6th December,1944- Mourmelon-le-Grande
"Ok, what about your mom's cannolis or those little Easter cakes that they make in that bakery next to Sal's diner? You know which ones I mean right? They have that amazing frosting on them that I'm pretty sure comes straight from God's personal kitchen."
It was lunch time and Evelyn and Babe were in the mess hall. Everyone else was nowhere to be seen but Babe had just finished guard duty, and Evelyn had just finished yet another inventory of the medical stores when they both decided to grab a bite to eat. After Holland, it was still almost a novelty to be able to eat proper meals. Funny how a couple of months of poor eating made Army meals taste like they were dining at the Ritz. Well, almost.
For the past ten minutes, the two of them had been asking each other questions about things they liked or preferred. At first it had been simple things like whether they preferred red apples or green, or whether baseball or football was better. It had started out as a bit of fun to pass the time, but now the questions were getting serious. After all, Evelyn was an Italian and from Philly. Therefore, as such, cooking, especially that of mothers, was serious business indeed.
"Argh you can't ask me that," Evelyn groaned. "How can I go against something my mom makes? That would morally be wrong. I would literally be cast into the burning fires of hell I'm almost certain, and as much as I hate to be cold, I hate the heat a heck of a lot more. Plus, with my delicate complexion I would burn instantly and it wouldn't be pretty."
"So is that you saying that you prefer the little Easter cakes?" Babe surmised with a grin.
"That is me saying that if you ever tell my mom I prefer the little Easter cakes then I will hunt you down and kill you. I know where you live after all," Evelyn grinned back. "Although, my mom's cannolis are delicious, you know. When we get back to Philly you'll have to come round and she can make you some."
"Sounds good to me," Babe nodded. "I'd invite you and Bill to mine but, I won't lie to you, my Mom ain't the best cook in the world. In fact, she's pretty dire. Not that I'd ever tell her that though. She's too sensitive and would cry or something."
"I'll bet she's not all that bad," Evelyn said.
"You reckon?" Babe snorted. "Not long before I left, she decided to make pizza. It was a recipe she had gotten from one of our neighbours. My brothers and I were excited because let's face it, who can get a pizza wrong? Well apparently my mom can, that's who. I ripped off a bit of the pizza crust and I was surprised to find that both the dough and the sauce were actually rather nice. But that all changed as soon as I took a proper bite. Do you wanna know what she put in the pizza? Hidden from view, underneath the cheese, was egg mayonnaise, peas and gherkins. On a pizza."
Evelyn choked on the coffee she was drinking as she started laughing.
"Fucking eggs and gherkins on a pizza," Babe shook his head, grimacing as he remembered the foul tasting concoction.
"So, she's adventurous?" Evelyn shrugged trying to see a positive in the story. "How do you think all great chefs become great? They don't stick to recipes and what's safe. They think outside the box and try different things."
"How many great chefs do you know that make carrot, onion and chocolate soup?"
"You're having me on now," Evelyn chuckled. He wasn't having her on. "Oh my. Yeah, I never thought I'd hear myself say this about something that's got chocolate in it but that sounds revolting. We definitely need to get you round to ours when all this is over, then you'll be able to taste some real good home cooking."
"I'm warning you though, if your mom's cooking is as good as you and Bill say I might just stay forever," Babe joked.
"Don't kid about that in front of my mom because before you know it you'll be trapped in the house forever. She sees it as her civil duty to look after waifs and strays."
Since Babe's arrival back in Aldbourne, Bill had become rather close to the guy quickly. At first it had only been because of their Philadelphia connection, but it had soon become apparent that they had a lot in common and knew a lot of the same people back home. Being Bill's sister, Evelyn had obviously come to know Babe quite well too, but it was only really since Bill had been shipped back to England that the two of them had gotten the chance to actually learn more about one another without Bill's interference. It turned out that as well as having a goofy sense of humour, Babe was also rather knowledgeable about a lot of things and she found he was very easy to have a conversation with.
"Changing the subject slightly, did you hear where Colonel Sink has gone on leave?" Evelyn asked. "Reims to see Marlene Dietrich. Can you believe that? God, what half the guys in the company would give for a chance to see her. I get he's in charge and all, but I think it's unfair that the officers all get their leave first when we're the ones that were on the front line getting shot at and filthy dirty."
"Speaking of leave, there's actually something I wanted to ask you," Babe started, clearing his throat quietly. "Would you, uh, think about maybe coming to Paris with me when we get our leave?"
"Paris? With you?" Evelyn was shocked, her eyes wide.
"Yeah," Babe scratched at his head awkwardly. "I just thought that if you didn't already have plans with someone else that you might wanna come with me. After all, I promised Bill I'd look after you while he's not here and I, uh, don't think he'd like the idea of you going off somewhere on your own."
Evelyn's first thought was that she wasn't a child and if she wanted to go somewhere on her own she could. But knowing Babe the way she now did, she didn't think he actually meant it in that way. He was just trying to look out for her in the same way that the rest of them did. Also, he probably didn't want to face her brother's wrath should something happen to her. He was obviously taking his promise to Bill to look after her very seriously.
Then there was the problem of Liebgott, who had already asked her to go away with him to Paris when they eventually got their passes to leave. He wanted to take her out to dinner and maybe out dancing. She couldn't wait. Forty eight hours of just the two of them together, free to show their feelings and behave like a normal couple. But how could she tell Babe that? Sorry Babe, no can do I'm afraid. Liebgott and I are actually planning a romantic break away ourselves. You see, we're kind of a couple nowadays but if you could just keep that to yourself, especially when Bill returns that would be top notch. Yeah, that wouldn't go down too well she didn't think. And also, Evelyn was a people pleaser. She hated to upset anyone or let them down, which is exactly what she felt like she would be doing to Babe.
"Uh sure," she nodded, hoping dismay wasn't showing on her face or in her voice. "That sounds great."
Babe smiled widely, his eyes twinkling and Evelyn gave him a wobbly smile back. Ok, so she had told Babe a little white lie. Just a little one. Now, she just needed to make up another one to get out of going to Paris with him when the time eventually came. She could hear her father's voice in her head reminding her that one little white lie always turns into another and then another until you are losing control of the lies you have told. But she didn't really have a choice right now.
… … …
That evening
Evelyn looked at the clock for the fourth time in as many minutes. She and Liebgott had very carefully worked out that at this exact time every day was when the barracks were completely vacated for approximately half an hour for one reason or another. Therefore, they had conveniently found reasons as to why they needed to excuse themselves from everyone else's company so that they could reconvene together for some alone time. They only managed to do it once a week because to do so any more might have raised suspicions. On this occasion Lieb was late. Very late. As in fifteen entire minutes late. That was half of their short amount of time together. She hoped he had a good reason. He better had, otherwise she wasn't going to be very happy.
Two minutes later when Liebgott finally arrived, he didn't look very happy himself.
"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded harshly, not even bothering to say hello or attempt to explain his tardiness.
"Excuse me?" Evelyn was genuinely taken aback by the animosity in his dark eyes.
"You and Babe," he spat.
"Me and Babe what?" Evelyn frowned. She was actually confused. What the hell was he talking about?
"I know Evelyn," he said, as though she should know what he meant.
"Well I'm glad you do 'cause I ain't got the foggiest idea of what the hell is going on," she exclaimed. "I've been waiting for you for the past fifteen minutes and you come in here shouting your mouth off about me and Babe? You're gonna have to give me more of a clue as to what it is you're banging on about, and perhaps you wanna drop the attitude while you're at it? You might talk to everyone else like they're shit on your shoe but I'm not."
"I'm talking about you and Babe going to Paris," he snapped although with a little less venom than before. "And before you try and deny it, I heard it straight from his mouth. I walked past him telling Tab all about it. Apparently he asked you earlier today at lunch and you said you'd love to go with him. So what the fuck's going on?"
"Well, maybe if you shut your mouth for one second I could tell you," Evelyn huffed.
Now she completely understood his anger and in hindsight she probably should have found him to explain the conversation with Babe. After all, Babe was such a blabbermouth that she should have guessed he would have been talking about it. And wasn't it just her luck that the one person to overhear it was the one person she least wanted to overhear it.
"So earlier on, Babe and I were having lunch together in the mess hall when out of nowhere he asks if I want to go to Paris with him. Now before you get all irate about it, he only asked me cos he knew Bill wouldn't take too kindly to me going off around Europe on my own when I get my forty eight hour pass. So, when he asked me I was kind of put on the spot and I obviously wasn't gonna tell him that me and you already had plans to go away for a romantic rendezvous, but neither could I think of any other reason not to go with him. Which is why I said yes, knowing full well that when the time came to actually go, I would have racked my brains and come up with a good reason as to why I can't go. Ok?"
Lieb narrowed his eyes sceptically at her, but even he had to admit that the explanation made complete and utter sense. Suddenly he felt more than a little bit stupid at himself. At the way he had flown off the handle at Evelyn. The fact that he had straight away come to the conclusion that there was something going on with her and Babe. Sure, she had told him countless times that her feelings for him were the same as his were for her, but there was a bit of him that just still couldn't believe it was real. She was beautiful and funny and sweet, and sometimes he just felt that he wasn't deserving of her. She could have her choice of guys, why would she choose him? He was snarky and arrogant and had spent most of his adult life treating girls like pieces of meat. Which was why when he heard Babe, who was his complete opposite, spouting his mouth off like the cat that had gotten the cream, it had been like his worst fears were confirmed.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled.
"You better had be," Evelyn smirked, stepping closer to him. "In fact, I think you need to prove to me how sorry you are."
"Oh yeah," Lieb smirked, his eyes twinkling. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her flush against him, smiling when she gasped. He kissed her nose. "I'm sorry."
"That's it?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow playfully.
Lieb chuckled and kissed her cheek, rubbing his stubbled face on her soft skin making her giggle. But she looked at him pointedly. He still wasn't sorry enough in her opinion.
Liebgott looked at her lips and her tongue darted out to lick them subconsciously. She watched him expectantly and he knew she wanted him to kiss her, but he was going to make her wait. He cupped her face, rubbing his thumb along her cheek. He leaned forward and nuzzled his nose against hers, but the very second that she tried to capture his lips with her own, he pulled back slightly and chuckled at the annoyed expression on her face.
"Have a little patience, will you?" he smirked. "You know what they say? Good things come to those who wait."
"Yeah well I've been waiting here for like fifteen minutes before you showed up and started on your little rant," she huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "And I'm just reminding you that in about eleven minutes our alone time will be over, so if you're gonna kiss me would you just hurry up already?"
"Well, when you put it like that."
… … …
8th December, 1944
Marching and training. These were apparently two of Lieutenant Dike's favourite things. As long as he didn't have to actually partake in them himself that was. At six in the morning sharp, he had Easy company marching up and down in formation for almost two hours while he watched with a satisfied smirk plastered on his face. It genuinely irked them all to see him looking so proud of himself as though he was the one that had single handedly helped to get them all into such good shape.
The marching, in everyone's opinion, was a waste of time. After all, one thing they had learnt during their time out on the front line was that even when they were moving out somewhere, they rarely marched. After the pointless marching were the hours of training. Field exercises, manoeuvres, everything. While it was always good to practice and iron out any errors that they had come across in Holland, as well as help make sure the replacements were up to scratch, it still felt unnecessary. It felt like they were back at Toccoa. It seemed as though Dike felt that they were all new recruits who needed training, not seasoned soldiers who had already seen plenty of action. And anyway, Dike didn't want to seem to do the actual training. He would kind of pass off orders to the other guys like Lipton or Buck, who had recently returned from the hospital much to everyone else's joy, and then he would stand at the side and observe the situation. It was very strange indeed. But if Captain Winters or any of the other CO's had noticed, they hadn't passed comments.
It was a cold morning and they were about to do some field exercises. Lieutenant Dike had them gathered around while he allowed Buck to explain to them all what they would be doing. It was pretty standard stuff and nothing any of them particularly relished doing in the freezing cold, but it wasn't like they had much choice. Much like the exercises they had done back home, Dike wanted some of the men to feign injuries so that he could observe the medics in action. Although in Evelyn's opinion he wasn't going to see very much considering he would be standing far away from the pretend action.
"There's just one more thing," Lieutenant Dike spoke up once Buck had given the orders. "Corporal Guarnere, have you ever had to carry an injured man?"
"Uh no, Sir," Evelyn frowned. How could she? Most of them were pretty much double her weight and size.
"I see," Dike nodded pensively. "Do you think you would be able to do it? In an emergency situation?"
"Uh, I would try, Sir," she answered truthfully, feeling uncomfortable with his questioning. She had tried to stay out of Dike's way as much as possible ever since the meeting with Winters. So far it seemed to be working. He tended to ignore her most of the time, but apparently not today.
"I didn't ask whether or not you would try, I asked whether or not you could do it," Dike said impatiently.
Evelyn wasn't entirely sure what he wanted her to say. He asked a question, and she answered it honestly. But it seemed the answer she gave wasn't the one he wanted. Did he want her to lie? She kind of felt like he wanted her to lie. But then if she did that, knowing her luck he would ask her to do something ridiculous like carry George around on her back for the duration of the exercise. The irritated scowl on Dike's face, a face that was usually devoid of too much emotion, told her that he was waiting for an answer.
"Uh, yes Sir," she said, cursing herself internally as she did so. "I believe I could if it was required."
Dike smiled and Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief that she had given him what he wanted to hear. Now could they just get on with the exercise because she had been on the night shift in the medical station last night and she was rather exhausted.
"Private Christenson, isn't it?" Dike glanced at Pat, who nodded. Dike smiled again. A blank smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Corporal Guarnere, during this exercise, Christenson here will become wounded and you will have to carry him to the aid station. Alone."
"Excuse me?" Evelyn sputtered, completely convinced that she had either misheard Dike or that he had lost his mind. Pick up Christenson. Was he actually being serious? For God's sakes, why did you have to give him that stupid fucking answer. You've only got yourself to blame you moron.
"Sir, Corporal Guarnere is almost half his size," Lipton intervened. Dike seemed to value Lipton's opinion and Evelyn was grateful to him for trying to dissuade their senior officer.
"I know that," Dike answered calmly. "But if one of the men were to be wounded out in the field, I need to know that she is able to transport them to safety. Just because she says she can, doesn't mean it's true. I must witness it with my own two eyes."
"Sir, while I understand what it is you're saying, I just feel that in a situation like that, there would be help from some of the other men in the company to move a wounded soldier," Lipton said, his tone respectful as he disagreed with the point.
"And if there's no one else around to help?" Dike argued. "I need to know that she can do this. I want to have complete trust in my company."
"Is he for fucking real?" Joe Toye muttered angrily beside her. "He's not asking any of us to do that, so the why the fuck is he picking on you?"
"He hates her," Malarkey answered before Evelyn could.
"I can see why," George commented with a smirk. "She is pretty annoying."
"Hey," Evelyn scowled, punching his arm.
"You know I don't mean it really," George put an arm round her and kissed her cheek quickly. I do, he mouthed to the others over the top of Evelyn's head.
"I saw that George," she raised an eyebrow but failed to keep the grin off her face nonetheless.
"He's not even asked Doc or me to do it," Spina shook his head. "He's an idiot."
They all quickly straightened up when Lipton and Dike abruptly finished their discussion and judging by the pitying look Lipton was giving to Evelyn, it hadn't gone well. She smiled at him to try and show that she was grateful he had tried to fight her corner. Then she glanced at Christenson beside her who looked so upset at what was about to happen. She patted him reassuringly on the shoulder, although she wasn't entirely sure if the gesture was to comfort herself or him. It wasn't his fault that Lieutenant Dike was a complete and utter asshole. Besides, it could be worse. Dike could have asked her to carry Bull. Now that would be even more awful.
….The exercise was going well but Evelyn was ever mindful of the fact that eventually she was going to hear Christenson's pretend call for a medic. She wasn't long in waiting, and she was thankful that he had made the wise decision on her behalf to just get it over and done with as quickly as possible.
"Look I'm really sorry about this Ev," Christenson apologised as she assessed his fake wounds.
"Don't be," she smiled. "It's not your fault. Now I just need to figure out the best way to do this."
She was very aware that somewhere in the near distance Dike was watching the scene carefully and she couldn't afford to make a mistake. She wouldn't make a mistake. She would prove the idiot wrong.
"Ok, I'm just gonna hoist you over my shoulder," she decided.
"If I stand, that will make it a bit easier for you," Pat suggested.
"You can't stand 'cause you're injured. But I appreciate the offer," she grinned, grunting as, with a tremendous amount of difficulty, she managed to hoist him over one of her shoulders into a fireman's lift.
When she was a kid, her dad used to carry her up to bed in such a manner, pretending that there was a fire downstairs and that he needed to get her to the safety of her room as quickly as possible. It had been great fun. Unlike this. Even her dad would struggle carrying a grown man up the stairs she thought. Once Pat was settled comfortably, well not comfortably but not ridiculously uncomfortably, she began heading towards the makeshift aid station on the other side of the mock battle. She was trying to run but was having to kind of settle for something between a jog and a fast walk instead. After less than two minutes she was already sweating and out of breath. Her shoulder was screaming at her in agony.
"Pat do me a favour? If you're ever planning on getting injured in real life and I'm the one that has to carry you around, would you mind losing a few pounds before it? Not that I'm saying you're fat or anything but you ain't exactly light."
"For you Ev, of course," Pat chuckled. "I still can't believe Dike's making you do this."
"I can't believe I'm actually doing it," Evelyn snorted. "Not that I had much choice."
As they carried on across the field, the sounds of blank shots sounding off all around them, Evelyn was fairly oblivious to the angry yet impressed looks of the rest of the men. She was putting all of her concentration on carrying Pat. He was essentially a dead weight and he was really starting to hurt now. Her legs were turning to jelly but she gritted her teeth, determined to carry on. They were about a mile away from the aid station when she felt Christenson slipping off of her shoulder. Pausing for a minute, she summoned the last of her strength to push him back up into the correct position. But just as she did so, something in her neck clicked and before she knew it both she and Christenson were in a pile on the muddy floor. Evelyn felt sick. A sharp pain tore through the back of her head, down her neck, into her shoulders and down one of her arms. There were little bright lights flashing in front of her eyes and all she could do was close them and pray that the pain would disappear.
"Shit Ev, are you ok?" she heard Christenson's panicked voice from next to her legs, but she couldn't even nod. She tried to open her mouth to answer but she could taste bile in the back of her throat and closed it again, desperately trying not to vomit.
She could hear everyone else gathering around but all she could think about was the pain shooting all the way around her upper body. It was excruciating. The only way she could describe it was similar to having every single nerve in her body being hit at the exact same second.
"Evelyn, are you alright?" Eugene's soothing voice spoke softly. She didn't even know how he had gotten to her so quickly, but she immediately felt comforted by his presence.
"Mm-hmm," she mumbled, unable to open her mouth even the tiniest bit to answer.
"What hurts?" Eugene asked.
"Neck… head…" she muttered, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as the pain continued to intensify.
"Ok, don't worry," Eugene soothed. "We'll get you sorted. Let's get you up and into the aid station, yeah?"
"What's going on here?" Lieutenant Dike's unusually booming voice demanded to know. If Evelyn could have rolled her eyes she would have.
"Corporal Guarnere is injured," Eugene explained, barely even glancing at Dike. His sole focus was on Evelyn, who had turned deathly pale and her mouth was pinched in pain.
"Well what's wrong with her?"
"She was carrying me and she went to lift me up as I was slipping, and the next minute she fell to the ground," Christenson explained, feeling more than a little bit guilty.
"I think it's possible she may have trapped a nerve or something similar," Eugene said. "But we'll know more when we get her to the aid station. Can you stand up Ev?"
She tried to shake her head and groaned as yet another sharp pain tore through the back of her head and down her neck. Suddenly, the taste of bile in her throat got stronger and stronger. She clamped her mouth shut, swallowing repeatedly, praying she wasn't going to be sick. But on this occasion her prayers weren't going to be answered. Without warning, she lurched forward and vomited. And vomited. And vomited. With her eyes closed, she didn't realise she had vomited all over Lieutenant Dike's boots until she heard his angry rant. She should have been mortified, but in actual fact she found herself internally gloating. What goes around comes around, asshole.
"Get her to the aid station now," Dike ordered. "And somebody find me something to clean these boots with."
… … …
12th December, 1944
Evelyn was going stir crazy. Apparently she had managed to jolt one of the nerves in her neck. And who knew that one little nerve could cause so much pain to so many areas of the body? The doctor had come and said that it would eventually fix itself with a day or two of rest. He also gave her something for the sickness, which was much of a relief. The doctor also decided that it would be beneficial for her to do some gentle neck and shoulder exercises to loosen the trapped nerve, and of course Eugene took it upon himself to see to it that they were carried out frequently and correctly.
Major Winters had been along to visit her after hearing about what had happened, and he had assured her that she would face no repercussions from Dike due to being unable to complete the task he had set for her. There was something in Winters' tone that made Evelyn think that he was rather annoyed by Dike's order, but it was so discreet that she couldn't be sure.
After three days of rest, she felt much better and could move about and talk without feeling the urge to vomit everywhere. She wanted to get back to work but Eugene was adamant that she stay in bed and rest for at least another day. She had tried to argue that it was pointless when she could be doing a million and one other things that she hadn't been able to do in the last few days. Although when Eugene curtly informed her that he and Spina had split her jobs between themselves, she hadn't been able to think of another excuse. Yet.
Lying in bed with her eyes closed, contemplating whether or not anyone had actually ever died of boredom, she didn't notice the quiet footsteps walk up beside her until a familiar voice spoke.
"Turn my back for two minutes and you're already slacking off?"
"Bill!" Evelyn leapt up excitedly off the bed and flung her arms around his neck, literally sending the two of them crashing down to the ground.
"Ev, I just got back from the hospital, I'd prefer not to get sent back there again," Bill chuckled, standing up and lifting his sister to her feet at the same time.
"You're back," she grinned, hugging him once more. Evelyn knew she had missed her brother, but she didn't realise quite just how much until she was back with him. "You're really back."
"I sure am kiddo," he grinned, as she sat down on the edge of the bed with her legs dangling over the side, unable to take her eyes off of him as though she was expecting him to disappear at any moment. By this point, Eugene, who had been in the office, heard all the commotion and smiled when he realised what all the noise was about.
"Welcome back, Bill," he said before frowning at Evelyn. "You're supposed to be in bed."
"I am," she answered.
"You're supposed to be resting and lying down," he raised an eyebrow daring her to argue further.
She huffed but did as she was told. Arguing with Eugene Roe was often futile. And exhausting. No one could ever win against him.
"So are you gonna tell me why you're in here or what?" Bill asked, propping his feet up on the bed and crossing his arms.
"I guess. Well, we got a new CO, Norman Dike. He's a real idiot. Anyway, a few days back he decided that it would be a great idea for me to have to pick up Christenson and carry him back to the pretend aid station during field exercise. Anyway, I managed to jolt some kind of nerve in my neck and for the last couple of days I couldn't really move or do anything without being sick or being in tremendous agony."
"You had to pick up Christenson?" Bill opened his eyes wide in disbelief. "This Dike guy sounds like an absolute chump."
"Yeah he is. Anyway, I'm feeling fine now and ready to get back to work but Eugene, the dictator…" Evelyn glared at Eugene, who just rolled his eyes. "…Has decided that I need to stay here for another day or two to make sure I'm fully healed. But what he fails to understand is that I have to stay here for another second let alone another day, I'm gonna actually die from boredom."
"I see you're still as dramatic as ever," Bill commented, ignoring his sister's narrowed eyes. "I don't know why you're complaining. You don't gotta do any work, you can sleep as much as you want and you got Nurse Roe looking after your every need."
"Carry on with remarks like that and it won't be your sister you have to worry about sending you back to the hospital," Eugene muttered at Bill, who grinned broadly. Since he had attended Doc's wedding with Evelyn back in Aldbourne, they had actually come to know one another fairly well. It turned out that Roe had a real dry sense of humour and despite his quiet demeanour he was good to be around. He certainly knew how to deal with Evelyn and her tantrums, which in Bill's view was always a bonus. "Anyway, if you enjoyed hospital life so much, why is it you went AWOL to get back here?"
"You went AWOL?" Evelyn exclaimed. "And how do you know about it Gene?"
"News travels fast around here," he shrugged.
"In the form of a ginger haired officer who asked you to check up on me?" Bill questioned, referring to Winters who he had reported to only an hour before.
"Something like that," Eugene smirked.
"Well what I wanna know is just how did the mighty Gonorrhoea escape the clutches of those villainous nurses?" Evelyn wondered aloud.
"I thought you didn't like that nickname?" Bill smirked at his sister.
"I don't for myself. But for you, I think it's perfect," she stuck her tongue out at him. God how she had missed this. "Now would you hurry up and tell us?"
"As patient as ever," Bill tutted. "Well, I pretty much tried to escape from the very second I got there; cast or no cast. But they kept on catching me and bringing me back. I got a court martial and demoted to Private. So on my last attempt I came up with an idea so ingenious that I won't lie, I was pretty surprised I thought of it myself. I took some black boot polish and painted my leg cast with it. With my uniform over the leg, the cast looked quite like a boot. I thought I had gotten away with it as well, but them bastard MPs caught me. By this point though, the hospital realised I was just gonna keep tryin' to get back here so they cut the cast off and let me go AWOL."
"You're an idiot," Evelyn shook her head. "But you're my idiot and I'm glad you're back."
"Me too," he smiled. "So has anything else exciting happened while I've been gone? You been behaving yourself?"
"Of course I have," she replied innocently. If only you knew Bill.
… … …
Much to Eugene's chagrin, Evelyn was adamant that she was completely healed and she wanted to be released from her clinical prison to experience the outside world again with the brother she hadn't seen in weeks. Eugene had shaken his head and told her that she was making it sound as though she had been cooped up in solitary confinement for months or something. She argued that if Bill could go AWOL with a fractured and shot leg then surely she could be given her freedom too. Eugene agreed very reluctantly, and half an hour later she was ecstatic to find herself almost skipping across the camp with her brother to find everyone else. It was lunchtime so there was obviously only one place they could be.
The mess hall was bustling but Bill spotted the guys instantly. Elbowing Ev, he motioned her to follow him.
"You do know you're supposed to chew your food before you shove it down your throat, right?" Bill stopped beside Malarkey, who looked up and grinned.
"Well if it isn't old Gonorrhoea," he stood up and shook Bill's hand. "Nice to have you back, Bill."
As everyone began to gather around to welcome Bill back gladly, Evelyn cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow.
"Uh excuse me, have you all forgotten that I've been gone too?"
"Ev, you've been gone like three days," George snorted. "And if we could send you away for three more days we would. It's been so peaceful round here without your foghorn of a voice screeching everywhere we go."
"Ignore him Ev," Babe smiled. "We missed ya really."
"I'm glad someone did," Evelyn stuck her tongue out in George's direction before sitting down in between her brother and Babe. At the end of the table, she briefly caught Liebgott's eye and gave him a small smile. They were going to have to be even more subtle now that Bill was back. It was a miracle that the other guys hadn't noticed, but Bill knew Evelyn better than anyone else. If someone was going to notice, it would be him.
"Heffron, didn't I ask you to look after my Evie while I was gone?" Bill said, narrowing his eyes at Babe.
"Yeah," Babe frowned, his cheeks flushing red as he knew he was in for a telling off.
"Remind me never to ask you again. Even Perconte coulda taken better care of her, and he once managed to lose his own Grandma," Bill chuckled.
"In Babe's defence, there wasn't actually any way he could have stopped it," Evelyn said, ignoring Toye's scowl as she nabbed one of his bread rolls and stuffed it into her mouth. "And more importantly, I wanna hear about how Frank lost his Grandma. That's pretty bad."
"I didn't exactly lose her," Frank answered. "She just kind of wandered away from me. See, it was about four years ago and my Grandma, who has lived with us since my Grandpa died, is real old and I think she's lost the plot a little bit. So anyway, my Mom asked me to wait outside the greengrocers with my Grandma when they went shopping 'cause the last time they went in there she slipped a load of onions and potatoes into her purse when no one was watching. I'm standing outside the store and my buddy, Jimmy, who I haven't seen in forever comes up to me and we start talking. Before I know it, my Mom walks up to me and asks where my Grandma is. I'm not gonna lie, I had no idea she was even gone so I started panicking and then my Mom's panicking as well as screaming at me. So, we're running around the neighbourhood looking for her. I mean, she's an old woman so we figured she couldn't have gone too far. About fifteen minutes passes by and by this point my Mom's hysterical and she's about to go down to the police station, when all of a sudden we hear screaming coming from the hair salon. We rushed inside to find my Grandma standing there, and I kid you not, she had somehow managed to take a piss in a vase of flowers completely unnoticed and was using it to wash someone's hair."
The table erupted in hysterics. Evelyn started choking on her roll because she was laughing so hard and tears rolled down her face. Even Joe Toye couldn't control himself.
"It's good to be back," Bill grinned.
… … …
15th December, 1944
"So I've been thinking about Paris and I've decided that we need to see the Eiffel Tower as well as Notre Dame, and I've heard there's an amazing little restaurant overlooking the Seine that serves the best escargots in town."
Evelyn and Liebgott were lying down on her cot. They had half an hour to themselves again and they were making the most of it. Half an hour a week alone wasn't anywhere near enough but it would have to do for now.
"Who knew you were so cultured," Evelyn commented cheekily. "And I'm pretty sure that escargots are snails. You do know that right?"
"I'll have you know that I'm very cultured," Lieb smirked. "And of course I knew that's what they were. I actually happen to think they're delicious."
Evelyn snorted, knowing that he had no idea and that he was just trying to impress her with his knowledge. Liebgott didn't look very impressed with her reaction and with a deadly glint in his eyes, leaned over her. Her breath quickened and that familiar pit opened in her stomach. Just when she thought he was about to kiss her, he grinned and began tickling her. She squealed and squirmed as his fingers dug into her sides, tickling her until she felt like she was going to pass out.
"I'll stop when you ask for mercy," Liebgott decided.
"No way," Evelyn wheezed. He tickled harder and she thrashed her legs wildly trying to kick him off her. It was no use, he was too strong. She honestly felt her head begin to swim and she knew she would have to surrender. "Fine, I give up."
Laughing, Liebgott stopped his assault and pressed his forehead and nose against hers, both of them breathing hard and their cheeks red.
"You're so beautiful you know that?" Lieb murmured, kissing the light dusting of freckles that danced over her nose and cheeks.
"I'm not," she scoffed, closing her eyes and feeling content.
"You are," Lieb was adamant as he traced his finger around the outline of her full lips. "I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be with you. You're perfect. Everything about you."
Evelyn opened her eyes and her breath was taken away by the intensity of his gaze. There was something indescribable there; something she hadn't seen before. It made her heart beat even harder if that was at all possible.
"It would mean everything to me to show you just how beautiful you are."
There was something in Liebgott's tone that immediately made her understand what he meant, and suddenly she was faced with one of the biggest decisions of her young life. Growing up in a very Catholic household, the whole thing of no sex before marriage had been rammed down her throat from a rather young age. Although, it had always annoyed her that in her neighbourhood if a male was to sleep around before he was married, it was fine. In fact, it was almost celebrated because they were truly a man. But for a girl it was the worst thing imaginable. From what she knew of sex, it was meant to be an act of love between two people, and while she didn't know if she loved Lieb yet, she knew she wasn't far off it. Plus, could she guarantee that either of them would ever make it home from this damned war to even get married? Whoa Ev, you're jumping the gun a bit. Lieb's never even once mentioned marriage or even anything that might happen when you guys get home. Just calm yourself woman! But it was true. The next time they were sent out to the front line, there was a very real chance that she might get killed. Did she want to die having missed out on this chance simply because it went against everything she had been taught growing up? Not to be morbid, but if losing Henry and so many other men over the past few months had taught her one thing it was that life was too short not to be lived to its fullest.
"Ok," she nodded, giving him a shaky smile.
Lieb pulled back to look at her, shock and disbelief playing on his face.
"What? Are you sure? Listen Ev, I didn't mean…We don't have to… I wasn't trying to-"
Evelyn quieted his rant by lifting her head up to capture his lips in a gentle kiss. Lieb groaned and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Suddenly his hands were all over her, gentle yet insistent and before she knew it he had unbuttoned her OD's and was yanking them off of her arms to reveal the plain white t-shirt underneath. Lifting the t-shirt up, exposing her flat stomach and white brassiere, he cupped her breasts and flicked his thumbs over the nipples until they were hard and begging for his mouth. Evelyn hissed as he sucked on them through the material of her brassiere; his wet, hot lips against the thin material making her eyes roll back in her head as clutched at the sides of her cot.
As his mouth continued to lavish attention to her top half, one of his hands snaked down her stomach and under her trousers. She bucked when she felt his hand ghost over her core and moaned as the throbbing there intensified. When his hand moved underneath her knickers, she moaned again, relishing every moment of the new sensations she was feeling. His fingers rubbed her gently and she opened her legs without even realising it, and when he very slowly inserted a finger inside her wet centre she felt herself shiver with pleasure. Leaving her breasts, he kissed her soundly as his tongue plunged into her mouth once more. The finger inside her began to move in and out slowly and the more she moaned the faster it began to move. She could feel something building. She didn't know what, only that the more Lieb touched her, the more intense the feeling became. When he used his thumb to manipulate the small, sensitive nub between her legs, it was as though something exploded inside of her and her entire body was wracked with tremors that seemed never ending.
Her eyes closed and her chest heaving, Liebgott kissed her jaw and chuckled as she tried to calm herself down. Her body felt strange, almost like she was floating.
"What did you think of that then?" Liebgott snickered.
"Wow," was all she could mutter. Her eyelids felt too heavy to stay open.
"Wow indeed," Lieb smirked against her lips as he kissed her softly. "You ready for more?"
Before she could begin to form an answer, the door handle suddenly began to twist and the door rattled. The chair they had put against the door looked like it wasn't going to hold out for very long. The two of them looked at each other in panic as Evelyn quickly tried to pull on her clothes. All the while the rattling was becoming louder.
"Ev, are you in here? Open the goddamn door." …
