Angel of the Somme: The Great War, Book 1 (24 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

The waiter placed their order in front of the couple: two bowls of thin beef soup and a slice of bread. Sam supposed it was the best fare they could expect with rationing on. Evie smiled up at the waiter and thanked him.

His little sister stirred her soup thoughtfully as she peered into the bowl. “Oh, look,” she said excitedly. “I think I found a bit of meat!” She smiled, her dimples winking. He was grateful for them—her dimples. They were a remnant of her childhood. When he’d left her for the Western Front, she’d only been eighteen and still had that layer of childhood plumpness about her cheeks. When he’d returned from the war, his sister had gone and turned twenty and grown into a beautiful young woman. With her long, curly black hair and bright blue eyes, every man in the restaurant kept sneaking glimpses at her, much to Sam’s supreme discomfort.

“So, why’d you come all the way up to London, then? It’s about time you told me, I think.”

Evie blinked at him, then took a large bite of bread which rendered her incapable of conversation. As she chewed, she gave Sam her best innocent look.

“It’s not bad news about Baden, is it?”

“Oh, no. As far as I know he’s fine. He writes to you more than anyone back on the farm, anyway.” She tilted her head toward him. “You did go ahead and send him Father’s lucky totem didn’t you?”

Sam nodded. “Just as I promised. Sent it to him last week.” He failed to add that he wasn’t entirely certain if the strange stone bore a blessing or a curse. And now wasn’t the time for such speculations. “So why did you come then? Is it Lady P?”

Evie’s expression went serious in an instant. She shook her head and swallowed. “We’ve had no luck at all with Bad’s infernal contraption.”

“You’ve tried baiting it with her favorite foods?”

“I’ve tried everything I could find. I wish strawberries were in season.” Evie smiled wistfully. “Remember how she loved strawberries?”

“I remember that she rooted up Mum’s garden and Father chased her around the barn with a shotgun while you shouted your head off,” Sam said. “Are you entirely sure we’re having the same memory?”

Evie nodded. “Old Mrs. Williams thought she saw her last week. Did I tell you? Said she looked like she’d lost weight. She might be down to four hundred pounds by now.”

Sam smiled, picturing the stunned expression on Lily’s face if she’d read that in a letter.

“It’s not funny.” Evie gave him a wounded look.

“Forgive me, Evie. My mind was elsewhere for a moment. And I do believe that Lady P will be all right. She’s a tough old girl, you know.”

Evie took another bite of bread and chewed thoughtfully. “Your mind is often elsewhere, Sam.”

Sam nodded. He could hardly argue with Evie over that point.

“It’s why I took the trip up to London to see you today,” Evie said.

“You’re finally coming to it.” Sam leaned forward. “Out with it then.”

Evie hesitated.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Sam asked. “Is it Father? He’s been doing too much again, hasn’t he? I was afraid he’d start in trying to mend the south pasture fences the moment I moved away.”

“It’s not Father. It’s good news, actually. Wonderful news.” Evie’s smile faded a bit. “But first I need your promise that you won’t kill me.”

Sam rubbed his forehead. “Wonderful news doesn’t normally come with a disclaimer regarding murder, dear sister.”

Evie reached into her purse and fished out a letter. She ran a finger along the edge, hesitating for a moment, before placing it in front of her, face up.

Immediately he felt a shock of alarm and a slight violation. Had Evie been reading his mail? Glancing at the address he could see it was addressed to Miss Evelyn Dwight. He glanced at the return address.
Lieutenant Gordon Robbins.

Oh dear.

“And why has Gordy been writing to you?”

Evie nudged the letter toward him, a forced smile on her lips. “He was answering my letter to him, of course.”

“And why did you write to him, or do I even want to know?”

“To find out what’s become of Lily Curtis.” Evie swallowed.

Sam’s heartbeat stuttered at the mention of Lily’s name. He dropped his gaze to the letter, but couldn’t quite bring himself to pick it up.

After a few long moments, Evie finally spoke. “Don’t you want to read it?”

Sam shrugged. “I don’t suppose I need to read the thing. I know what’s in it.”

Evie gave a most unladylike snort. “I hardly think you do.”

“Why don’t you tell me then, since you’re so keen to meddle in my affairs?” Sam folded his arms.

“Gordy says that Lily has been reassigned.”

“Oh no. I suppose that dratted matron had her drummed out for some reason or another. She was always so ridiculously harsh with Lily.”

“That’s not quite it. It seems Lily was given a promotion, of sorts.” A smile crept back onto Evie’s lips.

“Go on then. Unless you enjoy dragging this out.”

“I rather do, Sam. It’s wonderful to see you so smitten.”

“I am not…smitten. I’m curious about what’s happened with Miss Curtis.”

“Please, and now you’re calling her ‘Miss Curtis’ all of a sudden?”

Sam gritted his teeth. When had his baby sister turned into such a formidable opponent?

“So what’s become of Lily, then?” he asked at last.

“She’s been reassigned to the Royal Army Medical Corps right here in London.”

Lily was here? Now? In London?

Sam couldn’t think of a word to say in response. His silence only seemed to encourage Evie.

“She’s been here for about six weeks. She’s working with Dr. Raye on all types of…eh, well, Gordy didn’t really understand it very well. Something to do with mixing blood together. It sounded terribly modern but a little bit gory.” Evie beamed a wide grin at him. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Certainly. Wonderful. I’m quite in favor of modern medical techniques.”

“Not that, you big sheep.” Evie rolled her eyes. “The fact that Lily is nearby!”

Sam shook his head. “I’m happy that she’s out of danger and of course I’m pleased that she’s able to do such important work, but I really don’t see what this has to do with me.”

Evie widened her eyes. “Oh, Baden was so right about you.”

Sam glared at her.

“You need to go and see her! She’s at Queen Alexandria Hospital in Millbank—not ten minutes walk from here.”

“Oh, no I don’t. You don’t fully understand. You don’t know what really happened while I was hospitalized.”

Killer.

Evie gave another snort, sounding a great deal like her rogue pig. “I don’t need to. I’ve read her letters to you. She loves you. And after all those months mooning around the farm for her, I know you love her too.”

Sam laughed bitterly. “She’s right here in England for all this time and didn’t contact me. Didn’t even have the courtesy to write a letter to me and tell me where she’d gone. This is a most peculiar way of demonstrating that she loves me.”

Evie tilted her head to one side as she gathered her thoughts. “What was she supposed to do? Show up at the farm one day?”

“She could have bloody well told me that she’d been transferred to London!” He felt a momentary wave of shame at cursing in front of his sister. “By not doing so, I can only assume that her feelings have changed. I certainly couldn’t blame her for that.”

“Her feelings have changed?” Evie gave him a disgusted look. “Sam, she undoubtedly thinks that you are the one with changed feelings. Especially when you consider your letters to her.”

“My letters to her? I wrote to her!”

“Well, I know that. I helped you write most of them.”

“What was wrong with my letters?”

Evie tilted her head toward him. “The thing is, Sam, you were very…polite. Very formal.”

“I could hardly be anything else. You do realize that all mail is seen by censors. I shouldn’t wish for someone to read anything that might compromise Lily in any way.”

“Well, I understand that. I do. It’s just that Lily might not. And when your letters to her sound like the sort of thing one might write to a maiden aunt. I shouldn’t wonder if Lily might have thought you’d lost interest in her.”

“Nonsense. I gave her my word of honor.”

“Word of honor.” Evie shook her head. “Sounds like you’re joining the army. It’s not very romantic.”

The waiter appeared, casting a lingering gaze in Evie’s direction before turning to Sam. “Will that be all, sir?”

“Yes, thank you” Sam muttered, grateful for the respite in conversation. He pulled out his ration card and a few bills and handed them to the man.

After the waiter departed, neither Sam nor Evie spoke for a while.

Evie reached across the table and grasped his hands. “Sam, if it were me, I’d be shy about telling you I was in London too.”

“Truly?”

Evie nodded, her black curls springing with the movement. “She cares for you. I know she does. Gordy knows she does. Everybody in the world knows—except you.”

Sam interrupted, raising a warning finger. “Don’t compare me to livestock again.”

“What you need to do is woo her a little bit.”

“Woo her?” Sam repeated numbly. He couldn’t help but be reminded of the night Gordy had manipulated Lily and him into a moonlit tryst in the back garden.

“Yes, exactly,” Evie enthused. “What you need to do is stop by the florist and—”

“Stop, right there.” Sam pointed his finger at her.

Evie gave him an annoyed look.

“I’m perfectly capable of doing my own wooing.”

“Finally.” Evie bounced a little in her chair.

“I mean it. It was bad enough to endure coaching from Gordy and Baden. I draw the line at my little sister.” Sam stood and straightened his officer’s tunic.

Evie popped up with such enthusiasm that she reminded Sam of a jack-in-the-box. “You’re in charge. You won’t even know I’m there.” She beamed a grin at him.

“You’re not coming with me,” Sam said. “You’ve meddled enough.”

“Whatever you say, Sam.” Evie walked toward the door and Sam followed. He reached for his sunglasses and put them on before opening the door. As he stepped into the bright winter sunlight, he felt a large swell of hope for the first time in a long, long time. For the first time in years. For the first time since before the whole miserable war began.

Sam stood on the corner, directly across the street from Queen Alexandria’s Hospital with its bright red bricks and wide windows. A busy lunchtime crowd milled about the entrance.

Evie straightened his tie, tugging on it so tightly that it felt more like a noose than part of his uniform. “Quite dashing,” she said. “With those tinted lenses and your officer’s tunic, you look straight out of Hollywood.”

“I’m fairly convinced that Lily wouldn’t be overly impressed by Hollywood.” Sam twisted his hands around the bundle of greenery he held in his hands. Evie had been nonplussed when he’d foregone the florist for the greengrocer and was crestfallen that he’d chosen a selection of garden herbs instead of the roses she’d suggested. Now that he was there, standing before the hospital, he had to agree with his sister and curbed the urge to strangle his bizarre bouquet of licorice, dill and peppermint. What an overly sentimental notion.

“I’ll just walk across the street and go to her office, then,” Sam said. “You’ll wait here, won’t you? This is difficult enough.”

She raised her hands in mock surrender. “I’m only here to help. I’ll be quite content on this bench. I’ll be silent as the grave. I’m sure you can manage quite fine on your own.” She gave the bundle of herbs in his hand a disparaging glance.

Sam crossed the street and walked through the crowd toward the front door of the rather intimidating building. Upon reaching the threshold, he paused and slipped a hand into his pocket to retrieve his watch. He flipped it open to check the time. It was going on one in the afternoon. Perhaps Lily was still at lunch. Or perhaps she took lunch at her desk. Back in New Bedlam, she didn’t seem to have a moment’s time for a meal. When he realized he had no idea how she might do something so simple as take a meal, his grip on his confidence slipped a little further.

Sam swallowed hard and cast another glance up at the gleaming, wide windows of the building. Her building. His foolish heart kept climbing up into his throat and he forced it back down with another gulp. He turned from the front door and paced down the sidewalk, along the length of the structure.

Evie’s enthusiasm had been enough to propel him this far, but now that he was about to enter her building, he was disappointed to find that his mind was rather blank. He had no plan whatsoever on what he would say to her once he found her. The whole idea was terribly rash, really. If he could only sit and plan, think out a few key ideas, at least he might not look quite so much like a bloody idiot.

Sam turned back and walked along the shrubberies lining the walk, toward the entrance. He passed the staffers engaged in conversation to reach the double door. He reached out to grasp the handle, only to pause again.

Perhaps this was a bit too impetuous. Perhaps he needed to apply a bit more forethought before seeking out Lily at her place of employment. He turned and looked past the milling crowd to see Evie, sitting on a bench across the street. She shook her head and made a not-so-subtle shooing motion with her hands.

Just as he began to turn around, he saw her just out of the corner of his eye.

Lily.

There was something in her gait that caught his attention. The way she carried herself with that brisk, no-nonsense walk that she used to use to scurry through the ward. She wore a light green skirt and jacket. Her pretty auburn hair was no longer bound by her VAD scarf. It was loose and fell across her shoulders, gleaming in the sunlight.

She took his breath away.

He forgot to breathe for a moment and felt as though he was falling backward. Oddly enough, he was suddenly reminded of the sensation of the earth falling away when he was hit by the Big Bertha, except instead of terror, he was flooded with joy.

Lily hadn’t seen him, yet. Her gaze was focused on finding a path through the milling crowd. When she was only five feet from him, she looked up and their eyes met. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth fell open. Then she shut it.