Barbara, Martha and Gooz were gone.
The girls had returned to New York because they'd only been given a short furlough from the hospital and they were due back to work.
Gooz had also headed home, to Kentucky.
His boss had been generous with giving him two extra days after New Years, but he wanted to get home to spend most of that time with his wife.
So, New Years evening 1948 found Danny, Sandra, Rafe, Evelyn and Red having dinner together. Rafe and Evelyn would be in Hawaii for a few more days at the insistence of Rafe's father. Tom McCawley had told Danny in a telephone call earlier that afternoon that his son missed Hawaii more than he would ever admit and he wanted him to be able to spend some time in a place that he had called home for five years. He had also sworn Danny to secrecy with that piece of information.
"You know that son of mine." Tom had told him. "Once he makes up his mind about somethin', even if he starts havin' second thoughts about it, will go ahead and do it."
"I had that feelin' myself." Danny had answered. "But the more I tried to get him to rethink what he was doin', he would get as stubborn as that old mule you used to have and he would refuse to budge."
Tom had laughed. "That's my boy all right. He gets that stubborn streak from me and it would wear his mama to a frazzle sometimes."
Danny had also laughed. "I remember."
"I know you do son. Now that girl of yours should be just the opposite. You and your lovely wife are two of the least stubborn people I've ever met."
Danny shook his head. "My wife can be plenty stubborn at times and so can I, so we'll see if Annie will be too."
"You ain't stubborn that often Danny and the same goes for Sandra. So I don't see Annie givin' you too much trouble."
"She'll let us know soon enough I guess."
"Danny?" The soft voice of his wife brought him to the present and he turned to see her in the doorway. "Are you all right?"
He smiled at her. "I'm fine honey, just thinkin'."
She walked into the kitchen and linked her arm through his. "Now I know why you volunteered to get the coffee for me. You've got something on your mind and you don't want to talk about it."
"It ain't that, really. I just haven't had a chance to talk to you about it. We had company that we weren't expectin' and then I got that phone call from Tom today."
A worried look crossed her face. "You were talking so quietly to him, too. Everything is all right isn't it?"
"Everything is fine and I promise that I'll tell you about it when we go to bed. It just ain't somethin' I can talk about right now." He knew he was being mysterious and it wasn't his intention to be, but he didn't want to take the chance of Rafe or Evelyn overhearing what Tom had told him.
She was curious, but didn't press the matter. "If you'll get the coffeepot for me, I'll carry the cups out to the living room."
"Sure thing honey." He answered as she collected the cups, saucers and spoons from the counter and put them on a tray. She got the cream from the icebox and the sugar bowl and put those items from the tray as well. He looked at the loaded down tray and tried not to laugh. "Sandra, that's got to be heavy. Why don't you let me take that and you can get the coffee."
Sandra smiled back at him. "I'm perfectly capable of carrying this Daniel Walker." And she walked out of the kitchen.
He shook his head in amusement as he picked up the coffeepot from the stove and followed her out to the living room. When he got there, the talk had shifted to the past. Sandra, Evelyn and Red were remembering when they'd first been transferred to Hawaii.
He set the coffeepot down on a hot pad Sandra had put on the coffee table and sat down next to her on the sofa. As she began to fill the cups and pass them around, Danny asked her what had started that particular conversation.
"Ev had mentioned that the trip back reminded her of when we first came here. When I asked her why, it started our reminiscing about that time."
Evelyn spoke up. "Rafe swears I never told him about it," and she looked at him with a smile before she continued. "But I know I wrote him about it when he was overseas."
"I would have remembered that." He grinned at her.
"What exactly were you girls talkin' about?"
Sandra took his hand and smiled at him. "We were talking about how you and I ran into each other at the Black Cat. We'd only been here for a few weeks and on our first day off the girls and I went to the beach for the day. On the way back to our quarters, we stopped at the cafe for a soda and you were there with Red and the other boys."
Danny laughed. "And as I remember, neither of us actually said hello. We just smiled at each other."
"That's smooth Danny." Rafe grinned.
"Be fair Rafe." Red defended his friend. "They had only spent that little time together when we were in New York and they hadn't seen each other since."
"And we had only talked once the night after that you left for England." Sandra added.
"You never mentioned that in the first letter I got Danny."
"There wasn't anythin' worth mentionin'. All she really did was listen because I was so worried about you goin' over there."
"You weren't the only one." Evelyn sighed as she took her husband's hand. "I was afraid I'd never see him again."
Danny smiled as Rafe leaned over and kissed her cheek. "And you're changin' the subject."
"She ain't changin' the subject. This is all leadin' up to what you want to know."
It was then that Sandra laughed. "If this were a movie, we would be at the point in the picture where the scene would fade into a flashback."
And they all laughed with her at the memory of Danny and Sandra at the Black Cat Cafe.
1-04-04