Friends & Enemies (Promise for Tomorrow Book 1) by Terri Wangard

Author:Terri Wangard [Wangard, Terri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Celebrate Lit
Published: 2016-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-One

Ridgewell Air Base, England

Saturday, April 22, 1944

The sustained roar of an airplane taking off reverberated in the room. Paul rubbed a hand across his face and tried to get back to sleep. Why was the plane taking so long to get off the ground? He rolled to his side. A stab of pain stopped him and his eyes snapped open. His gaze strayed around the room. How could he have forgotten? He was in the hospital, his head was pounding, and it wasn’t just one airplane taking off. Today’s mission was getting underway. Without him.

He lay back and groaned, reaching up to feel his head. Still there and in one piece. Amazing. It felt like it had shattered.

An army nurse came to his bedside. “How are you feeling, Lieutenant?”

“Like a mouse the cat played with.” He tried to focus on her. Even that hurt. Where had he seen her before? A whiff of her perfume suggested maybe he’d smelled her. Maybe she’d been the person who kept interrupting his sleep during the night. “You smell like something.”

His mother would be shocked at his rudeness. So what? The nurse had been rude to him all night, waking him every hour.

The nurse didn’t seem offended. She laughed. “Maybe you smell roses?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged, and that hurt too. “Rachel likes daffodils best. We were just talking about them the other day.”

Whoops, stop right there! He hadn’t been with Rachel yesterday. Rachel was dead. He’d been dreaming yesterday. Or was it the day before? What day was this? Maybe his head injury was worse than they were telling him. “Can I have some aspirin today? Please?”

He sounded pathetic.

The nurse smiled. “How about if you try sitting up? A change of position may help. You’ve been flat on your back for a long time.”

She got an arm behind him and, grasping his opposite arm, raised him up.

He swayed as a wave of nausea overwhelmed him, and he groaned. Had anything been in his stomach, it would be all over the bed now. The nurse pulled him against her. “Lean on me,” she murmured. “Relax and let me hold you up. Think pleasant thoughts. Imagine a blue sky with fluffy white clouds floating along.”

“Your fluffy white clouds are hiding a bunch of fighters waiting to kill me.” Maybe they would put him out of his misery.

The nurse shook as though she was trying not to laugh. “All right, picture waves lapping on the shore with sea gulls soaring overhead. Oh, no, wait! Are they going to start dive-bombing you? Let’s forget that.” She was enjoying this. “Picture a meadow filled with wildflowers extending as far as the eye can see.”

“Can a Fortress land on it?” Might as well play along.

“Definitely. You get out and gather a huge bouquet of wildflowers to present to your girl. What did you say her name is?”

“My wife, Rachel. The most beautiful girl in the world.” Drowsiness swept over him. She was right. He did feel better.

“Lieutenant? Lieutenant, how about if we get you scooted back to lean against the wall? I can’t stay here holding you up all day.

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