Saving Grace: A Novel (Healing Ruby Book 3)

by Jennifer H. Westall

  “Hi yourself,” I said. I slid a bill over to the bartender. “Let me get that for you.”

  “I haven’t seen you in here before,” she said. “You just get off the boat?”

  “That’s about the way of things. How long have you been here?”

  “Oh, about nine months. Where ya from?”

  “Alabama. You?”

  She smiled and took a long sip of her drink before answering. “Tennessee. Up around Nashville.”

  “Well, we’re just about neighbors then. I knew I recognized your accent. I almost moved to Nashville once myself.”

  “Honey, you didn’t miss out on anything, trust me. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”

  “I know what you mean.” I downed the rest of my beer and stood, tired of yelling over the noise. “Say, you want to go for a walk? I can’t hear nothing in here.”

  “Sure. Just a minute.” She took another long sip of her drink before setting it on the bar. “I’ll just grab my purse.”

  She glided back through the crowd, a graceful sway to her slight body. I made my way toward the exit, keeping one eye on her as she stopped at a table and gathered her purse. It was the same table where Henry sat. He didn’t seem to notice as she left, and he never looked my way. Relief washed over me. I put a hand on her back and guided her toward the stairs. I definitely needed to get out of there.

  We made our way out of the club and strolled down Taft Avenue toward the bay. I realized I hadn’t even asked her name, so I finally introduced myself.

  “I’m Natalie,” she said. “Natalie Williams. I’m an army nurse over at Sternberg.”

  “And how do you like the military life?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “It’s all right here. Lots of things to do outside of the job. And it gave me a chance to get away from home, find some adventure. You know?”

  I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Yeah, I can understand that for sure.”

  We curved around onto the next street, and I spied a small grassy area with a few palm trees and a bench. I pointed across the street and asked her if she wanted to sit for a while. She agreed, and we laughed as we dodged honking taxis to cross.

  When we were seated, she rested her elbow on the back of the bench and propped her chin in her hand. She looked over at me with an inviting smile that warmed my insides. “How about you? Where are you stationed?”

  “Up at Clark for now. I’m with the Corps of Engineers, so we go wherever there’s work to be done.”

  “An engineer. You must be very smart. And an officer, too, I see.”

  “Just a Second Lieutenant. Barely qualifies.”

  She batted her eyelashes coyly. “So, you’re a good ole southern boy, huh? It’s nice to spend some time with a man with manners.” Lifting her face, she reached her hand across the top of the bench, running her fingers along the collar of my shirt. “But you know, we’re a long ways from the fine southern tradition of courtship.”

  My insides stirred, even with my surprise at her boldness. “Natalie, you are a very attractive young lady, but…I don’t…I’m not looking for a relationship—”

  She giggled, covering her mouth with her other hand. “A relationship? You really are a good southern gentleman!”

  Heat rushed up my neck and cheeks. “Yes, ma’am. And I ain’t ashamed of it.”

  She scooted closer, taking my hand in hers. “Oh, no! You shouldn’t be. In fact, it’s quite refreshing. Ever since the officers sent their wives and girlfriends back home to the States, they’ve been as eager as…well…you get my meaning, I’m sure.”

  I couldn’t deny some sense of eagerness in my body, but it didn’t override my good judgment. Still, my hand warmed where she continued to hold onto it. I felt the need to get moving again. “Would you like to walk a little more?” I said. “Maybe check out the bay for a while?”

  She grinned and seemed to study me with amused curiosity. “Why not?”

  We stood and continued along the sidewalk a block further, this time with her hand tucked into the crook of my elbow. It felt good, but at the same time, not quite right. Maybe moving on with my life would feel weird for a while, but I resolved to give it my best effort. Ruby wouldn’t want me to be alone the rest of my life, and I didn’t want that either. Fact was, I didn’t know what I wanted. But it might feel nice to explore my options.

  Natalie and I continued our stroll toward the bay, getting to know each other more. She told me about leaving home when she was just sixteen after her mother died. She’d worked her way through nursing school and joined the Red Cross simply because it was about the only job available. She’d jumped at the chance to come to the Philippines after hearing about the tropical paradise from a friend.

  “Has it been everything you wanted?” I asked.

  “Oh, I suppose,” she said. “Honestly, the work doesn’t appeal to me so much. I don’t particularly enjoy dealing with blood and vomit and such. But everything else has been a dream. The dances and parties! There’s always something exciting going on here.”

  We’d reached the end of the road where it ran into the Manila Hotel. We headed around to the large deck facing the bay, where in the moonlight I could make out the hulls of sunken Spanish ships in the sand just down the beach. When we reached the edge, I stopped and marveled at the beauty of the city and the bay. I’d never been anywhere like this before in my life, and I took a moment to soak it in.

  Natalie slipped her hand into mine. “It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? Nothing like home?”

  “You read my mind.”

  She smiled up at me, and without thinking, I slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her body into mine. I kissed her gently at first, trying to shut out the memory of Ruby’s lips on mine. Natalie responded with eagerness, wrapping her hands around my neck.

  I allowed myself to feel the heat flooding my body for only a moment. The rush was both intoxicating and alarming. I pulled my face away from hers and dropped my hands from her waist. But she continued to hold onto my neck, and I became aware of her chest pressed against mine. I gently gripped her hips and moved her back a step.

  “I’m sorry,” I started. “I don’t usually do that.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re just a lovely little ball of trouble, aren’t you?”

  She laughed with me for a moment. “Maybe. I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

  “I reckon I will.” I took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Can I see you again sometime?”

  She grinned mischievously. “Again? We haven’t finished this time yet.”

  Chapter Three

  Matthew

  December 8, 1941

  Natalie and I made plans to see each other again the following weekend, but it wasn’t meant to be. The next Monday, Colonel Maitland, the commander of Clark Field, called a meeting of all the officers. I admired Colonel Maitland greatly. Though he was a famous pilot in his own right, and quite imposing as a person, he was also down-to-earth. When he spoke to us, his voice was calm, but confident.

  “From this point on, Clark Field is on a war footing,” he said, pacing slowly in front of the group. “All leave is cancelled until further notice. Even travel to Stotsenburg must be reported and approved. Every plane will be armed, and every bomber fully loaded. When your crews are patrolling the China Sea, they are to attack any ship that fails to respond properly. Likewise, they are to engage any plane that does not respond properly.” He stopped pacing and faced us with a grave expression. “These are serious times, men. You are officers, and leaders. Act accordingly, and set a good example to the men in your charge.”

  Most of the men, including myself, took the announcement with a modest amount of concern. But other than the canceling of leave, things didn’t change too much. Doug and I helped to build revetments, large arching structures covered with earth and brush that could conceal an entire plane. We also built one of the dummy planes designed to look
like a large B-17. It was mostly made out of plywood, but the pilots told us that, from the air at least, they couldn’t tell the difference between the dummy and the real thing.

  With nothing much to do in the evenings but hang around the airfield, speculation became the major pastime. I wasn’t too nervous, myself. Neither were most of the others. We figured that even if the Japs did have the nerve to attack the U.S., we’d make short work of them.

  I gave my rifle and pistol an extra cleaning, but that was about it for my preparations. Doug and I continued our engineering duties, and everyone else returned to theirs too. I did notice an increase in activity around the base, such as new foxholes being dug, more frequent patrols, and a general sense that our duties carried much more weight than they ever had. All around us were the indications that war was approaching, but the bubble of paradise had blinded us all to the seriousness of our situation.

  That all changed the morning of December 8.

  I was eating breakfast with Jim and Gene when Albert burst through the front door with more excitement in his expression than I’d ever seen. He panted like he’d been running. “They did it! The dirty Japs attacked Pearl Harbor!”

  “Someone’s pulling your leg,” Jim said. A lieutenant colonel from Texas, he was the highest-ranking officer among us. Surely he’d know better than anyone if anything like that had happened.

  “I swear!” Albert insisted. “A whole bunch of Jap planes bombed Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field just before oh eight hundred Pacific time. About oh two hundred for us.”

  “I don’t believe it,” I said.

  “They sunk the Arizona!” Albert wasn’t exactly given to fits of excitement, so I was beginning to get concerned.

  We all looked at each other as if we were waiting for someone to make a decision. “I just can’t imagine it,” Gene said. “With all the planes we got at Hickam, the Japs wouldn’t stand a chance. You must’ve gotten some bad information or something.” Gene was a first lieutenant with the 19th bomb group, and I gathered he took his job as navigator quite seriously. Late in the evenings, he’d lie on his cot studying maps of the Pacific, especially the island of Formosa just north of the Philippines. He’d go on and on about how nerve-wracking it was to know such a large force of Japanese planes was within striking distance of his precious B-17 bombers. I figured if anyone would know about the Japanese positions, it would be Gene.

  Albert ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “I think this is for real, fellas. I got it straight from my commanding officer. And he got it from headquarters.”

  “Well,” I said, pushing away from the table. “I reckon we’d better get over there and see what we can find out.”

  We gathered our gear and were out the door in a flash. As we crossed the field, I watched what appeared to be the same activity as every morning—fighters from early morning patrols coming in, and others taking off for reconnaissance missions. Soldiers were pouring out of the barracks and heading for the mess hall, laughing and carrying on. And in one group of pilots I caught sight again of Henry. This time he saw me too, and his face registered surprise.

  “Matthew Doyle!” he said, coming over to greet me. “What in blazes are you doing here?”

  I smiled and shook his hand, waving for the others to continue on without me. “I got here a few weeks ago with an Engineering battalion. Been wondering if we’d run into each other. I wasn’t sure if you were still stationed out here.” The white lie barely registered in my conscience as it slipped off my tongue.

  Henry looked much the same as he always had; a bit more tan than I remembered, but I imagined that could be attributed to the tropics. “Yeah, I been here over a year and a half now.” He pointed toward a group of P-40s. “Mine’s the one that barely limps down the runway. Been hoping to get a new one. I keep hearing there’s replacements on the way, but I reckon everything’s a mess now if the reports about Pearl Harbor are true.”

  “You heard?”

  “Yep. It’s all anyone’s talking about in the mess hall. Don’t make any sense to me, though. If the reports are to be believed, then we’re at war. And if we’re at war, I’d think we’d be hearing official word about it and getting orders to prepare for a fight.”

  “That’s true. I’m just on my way to see what I can find out at Headquarters.”

  Henry rubbed the back of his neck and seemed to contemplate his next words. “Hey listen, we should get together and talk. Soon. Especially if…well, if we’re really at war. That kind of changes everything, I reckon.”

  “Changes what?”

  He glanced down at his watch. “Look, I got to run. We’ve been ordered to do some flights around the area to keep an eye out for the Japs. Can I meet up with you afterward? Say, eleven or so? We’ll get some lunch and catch up.”

  “All right. I’ll see what I can find out. I’ll meet you back here, and we can go eat over at my place. We’ve got a fantastic cook.”

  “Sounds good,” Henry said. Then he jogged across the field toward the group of P-40s. I hoped he didn’t want to talk about our families, or worse, about Ruby. I didn’t have any idea how I would handle that, but maybe he had something else on his mind.

  When I reached engineering Headquarters, I found several of my fellow officers, including Doug, gathered around a radio on Major Hart’s desk. They all leaned in as the voice coming through from Manila gave an update on the situation in Hawaii:

  Just before 8 A.M. Honolulu time, Japanese carrier planes attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, sinking four battleships. Complete numbers of the dead and wounded are unavailable at this time, but the situation is grave.

  “Four battleships?” someone said. “How? What in the world’s going on?”

  He was promptly hushed by several others as the updates continued. The Arizona and the Oklahoma had been sunk, and nearly every plane at Hickam Field had been destroyed. My stomach knotted. There was no way the Japs would bomb Pearl Harbor and then completely overlook our fleet in the Philippines. They’d be coming for us soon. But how soon?

  “What do we need to do?” I asked Major Hart. “This means we’re at war, don’t it? Do we have orders?”

  Major Hart, who’d been seated atop his desk, stood and faced us. “I haven’t received any official orders as of yet. Until I do, we get this place as ready as we can. Make sure to have your gas mask on you at all times, along with your helmet and pistol. Gather your men and get every set of hands possible to start digging foxholes and trenches.” He pointed at Doug. “Lieutenant Watson, you and your men check all the revetments and make sure they’re ready for the planes. Things may get hectic around here this morning, gentlemen, so keep your men calm and focused on the task at hand. Let’s not speculate too much beyond what we know. Dismissed.”

  Ruby

  When I heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio, it shook me to my core. I hurried through the streets past people who were busily stacking sandbags, taping up black curtains along the windows, and digging trenches right in their yards. My heart raced from my hurried pace, as well as my fear. When I reached the clinic, I was surprised to find it empty. Not a single patient in sight.

  I found Joseph seated at the kitchen table, leaning close to the radio in front of him. He glanced up at me, his face mashed into a frown. “Have you heard?”

  “Yes,” I said, taking a seat across from him. “What’s the latest news?”

  “Four battleships sunk. Thousands dead or wounded. Most of the planes destroyed. It was…a massacre.”

  “How could this happen?” I asked, more to myself than to him.

  “I don’t know. I thought…I thought we were prepared for this.”

  We sat there in silence for a while, listening to the horrifying reports coming in. I closed my eyes and prayed as hard as I could for the people suffering in Hawaii at that very moment. I couldn’t imagine the terror they were feeling.

  Joseph’s hand closed around my own, and I opened my eyes. “D
o you have somewhere safe to go?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Somewhere with more shelter than that hut you’re staying in. You need a place you can go that can withstand an attack.”

  My stomach clenched. “You don’t think…they won’t come here. Surely not. America will declare war. We’ll respond and attack them before they can attack us here. Why, I bet we’re already on full alert and getting planes in the air.” That made me think of Henry, and my fear doubled.

  Joseph shook his head and squeezed my hand. “Grace, this island is the next largest military target in the Pacific. We are not safe here.”

  I pulled my hand out from under his and closed my eyes again. Lord, please be with Henry. And please keep us all safe from attack. Put your arms of protection around this place, around Henry. I thought of the reports of the horrible things the Japanese were doing to the people they conquered in China. It was too gruesome to be real, and yet I’d seen the images of the dead, mutilated bodies…thousands of them. I repeated my prayer.

  When I opened my eyes, I met Joseph’s gaze. “They’re going to need our help. The soldiers. The hospitals. We should find out what we can do.” Just then the radio announcer broke into our conversation.

  Japanese bombers have been sighted in northern Luzon. Camp John Hay near Baguio has been bombed, and there are reports of Japanese planes headed toward Clark Field. We have no further information at this time.

  My breath caught. “They’re already here.”

  Matthew

  An eerie bustle settled over Clark Field. No one really knew what to do; just that they should be doing something. I supervised my group in digging several trenches around headquarters and two of our revetments, and even jumped in there and helped dig. I reminded my men of their responsibilities, and encouraged them to keep an ear to the wind and an eye on the sky at all times.

  At one point, something must have happened because all the P-35s, P-40s, and B-17s took off in a frenzy. I thought for a moment a few of them would crash into each other, having never seen such a frantic display. So I ran to headquarters to see if there was any word. There I found Major Hart standing outside the building, looking up into the sky with his hand shading his eyes.