With their first date behind them, Danny and Ann began to find a rhythm to their budding relationship that gave them the opportunity to learn more about the other and figure out where they were headed. They still spent time with their families as they always had, but the McCawley's and the Walker's were now getting used to seeing them as a pair.
They never purposely touched nor did they try to avoid it, but when the families would walk together down to the beach they always walked together and sometimes one of their hands would brush up against the other's. Danny might lean over and say something to her quietly or maybe grasp her fingers for a moment, but neither of them ever made their families feel as though they were intruding. They did it that way in part because it served to build up the anticipation they would have for the moment when he would walk her home and they would stand on her porch, as he kissed her goodnight.
One of his hands would invariably find the small of her back and settle there while the other would occasionally settle lower. Her hands would find their way under his tee shirt if possible and roam the solid contours of his back. It was a feel she was quickly becoming used to and as they continued to see each other, couldn't help but want more than just a touch.
It usually happened that after they had taken their time holding the other close, sometimes a little too close and knowing it couldn't go any farther, they would end up sitting on the porch swing holding hands. Danny would joke that it was their 'cooling off' period before they would again stand at the edge of the porch. He would keep a light hold on her hands and give her a soft kiss before he would stroll down the front walk and down the street to his car that would be parked in front of his parent's house.
Word slowly started to get around to the other pilots in the squadron that McCawley had fallen hard for a girl, but because neither he nor Hank spoke about it while they were off the residential area of the base none of the others knew who she was. And if Ann were to show up it would usually be on the pretext of seeing her father and if she and Danny were together, they would always give the appearance that her visit didn't make his heart beat just a little bit faster. It was nobody's damn business anyway, according to Hank.
Their happiness however, was tempered by the knowledge that the relationship between Hank and Sarah was beginning to stall, badly. He wasn't talking about it, even though he wanted all sorts of details about Danny and Ann from the both of them. Sarah wasn't talking to her and Ann was starting to wonder if after all the pushing she did to get her brother and her friend together that she wasn't a little jealous. But what the problem was exactly they didn't know, so they couldn't help.
As the winter months merged into spring, Ann was approaching her final weeks at Pearl Harbor High School. She'd already been accepted to the University of Hawaii but hadn't decided if she would live at home or apply for a room in the dormitory. It didn't make sense for her parents to pay for a room for her to live in when she had her own room at home Dad reasoned, but Mama had made the case for Ann getting a taste for living on her own. She was going to be eighteen in August and it was time that she got the chance to step out on her own, even in the relative confines of a dormitory room.
In the meantime, Danny's flight training was coming to a close because he'd successfully completed his two training missions.
The second of the training flights had simulated the pilots being shot down and it was up to them to use the survival training they'd learned from pilots who'd been through it. It was because of that experience he and Hank formulated different plans of action in the air in case one of them was shot down or lost an engine in a combat situation.
When he wasn't in the air, he began to surf regularly again and managed to talk Ann onto a board. She went out with him, once, but told him that it was enough because he was concentrating too much on handling her and not showing her the finer points of staying upright on a slippery board. So she would stand on the shoreline and watch as he took his board out and rode a wave back in.
When she swam her final year with the varsity squad, Danny got to every meet that he could manage.
It was a thrill for Ann to look up into the stands before a race and not only see her family, but more often than not it seemed Danny would be there as well. If they could swing it, Hank and Evelyn were there too and they would all sit together and cheer her on. It was a wonderful way to finish out her senior season.
But the event that topped it all was Senior Prom.
One Sunday, as Danny walked Ann home from the beach the subject of the big dance came up when he asked if she wanted to go. It wasn't something she'd given much thought to even though there were posters and flyers plastered all over campus. Her class load was lighter her final semester but the classes she took were not easy and with homework, swim practice and meets she didn't have much time for a lot of fun.
Danny sometimes wondered if it was more important to him than to her. He took Caroline to their Senior Prom and she made him wear what he thought was the ugliest tuxedo on Oahu. He was embarrassed to be seen in it and always felt that Caroline picked it because she didn't want their fellow seniors looking at him, only at her. She kept the one picture that was taken at the hotel that evening and she was welcome to it. Personally, he would have preferred to burn it.
For Ann, he wanted to wear his full dress uniform. And he did.
She was the envy of all the senior girls that night when she walked into the ballroom on the arm of her Air Force pilot because it was the first time that her friends knew that she'd been dating anyone. The music wasn't to her taste but it didn't really matter because she was with Danny and thought that he'd never looked more handsome. It was a night she would never forget.
Graduation was coming up fast for Ann and Danny's squadron was finally activated for duty.
She knew once he'd completed his final training missions that it would only be a matter of time before he would have to fly out. She just hoped it wouldn't be so close to graduation because he might not be back it time.
It was on Danny's mind as well because he wanted so much to be there to watch her receive her diploma. But the Air Force might have other ideas about that and as much as he cared for Ann, what they wanted was paramount.
He flew out a couple of weeks after her prom with a picture of them taped to the control panel of his plane so he could see her on the long flight to Okinawa.
Ann found temporary relief in her worry with her final weeks of classes and study. She continued her swim season and was gratified to see that Evelyn still came to watch. She was equally disappointed to see that Sarah never seemed to come. She knew that her friend was in her last weeks at the University of Hawaii and was as busy as she was, but it hurt nonetheless.
As the clock ticked down to graduation, there was no word from Danny and no word when his squadron would be coming home.
She continued to swim and to study and her mother took her to a dress shop to pick out something to wear for ceremonies and a pair of shoes to match.
The last day of school the seniors took over the quad for a luau and Ann couldn't remember seeing so many Hawaiian shirts and dresses in one place. She couldn't help but think of Danny with the shirt he always wore off duty and missed him even more.
When she finally got home her father was waiting on the front porch with the news that Danny was on his way back. They'd left Okinawa that morning with their squadron intact and their mission accomplished. He told her that by the time they reached the field Danny would be landing, if she wanted to come with him.
They reached the field in record time and met the other families that had come to greet their husbands, sons and brothers. They found the McCawley's by the gate that was closed and guarded by an MP. It was so different being outside and watching the jets come in one by one. It was noisier for one and she could almost feel them as they landed. Her father's arm was around her shoulders and her heart pounded so hard in her chest that she could feel her pulse pounding in her ears.
All the planes were finally down and slowly the pilots shut down their engines. The tension seemed to build within the small crowd and when the MP opened the gate, a flood of humanity moved toward the pilots as they climbed out of their planes.
The McCawley's ran out to see Danny and Ann couldn't help but notice that Sarah wasn't there. Why wasn't she? She couldn't see his face, but the way he was standing Ann could see that Hank was more than a little disappointed that Sarah hadn't come so her father walked out to Hank's plane and welcomed him home with a firm handshake and a clap on the shoulder.
She hung back while Danny's parents and his brother finished with their handshakes and hugs and waited. He'd been looking in her direction the moment he'd deplaned and through the welcomes from his family he seemed to be waiting for her. She took a step forward and then seemed to forget how to walk.
Danny stepped forward and stopped.
She wasn't moving and he couldn't tell from where he was if she was crying so he moved toward her to find out. What ever it was that seemed to root her feet to the tarmac let her go and she began to walk toward him and then she began to run.
He stood and waited for her.
Within seconds she was in his arms and he held her as close as his flight suit would allow. She was crying and her arms were tight around his neck. He tried to sooth her with his voice and his hands to let her know that he was all right. When he felt her body still and her arms loosen their grip he stepped back enough to look at her tear streaked face and her smile. And he kissed her.
It didn't occur to him at the time that it was the first time he'd kissed her in front of his family or hers. If he'd thought about it he wouldn't have kissed her as thoroughly as he did or let his hands wander where they shouldn't have. It was just so good to feel her in his arms because it meant that he was really home, safe and sound.
The day after he returned Ann graduated from Pearl Harbor High School and as he sat with his family to watch her receive her diploma he couldn't have been more proud. He also couldn't help but wish that she'd been able to feel that kind of pride when he'd received his degree and commission from the Academy the previous year. But she was in his arms when he came home from his first combat mission and that was so much better.
It was becoming increasingly clear to Danny that Ann was going to be a part of his future and that was going to begin with his Air Force Academy pin.