When Winter Returns by Kathryn Miller Haines

Author:Kathryn Miller Haines
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

Rather than going inside the building, I went to the post office and picked up some V-mail. Over an egg cream at C.O. Bigelow’s, I wrote a letter to the man formerly known as Gris, asking him for Whitey’s real name. I kept the letter as vague as possible. Given the reputation I’d made for myself on Tulagi, I didn’t want to say anything that might raise the censor’s alarm. I dropped the letter in the first box I could find and headed back to the Shaw House. Just as I turned the corner for home, I saw Candy looking up and down the street. My impulse was to turn and run, but it was too late. She’d seen me.

“I was hoping I’d run into you,” she said.

“Here I am. What’s the crop?”

“It’s Jack.”

A chill passed through me. Had he caught an infection? Had they taken the other leg? Had he done the unthinkable? “Is he all right?”

“Yes. I mean physically, he’s no worse than when you saw him, but emotionally…I’m worried, Rosie. I’ve tried talking to his parents, but they just don’t seem to get how depressed he is.”

“No. They wouldn’t.” The awkwardness of the situation was giving me a headache. Now that he was alive and in love with someone else, the fates had decided to punish me by making me his fiancée’s confidante. And whose fault was that? Mine, for lying to her in the first place.

“He’s convinced everything’s over for him. Not only has his military career ended in disgrace, but he seems to think he’ll never get another acting job. I just don’t know what to do.”

How about helping him to gain back the little bit of dignity he left in Tulagi by vindicating him? “There’s probably nothing you can do. It’s going to take time. He’s got to heal.”

“He doesn’t want to leave his parents’ house. He doesn’t want to see any of his old friends. He canceled the prosthetic fitting.”

“Maybe he’s just not ready yet.”

“I was hoping you’d go visit him again.”

It hadn’t been an easy request for her to make. I could see that. But that didn’t mean it was any easier for me to volunteer to do what she asked. “I don’t think he wants to see me.”

“He was better last night. A lot better. Seeing both of you gave him hope.”

How much hope could it have been if he was worse off today? Or was what Candy was reading as depression Jack’s renewed regret that he hadn’t gone to trial? I looked longingly toward the Shaw House. If I’d stopped for a decent meal, maybe I could’ve avoided this whole messy conversation. “I’ll talk to Jayne. We’re awfully busy with auditions right now, but maybe we can work something out.”

She took one of my hands in hers and squeezed. “Thanks.”

For the first time, I noticed how frail Candy had grown. In the South Pacific she was tan, strong, and invincible, but here in the city she had become a very different version of herself.

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