to crawl, then toddle and then walk on their own, as Danny had been there for them. There had been no shortage of pictures of Danny and his family around the McCawley home, but it hadn't been the same as being there.
He had always discussed everything with Evelyn no matter how small but on the day that he decided to join the Reserves, he had not talked it over with her. He knew in his heart it was the right thing to do and perhaps it would eventually get him back to Hawaii. She'd surprised him when she supported what he wanted to do and even went to the air base with him near Shelby to see him sworn back in as an Air Force officer. He was reinstated as a pilot and soon after found himself in the role of student as he learned about the jets the Air Force had begun to fly.
It felt strange to him to be back in that role, but it wasn't long before he was able to find out what Danny had tried to explain to him for all of those months. Captain Rafe McCawley found himself as the pilot of a jet and it wasn't anything close to what he had expected. When he thought about the P-40's that he and Danny had flown during the war, he compared it to Evelyn as the difference between being on a bicycle and being in a car.
He pulled the car into the driveway and was surprised to find himself there. He'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't realized that he'd not paid attention on the drive home. He smiled to himself as he got out of the car and walked up to the front of the house. Two of the people he loved most in the world were on the front porch as he approached and saw Evelyn with a book in her lap as she read to Joseph.
This was always Rafe's favorite part of the day, when he could come home to his family or at least some of it. Their two oldest children were still in Tennessee with his parents and Evelyn was anxious for the day when Danny and Sarah would be able to come to Hawaii and start their lives with their parents and their little brother.
"Hi honey." He smiled as he stepped up on the porch then leaned over to kiss her.
"Hi yourself." She smiled back as she closed the book. She looked at her son and helped him off of the swing. "All right young man, your daddy's home so we can have dinner now. Do you want him to help you wash up?"
Joseph smiled and nodded.
Evelyn couldn't help but think how much he looked like Rafe and it was most obvious when he smiled. "All right then." And she stood up as Rafe took his son's hand and they walked into the house.
She followed them down to the bathroom and as Rafe helped the boy wash his hands he mentioned a dinner party that Red and Amy had planned for that Saturday evening. "She'd like you and I and Danny and Sandra to come. I figured it would be all right with you."
"Of course it would be all right. Did you happen to ask if there was anything we could bring?" She asked him.
He grinned at her. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't. I'm sure it would be all right if you wanted to call Amy and ask. She might appreciate the offer."
"I'll call after dinner then." She said as Joseph finished and Rafe helped him dry his hands before he presented them to his mother for inspection. She looked them over and smiled. "You got your fingernails too, very good. For that I'll give you an extra cookie for dessert."
Joseph smiled. "Can we eat now?"
"May we." Evelyn corrected him.
"May we?" He laughed as she nodded and he ran out of the bathroom and down the hall.
"Joseph Michael, walk please." Rafe called out and Evelyn kissed him on the cheek before she followed her son out of the bathroom.
As his father had instructed, the boy had come to a stop before he walked the rest of the way to the dining room. After Evelyn had settled him in his seat, walked into the kitchen to get dinner on the table.
She didn't hear Rafe come in. "How can I help?"
She smiled and turned to him. "You may help by putting this on the table for me." And handed him a platter that held the roast she'd made earlier that afternoon.
He grinned at her as he carried the platter out to the dining room and helped her get the rest of the meal on the table. As she filled everyone's plate and cut her son's meat for him, Rafe asked her if she'd heard anything from New York.
Evelyn shook her head. "I talked to Barbara after they got back and she said that she was going to request the transfer. She doesn't think the Navy will say no because they've been transferring nurses back here since the war started. She said she'd call back as soon as she and Martha knew something."
"What about you? Are you still thinkin' about goin' back to nursin'?" He asked her with a smile.
"I don't really know. It sounded kind of exciting at the time, but I like being home with Joseph and once the other kids get here I'd really like to be home for them too."
He nodded. "I understand that. But Joseph will be startin' school in the fall and even with the other two here, they'll be in school too. What will you do without the kids around?"
"Be a lady of leisure of course. In between doing the breakfast dishes and making beds and doing the laundry..."
"I get your point Evelyn." He said with a smile.
"I thought you would." She answered with a smile of her own. "So what about Gooz? Do you think he'll join up again?"
"I don't think so, not voluntarily anyway. Before he went home he told us that he'd seen enough of combat and the military and unless he was called up for service, he was goin' to stay home. He was always proud of his service but it was never his plan to make it a career. "
"You came back." She reasoned.
"That I did. But I never should have left and I felt that almost from the start."
"But we had to go Rafe. Otherwise you may never have realized how much this place meant to you."
He looked at her and sighed. "You wanted to stay."
Evelyn nodded because what he said was true. "But you wanted to go home more than I wanted to stay and after everything you gave up for us, I wanted to give up something for you."
"And that's why I love you so much."
"I know."