21. France (2/2)

i'm sending you the picture leslie took of me and olive in our new uniforms. don't we look very mature (believe me we're not really)?

your loving daughter and a sister,

nurse julia una blythe

and so september passed, being the month fulfilled with work not only for julia but also for all the other nurses in their camp as well. amelia dallas became julia's another kindred spirit, and so her 'little triangle' with her, amelia and olive was filled up again.

gilly was moved up to the position of a flight officer and was somewhere in italy, wheras his

other blythe was somewhere in sicily. owen already made his way to the front and was fighting as one of the navy officers in the battle of the atlantic, so

avely it was almost impossible to think that owen was still a shy and a modest boy he always had been.

julia thought that walt, merry and jake were safe in the trenches, until she received a short telegram from merry, on one warm afternoon in the first week of october which said: "walt is wounded in the leg. they're sending him to england for treatment.". julia's heart went still and her face turned pale. olive just came back to their 'tent-home', as she called it, chattering with amelia by her side as she saw julia staring absently at the peace of paper in her hands.

"bath? are you alright?" olive sat down by her side and put a hand on her shoulder with worry in her eyes.

"walt has been wounded." she whispered back still looking at the telegram in her hands "and he is sent for recovery to england." her voice cracked in the middle and olive quickly em

aced her.

amelia sat by their side and put her small white hand on julia's back "it means that he will be alright, julia." she said softly.

"exactly." olive added "why are you so worried if you know he will recover?" she asked her and made julia to look at her.

"because the telegram said that he has been wounded in his leg." she replied slowly "and you know exactly that this, plus that he is being sent to england, probably means an operation or…or… an amputatation." she said the last word gravely. olive sighed sadly and hugged julia once again, allowing her to cry on her shoulder.

unfortunately for walt, it meant the amputation of his leg. he wrote a letter to his sister from the hospital in basingstoke in which he explained that he had been shot twice in the leg straight into its nerve and the operation wouldn't do him any better. thankfully though, by a pure accident, he was transferred into the hopsital where his lily worked and so he wasn't alone through it all. "it's because of her i don't feel any sadness or regret now." he wrote to julia in the middle of october "i lost my left leg but she still loves me and that's what matters the most to me."

"and he's coming home in late november!" julia exclaimed while reading out his letter to olive and amelia sitting next to her.

"oh, that's wonderful!" amelia grinned with her shining blue eyes.

"i told you that he would be fine!" olive said and winked to julia who smiled at her.

"but he also writes that he will marry lily before they will come back to p.e.i.!" julia gasped and put a hand on her mouth in surprise. olive's eyes went wide and amelia giggled lightly at their reaction.

"why won't they wait till coming back to canada?" olive asked after the moment of silence.

"he says that," julia started slowly "-lily doesn't want a big family wedding and "besides we are already in europe for our honeymoon"." julia humphed and laughed "i would never suspect my

other walter for anything of that kind!".

"now, i am most certainly sure that your family is nothing else but the best material for a book." olive said in a decided tone, and laughter filled up the room again.

dearest sister,

lily and i are happily married now and believe me it has been the loveliest 24 hours of my life so far. don't worry, i sent a telegram to our parents and lily sent one to hers. mother wrote that she is very happy for us but wishes that we got married at home, however dad completely understands why we did it that way and is very very happy.

now, we are on our way to the lovely london which i still have to discover for myself. i am determined to meet up with our leslie one day. we will stay there for two weeks and then we will go back to glen, just a month before the christmas day.

sheba, i don't even think about my missing leg, you know. it was bothering me just after the amputation but now i'm completely alright with the idea, except that i really want to dance with my new wife, and that is not recomended at all, in my state.

anyway, the next stop is king's cross and so i think that i'll leave it there.

be careful out there in rouen, and remember that i'm still and always will be, no one else but your loving

other.

walter blythe