19. Months Pass (1/2)

chapter xviii

leslie ford arrived in the small hospital in london, in the early hours of 3rd june 1942, just as it was all planned. julia and leslie couldn't help not hugging each other till the rest of the day, especially when she learned that mrs ashby agreed on moving all the girls to a bigger, four-bed bedroom with leslie being their new room-mate.

to julia's surprise, leslie found more of a kindred spirit in claire than she found in olive. both of them were almost unseperable after the week of leslie's arrival. but julia and olive didn't mind at all and were even relieved that claire finally had someone who understood her completely without asking any questions.

leslie's first day as a nurse was a very tearful day. she was almost ready to pack up and come back to canada because she didn't expect what she had seen that day in the hospital. however, she decided to stay after a very long talk with julia on the side. and with every day, she was getting better and better and eventually was able not to think about all these "horribly poor men", after her duty, just like julia, olive and claire were able to.

and because of having her cousin and one of her best friends by her side, julia finally got back to her old self; the crazy, funny, decided, strong,

ave and smiling bathsheba who every single night dreamed about riding horses across the haunted woods during the moon's eclipse.

"bathsheba, you got a letter from cilia." leslie said just after their duty when the post arrived.

julia smiled and took the letter from leslie's hand, written in the neat hand-writing of her cousin.

"i didn't hear much from cilia lately." julia said when she sat down on her bed and started opening up the envelope.

"the last time i've seen her, she was just fine, so i don't think you have to worry about her." leslie replied and sat down by claire who smiled at her friendly.

"i worry about marshall every time i see her name on the envelope." julia explained and sighed "she always talks about him and the letters she gets from him. she is very in love with him, you and i know it perfectly well."

"i know she is." leslie agreed "i sometimes think that she can't think of anything else but him." she giggled.

"oh, goodness!" julia exclaimed and put her hand on her mouth while reading the letter in her hands.

"what?" olive squeezed julia's hand quickly "what happened?"

"marshall's foot has been amputated…" julia answered slowly as she was still reading the letter "and he's coming back to canada in september!" she said in an excited tone and grinned at the girls surrounding her.

leslie whooped "oh, i know i shouldn't be happy becasue he had his foot amputated but…" she smiled "he's coming home to cilia! she must be so happy!" she said.

"she is more than happy. she is happily blithe!" julia said and the four girls laughed joyfully.

"so they will probably be the next ones to marry." leslie said dreamily, putting her arms around her knees.

"maybe," julia continued on reading "-she says that they won't marry until the next fe

uary because that's when marshall will end his course for a doctor in redmond."

"i thought he finished it before enlisting." leslie admitted.

"no, he clearly didn't. but he doeasn't have much of this course left." julia sighed "and i will miss another family wedding!"

"oh, well!" olive said and patted her friend on the shoulder "at least we know that you certainly will be at your own wedding." and with that julia couldn't help but to start laughing with the rest of her friends.

one day, at the end of august, julia, olive, claire and leslie came down to the canteen for

eakfast. in there, there was a very loud sound of chattering spreading across the room. some of the nurses there had their faces painted with worry, others with excitement.

"something must have happened, i'm sure." claire said while eating her porridge.

"i'll go and fetch the newspaper." leslie said and jumped up from her seat and she quickly dissapeared into the crowd. julia's eyes followed her cousin, and she put down her toast on the plate, as she felt that she can't eat it anymore.

"oh, i have a bad feeling in my stomach." claire shivered.

julia rolled her eyes and looked at claire sternly "claire, please, if we would loose the war, there certainly would be much bigger excitement than this." she said but before claire could answer her, olive jumped from her seat.

"oh! there she comes!" olive said hurriedly and waved to the upcoming leslie with a fresh newspaper in her hand.

"what happened then?" julia asked her cousin who sat down while still reading nervously.

leslie looked at julia and all three girls could see fear and worry in her hazel eyes "dieppe." was her simple reply.

"what's dieppe?" claire asked her with wide eyes.

"the battle of dieppe happened yesterday." leslie said to them in a low voice "along the

itish were our canadian boys…" she gulped "from the second canadian division."

julia's face turned pale "merry, walt and jake." she whispered and thought that it must have been some mistake.

"there were around 900 canadians killed." leslie added

eathlessly as well.

"oh my god." julia managed to say before covering her mouth, feeling that unless some news from france will come, she will get no rest from her emotions seething in her chest.