“That’s great, but I can’t take that from you, Liz. She left it to you, not to both of us. I’ll see what’s available for veterans in Ireland after the war.”

“I want you to come home with me,” she said. He had thought of it too. He was going to ask his cousin about how complicated it would be to emigrate to Boston, and if his cousin would sponsor him.

“Let’s make sure we’re both around to do that,” Ed said seriously. The deaths of Pru and Audrey had shaken all of them, and were a brutal reminder of the dangers they faced every day. It was going to be a sad Christmas this year, without them. “Maybe my cousin can help me get whatever papers I’d need to move to Boston,” he said, and if for some reason Lizzie didn’t survive, he wouldn’t want to go to Boston. They had already agreed that they didn’t want to make plans before the war ended. They were afraid it would be bad luck for either or both of them. Many others felt as they did and refused to discuss the future.

“If I go back to Boston, I want you to come too,” she said firmly. “We could go to medical school together. We’ll both be veterans. And now we have the money to pay for it, thanks to Audrey.” It was an incredible gift. She was beaming as she said it.

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” he interrupted her. “Let’s get this damn war over and done and dusted, and then we’ll make plans. Or are you proposing to me right now?” he teased her. He had thought about it himself, but superstition got the best of him every time.

“No, I’ll let you do that when peace is declared,” she answered.

“What will your father say? Everyone in your family is a doctor, I’m just a poor boy from Dublin.”

“You’ve saved more lives than my father has. And one day you’ll be a great doctor.” She smiled at him. He loved the way she believed in him and didn’t give a damn about where he came from, or how poor he’d been growing up. Audrey had been that way too, and so was Alex. Emma said the same thing about Pru. They had big hearts and open minds, and none of the narrow thinking that he’d grown up with in Ireland, and Emma had in England, where they were trapped in the class they were born into forever. He liked the idea of moving to America with Lizzie and starting a new life. But peacetime first.

She went back to her barracks then and put the letter safely in her own dresser drawer. Audrey had given her the best Christmas gift of all.