“Maybe you can teach them a new way,” Emma said gently. “You have to try when you go home. We all have to make things different. It’s the only reward for having been through this. It has to change all of us, and make this a better world, for everyone.” What Emma said was very moving, but idealistic too. In a perfect world she was right. But Alex knew that the world was far from perfect. It was broken now, and would take years to repair. And not everyone would want to come out of the war and make it a better place for others. Alex wished it, but she had trouble believing it would happen and imagining her family in that role. They would just complain about how hard it was to find servants, or how much things cost, or that the hotels that they liked in the South of France were still closed. They wouldn’t care about the reasons for it, or what they could do to change it. Emma had a profound visceral distrust of the British upper classes and aristocracy. But who knew, maybe the class system would alter slightly and the world would change after all. And in the meantime, Emma was grateful for people like Pru and Alex, who didn’t give a fig about it and accepted her as she was, East End accent and all.

They had dinner with the others that night, and Alex talked about how impressive their missions had been. All of the nurses felt that. The air evacuation program was accomplishing what it was meant to, and they were saving a significant number of lives. The War Office was very pleased with it.

Ed showed up at the pub that night and stopped by to talk to them. Lizzie was with her friends, and Emma and Alex were deep in conversation. Pru wasn’t at the pub with them. He sat next to Lizzie for a few minutes. He was enjoying working with her.

“Where’s Pru?” he asked.

“She had a headache and went to bed,” Lizzie said, and slid over on the banquette in a booth to make room for him. He perched next to her to chat for a few minutes. He liked talking to her in the times when they weren’t busy with patients during the flights. Sometimes it was insanely hectic, and then quieter at other times, between missions.