Chapter Seven

Saturday Night in New York City

It had gotten dark, when they had arrived in downtown New York some time later. They had agreed to meet up at the train station, and the nurses' train was just arriving.

Wistfully, Allie watched Evelyn joyfully greeting her brother and him handing her the origami crane he had – in fact – folded all by himself. She would have helped him, but he wouldn't hear of it.

This familiar gesture stung her, not because she was jealous, but because Evelyn had no clue what would come – she herself had learned it just a short time before. It would break her heart.

Evelyn introduced Rafe to her friends, Allie had remembered all their names correctly, and after all the pilots and nurses had been introduced, they took themselves to the hotel, where the party took place.

"Allie, I barely recognized you!" With these words Barbara linked arms with the pilot. Yes, she definitely looked different than the last time they met, with her private dress and her long hair flowing over her back. She gave a smile to the other woman.

"So, tell us, what are the boys like?" the blonde nurse continued and threw her locks elegantly back. "You do know them all, don't you?" Martha joined the conversation.

"Okay" Allie began and pointed to the young men. "Aside from them all being fantastic pilots, and I would entrust my life to any of them when it comes to flying, outside the cockpit we have a whole range of opposed characters.

Let's start with Billy. He's a muddler, sometimes his tongue is quicker than his brain, but he is a decent guy, even though you maybe have to give him a shellacking first.

Then there's Anthony – or just Tony. He may be better looking than Billy and plays macho, but in reality, he can be a wimp and talks himself into trouble whenever he opens his mouth.

Red is a total sweetheart, if he manages to get a whole sentence out. He reminds me of a puppy sometimes, doesn't matter what he gets up to, you can't be mad at him.

Well, Rafe's obviously not available and because he's my brother, I know more embarrassing stories about him than anybody would like to hear. Most of the time he's the biggest moron on earth, but I still love him." With these words the women laughed.

"And the guy on the left?" Marta asked. Allie gave the men a quick glance.

"Oh yes, Danny. Danny is… just Danny." She reflected how to best describe him, but to her he'd always been just Danny. Her brother's best friend, nearly like a brother to her. "My whole life I've known Danny and he's the most loyal best friend there is."

Barbara grinned broadly. "Which one would you date?" she asked curiously. "I bet it's Danny."

Surprised by that assumption, Allie grimaced. At times she had in fact thought about that, but this was about Danny. Who was like a brother to her, and she didn't think about Rafe like that.

"No, the guys are all yours. After all, they are my colleagues, and in case I just flirt with one, the Major would kick me out. And to forgo flying for one of them, that won't happen."

"Well then" Barbara turned to Martha, and they went to mingle with the crowd.

Their group had spread over the room, some sat at the tables, among those Rafe, Evelyn and Danny, others danced, and Allie headed for the bar.

She ordered a double bourbon, just like her father usually did. Or at least had been doing. She chugged the booze down. It burned like hell in her throat and she screw up her face, when she slammed the glass on the counter.

Nevertheless, she waved the bartender nearer to fill her glass again, and repeated the scene. The burning had ceased and only a pleasant warmth stayed behind, somewhere between her throat and stomach.

With the third round in her hand, she turned to the going-on in the room and noticed Sandra, who took a seat to her left. Allie gave her a nod and let her eye wander until she caught Rafe starring at her disapprovingly. With an innocent, syrupy smile she raised her glass to him and downed this one in one too.

"You really seem to be in a good mood" Sandra commented the occurrence, but Allie shook her head and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand unladylike.

"Just trying to not let somebody drag me down tonight."

For a few minutes they sat there in silence, not knowing what to say, and when Sandra had started to tap her toes to the music, Anthony decided it was time to try his horrible clumsy flirtation he had been rehearsing in the car the whole time. And like Allie had told him then and there, his line didn't work.

But since he was here already, he could do her a favor. Just now, the orchestra switched to a lively melody perfect for dancing lindy hop.

"Anthony, why don't you ask me to dance?" she questioned him briskly. The alcohol surely had something to do with that. The addressed was taken by surprised and couldn't protest, when Allie dragged him to the dancefloor.

Over the first few beats she had to motivate him fairly, but then he seemed to ignore the whole schmear and let the music determine their pace. He had no idea she'd been a rather rambunctious dancer back home in Tennessee, and she noticed quickly his enthusiasm was in no way inferior to hers, but he was not a good dancer. That was sufficient for now and every time he spun her around, she took the chance to perform some fancy dance figures.

Her dresses skirt flew up with every turn and she was somewhat sure it'd been possible to peek underneath. When Anthony whirled her around another time, she caught glimpse of Rafe, who watched her with more disapproval than before.

Fine, she thought, if you do things I don't like, then I'll do that too.

The music slowed down and changed to a blues. Anthony tried to pull her closer, but Allie wriggled herself out of his grasp. He'd done the trick and she didn't want to raise his hopes.

"Sorry, I don't dance that slow" she explained and had taken a step towards the bar.

"Oh, come on, this isn't about dancing" he tried to stop her, but she shook her head vehemently. "Maybe not for you" she responded and threw her hair back, "but for me it is only about dancing. And you want more than dancing."

With this she ultimately turned and fled to the toilet. Her anger towards Rafe and the alcohol had nauseated her.

When she came back to the bar five minutes later, she motioned to the bartender to fill her glass once more. He begrudged doing so, but he did.

Sandra had left and when Allie looked around the room, she saw her sitting at a table with Danny, while Rafe and Evelyn were on the dancefloor, slowly swaying to the music.

With less coordination than she would have cared for, Allie squeezed through the crowd and plunked down on the bench next to Danny. She put her head on his shoulder and ignored him being uncomfortable with that.

"Why does he do that to us?" she asked and was surprised that tears started filling her eyes. "He can't just leave us like that! And Evelyn!"

Sandra didn't know where to look and excused herself, before she piled off.

Much too late it came to Allies mind, that Sandra perhaps had wanted to be alone with Danny, unlike with Anthony. But by this time, she had trouble sorting her thoughts and to be in the know. Rafe showing up in between and making her angry, definitely didn't help.

They sat there in silence and Alice watched her brother and his beloved dancing in a tight embrace. Her thoughts wandered away and she had lost track of time, when suddenly an idea formed inside her mind.

"We need to make him really angry, then he'll stay! That's it!" Danny looked at her puzzled, but she didn't see that. She already had grabbed his collar, dragged him down and kissed him fervently. She couldn't think of anything else that would infuriate Rafe more. But Danny seemed to object either, since he nearly fought it tooth and nail.

"God, Alice, what has gotten into you?!" He shuffled her off forcefully. She looked at him in astonishment. "We have to make Rafe angry, then he won't go" she explained again with the utter conviction of drunks and madmen. It reminded Danny remotely of his father being charming and convincing when he had been drinking.

Again, Allie tried to grab his lapels, but this time she couldn't catch him off-guard. He caught hold of her writs. "Nice try, but Rafe isn't even around" he diverted her from her intention. Irritated the woman turned and had to note that he was right.

This was – among others – the last thing she remembered, when she woke up the next morning in her bed with a head that felt all too small for her brain.

Rafe hat walked off with Evelyn. Somehow, it felt wrong to be in the big crowd tonight. It could have been a nice evening, if it hadn't been his last. And that he wanted to spend with Evelyn, and only with her. He wanted her to keep him in good memory.

Towards Danny, he had used a tiny white lie, he just kept secret that he had volunteered and not been assigned.

And Allie, he hadn't told Allie a thing. But the way she had looked at him the whole evening – and how she had behaved – he knew, she already had tickled out every last bit of Danny. He could only hope Danny would look out not only for Evelyn, love of his live, but also for Alice, who was more of a family than his father could ever have been.

He tried to remember what his mother Clara had looked like, but the harder he tried, the more Allies face replaced the one of their mother's. His sister had always been there for him, and even when he believed that he had left her forever, she had managed to show up again. But this time he'd actually had to leave her, the first time in his life.

He had tried his best to put off the evil hour, but he couldn't any longer. Now he had to tell Evelyn the truth.

He saw how it tormented her, and he felt the same way. He would have split in two, but he couldn't. He loved her, his best friend, his family, but his home country and flying he loved a little more.

He asked her not to come to the train station tomorrow, it was hard enough to say goodbye to her once. This way, they'd have something to look forward to when he'd return.