Battle Hymns

by Cara Langston

  “After everything you’d been through, you think I was going to scrap it? You’d gone off to war. It was the least I could do for you.” Leon shrugged. “In fact, you can continue keeping it here at no charge.”

  Will frowned. “I can’t let you do that. You could make good money renting out this space. Listen, I’m going to pay you for it until I fly the plane down to D.C. I still have to find arrangements in the area so it might not be until the fall.”

  “You’re moving to D.C., huh? Well that’s too bad for me, but I wish you all the best.” Leon patted Will on the back. “Say, you should take her out since you came all this way. Today’s a perfect day for flying. Great wind speed and visibility.”

  Charlotte glanced to Will. “What about the crosswinds?”

  “We don’t have enough time,” Will said, avoiding her stare.

  Why would Will lie to her?

  Not wanting to discuss it in the presence of company, she smiled at Leon instead. “Unfortunately, he’s right. We have dinner reservations.”

  Some of the tension eased in Will’s face. “Let’s go ahead and settle the financial arrangements. Then Charlotte and I will scram.”

  While the men discussed business, Charlotte explored the hangar. But as much as she tried to busy herself, she couldn’t shake Will’s lie from her mind.

  Twenty-Eight

  Once provisions had been made for Will’s airplane, they said farewell to Leon and returned to the train station. Unlike their previous trip, only an hour passed before they arrived at Grand Central Station in the heart of Manhattan. The first place Charlotte wanted to visit was the Empire State Building, the tallest skyscraper in the world.

  “We should change the plot of Love Affair,” she declared as she beheld the view of lower Manhattan from the observation deck. “I’ll pretend to be Irene Dunne, except I won’t get run over by a car.”

  Will poked his head over the railing and looked down. “I haven’t seen it.”

  “It’s romantic. Lovers promise they’ll reunite at the top of the Empire State Building. The man waits for the woman, but she’s struck by a car on her way across the street.”

  “That sounds tragic, not romantic.”

  “They’re together in the end. That’s all that matters.”

  Will leaned further over the railing.

  “Please be careful,” Charlotte said.

  He chuckled and readjusted his hat. “Am I making you nervous?”

  “It’s a long way to the bottom.”

  Will gave her a boastful grin. “I’ve been higher.”

  She rolled her eyes. “First you’re an artist, now you’re a daredevil. I’m learning all sorts of new things about you today.”

  “Hopefully they’re all good things.” Will backed away from the railing. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Sure. I don’t like being this far from the ground, although I’m glad we did it. It’s quite a view.”

  Back on street level, Charlotte looped her arm through Will’s for their stroll through Midtown. Having grown up in Washington, D.C., she was no stranger to metropolitan areas, but the capital paled in comparison to the buildings and lights of Manhattan. The size of the city was nearly overwhelming, and she was glad Will knew where they were going.

  “Are there any other places you want to visit?” he asked.

  “Many.” She counted off the attractions with her fingers. “The Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Chrysler Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square . . . Need I go on?”

  Will laughed. “You’ve made your point. We’ll have to visit again sometime.”

  “For longer than one day?”

  “If you’d like. However, your parents would surely disapprove of you spending the night with me.” He grimaced. “Sorry. Was that too forward? I’m not presuming anything, I promise.”

  Charlotte blushed. She was unaccustomed to such talk. Still, the notion excited her. “No, it’s fine. My parents would certainly disapprove. Though, they don’t have to know everything.” She smiled teasingly.

  Her heart fluttered as she waited for Will’s response. Unfortunately, he averted his gaze and escorted her to the curb. “Let’s take a cab to the restaurant. I think I’ve handled as much walking as I can for today.”

  Charlotte exhaled a shaky breath, hoping to hide her disappointment. “Of course.”

  The restaurant was a ritzy nightclub off Madison Avenue with a four-piece band, crystal chandeliers, and patrons dressed in suits, gowns, and furs. Even though Charlotte and Will were having an early dinner in order to catch the evening train, the establishment was packed. She felt underdressed in her navy blue cotton dress, but Will didn’t seem to care about their attire, so neither would she.

  They ordered martinis and listened to the band until their drinks arrived.

  Charlotte leaned forward so Will could hear her over the music. “Have you been here before?”

  “No. It only opened last year. There was a feature in the newspaper a few months ago when Frank Sinatra performed here. It said it’s the best food on the East Coast.”

  She lifted her martini glass. “And you thought you’d love to take me here.”

  He grinned. “Maybe I did. Or, perhaps I’m compensating for months spent in the hospital with terrible food.” He picked up the menu. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m finally having a steak.”

  An hour later, the bill was settled. The meal was the best Charlotte had eaten in a long time, on account of the country’s food rationing. She was sure Will paid handsomely for the privilege.

  While Will finished the last of his second martini, she eyed the couples on the dance floor. She didn’t know if he was a dancer or not. She hoped he was.

  “Let’s dance.”

  He glanced at his watch and placed his napkin onto the table. “All right, but we don’t have much time. Our train leaves in an hour.”

  She stood and took his hand. “That’s plenty of time.”

  Will led her to the dance floor as the slow tempo of “Moonlight Cocktail” began. He placed a hand on the small of her back and stepped forward into the foxtrot. He was a decent dancer; a little rusty, but skilled enough that she was able to avert her attention from her own steps.

  Nine months ago, Charlotte never would’ve imagined this day. Back then, she was engaged to Nick, and Will was bedridden in the hospital, covered with bandages and not talking. Much had changed since. Will had taken great strides in his recovery. Yet in many ways, he was still the patient who trembled at a crashing bedpan.

  “Are you afraid?” Charlotte whispered.

  Will frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s a reason you didn’t want to take out your plane this afternoon, and it wasn’t the crosswinds or the time, was it?”

  His jaw tensed. “I’m sorry for lying to you about that.”

  “I want you to be able to tell me what you’re feeling.” She sighed. “You haven’t flown a plane since your crash. It’d be completely understandable if you were reluctant after what happened. And combined with your nightmares . . .”

  Will stopped dancing and dropped his arms to his sides. An unmistakable pain dimmed his features. “Do you know what it’s like to be terrified of something you used to love?”

  Charlotte’s eyes grew misty. She placed a hand to his cheek. “It may take some time, but everything’s going to work out.”

  Will’s lips lifted into a halfhearted smile. He kissed her wrist and then took her hand. “Let’s go home.”

  They hailed a cab to Grand Central Station. Will was lost in his thoughts, and they barely spoke a word to each other. Charlotte caught her last glimpses of Midtown Manhattan as she followed him through the station to the platform to catch the seven o’clock train to Washington, D.C.

  “Apparently not many people travel on a Sunday night,” Will commented as they entered the passenger car. A group of sailors carried on in the back, while a young woman with a sle
eping baby sat toward the front. Otherwise, the car was empty.

  “We should see if any of the private compartments are open,” said Charlotte.

  “All right.” He gestured for her to take the lead. “After you.”

  Will followed her through the vestibules between train cars until they reached the first compartment car. She peered through the small windows on the doors. There were plenty of unoccupied compartments.

  “I was wrong about you,” Will said as he settled next to her. He extended his long legs and leaned back. “You’re not afraid of getting into trouble.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen? If we get caught without the correct ticket, we’ll return to the passenger car. Besides, we never have any alone time.”

  The whistle sounded and the train began its crawl out of the station.

  Will sat up. “I need to ask you something. Do you tell people about me?”

  Her cheeks heated. She fiddled with the clasp on her pocketbook. “What do you mean by ‘people’?”

  “Your friends . . . your parents?”

  “Well, Natalie knows all about you.”

  “But you have more friends than Natalie. Where do your parents think you are right now?”

  Charlotte closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see his reaction. “They think I’m with my friend Sandra.” The words tumbled from quivering lips. “They don’t know I’ve been seeing you. In fact, I haven’t mentioned you at all since you came for dinner in April.”

  Will’s warm hand touched her knee. “Darling, open your eyes. I’m not angry, though I would like to know your reasoning.”

  She met his gaze and drew in a deep breath. “When I started falling for you, it’d only been a few months since Nick died. Do you know how that would’ve looked? When more time passed, I wondered, what if this doesn’t work out? What if you came to the conclusion that I was the only reason you were in D.C., and I wasn’t a good enough reason for you to stay long term? Then, as soon as everyone stopped feeling sorry for me about Nick, they’d start feeling sorry for me for being jilted. I can’t go through that again. I can’t have my heart broken again.”

  “You won’t have to.” Will looked at her in earnest. “I’m in love with you, Charlotte, and I have been for quite some time. You know that, right?”

  She blinked back tears. “Yes, I know. And I’m in love with you.”

  Will slid closer and lifted her chin. He kissed her, his lips parting hers with the slight taste of gin and fervor far greater than anything he’d shared with her previously.

  Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything she had, her body surging with longing. It’d been so long since she’d been kissed with such passion. It felt as though she were laying her soul bare to him. The notion of what this meant for them and their future together was exhilarating.

  And utterly terrifying.

  Twenty-Nine

  As much as Charlotte dreaded the admission of her deception, it was well past time to tell her friends and family about her relationship with Will. She cared deeply for him, and she wanted their relationship to progress without secrets or any other obstacles enabled by her insecurities.

  She waited until her girlfriends returned for their final year at Trinity College in September. Over lunch at the dining hall she told Sandra and Evelyn as nonchalantly as possible that she’d been seeing a man over the summer. Their initial reactions were disbelief and uncertainty, but they came around to the idea after Natalie explained that Charlotte nursed him back to health at the hospital. Since then, Sandra had asked, on numerous occasions, for a double date with her and Frankie.

  Sharing the news with her parents proved more problematic. She had lied to them all summer whenever she was out with Will, pretending she was meeting one of her girlfriends or volunteering at the hospital. As expected, her mother was suspicious when she finally announced she’d been seeing him. However, her parents had liked Will ever since he’d joined them for dinner in the spring, and they expressed their happiness—and relief—that she’d moved on after Nick’s passing.

  Her parents also wanted to meet Will again, yet Charlotte made excuses each time, both to them and Sandra. She and Will still only saw each other on Sunday afternoons, and she wanted to spend her time with him alone, not sharing him with others.

  Their usual dates consisted of seeing new films or the occasional dinner and dancing. All were in front of the watchful eyes of the public. In Natalie’s words, their dates lacked the best part of dating: time alone together. Charlotte wanted some privacy with Will, and this weekend, she’d planned their date with exactly that in mind.

  The last few days of summer were upon them, and the weather was remarkably warm and sunny for late September. On Sunday afternoon, she borrowed her mother’s convertible, folded down the roof, and drove to Georgetown to pick up Will. She parked the Cadillac in front of a brick row house on O Street and honked the horn in two quick blasts.

  The front door opened, and Will stepped out. She waved as he strode to the car. He opened the door and sat in the passenger seat.

  “Good afternoon, darling,” he said as he closed the gap between them. Their lips met briefly.

  Charlotte smiled. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.”

  She drove east. “Did you bring your swimsuit?”

  Will held up the small bag he brought with him. “It’s in here. Are you going to tell me why I need it?”

  “We’re going on a little trip. I’ve saved up some gas coupons, and my mother agreed to lend me her car. It’s important to take advantage of the weather before it gets cold.”

  Will pulled a pair of sunglasses from his shirt pocket and put them on. He relaxed into the seat while the breeze ruffled his dark hair. “I’ll let you surprise me then.”

  They passed through downtown D.C. and crossed into Maryland. Once they were out of the metro area, Charlotte headed south toward the Chesapeake Bay. She hadn’t been to the beach there in over two years. She and Nick had made the trip the summer before the war, and according to one of his letters, it was there he decided he wanted to marry her. She was uneasy about revisiting it with Will, but she couldn’t memorialize every place she’d been with Nick. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to visit half of the restaurants, dance halls, and attractions in Washington, D.C. There were new memories to be made.

  Almost two hours after leaving Georgetown, they passed the welcome sign into the town of Chesapeake Beach, population 1,866.

  Charlotte drove slowly down the main street that ran parallel to the shore, past numerous shops, diners, and the boardwalk. She and Will weren’t the only ones enjoying the last of the warm weather. She braked as groups of youths and families in their swimwear crossed the street to the beach. They eventually made it past the crowded, pedestrian area and continued south.

  Will jutted his thumb backward. “I think you passed it.”

  She shook her head. “The boardwalk is fun, but that’s not where we’re going.”

  When they approached the outskirts of town, she veered off the main road. The car jostled them as they traversed the unpaved road. She maneuvered the car through the overgrown brush and foliage. Finally, the road dead-ended onto a secluded beach. The bay water was bright blue, only a shade or two deeper than the sky above. The water gently lapped at the sand, and the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay was a dark sliver on the horizon.

  Charlotte turned off the car. She removed her sunglasses, kicked off her shoes, and pulled the scarf from her hair. When she stepped out, she dug her toes into the warm sand. Stretching her arms above her head, she closed her eyes and tipped her chin up toward the sun.

  The passenger door slammed shut. Will stood next to the car, his hands stuffed in his trouser pockets. A bemused smile played upon his lips. “I take it we’re going swimming?”

  She giggled. “Why else would I ask you to bring your swimsuit?” She walked around to the back of the car and opene
d the trunk. She pulled out two towels and her yellow swimsuit and set them upon the hood. “Will you be my lookout?”

  Will’s brow lifted. “Your lookout for what?”

  Her cheeks grew rosy. “Well, there’s nowhere to change. I need you to make sure no one drives down here while I’m undressed . . . if that’s all right with you.”

  “Sure. We wouldn’t want anyone else to see.” He took several steps up the road and stopped with his back to Charlotte. “The coast is clear so far.”

  Keeping her eyes on Will, she changed into her two-piece swimsuit. “All done.”

  Even though sunglasses hid his eyes, she felt them on her body when he turned around. He approached her and kissed her lightly, one hand grazing the bare skin of her torso. “Will you return the favor?”

  Charlotte sighed. She yearned to be nearer to him, not further away. “I guess it’s only fair.” She turned and moseyed a few paces up the road. She waited with her hands on her waist, staring at the coastal foliage. “All I see are trees and bushes.”

  “Good. No peeking.”

  The corner of her lips twitched at his teasing. “Did you peek when I was changing?”

  Will chuckled. “Absolutely not. I’m a gentleman.”

  “I know.”

  “Would you rather I weren’t?”

  “No.” Charlotte bowed her head and focused on the sand between her toes. She was glad she didn’t have to look into his eyes. It was easier to speak her mind. “But you don’t have to be so proper all the time, especially when it’s just the two of us.” She drew her lip between her teeth. “You know, I’m not as innocent as you might think.”

  She waited for a response. Aside from the sounds of the water and the chirping birds, all was silent. She tapped her foot as she waited for confirmation that he’d changed into his swimsuit. Not wanting to rush him, she counted to twenty.

  “Can I turn around now?”