Chapter XXIV

In May, Julia turned twenty-two and couldn't quite believe it. Twenty two! She always thought that the time she would turn twenty, she would be a real adult, now she knew that the time changed every theory she created during her childhood, and the day she turned twenty two, she felt that she really was a woman but a hint of her girlhood still remained in her soul.

Olive, Amelia and Niall sang her a "Happy Birthday" song, and gave her one special present from all of them. It was a first edition of "Far From the Madding Crowd", and Julia was simply speechless when she read out the date on the front cover.

"1874!" she gasped "How could you save up so much money to buy me this? And where on Earth did you get it from?" she questioned them while kissing each of her friends' cheeks.

"It is our small secret which will remain a secret until the end of time." Niall whispered mysteriously and Julia would never ask about it again.

"Amelia declared to us today that she is quitting her job as a VAD and coming back to Australia." Julia wrote to Blythe, at the end of May "She is leaving us becasue her mother developed a depression and she has to take care of her as soon as possible. We are all very sad, and a bit disappointed, but in those circumstances I completely understand her. And I think, to be honest, it will do her good anyway. She looked so pale and exhausted lately, even Mrs Tate noticed that.

"She will leave in two weeks, and I can already feel tears coming up to my eyes. She has been such a chum to me for those past nine months and although we never really grew as close as I am with Olive, she is very dear to me anyway. But, what's done is done, and I will always respect her decision.

"Have you heard that both Lily and our own Cilia are pregnant? Isn't it the most wonderful news you can possibly imagine, tell me Blythe? And they are both due in February! What a perfect coincidence! Now, I will stop here until I will be completely lost my own imagination. My brother will be a father! I won't believe it until I will see his little son or a daughter lying in his arms, and looking exactly like him.

"The other news from Walt is that he has found a home for him, Lily and the baby, in Kingsport and so they are moving there, it's decided; in the middle of July.

"Blythe, don't you think that our generation grew up too fast? It seems as if it was just a year ago when all of us played in 'Indians' in our Rainbow Valley! Please, tell me that you didn't grow up too much! And if you did… then just wait until we meet and I'll give you one of my speeches!"

"No, dearest, I didn't grow up at all, I think." Blythe wrote back "And I don't intend on growing up in some ways till the rest of my life, I promise you.

"Yes, the news are just wonderful. Babies are everywhere now, aren't they? But I'm very happy for both Walt and Cilia. I'm sure they will soon write to me ten-pages long letters just like Rose once did, three years ago.

"I'm so sorry about Amelia though. From your descriptions of her, she seems like the very image of our Aunt Una, or Luna herself and therefore a true kindred spirit.

"Julia, do you plan on going to Paris anytime in the near future? If yes, then you really should go there, and visit all of the places I told you about a year ago. Now is the time to travel, Sheba, especially while you are so near Paris now! How I wish I could go and explore Paris with you. You would make the whole trip much more intresting than the Paris itself."

Julia listened to Blythe's advice, and both Julia and Olive decided on taking a three-days-leave in the first days of June, so that they could go and explore Paris together, in the same way as they once did back in their dear old London. Coincidentally, just a day before Julia's and Olive's planned leave, Amelia was coming back home, to her family in Melbourne. The both girls and Niall said their goodbyes to Amelia, wishing her all the best and promising that they shall all see each other again.

"You will write to us, won't you?" Julia asked Amelia in a hopeful voice, when she came into a van with two other nurses and six soldiers.

"I'll never stop." Amelia replied and smiled to her friends with tears glistening in her eyes. And as soon as she said it, the van started moving faster and faster. And so suddenly, Amelia Dallas dissapeared into the darkness, away from the war and her friends.

The day after, Olive and Julia changed for the first time that year into their normal old clothes, said their goodbyes to Niall who waved them off with a boyish smile on his face and the two of them caught their train to Paris. Julia thought that in that moment, she felt like a ten-year-old girl again, and she was smiling so much, her face hurt at the end of the day.

Both she and Olive joked and laughed and told each other stories from their childhood. They looked so jolly and carefree (not saying beautiful), that many soldiers, either French, British, American or even German looked around whenever they passed them, lost in their conversations and admiring the beauty of Paris surrounding them.

They visited so many places during those three days that they coudn't even remember all details about their journey. "I will have to thank Blythe for suggesting this idea to me." Julia said to Olive when both of them just sat down in the train which was going back to Rouen.

"You have to." Olive agreed "It was really the best time of my life!" she said and giggled.

Julia smiled at her "Yes, we completely forgot about the war for three whole days, didn't we?" Julia sighed happily.

"Yes, and that's why it was the best three days of my life!" Olive whooped and Julia chuckled.

"Do you think that war will end soon?" Julia asked her suddenly, when she noticed outside the train window a few soldiers standing on the platform and saying farewells to their loved ones.

"I don't know, dear Bath." Olive sighed and looked out of the window as well "At the beggining of the war, my Father told me that it will end in less than six months. And now it has been going on for five years." she sighed.

"I always thought it would take more than everyone else supposed." Julia said wistfully "But you know, the First War lasted for less than five years and everyone thought it was so long then, and now?" she sighed "I just hope it will end soon."

"Everyone hopes that." Olive put her hand on Julia's arm "But you'll see, it will end, it can't go on forever." she smiled with a smile Julia liked the most of all.

"I know." Julia whispered and suddenly felt really cold, although it was a warm day in June and the train was crowded and overheated. Julia pictured how she parted with Merry and Troy, and then a few months later with Jake and Gilly, then when she said her farewells to her family and went overseas herself, how she said farewells to Walt and Blythe, she even imagined how Owen was sent off just a few months earlier that year. "What's the point of it all?" she whispered and looked at the soldier who was kissing maybe his sweetheart, maybe his wife outside on the platform.

Olive looked outside as well and sighed "I suppose we'll never know." she replied slowly.

The soldier jumped on the train, and as soon as he did, the train started moving slowly and gradually, heading towards Rouen, with Julia and Olive not realising that the day after there will be a very important moment in the history of the war called, later on, a D-Day.

Dear Julia,

I haven't written to you in quite a while, and I'm sorry for that but I was enourmously busy with "flying around" as we call it here. It's really wonderful to hear that you visited Paris and liked it as much as you wrote you did. I only wish that one day I will get the oppurtinity to visit it as well.

Yes, I agree with you, the D-Day was tremendously tiring and I can't even imagine so many wounded soldiers waiting for you to take care of them, as you described them in your last letter. I'm so happy that now you can have some more peaceful days again! Do try not to over-work, please Jules?

You ask me about Faye; well, she is doing splendidly and we write to each other twice a week. She is just so perfect, it is hard for me to believe that she actually wants to talk with me! And there I will tell you the latest news, my dear! We are engaged! Yes, you heard right, we are engaged. I asked her by a telegram and she answered with a telegram too. We plan to get married after the war, of course, and in Glen, so don't be afraid, you'll see me at the aisle.

We decided on Glen becasue Faye only has her parents to bring, she is an only child and so are her parents and therefore her family isn't as big as ours. That's why they will come with her to Canada, and Faye will live there with me. I am so happy, Jules, it's quite impossible for me to think about anything else at the moment! I hope you are happy for me, too? Of course you are, you are my Sheba after all, aren't you?

I have to go back to my duties now,

Write to me as often as you can sweetie,

Your enormously happy cousin,

Flight Officer Gilbert Ford

Julia looked quite blankly at the peace of paper she was holding in her hands. Of course she was happy for Gil! How could she not be happy when one of her dearest friends was "enormously happy"? But her heart was a little bit shattered by the news, whether or not she liked it but she had to admit it. Lily is happily married, expecting a baby, Cilia happily married and expecting a baby, Rose already having one baby and waiting patiently for her husband to come back home, even Claire settled down with her own husband! And now Gil and his engagement.

And Blythe… Blythe engaged too. How horrible it sounded to her! She tried so many times to write him a letter confessing her love to him, and begging him to break his engagement off, but every time she tried to do it in her mind the picture of the smiling Blythe, walking home with Cornelia, hand-in-hand was appearing and wouldn't go away.

Julia was quite happy. She really was. She loved her job, and was very greatful to be able to help all of those poor soldiers. She was extremely thankful for all her cousins to be as safe as they could be on the front. But something in her heart was missing, and that was another thing that reminded Julia that she was a woman now and not a little ten-year-old girl anymore.

She put Gilly's letter on her night-table and turned on her portable radio she got for her eighteenth birthday. As soon as it turned on, the beautiful song filled up the 'tent-home'; "We'll meet again" by Vera Lynn, one of Julia's favourite songs. She smiled to herself with a rememberance of dancing with Blythe at the New Year's Eve in 1941 to exactly this song. She could remember every word he said and every word that she said during those three precious minutes. How handsome he looked! And tall! His grey eyes simply overfilled with dreaminess and poetry...

"Would you care for a dance?"

Julia lifted up her head to see Niall standing in front of her with his hand awaiting for her to be grabbed. She smiled at him and with a small sigh of disappointment, she put her hand in his and let Niall dance with her and sing with her the song she knew so well.

She tried to close her eyes and imagine that it was Blythe dancing with her, that there were his arms around her waist and his voice whispering the words of the song into her ear… But nothing worked our for her, and all that Julia could do was to open her eyes and try to hold back the tears she always had while listening to the wonderful voice of Vera Lynn.

Julia knew by then that Niall really was in love with her, as she could see it plainly in his blue eyes, but she couldn't let him know that she knows that becasue of the poor Olive. What would she say if she would she them dancing together? Julia thanked the Providence that Olive was helping out Mrs Tate in the "recovery" ward that evening.

"Is something troubling you, Shebs?" Niall asked her while they danced.

"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it." Julia replied quickly and put her head on his shoulder, to avoid his curious eyes.

Niall furrowed his brows "Why not? We're friends aren't we?" he asked her, almost doubtfully.

"We are but…" she sighed quietly "It's one of those things one wants to think over alone." she said eventually.

"I see." he said and put his hand under her chin, so that he could look in her eyes. He smiled at her "Whatever is on your mind, I promise you that everything will turn out just fine." he assured her.

"How can you be so certain?" she asked him with a raised brow.

He smiled at her again, this time with a funny smile of his own "I just know. One way or another, it will be fine." he said decidedly and Julia decided on not arguing with him.

"Thank you." she whispered and put her head on his shoulder again, and listened to the last minute of the song. "If only I could believe that" she thought to herself.