“I’m supposed to meet Wesley for supper.” She bit the pink flesh of her lower lip. “Maybe you could meet up with us and have some dessert.”
“You go ahead. By that time, I’ll probably just want to go home anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
No, but it had to be this way, at least until those determined to send her to Germany were out of the way. “Go. Have fun with your fiancé.”
“Edie?”
She looked toward the masculine voice coming from the doorway. She’d been so deep in conversation with Maggie, she hadn’t noticed her boss, Abner Ellerbee, walking toward them. “Yes, Mr. Ellerbee.”
The older man stopped in front of her desk, his head and shoulders peering out over the angled desk top. “Maggie.”
“Mr. Ellerbee,” Maggie acknowledged, then turned back to Edie. “I’d better scoot. See you this evening back at Merrilee’s.”
Edie nodded. “You guys have a good time.”
Maggie made her way across the room. Only when the door clicked shut did Mr. Ellerbee turn to face her. “How is everything going with the new job?”
“Very well, sir,” Edie answered, unable to keep a smile from forming. Every day in the drafting department felt like a blessing.
“Anyone giving you a hard time?”
She understood his concerns. Some of the men hadn’t taken too kindly to a woman doing what was generally thought of as a man’s job, but she wasn’t about to complain. “No, sir. In fact, I never worked with such a nice bunch of guys.”
“Good.” The older man’s lips turned slightly upward into one of his rare smiles. “You’re a hard worker, detailed and meticulous. Which is why I brought you this.” Mr. Ellerbee held out a manila envelope. “The War Department sent me these this morning and asked me to put my best team on it. I’d like you to lead the group.”
Edie didn’t know how to feel. Thrilled out of her mind, of course. After all, this was what she had been working toward her entire career. But there was a thread of terror running through her, too. What if her father and the group of thugs he associated with found out she was working on the plans for the Super Fortress? Would they step up their efforts to find her and send her to Berlin? “Are you sure I’m the right person for the job, sir?”
“We knew what we were getting when we hired you, Edie. Your work speaks for itself.” The soft smile he gave her reminded her of her father. “And we know how far you’ve gone to prove your loyalty to our country.”
She nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will.” He dropped the envelope on her desk. “If you have any questions, just come by my office and I’ll see if I can answer them.”
“Yes, sir.”
Edie waited until he’d left to pick up the envelope and tear open the seal. Mr. Ellerbee had always had so much faith in her—Maggie and Merrilee, too. If only she could believe everything would work out in the end. A verse Merrilee had read during one of their nightly devotionals quietly stole across her thoughts.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Edie extracted the document and studied it. She knew the verse to be true, but sometimes, in the inky darkness of her bedroom, she found herself wondering if God would give someone like her the strength she needed to get through this war.
Or had God turned his back on the Germans, too?
Pushing her thoughts to the side, Edie reached for her pencil. Too bad she’d already promised Dr. Lovinggood she’d be at the hospital today. From the looks of things, she’d have to cut her shift at the hospital short just so she could come back later tonight to get a jump on this new project. She pulled out a sheet of paper and began making notes.
* * *
“I don’t want a shot!”
A set of bright, fevered eyes stared up at Edie as she clasped the little girl’s hand between hers. “I know, sweetheart, but let’s wait and see what the doctor has to say, okay?”
Dr. Lovinggood linked his stethoscope around his neck. “Have we got a free bathtub right now?”
“I’m sure I can find one.”
“Good.” The man rolled up his shirtsleeves as he walked over to the sink. “We’ve got to get her cooled down as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Before you go, I have some swabs over there on the countertop that need to go down to the lab.” Lovinggood turned on the spigot and shoved his hands under the water. “Tell the lab assistant I want to see it once they’ve got the slides ready.”
“Yes, sir.” Edie stood back, her pencil flying over the paper, writing down instructions as Lovinggood barked them off like a general commanding his troops. No please or thank-you to anyone. Just more work.
When the lock on the door clicked shut behind the doctor, the girl turned to Edie. “He scares me.”
“You want to know a secret?” Pocketing the instructions, she leaned close and pushed a piece of damp hair out of the child’s face. “He scares me sometimes, too.”
The child broke out in a smile despite her discomfort.
“Ready?” Edie gathered her up in her arms, concern racing through her at the warmth coming off the girl’s fragile body. “I’m going to go get your momma, okay?”
The child gave her a slight nod.
Edie set the girl down gently, grabbed the swabs on the countertop behind her and turned toward the door. “I’ll be right back, pumpkin.”
She slipped into the hallway, her stomach churning like the propellers of a Super Fortress ready to fly at full speed. It had been the same in all three children admitted through the emergency room today—high fever, muscle weakness—and with this heat. She didn’t like the diagnosis she kept coming back to. Polio.
“What are you doing here?”
Edie snapped her head toward the familiar male voice. How was it that she’d known Beau Daniels less than twenty four hours yet knew the cadence of his voice? “I could be asking you the same question.”
“I’m here for an interview with Dr. Lovinggood.” He fiddled with his tie, making it even more crooked than before. “One of the nurses told me he was up here.”
“I haven’t seen him in the last few minutes.” She couldn’t let him meet the doctor looking like that. Edie reached out and gently tugged him by the blue silk of his tie. “Come here.”
He stretched his head back, giving her room to work. “I thought I’d done a pretty good job with it.”
“Only if you were looking in the mirror cockeyed.”
His laughter brushed against the backs of her fingers as she adjusted the knot. “I was supposed to keep my eyes open?”
Edie bit her lower lip. He really could be funny when he wanted to be. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to do your own tie?”
“Never needed to working with the Civil Conservation Corp.” He lifted his head again, but this time she felt his gaze following her. “By the time I got out of basic training, the army was shipping us out. Only use any of us had for a tie was as a tourniquet.”
Edie gave the scrap of silk one last tug, her throat closing up at the thought of Beau or anyone else lying in a field somewhere with only a piece of fabric between them and death. She pressed her fingers gently against the silky knot at his throat. “Well, every man needs to learn how to tie a Windsor knot.”
“Maybe you could teach me?”
Edie’s midsection fluttered. If she had any sense at all, she’d step back from him, give herself a little room to think but her feet felt glued to the floor. “I’m sure Merrilee can help you.”
“She’s as out of practice as I am.”
Beau was probably right. But Edie couldn’t chance being that close. She was more than a little attracted to him and worried that the more time she spent getting to know him, the more difficult it would be when he learned the truth about her. “If you don’t ask her, it may hurt Merrilee’s feelings.”
His brow furrowed into a straight line. “I don’t want to do that.”
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Why did his concern for his aunt’s feelings only make her like him even more? She had to get away from him. Edie headed toward the stairwell. “I’ll see you later.”
“Wait a minute,” he called out, catching up to her in two long strides. “Where are you going?”
Why wouldn’t he let her get back to work? So she could fill her mind with cheering up patients or running errands for Dr. Lovinggood, not wondering about the effect Beau Daniels had on her. “I was on my way down to the laboratory.”
He held open the door for her. “Mind if I walk with you? Maybe we’ll run into Lovinggood downstairs.”
Oh, right, Beau’s interview. A vague sense of disappointment flowed through her. What was she thinking? Of course, he was looking for the doctor. Why else would he want to walk with her? “Sure.”
The door had barely shut behind them when a swish of stiff cotton turned her attention to the woman in white hurrying toward them. It was her friend, Gertie, a nurse from the Negro floor.
“What’s got you running like a house on fire?” Beau asked, the corner of his mouth pulled up into a crooked smile.
Gertie’s smooth brow wrinkled in confusion. “Beau? You’re back home?”
Beau nodded beside Edie. “Came back last night.”
Her friend’s face lit up in a sudden smile. “I’m so glad.”
Beau returned her smile with one of his own. “How’s your mom and dad?”
“About the same. Daddy’s driving the bus for the bomber plant and Momma still works for the Hendersons.”
“I figured your momma would have quit Old Lady Henderson before now.”
“A person’s got to work.”
Edie realized that Beau didn’t just have a passing acquaintance with Gertie and her family, but an intimate friendship. But how? Edie spoke before she realized what she was doing. “How do you two know each other?”
“Beau and my brother George used to get into trouble when they were kids.”
Beau leaned toward her, his breath warming her cheek. “We were friends.”
Edie nodded, not quite sure what to make of this information. One thing she’d learned in the year since moving to Marietta was that whites and Negroes could be friendly to each other, but not friends. She stole a glance at Beau. But this man had bucked the norm, going against everything his society deemed proper and right.
Beau spoke before she had a chance to think any further. “So what’s the rush?”
Gertie drew in a deep breath then blew it out before looking at Edie. “When was the last time you gave blood?”
Edie frowned. When one of the nurses asked that question, someone usually needed a transfusion. “Who?”
“One of the soldiers that just transferred in from Crawford Long is hemorrhaging pretty bad. He needs a couple of units and we’ve only got one.”
Beau pressed his lips into a straight line. “Have you checked the floor’s records to see who you could call that has the same blood type?”
Gertie nodded her head in disgust. “I’ve called the ones who have phones but so far, no one wants to donate right now. I’m writing up a letter and sending it out with my pastor. Maybe he can round somebody up.”
“Why not call the other people on the list?” Edie met the young woman’s gaze.
Gertie exchanged a look with Beau before turning back to Edie. “Most white folks around here don’t like the idea of donating blood to a Negro.”
“But that’s silly. I mean, what does one thing have to do with another?”
“Dr. Lovinggood strikes me as the kind of doctor who wouldn’t like to lose his job,” Beau interjected with a sense of authority. “And I’m betting that there’s a policy in place that restricts the use of blood from a white person in Negroes.” He glanced at Gertie. “Am I right?”
Gertie’s dark eyes met hers. “Beau’s right. It’s against hospital policy.”
Edie stretched her neck to the side. Stupid rule. From her reading on the subject, there appeared to be absolutely no sense behind such policy, only fear. She slid a sideways glance at Beau. The man puzzled her. He had gone against every social confine to be friends with Gertie’s brother, yet now, stands silent against a rule that puts lives in jeopardy. Edie turned to Gertie. “Come on, Gertie. We’ve got to scrounge up some help for your patient.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Talk to the people in the lab. See if they have any ideas that could help.” When Edie glanced back at Beau, his expression spoke of suspicion and concern. She braced herself against further questions. “I hope everything goes well with your interview.”
Beau grimaced, then turned to Gertie. “Don't do anything foolish.” He glanced at the door, then back at them. “I need to find Dr. Lovinggood. I don’t want to lose this job before I’ve even been offered it.”
His quick steps echoed against the cinder blocks as he walked to the door. With the click of the door opening, he was gone.
Probably best this way. Beau wouldn’t approve of her next move, not that she should care. It had been only a few days since her last donation to the blood bank. To give again so soon would leave her feeling weak for the next few days, maybe a week, but what was that compared to the service this young man had done for their country?
“We don’t have to look any further for a donor.” Edie pushed away from the wall. “I’ll do it.”
Gertie’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure about this? I can always send messengers out to the Negro communities until someone steps forward to help out.”
But that would take time, time this young man might not have. Edie shook her head. “Why do that when I’m right here?”
The way Gertie glanced up and down the hall, you’d think she was on the lookout for German spies. “You can’t breathe a word of this to Dr. Lovinggood.”
“What would he do anyway, fire me? I’m a volunteer.” Edie chuckled. She might like Robert Lovinggood—he was a decent doctor—but he had some issues that disturbed Edie. Like the way he shied away from the Negro patients who came to the hospital, assigning their care to the nurses and only looking in on them when pushed to do so.
“Well, as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Threading her arm through Gertie’s, Edie glanced at her coconspirator. “Then let’s get these specimens to the lab and get this transfusion done before Dr. Lovinggood has a chance to find out.”
Chapter Five
“So you served as a medic?” Dr. Robert Lovinggood asked, leaning back in his chair, studying Beau over the wired rims of his reading glasses like he was a germ under the microscope. “I can’t say I’m not surprised.”
Beau chuckled, his ankle crossed over the top of his knee. “Well, you and me both. Most folks figured I’d be in jail by now.”
“You were a wild kid, always into something.” The man tsked, shaking his head. “Just like that daddy of yours.”
Heat raced through his veins. Beau needed this job, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to grovel just to get it. “No denying I was a handful, sir.”
“Then running off just like your mother.” The man tsked again. “My patients need dependable care.”
Beau mashed his lips together. God may have forgiven him, but obviously there were still those in town who felt the need to judge him. “I’m not like my parents, sir.”
“Why do you say that, son?”
“Because I chose not to be like him.”
The man straightened, his eyes bright with what Beau thought looked like respect. “Good to know. You’re going to need that strength, especially with your father’s trial coming up. But then, I figure with what you’ve already had to deal with over in Germany, James’s legal issues shouldn’t be much of a problem.” Lovinggood sat back again. “So what can I do to help?”
“Well,” Beau started, “I’m looking for a job. A position that will allow me to work and maybe squeeze in some college classes.”
“Classes?”
Beau felt like a schoolboy, saying the words out loud to this respected man. “I’d kind of like to get a degree, eventually go to medical school or something.”
“Hmm.” Dr. Lovinggood seemed to ponder that statement for a moment. For a brief second, Beau thought the doctor might turn him away. “I could use someone to help the nurses. The army’s taken to shipping injured soldiers to us if they have family in any of the nearby towns. I can’t offer you much pay, but I’ll be happy to write you a recommendation for school when the time comes.”
Relief flooded through Beau. He hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted this job. “Thank you, sir. All I want is the opportunity to learn.”
Laughter echoed through the tiny office. “Oh, you’ll learn all right. Nurse Arnold may be older, but she’s tougher than anything the United States Army could ever throw at you. If you listen to her, she’ll teach you quite a bit.”
Beau smiled, a feeling of purpose seeping through his veins. “Sounds like just the person I want to work with. When can I get started?”
“How about tomorrow morning?” The doctor pulled open his desk drawer. “Unless you have time to fill out some paperwork now?”
“Yes, sir,” Beau answered, raising his hand to the silk knot at his neck before skimming his fingers down the length of his tie, Edie Michaels’s face suddenly flashing into focus, remembering the touch of her fingers at his neck, the scent of warm vanilla floating around him.
Beau frowned. He didn’t have time for this attraction to the beautiful Ms. Michaels, not when his concern was protecting his family.
A woman, her nursing cap teetering on the back of her head like a white flag of surrender, peeked around the door. She glanced first at Beau before focusing her attention on Lovinggood. “Doctor, we have a situation in the emergency room that needs your attention immediately.”
“Be right there.” The doctor stood and made his way around the desk. “It’s as good a time as any to introduce you to everyone. That is, if you’re not too busy.”
“I’m free all evening.” Beau pushed himself out of his chair. Maybe he’d catch up with Edie again. Find out how the search for a blood donor had panned out.
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