North Road {HS}

34. Kitty

Art was home.

It was something that I think most of us had thought was no longer possible. But he was here.

He sat through the ceremony with his daughter on his lap while his wife sobbed on his shoulder after taking the time to explain to everyone after the Sunday morning service how he had come to be home. Somehow he had come to find himself in a French field hospital after a shelling. He woke up with one less arm and no recollection of where his men had just been. He spoke no French and the residing doctor and his staff spoke no English. Eventually he had been transferred into the hands of a computer any of British soldiers, but as he was still suffering from an acute head injury he hd been forced to remain in hospital. He had attempted writing and contraction his officers, but the war had just ended and the organization of the British arm services was in shambles. If his word ever got to his American comrades was never sure. Eventually he had been discharged from the hospital and forced to find a way. He had written by regular post but due to the chaotic climate of a world trying to recover from war he had managed to arrive before his letters.

Seeing them sit there had been a heart breakingly beautiful sight. But I hadn't been able to bring myself to look.

Because across from me- shoulder to shoulder with Pierce- had been a mop of brown hair and a set of green eyes that I couldn't look away from. Adelaide and I had been able to finish her dress faster than we had anticipated and she had insisted that we make one for me as well out of one of my mother's old blue gowns. I stood by my sister's side as she married the love of her life and in the face of the man across from me I saw a look I recognized as adoration. It was a look I knew but not one I was familiar with being directed at me. It had been there when he had woken me up in the early hours of the morning with quiet declarations of love as we lay in his bed.

It was a look I felt that I could dive in to and get lost in. One I could plant myself in- the dried and withering plant I felt I had become- and grow.

I felt proud of the dress I wore and the way my hair looked and simply of just being me. Kitty. Because when I he looked at me like that I felt visible.

I had raced out of the church with Marjorie's children so that she could take a long walk with her husband. They needed the time to begin to get to know each other and Marjorie needed the time to learn what had happened to her husband. I buzzed around the house with Hattie at my heels as she chatted excitedly about her daddy and the wedding and how today had been the best day of her life and I couldn't help but agree.

The ceremony was in full swing as we filled cups with punch and greeted guest. The smiles on our faces seemed indelible and we felt invincible- two girls who had been given the men we had been longing for.

I scanned the crowd for Harry, but he was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he was just in the house or looking for Pierce and Adelaide who had also disappeared.

But as the day wore on and the newly weds reappeared looking little tousled but enviously happy I began to grow concerned. The dancing began and as I watched Adelaide and Pierce twirl around I was overwhelmed with happiness for them despite the fact that Harry had not appeared and asked me to join them.

I supposed that, as with everything with Harry, it would take baby steps. It would not be declarations of love and unrelenting attention every second of every day. It would be quiet mornings and days without anything. So, knowing this, I sat and enjoyed my evening.

From my spot on the outskirts of the makeshift dance floor where I was hopping around with Roy as he pretended to lead me in a waltz I could see the curtains fluttering in Harry's open window and my heart seized. He had to be up there.