A Memory Between Us Read Online Free PDF Page A

side. “How are you feeling this morning, Major?”
    “Much better.” Jack rolled over, winced at the pain in his rear end, and flopped back onto his stomach. “Except when I do something stupid like that.”
    She chuckled and pulled down the blanket. “Be patient. You’ll be sitting up in no time. Now, let me take a look at those wounds.”
    Jack rested his chin on the pillow so he wouldn’t have to watch her work. “Of all the foolish places to get shot. How am I supposed to tell my grandkids? My brother lost his arm, but at least that’s honorable.”
    “Oh my. How’d that happen?”
    “Shot by a Focke-Wulf 190 over Bremen. He flew a B-17 with the 306th.”
    “Really? We had patients from that group when I was stationed at Diddington.”
    “Come to think of it, he had pneumonia this winter. Maybe you met him—Walter Novak.” Jack glanced over his shoulder, but the sight of the pretty nurse dressing his rump unnerved him. He turned back.
    “Walter Novak. That sounds familiar. Does he look like you?”
    Jack chuckled. “Not a bit, other than the black hair, the build. Nice fellow. He never would have made a pass at you.”
    “Hmm.” The snip of scissors on tape told him she was almost done. “Yes, I remember him. Shy, but very pleasant. How’s he doing?”
    “Going home soon, but I’m worried about him. He’s blue. Lost his arm, can’t fly, and the girl he loves is marrying someone else.”
    “Oh dear.” Lieutenant Doherty pulled the blanket back in place. “He didn’t take my advice.”
    “Advice?”
    She sat on the empty cot next to his. “To tell her how he felt. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
    Jack rolled onto his right side and raised himself on one elbow, which was uncomfortable but not painful. “I told him the same thing, but he won’t do it. Stubborn Novak pride.”
    “Hmm.” She opened the drawer of the bedside table and rearranged supplies. Although her hands never idled, she always listened. “You have two brothers, right? Are all of you like that?”
    “More or less. Ray’s the least stubborn. He’s got a true pastor’s heart.”
    “Don’t you also? You always make the men behave.”
    Jack fiddled with the brown wool blanket. “I don’t know. I’m not a born pastor like Ray. He gets fired up writing sermons. I don’t. I have to work at it. That’s one reason I joined the Air Corps right out of seminary.”
    “One reason? What’s the other?” She glanced at him through dark lashes.
    Boy, she was swell. He grinned. “Had to fly.”
    Her gaze darted back to the drawer. “And after the war? What then?”
    After the war? Jack didn’t think much about it, didn’t want to. Although the faces of four dead copilots flashed in his mind, he wouldn’t trade his job with anyone. He’d flown antisubmarine missions with the 7th Bombardment Group from Pearl Harbor, then reconnaissance missions over New Guinea and the Solomons with the 19th Bomb Group in Townsville, Australia, but when his war-weary squadron returned stateside, he rejected a boring training job like Ray had and volunteered for combat again.
    “After the war?” Jack sighed. “Maybe I’ll be ready to settle in a cozy little parsonage and write scholarly yet stirring messages.”
    “I’m sure you’ll do a fine job.” Her brows drew together as she lined up rolls of gauze. “Your brother Ray—he’s a gentleman too, isn’t he?”
    “Yeah.” He shifted his elbow so his arm wouldn’t fall asleep.
    “Imagine that—three in one family. I mean, you and your brother are two of a very small number of single men who haven’t made a pass at me. I—well, I appreciate it.” She still shifted things in the drawer although surely it was organized by now.
    “You’re welcome.” Jack studied her changed demeanor—not her usual deft blend of friendliness and standoffishness, but rather, she looked small and vulnerable. “It’s got to bother you. Seems as if someone asks you out every