13.
~ "I'm sorry for all my questions." He said as the cool air of evening felt good on her face. "I'm not exactly used to talking to women anymore."
"No, it's alright." She said. Relived to be out of that crowded pub and away from the overly masculine environment. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."
They walked for a long time as more Army jeeps roared past them. The Paris she remembered from just a few years ago had changed so radically, she hardly recognized it.
"How long have you been in the Army?" She asked casually. That was a safe question. A perfectly normal question someone should ask.
"I joined up after Pearl." Arthur said. His voice was sad as he didn't look at her for once.
"Oh, did you know people at Pearl Harbor?" She asked sympathetically.
"My brother David." He said. His voice attempting to sound easy going and indifferent. "He was on the Arizona when it was hit."
"I'm so sorry." Ariadne said. She didn't need him to tell her that his brother had died in the waters during the attack. His voice was enough of a confirmation.
"It was harder on my parents then anyone else." He said trying to smile. "David was the golden boy."
"My cousin Phillip was the same way." Ariadne said comfortingly. "He and I were trying to get out before the invasion. He went back for his parents after a few days of traveling."
"He left you?" Arthur asked. His face angry and pulling into a scowl.
"Oh I was alright." Ariadne said brightly. Seeing he was upset. "We had met up with some students. I traveled with them."
Arthur said nothing as they walked. She noticed the girls they passed were opening gawking at the handsome Army officer.
She steeled her spine and kept her head high as they walked past those girls. All of them looking at her, no doubt wondering what the such a dashing Captain was doing with someone like her.
"Do you have any other family members in the service?" She asked.
"My other brother Jacob." He said painfully. She looked at him as he shrugged. "He was shot down over the sea of Japan. I found out just before we shipped out for Normandy."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." She said lamely. She now felt like she was the intrusive one.
"It's alright. We've all lost people in this war." He said. "My sister, Beth, is at home with our parents."
"It's good that your mother has her at least." She told him.
Arthur laughed at some privet joke she didn't understand.
"So, tell me, what will you do after the war is over?" He asked.
"Assuming we win?" She asked playfully.
"Well, of course were going to win." He teased. She saw a rare smile was on his face. Making his eyes crinkle. He looked so much nicer when he smiled.
"Well, I don't really know. It's been so long with this war. It's hard to think of life being any other way." She said.
"It can be." He told her. "There will come a time when this war will be just a memory. Just something found in history books."
"That will be a good day." She sighed.
~ Too soon, they had reached the hospital. Her shift was starting and she didn't want to leave Arthur. She wanted to keep walking with him all the way to Dunkirk.
"This is my hospital." She said looking over the beautiful building that in no way resembled a working medical center.
"Well... I guess I'll let you go." Arthur said putting his hands in his pocket. His feet rooted to the ground again as neither one of them moved away.
"Yeah." She said as she didn't climb the steps to the hospital. She was going to be late for her shift, and she didn't care. She didn't want to go to work, she wanted to stay with him.
"Ariadne." He said suddenly as she finally turned to leave.
She spun around. Her heart swelling at the prospect of staying with him a little while longer.
"Can I... can I call on you tomorrow?" He asked her shyly. His hands coming out of his pockets and he looked as nervous as a school boy.
She wanted to shout; 'Yes!' and fly into his arms. Wanted to feel his lips on hers again. His hands on her hips. Wanted his eyes to lock with hers as he told her he loved her.
"Alright." Was all she said instead as they stood apart. "I'll be off duty at four."
Her voice was so different all the sudden. It had a youthful thread in it she hadn't heard since before the evacuation.
"Good." Arthur said looking relived. "I'll just... I'll just meet you here then." He said readjusting his hat.
She lingered on the steps of the hospital. Her feet not wanting to move.
"That will be fine." She said. Feeling foolish.
Finally, he looked embarrassed and gave her a little bow. Her handsome Captain leaving her.
~ "Who was that officer you were with?" Came a familiar voice Ariadne hadn't expected to hear again.
She had just walked into the hospital when she saw Trixie jump out of the hallway.
"Trixie!" Ariadne almost shouted as the pretty blond nurse was bouncing in her toes and hugging her.
~ Their shift passed too slow. The girls stealing whispers between checking patients as Doctor Kikie gave his Senior Nurse a scowl. Ariadne felt like a school girl again. A handsome young man had walked her home and she was reunited with her best friend.
~ "So, tell me about your boyfriend." Trixie teased as, finally, they were released from duty.
"He's not my boyfriend." Ariadne said rolling her eyes. He just saw me home because the streets are not safe."
"So romantic." Trixie said with a little grin. "In the years I have known you, I never saw you keep any company with a G.I. It's nice to see you might not become an ice queen like the Matron."
"We're hardly getting married." Ariadne blushed. A grin spreading on her face as she pictured herself in a white dress. Arthur at her side.
"Here." Trixie said handing her a neatly folded newspaper.
"What's this?" Ariadne asked as they reached their dormitory.
"Your not boyfriend." Trixie said with a secretive smile. "My French is terrible, but I think I got the jest of it."
Ariadne looked curiously back at her friend as the blond girl vanished into the Junior Nurse's dorms.
As a Senior Nurse, She had her own bedroom. It was small, but it had a nice little window and she was afforded all the privacy she could want.
It was past the time for lights out and she dared not light a lamp. It would set a bad example for the other girls if she broke the rules. The moonlight streamed into her bed from the window as she read the article Trixie gave her.
In one corner of the paper, was a photograph of Arthur. He was wearing a scowl on his face that made him look mad, yet very handsome. The photographer obviously taking the picture without his knowledge.
Below was the story of how the American Captain had led a raid to liberate over 500 prisoners from a Nazi encampment. She read and reread all the details the paper was able to print. Arthur and his unit must have been those soldiers who had left them with those sick and dieing men at the bombed out chapel. Men who would have died if they waited much longer to be liberated.
To think, her Arthur had been so close to her this whole time. Just a few days ahead of her and she never knew. She should have felt it somehow.
She smiled to herself as she read that he would receive the distinguished service cross as well as a promotion to Major. He hadn't said a word about it. Nothing about his own heroics. Maybe it was because of this article that all the women on the streets were looking at him. All the men in the pub were so reverent to him.
She gently tore the picture free from the paper. She liked this picture. Liked how he looked a little angry and serious. It wasn't her Arthur at all, but she still like it. Her Arthur looked at her with kind eyes and not an furrowed brow.
She unbuttoned the clever little pocket in her friendship pillow and pulled out her grandmother's compact. By the moonlight, she fitted Arthur's newspaper picture into the frame of the compact. Setting the silver family heirloom on her tiny night stand next to her darkened lamp. She quickly stripped off her uniform and changed into her night gown. The clean bedding felt good on her tired body and she rolled over to see his picture.
It felt strangely comforting to have his photograph there looking back at her. His face so close to hers. With a giddy rush of excitement, she imagined he was in bed with her. That her blanket was his arms wrapped around hers. That her pillow was his body.
She barely had time to luxuriate in these thoughts before falling to sleep.