21.
~ Ariadne was almost floating back to her room. Arthur's kiss had left her heart beating like a humming bird's wings as she felt like a young girl with a crush.
"My don't we look happy." Trixie said with that cat like smirk as Ariadne came back to their dorm room. The Senior Nurse wearing a ridiculous grin on her face.
Ariadne ignored her friend. She was too happy to care about what Trixie, or anyone else, thought. Arthur cared for her. Told her he cared about her. Kissed her like they do in the movies.
Had asked to see her again. Wanted to see her again.
Ariadne pulled off her blue dress and climbed into bed in just her slip. Her eyes darted to her compact where her handsome Captain resided in his little frame.
"I love you." She whispered in a barely audible voice. Half afraid he might hear her somehow.
~ The cool autumn air was weaving thought he streets of the city. A breeze that seemed to breathe life back into the people as Arthur walked next to his pretty nurse.
"I was thinking we could go on a real date. Dinner and everything." The Captain said as his hand caught hold of hers.
She felt a wave of pride rush over her as other people looked at them on the street. She was out walking with her handsome Captain in his dress uniform. He had his hand clasped in hers and it was obvious they were together.
"We don't have to go out." She told him.
She was content just walking through the streets with him. If truth be told, she would have been happy doing anything with him. The precious hours she stole away from her hospital duties to be alone with him were wonderful. No matter what they did together, she was happy.
"No, we need to go out on a normal date." He insisted as he pulled her to a small restaurant. It's owners happy to see the American GI and a pretty girl. Seating them at a little table by the window.
Arthur plucked up the menu and started speaking in French to the waiter.
Ariadne fought back a fit of laughter at hearing him try to speak French.
"What is it?" Arthur asked in amazement. Not understanding the joke.
"Your accent." She laughed helplessly. "They way you speak French, it sounds so funny." She laughed covering her mouth.
Arthur had to smile at himself.
"I'll have you know I made strait A's in French in High School and College." He told her.
"Could any of your teachers actually speak the French language?" She teased.
~ "Well, my mother and father wanted me to marry this girl back home. Her name was Linda." Arthur explained as it started to rain outside. Their dinner long gone as they were lost in conversation.
"Why didn't you?" Ariadne asked.
She could just imagine this Linda person. Some tall, curvy woman who looked like a more elegant version of Trixie. Someone who was far better suited for Arthur then her. Someone who had money and family. Someone who wasn't alone in the world.
"I couldn't stand her." Arthur confessed. "She was the most selfish girl I ever met."
Ariadne sat a little straighter. She was remembering her liking for Scarlet O'Hara's selfishness.
"Well, I mean were all selfish." She said.
"Your not." Arthur said simply. As if stating a fact.
"That's not true." She said feeling almost insulted. "I'm very selfish at times."
He laughed. A loud American laugh that made the other people in the restaurant look at them.
"Oh yes, your very selfish. Lets see, you work as a Red Cross Nurse. Devoting your entire life to helping others. You marched into a war zone just a few hours behind the troops. You work 16 hour days doing things that would make a society girl faint. You wouldn't even eat chocolate because it's unpatriotic to the war effort. Your very selfish." He told her. His eyes merry and teasing.
She sighed and looked at him. Trying very hard not to smile back.
"There are times when I don't want to help people. There are times when they get on my nerves, and I just hate them. Sometimes I wish I could just leave. That I could just go back to London." She admitted.
"I wish you would." He said suddenly. His face grave.
She felt her spirits suddenly collapse. He wanted her to leave Paris?
"What?" She breathed in disbelief.
Arthur shifted and looked out the window.
"The enemy is retreating. In a few days, we will be advancing the line further in." He said gravely. His face pulling into that serious scowl she only saw in the newspaper picture she kept in her compact.
"I see." She said numbly.
He would be leaving Paris in a few days. He wouldn't see her after that.
"You would be safer in London." He told her. This country is still a war zone." He told her.
"It's my duty to go out with the troops." She said stiffly. I'm not any use to them in London. I go where I'm needed."
"Not to the front." Arthur said authoritatively. "I don't want you there."
"I've been on the front before." She told him. "I was on the beach at Normandy just a few hours after you were."
"I don't want you at the front." Arthur said his voice hard. "It's too dangerous."
"It's always dangerous." She argued. A part of her felt insulted. Hadn't she proven herself over and over that she could face anything? Hadn't she proven she capable? Hadn't she proven she wasn't afraid?
"Ariadne." He breathed. Clearly trying to calm himself.
"You know, I am perfectly capable of doing my job. I don't need your protection." She said to him stiffly.
"I can't do my job if I'm always worried about you getting killed out there. Where were going, there are rumors of camps. Not like the ones we found before." He emphasized.
"It's nothing I can't handle." She told him.
"I don't want you going there." He told her. His voice commanding.
"I'm not in the Army, Captain. You can't give me orders." She told him smugly.
He pulled away from her then. A deep line creasing his brow. She didn't look at him as she stood her ground.
"What do I have to do to get you to listen?" He asked. His voice frustrated yet gentle. Her Arthur returning to her.
She said nothing and looked out the window at the rain.
"Do I have to marry you to get you to obey me?" He asked suddenly.
She felt her breath hitch into her throat.
"What?" She asked in stunned disbelief.
"You won't do what I ask, no matter how much I try to tell you it's dangerous. Maybe if I married you, you would listen." He said. His eyes distracted as she could tell his mind was working out the details.
"Arthur." She whispered. Half of her surprised she even remembered his name.
"I'm sure we can find a magistrate, or minister if you prefer." He told her taking his hat off the table. As if he were ready to leave at that moment to find someone to marry them.
"Arthur, are you asking me... have you lost your mind?" She whispered. Her imagination reeling to a life with Arthur as her husband. Of a life they could share once the war was over.
"Short of having my men kidnap you and put you on a boat back to England." He said. His voice heavy with purpose.
"Arthur, that's insane. You would be court marshaled." She laughed.
"I'm a war hero. They would never do that." he told her confidently.
"Arthur." She said bringing him back down to earth.
He sighed.
"Please, just stay in Paris then." He told her as he took her hands in his. The callouses on his palms felt rough on her delicate skin.
"Arthur." She said feeling helpless to his request.
"Were going to be sending you plenty of wounded. You'll be useful. I just want you safe. I'll give you whatever you want after the war is over. We can get married, live in America. I have a law degree and a place waiting for me at my father's firm. I can give you a nice home... children. Whatever you want." He said.
She felt her heart swell to an impossible size as he made her those easy promises. A family. A real family that would be hers. A life with him where she would be loved and protected by her Captain.
She would no longer be the family member who wasn't real family. She wouldn't be the orphan, the girl in the servant's room. She would be a wife and a mother. She would never wash up in some strange place alone again.
"Alright." She said feeling her breath leave her body. Her heart so big that she didn't have any more room left to take in air.
Arthur looked relieved as she whispered she would stay in Paris.
"I would like it better if you were in London. Or better yet, New York." He told her. "But at least I won't have to worry about you getting shot or captured."
~ He walked her back to the hospital. It was still raining outside and they had to share his umbrella.
"When do you think you will have to move out?" She asked him. The rain relentless as the couple avoided puddles. Trying to keep dry.
"A few days." He said soberly. "But I'll be back. We won't lose each other, I promise."
She nodded. Still dazed by the thought of a life with her Captain. Of a life he so easily painted for her.
"We'll still have time left." He told her sadly as the rain obscured the couple from view.
No one seeing the Army Captain pulling the pretty nurse into his arms, their lips locked together as their little world was protected and safe under his umbrella.