“Do you need anything?” she asked. “Should I get someone? A doctor? I’m just the ambulance driver.”
“You could ... get me ... out of here ...” The man visibly had trouble mustering enough strength and air to speak.
“I can drive you to an evacuation hospital tonight,” Rose promised, “but I can’t in the daylight. It’s too dangerous.”
“I ... don’t ... want ... there. Take me to ... German territory ... beyond No Man’s Land.” The words fell jerkily from his parched lips.
Only one of his eyes was visible, but it was bright blue, filled with pain yet lucid. It was obvious that the man knew Rose couldn’t take him where he wanted to go, but part of him meant the words all the same.
“What’s over the line for you?” Rose asked as she reached for a sponge in a glass of water. Like she’d seen the nurses do a thousand times, she pressed it to his mouth. His tongue darted out as he sucked the moisture.
He swallowed and then answered, “What you were ... looking ... for ... just now.”
He gave a ghost of a grin. Rose could not make out the Brit’s features, but she suspected he’d been a handsome man.
“WhatIwas looking for?” she asked, confused.
“Purpose ... a reason.”
How had this man, so wrapped up in his own pain, noticed hers? It was as if he had reached inside her mind and neatly plucked out herthoughts. But then again, weren’t they all searching for some lasting good or even just a simple truth in all this devastation?
“And what purpose is beyond No Man’s Land?”
“Ah.” The man started to chuckle, but the sound ended in a groan and a wince. “I trusted ... the ... wrong person with ... that knowledge ... it’s what got ... me ... here.”
“Oh,” Rose said, both intrigued and a bit disappointed that he hadn’t explained why hewashere—a highborn British man in a French section of trenches.
“I thought ... fighting ... was ... for glory ... but it’s for ... them.”
“Them?” Rose asked.
“Those ...” The man paused and then swallowed. “Those ... we let ... into our hearts.”
“For lovers?”
“Loved ... ones,” he corrected.
Loved ones.Two words, so simple yet so complicated. Who did Rose count as her loved ones? Who would she brave No Man’s Land for? And who would face it for her? Mother and Daddy would send someone to save her, but they wouldn’t set a foot in there themselves.
“Time for me to check your bandages.” One of the weary volunteers broke into the conversation and fairly pushed Rose aside to reach the wounded man.
Rose instantly moved back, not wishing to interfere with the duties of those staffing the poste de secours. By the time the member of the medical staff had finished assisting the British soldier, the man had fainted from either pain, exhaustion, or loss of blood. He did not awaken for the rest of the day, but as twilight deepened into darkness, Rose was informed that he would be one of the two patients whom she was to transport to the hospital on her first run.
As a stretcher-bearer loaded the British man into the back of her ambulance, Rose leaned close to him. “I’ll get you to the surgeon, andhe’ll see to it that you’re patched up. Then you can finish your mission, whatever it is.”
The corners of the man’s mouth tried to lift into a smile, but he could not quite manage it. The day’s wait had cost him dearly, and they both knew it. It was likely he would not survive the ride.
A leaden feeling bore down on Rose and seemed to push every fiber of her into the muck as she walked toward the driver’s door. Climbing inside, she thought of the man’s one blue eye—so intense with light, with energy, withdetermination.
No, she would not allow this man’s purpose to die. Not on her watch.
Chapter 1
Daytona, Florida
November 12, 1918 (one day after Armistice)
“I never would have thought I’d find Aphrodite on a quiet balcony instead of in the center of the party—especially during her own shindig.”
