Ellen cried when Will left that night, and Will and Audrey had tears in their eyes. Lizzie had gone back to the dorm at the nursing school by then. She’d been totally dazzled by Will and was frustrated that she could tell he considered her a child. She felt like one with him. She wanted him to think of her as a femme fatale. He lived in a far more adult world than they did, in the sleepy safety of his hometown. Being a navy pilot had opened up new worlds to him, and he had the life that most young men dreamed of: freedom, flying fabulous fighter planes, the envy and admiration of his peers, and all the girls he wanted. True to the times and their circumstances, his life was very different from his sister’s dutiful, dedicated existence, devoted to caring for their invalid mother. But luckily for Audrey, she had discovered her passion. She loved everything about nursing. Being able to use it for her mother was an additional gift now, but no longer her only reason for going to nursing school. She had found her calling and her niche. The moment she put her uniform and cap on, she came alive. Just like Will when he got into his plane and took to the skies.

Chapter 2

Both Lizzie and Audrey were shocked by how fast the time had flown when they graduated. Three years had sped by. Audrey was twenty-one, and Lizzie twenty-two, and suddenly they were actually nurses and grown women, in proper pale blue uniforms and starched white caps that identified them by their school. They had gotten their nursing pins when they got their diplomas at their graduation ceremony. But little had changed in their lives, despite being nurses now. Lizzie had dated an assortment of young men, rarely more than a few times. Many of the girls she’d gone to high school with had gotten married, some had had their first babies. Lizzie didn’t feel ready for any of it. She wanted to live a little before she settled down. She had finally finished school, and she wanted to enjoy life and have some fun after three years of intense studies. As usual, before she could come up with a plan for herself for after graduation, her father had done it for her. He secured a job for her at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he hospitalized his patients and operated. She hadn’t settled on a specialty yet, so he had gotten her a job in a female post-surgical ward, which he thought would be good experience for her. She knew he expected her to be grateful to him, but instead she was angry, and vented to Audrey right before graduation.