“Oh, my gosh!” She jumped up, threw on her bathrobe, and flung open the door. The housemother, curlers still in her hair, had her fist raised, no doubt ready to knock again. Mary ran right past her and down the hall to the lobby, where the phone was off the hook.

“Hello?”

“Mary?”

Her mother was crying. Dread pooled in the pit of her stomach and tears sprang to her own eyes. Not Daddy. Please, God, don’t take Daddy. “Mother? What is it?”

“It’s your father…”

She gripped the phone tighter. “What about Daddy?”

“He’s been wounded.”

“Is he…” She couldn’t bring herself to ask it.

“He’s alive, but he’s got multiple gunshot wounds. They’re evacuating him from a hospital in Italy right now and sending him home. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

“He’s alive, Mother! That’s great news.”

“He’s badly hurt. I need you to come home right now. We need to be here for him.”

The buzz in Mary’s ears was so loud she missed the next thing her mother said. Come home? That would mean leaving Nora and the life she was building here.

“The officer who gave me the news says he’s lucky he made it out alive. It was the Battle of Rapido River; we lost almost 2,000 men there.”

Mary shook her head to clear it.

“When you get here, we’ll have to see about you getting your job back at Meyer’s. I imagine it will be a long time, if ever, before your father can go back to work. We’ll need the money you can make.”

Blood pounded in Mary’s ears. No, no, no. I can’t go back to that life. Not now. “But I can make more money here and keep sending it home like I have been.”

“Mary Elizabeth? Did you hear me? Your father was nearly killed. We’re lucky to be getting him back at all. You will stop this foolishness and come home right this minute. How selfish can you be? Your father needs you. This family needs you. I expect to see you in this house by tomorrow night.”

This time, it was her mother who hung up without saying goodbye. Woodenly, Mary made her way back to her room. She sat on the bed, staring off into space.

Her father was coming home. Yes, he wouldn’t be in one piece, but he wouldn’t be in a box, either. Tears of gratitude sprang to her eyes. She inhaled deeply. Daddy was coming home for good; he wouldn’t be dying in some foreign country, he would be home with Mother and everything would return to normal.

A breath caught in her throat. Normal. Everything would return to her mother’s version of normal. Nora. I can’t leave Nora. I can’t. I just can’t. Her hands trembled and her teeth chattered. What was she going to do?