Page 13 (1/2)

Ruth could understand that easily enough

"Still, everyover me I was hospitalized, and I think I slept al only long enough to eat and drink Yet every time I opened my eyes, Sam was there I’m sure that’s not possible, but that’s how I re hand and sipped the cool liquid "After a week-- to oing to Aton State and gave it to me I didn’t knohy he’d do that"

"Did you keep it?" Ruth asked

"I did," Helen confessed, "although I didn’t think I’d ever need it By the tiot back to New York, I was still skin and bone My own parents didn’t even recognize me My mother looked at me, covered her face and burst into tears I enty-four years old, and I felt sixty"

Ruth was in her twenties and couldn’t irandmother had described

"Five months after I arrived, Saht and rown back, and when I saw him I barely remembered who he was He visited for two days and we talked He’d co to life back in America"

Ruth had wondered about that, too It couldn’t have been easy

"I hadn’t done very well My parents owned a small bakery and I worked at the counter, but I had no life into live for My husband was dead, and I was the one who’d killed him I told this American soldier, whom I barely knew, all of this I told hi did I hold back He listened and didn’t interrupt me with questions, and when I was finished he tookdown her cheeks "He said I was the bravest woman he’d ever known"

"I think you are, too," Ruth said, her voice shaky

"When I’d finished, Sam told me he was part of D day," Helen said "His company was one of the first to land on O there and the bravery of his men He’d seen death the sa, he’d stumbled across the body of his own brother He had no time to mourn him He didn’t understand why God had seen fit to spare him and not his brother

"This lieutenant asked the very questions I’d been asking myself I didn’t knohy I should live when I’d rather have died with Jean-Claude--or instead of hiain her composure

"After that, Sa, and it came to him that his brother, his men had sacrificed their lives so that others could live in freedom God had spared him, and me, too, and it wasn’t up to either of us to question why As for Jean-Claude and Tim, Sam’s brother, they had died in this terrible but necessary war For either of us to throay our lives noould be to dishonor theht, you know"

Her grandmother nodded "Sam left after that one visit He wished me well and said he hoped I’d keep in touch I waited a week before I wrote the first letter Saiven me many details of his war experiences, but deep down I knew they’d been as horrific as my own In that, we had a bond"

"So you and Grandpa Saain "For six months rote, and every day I found es of encouragement and hope for us both Oh, Ruth, hoish you’d had the opportunity to know your grandfather He ise and kind and loving He gave ht ain--and then he asked me to marry him" Helen drew in a deep breath "Sam wrote and asked me to be his wife, and I said no"

"You refused?" Ruth asked, hardly able to believe it

"I couldn’t leave my parents a second time… Oh, I had a dozen excuses, all of them valid"

"How did he convince you?"

Her smile was back "He didn’t In those days, one didn’t hop on a plane or even use the phone unless it was a dire eency For teeks he was silent No letters and no contact Nothing When I didn’t hear froain"

This was the reason her grandmother had smiled when Ruth told her she hadn’t heard from Paul

"I couldn’t bear it," Helen admitted "This soldier had become vitally important to me For the first tih and cry I knew Sam was the one who’d lifted this heavy burden of pain from my shoulders Not only that, he loved me Loved me," she repeated, "and I’d turned him dohen he asked me to share his life"

"What did you do next?"

Helen sram that said three words Yes Yes Yes Then I boarded a train and five days later, I arrived in Washington State When I stepped off the platform, my suitcase in hand, Sam was there with his entire family We were married teeks later I knew no one, so he introduced me to his best friends and the women they loved Winifred and Clara became my dearest friends They were the people who helped me adjust to normal life They helped me find my new identity" She shook her head slowly "Not once in all the years your grandfather and I were together did I have a single regret"

Ruth’s eyes remained teary "That’s a beautiful love story"

"Now you’re living one of your own"

Ruth didn’t see it like that "I don’t want to be a military wife," she said adamantly "I can’t do it"

"You love Paul"

Ruth noted that her grandmother hadn’t made it a question She knew that Ruth’s heart was linked with Paul’s He was an honorable man, and he loved her They didn’t have to share the sa as they respected each other’s views

"Yes, Grandma, I love him"

"And youto Ruth to ad over her for the past week lifted

All at once Ruth knew exactly what she was going to do Her decision was made

Ten

Barbara Gordon answered the doorbell, and the ht "Ruth, it’s so good to see you!"