She awoke, and looked over at Byron, sleeping next to her. The shape of his forehead, his nose, his chin, and even the curve of each eyelash, all were distinct, even in the dimness. She could see his chest rising and falling as he breathed, and could feel the heat of his body under the sheet with hers. She wondered how it was possible to know someone so intimately, to have seen and touched every curve of his body, to have heard his most private moans of pleasure and pain, to know the heat of his skin while he slept, without knowing him at all. It was apt that he’d served in a tank during the war: he was like one himself, his hatch locked tight, his shell of armor thick. She loved him, of course, but never would she have imagined that he would become such an autocrat. She honestly didn’t know how she would bear it, if it continued.

She clutched the sheet to her and rolled onto her side, her back to him. It isn’t as though I really kissed JJ, she tried to convince herself, but a guilty feeling persisted.

I have to stop this. I should do what Byron asks, she told herself, though she knew deep down that she couldn’t. Wouldn’t, anyway.

Chapter 56

THE MICKELSON HOUSE
502 W. First Street, Pine Rapids
Thursday, November 22, 1945

After hearing the knock at the door, Nick waited. The bite of waffle he’d taken about stuck in his throat when he swallowed. Harry lit another cigarette.

In a minute, Elissa’s mother came in, with a soldier following her. “I’m so sorry, Ty,” she was saying. “We went ahead and ate, and then we had a surprise visitor, and JJ got sick, and I’m afraid nothing is working out as we’d planned.”

“Well, I’m sorry I was late,” said the boy. “My mother and sisters wouldn’t let me get away so easy.” He was young, and had a gentle look despite his square jaw. Nick saw by the rank on his sleeve that he was only a PFC. Nick, a corporal, outranked him. He stood to meet him; Harry did the same.

“Are there any waffles left for Ty?” Mary asked Harry, crossing to the china cabinet. She opened the door and pulled out a gold-rimmed plate and a set of flatware.

“Sure,” Harry said. “There’s a couple. They’re probably cold.”

“Oh!” said Mary. “You haven’t met Ty before, have you, Harry? This is Elissa’s uncle Harry, Ty. And Harry, this is Elissa’s fiancé, Ty.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Ty said. He had noticed Nick, and was eying him curiously.