Fitz let out a sigh of relief that he had openly admitted to still loving her. ‘You’re being defeatist,’ she said. ‘You can still drive, swim, even fly a plane. Everything can be adapted. The only thing holding you back is you. You’re Sam Carter. You love the challenge and the danger and risk. Why are you giving in?’
‘I’m not giving in, I’m being realistic,’ said Sam. ‘I’m not the same man I was before.’
‘Who told you that?’ She waited dramatically for the pause. Sam didn’t reply and she continued. ‘No one told you that. Only you. I didn’t fall in love with what you are, I fell in love with who you are and that’s the difference. You’re still the same man. The same heart. The same mind.’
He looked at her and Fitz stared right back at him. Honestly the man was making this so difficult.
Finally he spoke. ‘You will get bored of me. You need to find someone who can give you the life you crave. The excitement and the adventure. It’s in our blood, Fitz. I can’t stand in your way. In fact, I can’t stand at all, right now.’
‘That’s not funny,’ said Fitz. She threw her hands up in exasperation. ‘You’re a stubborn fool. Stay here and wallow in self-pity, if that’s what you want.’ Then leaning closer to him, with as much self-control as she could muster, ‘If you really want to do all the things you claim to love, then the Sam Carter I know will find a way and not make up lame excuses.’
With that she straightened up and began to stride away from his bedside. She wanted to throttle the stubborn fool.
Then she heard him call out. ‘Lame excuses, huh? That’s worse than my attempt at humour.’
She stopped but didn’t turn around straight away. She was aware the whole ward was now watching them like they were some kind of theatre group who’d popped in to entertain them. Gosh, weren’t her and Sam just excellent fun?
She turned to face Sam. ‘Sorry, bad choice of words.’
‘Oh, I don’t know, love,’ said Jones, who was sitting up in bed now, not even pretending he wasn’t listening. ‘You sounded spot on to me.’
‘Shut up, Jones,’ called out one of the other men. ‘I want to hear how this ends.’
‘If the Yank let’s Blondie go, it’s not just his leg he needs to worry about, it’s his head,’ said another, which caused a ripple of laughter around the ward.
Fitz raised her eyebrows at Sam. ‘So, is the Yank letting Blondie go?’
Sam fixed her with those oh-so-beautiful blue eyes of his and for once Fitz couldn’t read what she was seeing. She had an awful feeling she had misjudged the whole situation. She lifted her chin a fraction, to try to retain some sort of dignity. If this was a game of brinkmanship, she was about to fold.
‘Godammit,’ muttered Sam. ‘No, he’s not. The Yank was being an idiot.’
Fitz rushed back over to Sam’s bed, throwing herself at him. She didn’t care that the room was full of wounded servicemen who were all now cheering and whooping as she kissed him. It was only when the nurses hurried in to see what all the fuss was about that Fitz pulled away.
‘Oh, you made that such hard work,’ she scolded, wiping her smudged, red lipstick from his face. She kissed him some more before the ward sister descended on them and insisted Fitz should restrain herself and if she couldn’t she should leave.
Sam grabbed Fitz’s hand. ‘She’s not going anywhere just yet.’
‘Well, kindly control yourselves,’ said the ward sister. And then pulled the curtain around the bed. ‘At least in front of the others,’ she added, before bustling out through the curtain and back onto the rest of the ward.
Fitz collapsed on Sam, both of them giggling.
‘Are you sure about this? About us?’ asked Sam, once they had stopped laughing. ‘It’s not going to be easy.’
‘I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life,’ said Fitz. ‘Although there is something I haven’t told you about yet.’
‘And that is?’
‘When I came back from France, I didn’t come back alone.’
‘You didn’t?’
‘Let me explain.’ Fitz gave him a slightly more detailed version of events than she’d told her father and Camilla. He deserved to know the truth. She looked at him once she’d finished. ‘So, it’s not just me. For a while, until the war is over, it’s me and Yvette.’
He reached out and touched her face. ‘I didn’t think it would be possible to love you any more than I already do,’ he said. ‘But you’ve just taken my love to new heights. Way higher than any plane I’ve flown. You really are a remarkable woman, Fitz, and I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but hell, I’m so glad you came into my life. And that you came back to me.’
‘I was always coming back to you,’ said Fitz. ‘It simply took me a while to work it out, that’s all.’
She hugged him, resting her head on his chest. For the first time in a long time, she felt contented. All her sharp edges had been smoothed and she liked this new improved version of her life.
