Only a Paper Moon [ Band of Brothers ] 3

Chapter Eighteen

It was times like these that Alice missed Easy Company most. She didn't doubt Lewis would include her soon enough, but until then, she was lonely in the house filled with socialites. They were a high society, too high for her to reach. She could wear the clothes and the jewelry and marry into the family, but she was never one of them. Alice had made her peace with that not long after coming to that realization, but the loneliness stung, especially when she remembered what it was like to be surrounded by men who would die for each other.

That was a friendship Alice knew she'd never replicate. That was a bond that formed only in war. Perhaps the only good thing to come of the horror they'd endured. She may not have particularly liked every soldier she'd worked with, but she'd known they would die for her, and she for them. The socialite politics was the other end of that spectrum.

She moved further in, accepting a glass of champagne from a waiter with a small thank you. The bubbly alcohol soothed her nerves a bit. She still hadn't seen Ruth. She hadn't seen Dick either. So she kept walking until she found herself outside in the chilly gardens.

The night wore on, soon everyone moving indoors as the sun disappeared. Small plates of food were handed out. Men and women lounged on couches and at tables, socializing more than dining. Alice found Lewis and Dick not long after. She also caught a glimpse of Ruth's red hair as she sped back and forth, making sure everything stayed on track.

"You look nice," Dick told her.

Alice smiled back at him. "Thank you."

"My dad wants us to stay a bit after, help organize the cleanup," Lewis told them. He took a drink from his shot glass and gestured to a few of the groups nearby as the three of them lingered near a fireplace. "This should wrap up in an hour or so."

"Good," Dick muttered.

"Not having fun?" Alice couldn't help but smile at bit as his distress. "Don't feel like you fit in here, Dick? Even after all that time with the Brass?"

Dick shook his head. "This is worse. The Army I understood. This is all..."

"Posturing?" Lewis chuckled. "Yeah. That's the game, Dick. Pieces on a chessboard. You flirt with the young ladies, you down a few drinks, you make friends with the men."

Alice hummed in agreement as she took a drink of her third champagne glass of the night. "How's that girl you talk about? Ethel?"

Dick straightened up. But Alice didn't miss the smile that cracked his perpetual frown that night. "She's good. We're having dinner again tomorrow."

"Aw, Dick's got a date," Lewis teased. "Should we drop in? I want to see this."

Alice shoved him with her shoulder. "Be nice." But then she turned back to Dick and smiled. "When and where? What! I'm curious."

"I'm not telling either of you!"

Lewis and Alice both broke down into laughter at his insistence. It didn't take much longer before they had to mingle with other people again. Alice stayed with them, enjoying being on her husband's arm instead of lingering on the walls. If she had to be in the spotlight, an inevitability that came with being a Nixon, she would do it with Lewis Nixon III at her side.

She met a few of New York's debutantes that night who seemed kind enough, though a few were a bit too consumed in their own lives for her taste. Alice preferred them to the wives of the Nixon Nitration Works businessmen though. And so by the time the night came to a close, and the party broke up, she decided it was a successful evening as much as it could be.

As Alice wandered through one of the rooms, turning off lights and making sure the waiters had cleaned the glasses up, she just took a deep breath. The music had stopped, the chorus of conversations had died. Her eyes wanted nothing more than to close for a good eight hours. It was almost time. Almost time.