Cautiously she stepped out into the sunshine. Such a beautiful day. Nothing terrible could happen on a day like this. Except for the stink of sulfur in the air, everything seemed as it should be. For a moment she wondered if they'd imagined it all. God knew, they were all accustomed to military training exercises. You saw and heard them all the time in Hawaii. They'd even learned to recognize the white smoke from the practice ammunition. The smoke billowing over Pearl Harbor was iron grey.
She ran toward the road, scratching her legs on bramble bushes and catching her hair on overhanging branches of the banyan tree. Once she stumbled and nearly fell but somehow she recovered her balance and kept running. The sound of the truck was getting closer. She couldn't miss it. It might be their last chance for rescue for who knew how long. Scrambling across the sandy shoulder, she stepped out onto the road as an ambulance rounded the bend.
"Stop!! Stop, please!"
The ambulance skidded to a halt a few feet in front of her.
"Geez, lady," said the driver, jumping out of the vehicle, "you tryin' to kill yourself or something?"
"I'm Eden Forrester. My sister in law just gave birth. We need help."
He squinted at her through watery eyes. "Couldn't you pick a better place than this?"
"You were looking for me, weren't you?"
"You and about a thousand other people.” He motioned for his partner to join him. "Let's get crackin'."
She led them to the hideaway where Lilly and the baby waited.
"She's a Jap," said the driver's partner, staring at Lilly. "I ain't cartin' no Jap to the hospital."
The driver glared at Eden. "Nobody told me we were supposed to help a Jap."
A black rage enveloped Eden and it took every ounce of strength at her command to keep from knocking his teeth down his throat.
"That is Admiral Owen Forrester's daughter-in-law, Doctor Lilly Forrester. She is an American citizen. Her husband is a naval officer. That little baby is an American citizen.” She lowered her voice until it was loud enough for only the driver to hear. "Doctor Forrester is bleeding badly. If you don't help her right now, so help me God, I'll follow you to the ends of the earth."
The driver looked at Eden, then at Lilly, then back at Eden again. She was invincible. Didn't the man realize he had no choice but to give in? She didn't blink or turn away until she'd stared him down.
"All right," he said finally. "But there's no guarantee they'll touch her at the hospital. Japs ain't too high up on the list right now."
The two men placed Lilly and the baby on a stretcher and carried them back to the waiting ambulance. Eden held her breath as they stumbled over the same tree root that had nearly brought her down. Reflexively she reached for the baby just as they regained their equilibrium.
"How long ago she have the kid?" asked the driver.
"About two hours."
"She's bleedin' pretty bad.” He shook his head. "Not a good sign."
Eden seemed to hold her breath the entire ride to the hospital. She was so intent upon Lilly and the baby that she paid no attention to anything else around her. Vaguely she was aware of the driver and his partner talking about the telephones being down and the radio stations broadcasting emergency information but it all seemed to be happening in another dimension.
Finally the ambulance roared up the driveway toward the emergency room entrance. The driver and his partner leaped out, swung open the back gates, and unloaded Lilly and the baby. Eden jumped down, scraping her bare foot against a rock. Cursing softly, she hurried through the swinging doors after them just in time to see them deposit the stretcher on the floor and race back out past her.
She started to run after them and give them a piece of her mind when she stopped and took a good look at the scene around her. Dazed victims of the attack took every square inch of space in the emergency room. Old men with makeshift bandages, bloodstained and dirty, sat next to young mothers with terrified children huddled on their laps. One little boy held his arm at such a sickening angle that it could only mean a badly broken bone. Blood was everywhere, spurting from shrapnel wounds and glass cuts and anything else you could imagine. The worst, however, were the burn victims. A middle-aged woman lay across a stretcher near the window, her entire body covered in thick, viscous black oil that continued to burn through her skin.
"She been screamin' all mornin'," said a woman next to Eden, noting her horror. "She passed out a few minutes ago. Best thing.” The woman eyed Eden with open curiosity. "You don't look hurt."
"I'm not.” She started to gesture toward Lilly and the baby then caught herself. If the woman said one thing about Lilly being Japanese, Eden might find herself on trial for homicide. "Where can I find a nurse?"
The woman, apparently sensing imminent danger, pointed toward an archway on the left. "Over there."
Thank God the nurses didn't pass judgment.
"We'll take a look at them," said one grey-haired nurse. "Can't guarantee how long it'll take but don't worry, honey. We'll take good care of them. Go find yourself some place to sit outside and when we know something, we'll come get you."
An attendant whisked the mother and child through a set of swinging doors, leaving Eden alone in the anteroom with the ever-growing number of victims. She felt awkward standing there amidst so much pain, as if she were taking up space better used by another, and she stepped outside.
Another ambulance screeched to a halt at the top of the driveway and three little girls were carried swiftly into the emergency room followed by their distraught mother. A teenage boy in bathing trunks, his torso crisscrossed with bloody welts, climbed down from the back of the ambulance then swayed wildly on his feet.
"Hold on to me," said Eden, grabbing him by the waist.
"Dizzy," he muttered, head hanging to his chest. "A minute...."
"Come on," she said after he'd regained his balance. "I'll take you inside."
"No," he said, "I want to stand here a minute."
"Do you think you should? You just had a dizzy spell."
His eyes closed wearily, tears seeping from between the lids. "They're gone," he murmured. "All of them."
"Your family?"
His eyes opened and he looked at her strangely. "The ships."
She swallowed hard. "What ships?"
"What ships do you think? Battleship Row. They're gone."
She loosened her grip on the poor guy. "They evacuated?"
"Evacuated?” His laugh echoed all around them. "The Japs blasted 'em.” He started to cry brokenly. "The Arizona blew up...all those guys...I saw an arm flying--the guy was still holding a magazine...."
I don't want to hear this, she thought frantically. I don't want to know.
But he kept on talking, a torrent of words, of images, that would stay in her mind forever.
"Look over there," he said, pointing toward the hill. "They bombed Kaneohe, Wheeler Field, Schofield, Bellows...hell, they even blasted Fort Street."
"Oh, my God," she whispered. Not Fort Street where she and Rick had strolled hand-in-hand, admiring the Christmas lights and the Santa Claus clad in bright red shorts.
The ambulance attendants came back out with an intern who grabbed the boy and rushed him into the E.R. Eden stopped the driver as he was about to climb into his vehicle.
"How bad is it?" she managed, her voice high and tight.
"You got family at Pearl?"
She nodded.
The expression in his eyes spoke volumes. "Not much left of those boats but a lot of fire. The Arizona blew, the California is listing, the Pennsylvania--the whole lot is just about shot to hell.” The Lunalilo schools, the upper Nuuanu Valley, the sugar plantations where she and Rick had watched the barbaric splendor of the burning cane fields. Her knees started to give way and the driver caught her.
"You okay?” He peered into her eyes.
She nodded. "I just didn't know...."
The ambulance driver paused a moment to make certain she wasn't about to f
aint then raced off, sirens wailing. Rick and her father were somewhere out there in the middle of all that destruction. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of the danger they might be facing. The bombing had ended by the time Rick went to find help for Lilly and the baby. Surely nothing terrible could have happened to him. And as far as her father was concerned, he hadn't been anywhere near Battleship Row today. She would never say a bad word about golf again as long as she lived if only her father came home safe and sound.
#
Her confidence wavered as the day wore on. So many ambulances, so many horrible injuries and even more horrible stories about what had happened. And it was only the beginning, Eden realized. The war everyone had been talking about for months had finally found their island paradise. Pearl Harbor, the impenetrable fortress, had been breached and nothing would ever be the same again.
Around three in the afternoon, a nurse informed Eden that Lilly and the baby were doing just fine. The bleeding had been stopped by the placement of a few perineal stitches. "In fact, Doctor Lilly wants to help out. We're doing all we can to keep her in bed but I'm afraid it's going to be a losing battle."
In truth, they needed all the help they could get. The number of wounded civilians seeking care had grown tenfold since Eden arrived there that morning. She couldn't go home because there was no transportation and the roads were unsafe to travel alone since nobody knew exactly what was going on--or when the Japanese would decide to launch another attack. As evening approached the level of apprehension increased dramatically until Eden felt she had to do something or lose her mind. It wasn't right to sit there feeling sorry for herself when all around her so many people were suffering terribly.
Around six o'clock she grabbed the first nurse she saw. "Let me help you," she implored. "I'm not injured. There must be something I can do.” Anything that would keep her mind off the fact that she hadn't seen or heard from either her father or Rick. She couldn't stand there, hale and healthy, another second.
"Blood," said the nurse. "Would you donate?"
"Anything," said Eden.
"Follow me."
They disappeared through the double doors and the nurse whisked her into a long narrow room lined with cots. "Lie down and relax," the nurse said. "I'll be back in a minute."
Eden could lie down but she couldn't relax. "Lilly's fine," she said out loud. "The baby's fat and healthy. What on earth is wrong with you?” But she knew the answer. Until she saw the beloved faces of both Rick and her father, she wouldn't be able to do anything but worry.
#
At a little after 7 p.m. they took Rick into one of the few airplane hangars left standing at Pearl Harbor. He tried not to notice the double line of blanket-draped bodies but that was as impossible as ignoring the shattered, burning hulls of the once-mighty battleships outside.
He felt sick to his stomach as Admiral Shea and Lt. Commander Whitcomb led him toward a small office at the far end of the hangar. The minute they'd pulled him off rescue duty on the pier, he'd known something bad was in the air.
"This is going to be difficult, son," Shea said. "I--” He hesitated. Rick's stomach knotted even tighter. "I couldn't make a positive I.D. You were close to him. I felt you might be able to.”
Rick drew in a deep, shuddering breath. Shea gave a signal and Whitcomb gripped the corner of the blanket between thumb and forefinger and pulled it down.
"Yes," said Rick through gritted teeth. "That's him."
Turning, he made it outside before they could see him cry.
#
By evening, the hospital was filled to bursting with the injured and others who were looking for a safe haven in which to spend the night. After donating blood, Eden had been put to good use in the wards, comforting children, checking I.V. bottles, and seeing to it that all was as it should be. She had even been able to stop in and visit with Lilly a time or two and hold the baby.
She'd found herself taking comfort from the act of comforting others. It was a new experience for Eden. Much of her life she had spent being on the receiving end of life's blessings and it was nice to know she had the ability to give of herself. Six months ago she never would have believed it. She had performed her duties as a candy striper the way a child performed a piano recital: with a painful sense of obligation. She never tried to understand the patient's needs, or even that the patient was a human being with hopes and dreams just like her own.
Around ten o'clock the native Hawaiians on the hospital staff spied a lunar rainbow crossing the night sky. "The old people say it means victory," explained a young and pretty nurse as they stood by a window in the nurses' lounge.
Eden peered out at the strangely beautiful sight. Everything will be fine, she told herself for the thousandth time. Just wait. As soon as telephone service was allowed, she knew her father or Rick would call or they'd show up and--
An orderly poked his head in the door. "Is there an Eden Foster here?"
Her heart leaped into her throat. "Yes," she said, not bothering to correct his pronunciation. "Wh-what is it?"
"You got a visitor in the front," he said.
She flew through the hallway to find Rick standing by the admitting desk.
"Oh, Rick!” She burst into tears when she saw him. "You're alive! Oh God....” She threw herself into his arms, eager for the smell and feel of him.
"Eden.” The sound of his voice told her everything.
"Oh no," she said, backing away from him, wishing she could find the words to make the nightmare disappear. "Don't say it...please don't say it...."
He reached for her hands and she saw her own pain reflected in his eyes.
"Daddy?" she whispered.
He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. He pulled her into his arms and let her cry for her father who wouldn't be coming back.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Owen Forrester was laid to rest with full military honors. There were so many funerals that week that services were sometimes painfully brief, although heartfelt. Two thousand four hundred and three servicemen had died along with Owen on that terrible Sunday morning, although for Eden that one death was the saddest of them all.
"Owen died a hero," said the chaplain, his tired face chiseled with sorrow. "A young man lives now because of his brave actions.” He looked over at the front pew where Eden and Rick sat with Tony and Lilly and the baby. "You can all take much comfort from the fact that your father and friend gave his life to save another."
Eden cried softly but she held her head high. Pride mingled with an inexpressible sense of loss. Owen had always been larger than life. Not even death had changed that fact.
The story of his heroic death had travelled from one side of Pearl Harbor to the other, whispered in hushed tones by admirals and sailors alike.
It seemed he'd barely reached the second tee at the golf course when Owen realized the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor. Not wanting to risk being such a plain target, he'd ditched the Oldsmobile and started for the base on foot. Along the way he'd encountered a young sailor trying to make his way back as well. A stray enemy plane had made a low dive, taunting them, tipping its wings to display the Rising Sun.
Owen had yelled for the kid to head for the bushes a few yards ahead but the kid had been frozen with fear. And so her father did the only thing a man like he would do under the circumstances: he threw the young man to the ground and covered his body with his own.
Next to her Rick looked dazed with shock. His lean face was etched with fatigue from the endless days and nights fighting fires and helping to make sense of the rubble that had been the United States Pacific Fleet. A deep sadness shadowed his eyes. She clutched the St. Christopher medal Rick had found in Owen's hand when he'd identified the body. He'd both loved and respected her father and that fact made her feel closer to him than ever before.
They buried Owen Forrester in the Punchbowl Crater with other brave men who had given their lives
for their country.
And, as was the case so often, death and life were inexorably intertwined. Three hours after they said goodbye to Owen, they returned to the chapel for the christening of Patricia Eden Forrester, named in honor of her godparents, Rick and Eden.
The baby cried lustily as the chaplain poured the holy water on her forehead and for the first time in days they all laughed out loud. It helped to know that a part of Owen would live on forever in that precious little girl.
The hardest thing of all, however, was knowing how to return to normal when you no longer knew exactly what normal meant. How could anything ever be normal again with Owen gone? The first two weeks were terrible for all concerned. Mali cried while she cooked and cleaned. Rick threw himself even more deeply into the rebuilding of Pearl Harbor, working himself into a state of near-exhaustion. Eden found sleep difficult to come by, while Lilly's sleep was plagued with nightmares that not even Tony could make disappear.
Despite everything there was still so much to be thankful for. How Owen would have loved his first grandchild. Baby Patricia’s existence was a miracle. And then there was the new respect and affection between Eden and Lilly. The two young women had forged a strong foundation for a lasting friendship the day Patricia came into the world and both vowed that neither time nor distance would weaken their bond.
The days of lunches at the Windward Club and madcap shopping trips were gone and unlamented. Eden found that her old way of life no longer fit the woman she had become. It was impossible to sit home and mourn her father when all around her there were other people in need.
When she showed up at the naval hospital in her almost-new candy striper uniform, the supervising nurse hadn't batted an eye, although Eden wouldn't have blamed her if the nurse had laughed in her face. Her track record as a volunteer was nothing to be proud of. That had never mattered before, but suddenly it mattered a great deal.
Where or When: A Pearl Harbor Romance Page 20