Hannah and the other POWs ran through the black jungle. Hannah was weak from hunger and fatigue. The fighting between Japanese and American troops had been going on for days, and there was time for neither eating nor sleeping. But every time she or one of the other girls stumbled, they were brutally jabbed in the back with a rifle. Hannah concentrated on each step. She feared falling—she feared being shot where she lay.
Suddenly the night was torn open by a deafening explosion. A shell burst within fifty yards of them! For an instant, the dense jungle was as bright as midday. Hannah could see the fear on her friends’ faces, and the fury and terror on the faces of the Japanese soldiers. When the girls hesitated, they were prodded forward once again. “Go! Go!”
Hannah dashed forward into the smoke. Another shell exploded, this one even closer than the last, then another and another. She put her hands to her ears and screamed. She couldn’t even hear the sound of her own voice above the unrelenting roar of gunfire and shells.
All at once Hannah’s guard halted. The POWs had been following in the wake of a larger division of soldiers, but somehow, in the smoke and confusion of the unexpected attack, they’d become separated.
As the five Japanese guards huddled, discussing what to do, Hannah, Pam, Debbie, Nettie, and Joan threw their arms around one another.
“What’s that?” Pam suddenly screamed, pointing into the jungle behind Hannah.
Hannah whirled. Soldiers charged toward the girls through the smoke, their rifles pointed! They’re going to shoot us, Hannah thought, astonished at how calm she suddenly felt. It seemed inevitable somehow.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the bullet to tear into her flesh. But instead of a bullet, she felt a hand. A man’s hand, strong but gentle, on her arm.
Hannah blinked. The soldier grasped both her arms, shaking her. She stared at him, at his eyes, bright blue in his smoke-blackened face, and his hair, corn-yellow in the light of the exploding shells. And his uniform. The uniform of a United States Marine!
“Come on,” the marine said. “Let’s get out of here!”
Now it was the turn of the five Japanese guards to be herded at gunpoint, by American soldiers. And although Hannah and the other girls were running again, they were running to freedom.
* * *
“Have you ever seen so many good-looking fellas in one place at one time?” said Debbie, flopping back on the bed with a sigh of pure happiness.
Hannah laughed. “I think we’re in heaven,” she agreed. Since setting foot on the U.S.S. Calhoun, they’d been treated like royalty. The handsome young officers were open in expressing their admiration of the brave and beautiful nurses. They showered the girls with small gifts and flowers, and fought over who would get to carry their trays and sit next to them at meals. The former prisoners reveled in the attention, but no one more than Debbie, who seemed to be making up for three years of lost flirting in one day.
“Captain Steadman was so nice to turn his quarters over to us,” remarked Pam, curling up in a comfortable armchair.
“The best part was getting these new uniforms.” Joan smoothed the crisp khaki skirt over her knees. “And getting our hair cut for the first time in ages.”
Nettie giggled. “Even if it was by the ship’s barber!”
Hannah touched her neatly bobbed auburn hair. It had been a delight to get rid of those unfashionable long curls!
Joan observed the gesture. “Imagine if you’d had to meet Robert looking like a female Robinson Crusoe,” she said slyly.
“You must be so nervous!” Pam guessed. “After a year and a half, you’re finally going to see Robert when we reach Manila tomorrow.”
“I am nervous,” Hannah admitted. “We’re...” In love, she wanted to say. Because it was true. Though they’d never said so explicitly, Hannah loved Robert and she felt sure that he cared deeply for her, too. “But what if we’re disappointed when we actually meet? What if we don’t have anything to talk about? What if he doesn’t like me in person as much as he does over the radio?”
“He’ll adore you,” Nettie assured her. “You’re sweet, pretty, and smart. What more could a boy want?”
“And if you don’t like him as much in person, there are plenty of other guys to choose from,” Debbie pointed out.
Hannah didn’t feel she could explain to Debbie and the others why she wouldn’t want any other guy. The attachment formed between her and Robert over the past year and a half was wonderful and rare. But Hannah suspected that because of its uniqueness, it was also fragile. Could any man live up to the picture she’d painted in her mind of Robert Wakefield?
Hannah resisted the urge to chew her nails as the Calhoun cruised into the harbor at Manila. Robert was taking shore leave from the Richmond; he’d be waiting for her at the dock when she disembarked.
“How do I look, girls?” she asked her friends after anxiously checking her reflection one last time in the mirror.
“Utterly adorable,” Nettie said.
“Like a picture,” gushed Pam.
Joan adjusted Hannah’s cap. “There. Just right.”
“Sergeant Butler gave me this.” Debbie displayed a bottle of perfume, then spritzed Hannah with it. “Now you smell as delicious as you look!”
Hannah took a deep breath. “I guess I’m ready.”
“Good luck, Hannah!”
The gangway was crowded with sailors eager to begin their shore leave, but all gallantly stepped aside for Hannah. She almost wished they wouldn’t; she felt exposed as she walked down to the dock. How will I know him? she wondered, her mouth suddenly as dry as sawdust.
Then she saw him. Though the dock teemed with men in uniform, one sailor stood somehow apart. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair, a strong jaw, and brown eyes that seemed to jump out of his sun-bronzed face. His gaze was trained intently upon her as she approached.
Hannah held out her hand, her cheeks flooding with color. “Robert?”
“Hannah. At last!” He took her hand, gripping it tightly. For a moment, they stood staring into each other’s eyes, mesmerized. Hannah was surprised to find that all her nervousness had faded the instant Robert took her hand. But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, she thought. He’s not a stranger, after all.
Robert didn’t release her hand. Instead, he pulled her toward him and wrapped his arms around her. In front of all those people, he bent his head to hers and kissed her on the mouth.
The sinking sun, poised just above the horizon, bathed the bay in glimmering orange and silver. Robert had a transistor radio strapped over one shoulder. It was tuned to the Armed Forces Network, which was broadcasting the swinging big-band sound of Kay Kyser and his orchestra. As they walked along the sand with their arms around each other, Hannah rested her head against Robert. She felt utterly comfortable and at peace, as if she and Robert had known each other for years. Which in fact they had, even though it had been only a month since the day they’d joined up in Manila.
She laughed suddenly. “What’s so funny?” Robert asked.
“I was just remembering how a month ago, I was almost afraid to meet you. My expectations were so high. I didn’t think any mortal man could meet them!”
“I was a big disappointment, eh?”
Stopping, they turned to face each other. Hannah slipped her arms around Robert’s waist and looked up at him, her eyes full of love. “No,” she said. “As it turned out, my expectations didn’t even come close.”
They shared a deep kiss as warm as the summer evening. “Hannah, what do you want to do when the war’s over?” Robert asked.
“Go home to California, I guess,” she replied. They resumed their stroll. “Spend time with my family. I’ve missed them so much! And I’d like to finish school, become a nurse or even a doctor. How about you?”
“I’ll probably visit my father in New York. We’ll have a lot to catch up on. And I want to go back to school, too. But I’m not sure I want to settle in New York permanently. Hannah, I was thinking that maybe—”
At that moment, a loud boom echoed across the water. It was followed by a second boom, then another and another. “What is it?” Hannah cried. “Is it another attack?”
“I don’t think so.” Robert frowned. Then his frown transformed into a jubilant smile. “Look, Hannah!” He pointed. The firing of guns continued, but now it was joined by the sound of people celebrating. On every ship in the bay, Hannah and Robert could see people in motion, waving their arms and tossing their caps in the air.
“The surrender,” Hannah guessed. “Finally, Japan has surrendered!”
Robert nodded. “It has to be, Hannah!” Grabbing her around the waist, he whirled her around on the sand. “The war is over!”
They twirled until they were both dizzy and laughing. Hannah could hardly believe it. The war in Europe had ended earlier in the year. She had been praying that her family would hear from her missing Austrian cousins. And now, finally, the war in the Pacific was over as well. We’ll be going home, she thought with profound gratitude. We’ll all be going home.
“You’d better get back to the ship,” Hannah told him.
“I’d better,” Robert agreed. “But you’re coming with me.”
“Why on earth?”
“I just had a great idea of how we can celebrate the end of the war,” he told her. “You know our friend, Captain Danforth?” Hannah nodded. “Well, he has a certain power, by virtue of his rank, that I think we should take advantage of without further delay.”
Hannah was puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
“As a ship’s captain, he has the power to perform marriages.” Robert smiled at her astonished expression. “So, what do you say, Hannah? Will you marry me or not?”
She stared at him. “Have you gone crazy?”
“I’ve never been more sane and sober.” Clasping both her hands in his, Robert dropped to one knee in the sand. “Hannah, please marry me,” he begged, his tone now serious. “You’ve already made me the happiest man on earth. Become my wife and make it official.”
Hannah looked down at Robert. She was only nineteen years old, and she and Robert had been together for only a month. But they had been through so much together, and Hannah’s heart was overflowing with a love she knew would last for the rest of her life. She had to say yes.
She smiled. “I just thought of something else I want to do when the war’s over,” she said by way of a reply. “I want to introduce my family to my wonderful new husband.”
As the celebratory boom of guns continued across the bay, Robert pulled Hannah down to the sand to seal their engagement with a kiss.
