Free Dancing in the Rain by Amanda Harte Page B

pale light of another rainy dawn brightened the room only slightly. “The one thing I’m sorry about is that I won’t be able to stay here much longer. Miss Pierce will send me home as soon as she knows.”
    Carolyn didn’t doubt it. The head nurse was not one to bend rules without a direct order. “She’ll find out eventually.”
    “I know that.” Helen looked down at her still slim figure, and Carolyn suspected she was imagining the inevitable changes. “All I want to do is postpone it as long as possible. Somehow, I need to hide the morning sickness from her.”
    Carolyn nodded and suggested that she could take Helen’s early morning shift. “I’ll do whatever I can for you.” Carolyn hugged her friend again. “This is so exciting!” Though nothing short of a truce would end the horrible injuries and death they dealt with every day, it was wonderful to know that the circle of life continued.
    “It feels like a miracle,” Helen admitted. She sank onto the room’s one chair, as if the effort of opening the shutters had tired her.
    “What does Glen think?” Carolyn asked, referring to Helen’s husband. She knew they’d been married for three years and that one of the reasons Helen had volunteered to come to France was that her husband was stationed on the Western Front. The baby must have been the result of a brief leave that they’d managed to share the week before Carolyn had come to the hospital.
    Helen had told Carolyn that they had rendezvoused in Paris and that the French capital was as beautiful as she had dreamed, even though the mood was even grimmer there than in Goudot, as the Parisians feared an enemy occupation. The journey, too, had been fraught with difficulties. Though Paris was only one hundred kilometers from Goudot as the crow flies, Helen had explained that there were neither crow flights available nor any direct routes, and so the sixty-six miles had become close to one hundred. “But it was worth it!” she had declared. Now that visit must seem even more wonderful.
    “Is Glen as excited as you?”
    To Carolyn’s surprise, a shadow crossed Helen’s face. “I haven’t told him.” As Carolyn raised an eyebrow, Helen continued, “We had two false starts, so I want to be sure before I tell him.” She smiled at Carolyn. “You’re the only one who knows.”
    A lump formed in Carolyn’s throat at the thought that this woman who’d been a stranger a month before now trusted her with such an important secret. “Thank you, Helen. I promise I won’t betray your confidence.”
    Helen reached forward and laid a hand on Carolyn’s arm. “I know you won’t. You’re the most loyal person I’ve ever met.”
    Though she couldn’t have explained why, Helen’s words transported Carolyn back to Canela, and she pictured Ed’s face the day she’d agreed to marry him. He had been happier than she’d ever seen him. And she? Carolyn couldn’t remember how she had felt other than the pleasure of knowing that she could help Ed. It was not unlike what she felt today, knowing she could help Helen. How odd. Was loyalty what she felt for Ed?
    “You’re late, Carolyn.” Dwight stood next to the operating table, his hazel eyes cold with anger. “You’re late,” he repeated.
    She knew she was, but she couldn’t regret it, not under the circumstances. If she had her way, this particular operation would be delayed even more. Today, for the first time since she had come to Goudot, so many injured men had been brought to the hospital that they had overflowed the wards and were lined up in the hallways. Carolyn glanced at the three men who were waiting for surgery and flashed them her most brilliant smile, hoping they’d understand what she was about to do. Though their faces were lined with pain and worry, the patients managed to return her smile. Dwight, however, did not smile. The steely look he gave her was as disapproving as his words.
    “Sorry, Doctor,” she said as she approached