The light from the full moon spilled through the partially opened blinds, which deepened the shadows inside the bedroom. It didn't matter because he knew his way around the room that hadn't changed in all the years he lived in it.
He'd taken Hank out for his bachelor party with the other pilots from their squadron and had probably drunk one more beer than he should have. He would have preferred to go back to his own quarters but he had turned his keys over to Hank's parents so they could be close to their son the night before his wedding.
His leg still hurt even though the cast had come off a month ago and he knew it was because he was pushing himself too hard. He didn't like being tied to a desk while his leg continued to heal and he had begun to hound his commander about getting back in the air.
It was to no avail because the flight surgeon would not release him to fly, not even in the P-40.
He needed to be up early to meet Hank at his quarters so that they could get ready before heading over to the Wheeler Chapel. It wasn't going to be a large wedding because it was the way he and she both wanted it but Hank had insisted on full dress uniforms for the both of them.
He'd picked his up from the dry cleaner earlier that afternoon and it hung on the back of the bedroom door.
He stripped down to his boxers and let his clothes fall where he took them off. He was too tired to put them away the way Mama taught them all to do and promised himself that he would take care of it in the morning.
He set his alarm so that he would have plenty of time to shower in the morning and then got into bed. He closed his eyes and began to drift off when he suddenly felt a soft, warm body curl up next to his. The feel of the hand that began to caress his chest was familiar and he opened his eyes to see Ann lying next to him.
"What are you doing here?" He should have been upset that she was there even though he had dreamt about it more than once.
"I'm here because it's what you want." She smiled at him in the pale moonlight and looked like an angel.
"It's what I want because I love you."
"I know because I love you too." She answered as she propped herself up on her elbow and leaned over to kiss him. She continued to caress his chest with her hand as her lips caressed his and Danny thought he would come out of his skin for wanting her so much. He got his arms around her waist and rolled to his side as he pulled her so close to him that she would have no doubt about what it was that he was feeling. He answered her light kisses with deeper ones of his own and she sighed as his own hands began to caress her shoulders and her arms.
His lips soon replaced his hands on her shoulders as he pushed the thin straps of her nightgown out of the way and her arms slowly wound their way around his neck. She smelled of talcum powder and it was a scent that was gentle, like she was. His hands and his lips continued to roam over her as she seemed to be trying to get closer to him and frustrated that she couldn't. "I can't hold you any closer Ann."
Her voice was a breathless whisper and it sent goose pimples down his arms. "You can hold me a lot closer."
"I really want to, but should I?" He asked, not wanting her to regret what was most assuredly going to happen.
"We might not get another chance and I don't want to pass it up." Her whisper was urgent and to drive her point home she kissed him. Not the shy, feather kisses that he'd become accustomed to but a deeply passionate kiss that he always coaxed her with.
Ann didn't need to say anything else before he answered her kiss with one of his own. He then got her beneath him and proceeded to show her how much he loved her.
His eyes flashed open and he could feel the perspiration that had broken out across his forehead. His leg hurt like hell and he reached for the call button to get a nurse. The hospital room was dim except for the light that was on at the head of his bed and the bed next to his was empty. He tried to orient himself as to where he was because his dream was so real that he could have sworn he was in his old room.
It didn't take him long to realize why he'd dreamed of Ann in his bed. She was stretched out next to him on the opposite side of his elevated leg and I V drip. One of her hands was resting on his chest, over his heart and her head was on his shoulder. He didn't know how long she'd been there and couldn't imagine why her father would have allowed it. He lay quietly and listened to her even breathing and wondered if this was the first time that she'd really slept since he'd been shot down. He could smell her talcum powder and it made him smile with the memory of his dream.
"Lieutenant, did you call for a nurse?" A soft voice called to him from the door she held open and stepped into the room as the door closed behind her. "It's nice to see you finally awake."
"It's nice to finally be awake. What time is it, what day is it?" He asked quietly so he wouldn't wake Ann.
"It's about 6:30 and it's Thursday morning." She told him.
"How long have I been here?" He couldn't get his bearings because the room was so dark.
"You were brought back on a hospital ship from Okinawa a couple of days ago and went into surgery about a half-hour after you arrived." She smiled as she took his pulse. "Your leg was badly broken when you crashed and the doctor kept you sedated after the surgery to give it a chance to start healing."
He shook his head. "I knew how much it hurt but it never crossed my mind that it was broken."
"So who is Sleeping Beauty?"
"My girlfriend." He said and felt his face flush because it was the first time he'd ever said it out loud to anyone.
"She hasn't been very far from this room since you were brought back." The nurse commented as she wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm and inflated it. "You're a very lucky young man to have someone so devoted to you."
"Yes Ma'am, I know." He smiled.
"It took quite a bit of talking to the duty nurse to let her stay last night." She smiled again before she released the pressure on the cuff and took it off. "She's very headstrong."
Danny softly kissed her hair. "Yes Ma'am she is and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"So what is it that I can do for you Lieutenant?" She asked as she checked his chart.
"My leg really hurts, could I get something for the pain?" He requested and watched as the nurse scanned his chart.
"I'll take care of that right now. In the meantime, stay as still as you can and I'll be back." She told him as she turned and headed to the door.
"Thank you Ma'am."
"You're welcome Lieutenant." And she left the room.
Stay as still as you can. He shook his head at the idea. How could he when Ann was sleeping so trustingly against him?
It's what I want because I love you.
Mama always said that dreams were a way for your heart to tell you what it was that you really felt. And he wondered if his heart was telling him what he'd suspected before he flew out six weeks ago. He had to take her home when he did that last night because there was no doubt in his mind that if she'd stayed any longer they would have made love and it wouldn't have been a dream.
It was an odd way to finally admit that he'd fallen in love with Ann but he had, deeply. And he suspected that she loved him just as much.
He knew now that the reason they weren't together before he left was that he wasn't sure how deep his feelings for her were. And if there were going to be any real intimacy between them it had to be because he loved her, anything less would have made it impossible. He wanted what was best for her, even when she didn't think it was and he never wanted to hurt her, for any reason.
The door opened again and the nurse had a small tray in her hands and on it Danny could see a syringe, a small vial and some cotton.
Jeez, he hated needles.
"I've brought a sedative that will help you relax and take care of that pain. If you feel like you want to go back to sleep don't fight it. It just means that the medication is doing its job." He must have had a look on his face that telegraphed his feeling about the needle and she smiled. "If you turn your head and don't watch what I'm doing then it isn't so bad."
He nodded before he turned his head as she suggested and waited for the inevitable stick. When it finally came he didn't fight the sudden drowsiness and he closed his eyes.
She gave him her love unselfishly that night and he tried to return it to her twofold.
It was the first time that he was able to know her in a way he hadn't been able to before and he gave her the opportunity to know him just as well. She was cradled in his arms as they lay together, her head rested on his shoulder and her hand lay over his heart.
"It will always be yours." He whispered and kissed her cheek.
"How about the rest of you?" She laughed softly and snuggled closer to him.
He smiled as he caressed the small of her back and kissed her. "The rest of me too Annie."
The hand that rested on his heart moved to his cheek as she held his gaze with her own. "I wish we were getting married tomorrow instead of Hank."
His smile turned into a grin. "Are your proposing?"
"I'm not doing any such thing." She feigned annoyance. "Besides, if anyone is going to propose it's going to be you."
"Well I suppose it's only fair since you finally got to ravish me the way you wanted to the night of the dance." He laughed as he kissed her again and when he loosened his hold on her she was smiling at him.
"And you didn't want to ravish me I suppose." She was direct as always.
He brushed the damp hair off of her forehead before he kissed the warm skin. "I wanted to more than you know."
She buried her face in his shoulder and he heard her muffled answer. "I knew how much. You let me know it without saying a word."
So he did.
"You always seem to know what I want before I do, how is that?"
"It's because you're so easy to read and not too hard on the eyes either." She said with a laugh. "But that's not what I meant."
He felt a flush start to creep up his neck. "I know what you meant Ann."
"I know, I just wanted to see your face when I said it." She admitted before she kissed him and got him to love her all over again.
Ann wasn't there.
He didn't know if that was what woke him but a glance at the empty space next to him on the narrow hospital bed confirmed it.
"Danny took her home son." The sound of his father's familiar drawl told him that he was indeed home. He got up from the chair he'd been sitting in, set a book down on the empty seat and approached the side of his bed.
"Hi Dad."
Dad grinned as he ruffled his hair, the way he'd done when Danny was still a child. "Hi yourself. You looked as though you were havin' a pleasant dream."
Danny could feel his skin warm from a flush he knew was coming and tried to keep himself from smiling so his father wouldn't guess what it might be. "It was."
"I guess I don't need to ask who you were dreamin' about." His grin got wider.
It was then that he let himself smile. "Only because you probably know."
"I was young and in love once myself Danny. I may not be so young anymore, but I still love your mama."
"I think I knew it before I left but I didn't want to say anything to her unless I was absolutely sure." Danny admitted to his father. "I do love her Dad and being separated from her for these last few weeks was harder than I ever thought it could be."
"It was hard on her too. Danny told me that she wasn't sleepin' too well while you were missin'." He sighed. "It wasn't exactly a day at the beach for your mama and me either."
Danny nodded, acknowledging that his parent's had worried about him as much and probably a lot more than Ann had. He was Rafe and Evelyn McCawley's first born child and the foundation to their long and happy marriage. "How is it possible?"
"What's that son?"
"How could this happen to us again?" He wasn't sure he could put what he was feeling into words. "What I mean is, you were shot down in two different wars and now it's happened to me in this one. How in the hell could that happen?"
Dad sat down carefully on the edge of the bed. "I don't really know. Your granddaddy would call it McCawley luck, which ain't no luck at all."
Danny laughed. "The McCawley luck can't be all bad. After all, he found Grams, you found Mama and I found Ann."
"When you put it that way, you're right." He smiled back. "But as far as you bein' shot down it's a risk any combat pilot takes when he climbs into his plane. You ask me why was it us and that's all I can tell you, it's a risk."
"Do you know what happened? When I crashed, I mean."
He looked a little surprised. "Don't you remember anythin'?"
Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I remember getting hit, but with what exactly I don't know. I heard Hank radio our position and told me that he'd stay with me as long as he could."
"He did."
"I know. But then he started coming under fire himself and I told him to get the hell out of there. He didn't want to do it but he eventually left and I don't think I ever felt so alone in my life. As long as he was in the air I wasn't worried because I knew he was keeping an eye on me. But once he was gone, I got scared."
"It's natural Danny. You find yourself in a situation where you have to rely on your wits and the brains that the good Lord gave you. The survival trainin' you got was somethin' that probably saved your life."
"You know Dad, I still can't figure out how I didn't get caught. There was VC everywhere and with my broken leg, I should have been an easy target."
"I know it's hard to do, but you need to stop questionin' it and just be glad that you're home safe and sound."
He sighed. "Believe me I am. There were so many things that happened to me that could have or should have turned out differently, but they didn't and here I am."
"And don't think that your mama ain't happy about that. The doctor told us that you need to stay in bed for a couple of weeks after you're discharged and Mama wants you to stay with us after you get out of here. He says that if you try to do too much for yourself that the leg won't heal right and it could decide whether you get reactivated or not."
Danny didn't like the way that sounded. "What aren't you telling me Dad?"
His father sighed and looked as though he were trying to choose his words carefully. "They considered takin' the leg Danny." Dad finally said and he was stunned. "One of the doctors came and talked to us before you went into surgery and told us that there was a good chance that they could repair the damage but until they could get a good look they couldn't be sure. We told him that he needed to do everythin' he could to save it."
"You didn't tell him they could do it, did you?"
His father shook his head. "It wasn't right that Mama and I made a decision like that for you. We figured if they were goin' to take it they were goin' to have to talk to you and let you make that decision."
"Am I going to be able to fly again?"
"I don't rightly know. If you do everythin' that the doctor tells you and don't try to get up on that leg sooner than you know you should I don't see why not. But I ain't a doctor."
He could feel tears begin to pool in his eyes and blinked to stop them. "What am I if I'm not a pilot?"
"You're an Air Force Academy graduate for one and that ain't no small feat. You've got a degree in Aeronautical Engineerin' and you could put it to good use if it comes to that. You're also my son and your mama's and a brother to Sarah and Joseph. You've been lucky enough to find a nice girl and if you play your cards right, she'll be the one you settle down with.
"You've worked real hard for what you have Danny and Mama and I are more proud of you than you'll ever know. But as your grandmother would say, if life hands you lemons then you make lemonade. So if it turns out that you can't fly anymore you find somethin' else to do."
"I'm feeling sorry for myself, aren't I?" He sighed and swiped at his damp eyes.
"You are, but it's understandable. You worked hard and gave up a lot to get into the Academy and you worked even harder and gave up even more once you got there. You set a clear goal for yourself and you accomplished it. But the one thing that you need to keep in mind now is that if you want to make Ann a permanent part of your life she's goin' to have to become a part of your decision makin' because what you do affects her."
"I know."
Dad brushed the hair back from his forehead again and Danny saw tears in his eyes. "It's so hard for me to believe sometimes that my little boy who cried because he was pushin' himself too hard when he was learnin' to walk has grown into a man. And the whole time you were missin' I couldn't help but wish that we were back in those days when Mama and I could protect you."
"I know Dad."
"Why don't you try and get some more sleep, it'll help the leg." He suggested as he picked up his book and sat down in the chair.
"I feel like I've been sleeping for a month. I don't think I can sleep anymore."
"Just close your eyes and if your body still needs the rest, then you'll go to sleep." Dad reasoned.
"All right." He agreed and closed his eyes.
"It's what I want because I love you."
"I know because I love you too."