“All with the Second?”

“Yes, sir. Well, Basic, first. Then I was at Camp Barkley in Texas, for training.”

“You’re a corporal?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Infantry?”

“Yes, sir. Medic.”

Jack scowled. “You aren’t one of those they put in that slot because you object to killing, are you?” he said.

“Dad!” Elissa said.

“No, sir, I don’t reckon I am,” Nick said. “But I reckon they thought since I was the assistant to Doc Lidge there in Dover I might just as well be a medic.”

Jack brightened. “So you were working in medicine in civilian life!”

“Well, for horses and cattle and such,” Nick said.

The scowl came back. Jack smoked. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-three, sir.”

Elissa drew in her breath. What a thrilling number! Her father gave her a stern look over his cigarette.

“So before you joined the Army, you were an assistant to a cow doctor,” Jack said. “And you’ve never been to college.”

“No, sir.”

“Elissa’s going to college in the fall,” Jack said.

“I think that’s great, sir,” Nick said, with a warm glance in Elissa’s direction. “When the war’s over and I get out of the Army, I reckon I might go, too. For medicine, or veterinary science.”

“I’m going into the cadet nursing program,” Elissa said.

“You’re going to be a nurse?” Nick said.

She nodded.

“Apparently you two haven’t gotten very well acquainted,” Jack grumbled.

Elissa looked at her hands. Her wool sweater was starting to make her itch; a woodstove flaring in the corner made the lunchroom too warm.

Jack went on. “Which brings me to my next question, Nick. What do you have in common with my daughter?”

“In common, sir?”

“Yes.”

Nick smiled. “Well, I reckon her and me both come from real nice families.”

Jack raised his eyebrows, and took a final puff of his cigarette before squashing the butt in the ashtray. “And your father’s a stellar character like hers, I suppose.”

“I never knew my daddy, sir, but my mother tells me he was. He passed on before I was born.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jack said. “What family have you got, then?”

“Just my mother, sir, there in Dover, and a heap of cousins and such.”

Jack folded his arms, giving Nick a cool, appraising glare.

“Dad—” Elissa broke in, but when Jack’s eyes shifted to her, she couldn’t say anything more.

“My wife,” Jack pronounced, “told me that since Lissa’s always been a good girl, we should give you two a chance. I’m not happy about the way you met. And I’m sure as hell not happy about my daughter being interested in a boy whose family I don’t know. Especially an older boy who happens to be a soldier. My son, JJ, is over on Guadalcanal with the Marines.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you know when you might be sent overseas?”