With Every Letter: A Novel by Sarah Sundin

Author:Sarah Sundin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: FIC042030, FIC02705, World War, Christian, Letter writing—Fiction, Fiction, Romance, 1939–1945—Fiction, Friendship—Fiction, FIC042040, Historical, General
ISBN: 9781441239754
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2012-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Cooper sipped his coffee. “I hope they don’t come. Women are nothing but trouble.”

One of the fighter pilots let out a long low whistle. “What pretty little troubles they are.”

Three women stood in the entrance to the tent, wearing the blue trouser uniforms of the flight nurses. Not Mellie, thank goodness, but a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead. Any one of them alone would cause a stir, but together . . . ?

The men cheered, whistled, and made catcalls.

Tom stayed silent, as did Cooper, and they exchanged a look. Cooper must have had bad experiences with women. Tom had none.

“Boys! Boys!” the brunette called out until the men quieted. “I don’t hear any music, do you, Alice?”

“How can we dance without music?” The blonde pressed one finger to her cheek, but Tom had a hunch she wasn’t as dumb as she was trying to look.

The redhead swept a flirtatious look over the men. “And I want to dance.”

A whoop rang out, and several of the men dashed to the record player “liberated” from some Frenchman in the early days of the occupation. Soon, Louis Armstrong crooned “I’m in the Mood for Love” from a scratched record.

The brunette raised her hand. “Line up, boys. Everyone gets one dance, no more.”

“I’ll take less,” Cooper grumbled. “Nothing but trouble.”

One of the fighter pilots gulped some beer, wiped his mouth, and got to his feet. “I’m in the mood for trouble.”

“There’s Rose.” Peters darted through the queuing crowd to the side of another blonde, who looked thrilled and relieved to see him.

Tom downed his coffee. Time to go. His audience had dispersed, and he didn’t dance. At high school dances he entertained the wallflowers on the sidelines, but there wouldn’t be any wallflowers tonight.

A petite curly-haired brunette stepped into the tent. She fiddled with her hands, and her gaze hopped around the tent. She and Rose glowered at each other.

Tom blew out a breath. She might need rescue, but he really wanted to leave.

Before he could take another breath, half a dozen men surrounded her.

“Good.” Tom drained the last drops of coffee from his canteen cup, nestled it back in its pouch under his canteen, and got to his feet.

Then Mellie Blake came in, and Tom sagged back onto the stool. He needed to leave. He loved Annie. If he spent time with Mellie, he’d feel disloyal to her.

Another woman held Mellie’s arm. A nurse with silver first lieutenant’s bars on her shoulders, the chief nurse, most likely.

Mellie’s brow bunched up. She said something to the chief, but the chief pointed into the tent and issued an order.

Tom leaned forward, but he couldn’t make out the words over the music and crowd. All he knew was Mellie did not want to be there, and her CO made her stay.

The chief tapped her watch, gave Mellie a stern look, and left her alone. Very alone.

No crowd surrounded her. No friends pulled her into their group. And Tom felt her loneliness in his gut.

Her chin down, she glanced around, probably looking for a friendly face or a seat.

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