She had the most overwhelming feeling that she was about to die, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop the tears that started to slide silently down her cheeks. Was this how Charlie had felt when he’d died? If he’d died and wasn’t in fact missing all alone somewhere, or in a POW camp? Had he known it was coming, or had it happened with little or no warning? She squeezed her eyes tighter shut, wishing she’d known how it happened, what had happened, whether his death had been fast, or if he’d suffered. She knew there was a small chance he was still alive, although she’d long since given up hope. It had been months now since the letter.

“Goodbye, Charlie,” Cate said, her lips whispering a kiss to his warm, smooth cheek.

“Not goodbye,” he said, his arm warm around her, protective until the end. “See you soon.”

He’d been superstitious about saying goodbye, hating the word and thinking it too final, yet she’d been so upset about him leaving that she’d said it anyway.

“Cate?”

She stared up into his dark-as-midnight eyes, his gaze so familiar and safe. “I’ll be back, all right? You don’t have to worry about me.”

She leaned into him as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, their parents looking on. They’d been friends for years before it had turned into something more, and it was his friendship she would miss the most.

“But if I don’t come home . . .” he said, holding her shoulders.

“Don’t say that,” she murmured back. “Don’t you dare say that.”

“If I die, I give you permission to fall in love with someone else. Do you hear me, Cate?”

She shook her head, but he caught her chin, his thumb soft as he looked into her eyes. But when he didn’t look away, when he wouldn’t back down, she finally nodded, the moment more intimate than she’d ever felt before with him.

“You’re going to make a great nurse,” he whispered. “All those fellas will recover just from you smiling down at them, I reckon.”

His kiss was gentle, just the slowest, sweetest brush of his lips against hers before he took a step back and took off his hat, waving to everyone he was leaving behind. They’d hardly ever kissed, and although she’d expected a kiss goodbye, it still surprised her, and her fingers flew to her lips. Part of her thought of Charlie as more friend than anything else, someone who always kept her safe, but she cared deeply about him and couldn’t ever imagine life without him in it.

And then he was gone, and she’d been left standing in the crowd, catching her breath as the plumes of smoke from the train rose and circled above them.