And when he smiled? He lit up the room.
“Where will you be stationed?”
“Our eventual destination is Pearl Harbor, in Honolulu, Hawaii.”
The room felt like it tipped on its side, and I had to reach for something to steady me. “Pearl Harbor?” I whispered.
He watched me, nodding slowly as he frowned.
He couldn’t go to Pearl Harbor. It would be the site of one of the most devastating moments in American history—and he’d be in the very midst of it.
But what could I say or do to stop him? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“I’ve asked for Nurse Daly to join me,” he said, “as my Chief of Nurses. She’ll be putting together a team of eleven nurses to join her.” He paused. “I’ve requested that you be one of them.”
“Me?” I felt the air leave my lungs. “I can’t go to Pearl Harbor.”
“If this is about your sister, we can have her transferred there as well. I think you’d like Hawaii. It’s a magnificent island in the Pacific Ocean. There’s nothing else quite like it.”
“Why me?” I asked. “I’ve only just started—I’m not even twenty-one, as you’ve pointed out. Surely you’d want someone with more experience.”
“You know there’s no one else like you.”
I stared at him, wondering if he realized what he’d just said. “I thought you said there were many good reasons to keep me at a distance.”
He was quiet again. When he finally spoke, his voice was lower than normal. “Perhaps there are a lot more reasons to keep you close.”
The look in his eyes was so intense, I had to remember to breathe.
Was it smart to go to Pearl Harbor? Not only because of what I knew would happen, but especially because of what Ididn’tknow.
“I’ll speak to Anna,” I finally said. “When do you need our answer?”
“A few days, at most.”
“I’ll let you know by Friday.”
The door opened, and another nurse entered, her arms full of linens. She didn’t seem to notice the tension in the room as she set down the towels and began to separate them.
Dr. Philips met my gaze one last time before he went back to his work. He would not pressure me to come, but just knowing he wanted me there was an honor.
At least this would give me something to focus on today so I didn’t have to worry about 1861.
“You told him we would go, right?” Anna held a tray as she walked through the cafeteria. “How many people are sent to Hawaii on the government’s tab? It would be like a dream vacation!”
A nightmare was more like it.
“But it’s so far away,” I reminded her. “And I’ll have to make my final decision while we’re there. I won’t get to say good-bye to Mama and Daddy if I don’t choose 1941.”
“Then let’s ask for leave and go see them now, before we go to New York.”
I couldn’t deny that I wanted to see Mama and Daddy again. We’d been writing and had called a few times, but there was something special about being back in Williamsburg.
“Teddy is visiting,” Anna said. “We could spend the night and then return the next day. I’m sure we could get leave.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell Anna what would happen at Pearl Harbor, and it was probably for the best. If she knew, she could inadvertently change history, and I would be to blame.
It was already hard enough not knowing if I had forfeited 1861.
