22. A Night To Remember (1/2)

chapter xxi

december 1943 arrived and everyone welcomed it gladly, with hope in their hearts that maybe with this december, as the final month of 1943 and the new year coming after it, the peace will once again inhabit the surface of the earth. following the italy's declaration of the war on germany in september, everyone's hearts started pounding faster and more optimistically towards the new year of 1944.

julia was switched into the "recovery" ward and she found it much more relaxing as her main tasks were generally to talk with the soldiers,

ighten up their day and check on their wounds, rather than taking care of newly arrived soldiers with many bleeding and opened wounds.

"your last patient today to check on," mrs tate said to julia on one cold evening just before the end of julia's duty "is mr niall harris, on bed number 11." julia nodded at her and made her way through the corridor.

the man lying on the bed number 11 turned out to be quite a young, good-looking man with fine silky blonde hair, big forehead and very blue eyes, so deep julia thought she could almost drown in them. and it took just a single smile for her to realize that she is about to meet another kindred spirit. "hello there, mr harris." julia said and smiled at him, while taking in hand his medical record attached to his bed "how is your leg doing?"

"still paralyzed, i think." he replied with a sigh. julia was almost shocked by how simmilar his voice sounded to the voice once belonging to troy rogers, but she left the gloomy thought about her long-dead fiancee aside and concentrated on mr niall harris' deep blue eyes instead.

"just give it a few days, mr…" she began but was interrupted by mr harris.

"please call me niall." he said and pointed at the chair next to him "i feel very old when people call me that."

julia grinned at him warmly and sat down on the offered chair "alright, niall. but you also must call me julia then." she answered and clasped her hands together "or bathsheba, or sheba or just bath; that's how my friends call me."

niall chuckled quietly "there's a lot of choice for me then." he said.

"that's quite true." she agreed and smiled again "tell me, niall, what happened to your leg? if you don't mind me asking, of course." she said to him affably.

"there was an explosion of a shell in no man's land, somewhere near dieppe, where i was serving in the trenches." he replied in a matter-of-fact tone "and the doctor said that, because of how i landed after it threw me into the air, i won't be able to feel my leg for about two weeks and then i will have to learn how to walk again, after starting feeling it again." he shrugged then and smiled reassuringly at his companion "don't you worry, julia. i'm not the kind of a man who would be devastated by something like this."

julia grinned "that's good. because i don't like the 'mummy's boys'." she said and the both of them laughed merrily.

"you're not

itish, are you?" he asked her suddenly.

"no, i'm canadian." she replied with pride in her voice "i was born on prince edward island."

niall's eyes widened in surprise "that's where my grandparents from my mother's side live!" he said cheerfully.

"so it makes you half-canadian then!" julia exclaimed excitedly and niall nodded with just as much enthusiasm.

"yes, my mum was born there and in the first war she served as a vad in london's hospital, she met my dad there, she moved to london after the war. they married of course and have lived there ever since." he explained.

"oh, that sounds like quite a romantic story." julia answered with a funny grin on her face.

"it really is." he agreed "dad loves to talk about it." he chuckled.

"and do you have your own romantic story to tell?" julia asked mischievously.

"no, i'm as free as a bird!" niall laughed and so did julia "but what about you, miss julia...?" he asked her.

"blythe. julia blythe." she replied with a smile "and, it's quite a complicated and a very long story when it comes to me and love." julia said feeling how her cheeks turn red under the sudden wave of hotness flowing across her body.

"i'm sure you will tell me one day." he said with a hope in his voice.

"i will." she answered "because i know that you are one of the people who know the race of joseph." she smiled at him knowingly.

"i like this phrase." he responded joyfully "and i'm sure that you for me, as well, are one of the people who know the race of joseph."

and so, from that day on, julia and niall spent every afternoon together, joined by olive and amelia, and the four of them had the most wonderful time together.

julia discovered many things about niall for example that he was from central london but had half of his family on prince edward island, in charlottetown. he was altogether a charming fellow of twenty-eight, who liked poetry and the same music as julia did. he was a very talented painter as well. julia even described him in her letter to blythe as a "perfect combination of gilly's sense of humour and owen's modesty". julia, olive and amelia simply adored him. and he adored them.

but most of all niall adored julia. she interested him, especially by the way she looked at things and her

ight optimism and independent will. he was, with their every evening spent together, falling more and more in love with her. however he decided on not showing it off to her, yet.

one evening in the middle of december, julia, olive and amelia were sitting on niall's bed and they were all chattering, about everything and nothing in particular at the same time. it was already dark outside but they didn't even notice it. their laughter echoed from the walls of the tent under they all were and the cold air from outside somehow was avoiding their small circle of friendship. other soldiers surrounding them also were enjoying themselves by playing cards together, singing and talking as well. if it wouldn't be a hospital ward, and the soldiers wouldn't be in the hospital-clothes, someone would think it was almost a cafe-meeting.

"i really admire you girls, you know." niall said to them all of a sudden.

"what do you admire us for?" olive asked him curiously "how beautiful we all are?" she joked and the four of them laughed joyfully.

"yes," he chuckled "-but also for what you are doing for all of us, soldiers."

"'there are things which have to be done," julia replied with a soft smile crossing her face "-but not everyone can do them.' that's what blythe wrote to me in one of his letters i got last month." she said and looked at the floor for a moment, with her mind being somewhere else instead.

olive saw this feeling on julia's face and put her hand gently on julia's own with tenderness in her eyes "that's a wonderful thought, dear." she said and grinned to her warmly.

"yes, it really is." niall agreed "you are all so

ave."

"but what about you?" amelia said suddenly "aren't soldiers even

aver than us, do you think?"

"no," niall replied slowly "we aren't really. i mean we are in a way. it's just not the right way of

avery, i suppose. to kill other people." he said the last bit with a strange look appearing in his blue eyes, which neither of the girls didn't see before.