Introduction

Can they overcome the past to find a brighter future together?

Major Jack Novak has never failed to meet a challenge--until he meets army nurse Lieutenant Ruth Doherty. When Jack lands in the army hospital after a plane crash, he makes winning Ruth's heart a top priority mission. But he has his work cut out for him. Not only is Ruth focused on her work in order to support her orphaned siblings back home, she carries a shameful secret that keeps her from giving her heart to any man. Can Jack break down her defenses? Or are they destined to go their separate ways? A Memory Between Us is the second book in the WINGS OF GLORY series, which follows the three Novak brothers, B-17 bomber pilots with the US Eighth Air Force stationed in England during World War II.

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Excerpt

2nd Evacuation Hospital; Diddington,

Huntingdonshire, England

March 3, 1943

Lt. Penelope Ruth Doherty braced open the window and

drank in cool air to settle her stomach. “There, gentlemen.

Isn’t it nice to have fresh air in here?”

In the bed next to the window, Lieutenant Lumley snorted.

“Ma’am, I’m from Arizona. To me, this soggy English air is

more lethal than Nazi bullets.”

Ruth smiled at her patient, who had broken an ankle when

his P-38 Lightning crashed on landing. “Good air circulation

is important for wound healing.” And for clearing the

nauseating smell of breakfast sausage from the tin can of a

ward.

“Say, Red, you know what would heal my wounds?” The

new patient, Lieutenant Holmes, pointed to his lips and

dropped Ruth a wink.

Ruth gave him a sweet smile. “You’d like another dose of

castor oil?”

“And it’s Lieutenant Doherty to you.” Ruth’s medic, Technical

Sergeant Giovanni, set his supply tray next to Lieutenant

Holmes’s bed. “Now, time to swab your wounds.” A German

shell had filled the navigator’s back with shrapnel.

“Besides, her hair is more auburn than red.” Lieutenant

Lumley’s gaze had a softer cast than usual. Thank goodness,

he was due to be discharged.

“I’ll be back with the morning meds.” Ruth passed one of

the potbellied coal stoves in the aisle.

“Ouch!” Lieutenant Holmes cried out.

“Whatza matter? Does it sting the widdle baby?” Sergeant

Giovanni’s voice oozed fake sympathy.

“Better not be iodine. Makes my throat swell up something

fierce.”

Ruth’s feet stopped along with her heart, and she slowly

turned to her medic. Sergeant Giovanni’s burly face stretched

long in horror. Of course he was using iodine.

Anaphylaxis. She needed to act quickly without alerting

her patient, keep a level head, and control her emotions

as she had been trained. Panic would make his condition

worse.

She returned to Lieutenant Holmes’s bed and put on her

cheeriest smile and voice. “What would feel good on those

wounds would be a nice rinse with cool water. Sergeant,

would you please fetch Dr. Sinclair? I’d like to discuss Lieutenant

Lumley’s discharge with him.” She locked her gaze

on her medic. “Now,” she mouthed.

“Sure thing, boss.” The sergeant strode for the door.

Ruth grabbed towels from the drawer in the bedside table

and braced them on either side of her patient’s torso, and then

gently poured water over the brown stains and dabbed them

with another towel. Too late, but she wanted to reduce the

amount of iodine in the poor man’s system. “Now, doesn’t

that feel nice?”

“I’d rather have a kiss.”

“And I’d rather have a million dollars, but neither is going

to happen.”

“I don’t know about that. I can feel that kiss already. My

lips are all tingly.”

Ruth’s hand tightened on the towel. He was going into

anaphylaxis, but where was Dr. Sinclair? Only he could give

the adrenaline needed to save this man’s life. “Excuse me.

I’ll be right back.”

At a fast clip, Ruth went to the medication room, where

Lt. Harriet Marshall was completing her narcotic count from

the end of her night shift. “Excuse me. I need to get some

adrenaline and morphine. Lieutenant Holmes is going into

anaphylaxis.”

Harriet’s elfin face blanched. “Oh no. Thank goodness

Dr. Sinclair is on the ward.”

“Not yet.” Ruth grabbed a tray and put two sterilized syringes

on top.

“So—so why are you already getting the meds?”

“I want to be ready when he comes. I can’t waste any time.”

One vial of adrenaline.

“But he hasn’t ordered them yet.”

Ruth leveled a look at the girl. “I know the treatment for

anaphylaxis.”

“That—that’s presumptuous of you. You’ll make the doctor

angry.”

Ruth pulled a vial of morphine. “I don’t care about the

doctor’s feelings; I care about my patient’s life.” She ignored

Harriet’s gasp and returned to Lieutenant Holmes’s bedside.

He stared up at her with wild eyes. “My throat—it itches,

it’s swelling up. Was that iodine?”

“Yes, sir, it was, but Dr. Sinclair is on his way.” She gave

him her most soothing smile. “Now, let’s get you in a more

comfortable position.” Ruth patted his back dry and helped

him roll over.

Lieutenant Holmes clawed at his throat. “I can’t—I can’t

breathe.” Red hives dotted his fair skin.

“Sure, you can breathe. Stay very calm. Very calm, and think

about something else. Where are you from, Lieutenant?”

“New—Hampshire.” His chest heaved out the words.

Ruth filled a syringe with adrenaline. “So you’re used to

this cold weather, unlike Arizona over there. Me too. I’m from

Chicago. In fact, this must feel warm and balmy to you.”

The patient’s only response was a series of raspy, labored

breaths. Where on earth was that doctor? “Lord, help me,”

she whispered.

Ruth pulled up a dose of morphine and chattered about

the way the snow filled the streets of her slum and made

them look clean for a change, until the thaw made them

look worse than ever. But as Lieutenant Holmes gasped for

air, all she could see were Pa’s last breaths as the blood clot

settled in his lungs and Ma’s wheezes as she wasted away

with pneumonia.

As a nursing student, she couldn’t help her parents, and

now as a nurse, she couldn’t help this young man. She glanced

at the clock on the wall. If Dr. Sinclair didn’t come in the next

sixty seconds, she’d give the adrenaline herself.

And lose her position? As the oldest of seven, she had a

responsibility to her brothers and sisters. How could they

get by without her support?

Images of those beloved faces swam before her—her purpose,

her joy. Why did it always have to be this way? Why

did she have to choose between doing the right thing and

protecting her family?

Dr. Sinclair burst through the door, his white lab coat flying,

and Ruth let out a deep sigh.

“Lieutenant Doherty, get me some adrenaline.”

“Right here, sir.” She handed him the syringe.

He stared at it. “Three two-hundredths of a grain?”

“Yes, sir.”

His jaw jutted forward, but he administered the dose and

followed it with morphine.

Within the course of an hour, they had stabilized Lieutenant

Holmes. Ruth cleansed his wounds, replaced his dressings,

and changed the wet bedding. Then she took the empty

syringes and vials back to the medication room, where she

dropped the syringes into a pan filled with blue green bichloride

of mercury solution.

“I suppose I should be mad at you.” Dr. Sinclair leaned

his tall frame against the open door.

Ruth shook the pan until the syringes were submerged.

“My job is to care for the patient.”

“And to anticipate my needs. I’m flattered.”

“Don’t be. I know proper treatment.”

“You should have been a physician.”

Ruth shook her head. If he only knew what she had to do to

scrape up money for nursing school. “Too smart for that.”

His chuckles drew nearer, and Ruth stiffened. She didn’t

feel like fending off another pass from this man.

“I know this great restaurant—”

Ruth turned and glared at him. “How would your wife

feel if she heard you talk like this?”

Dr. Sinclair lifted one salt-and-pepper eyebrow. “Come

on, Ruth. There’s a war on. All the rules have changed. Besides,

you talk one way, but I see it in your eyes. You’re just

like me.”

Ruth clamped her teeth together. “No, sir. I’m not.”

“Heart of iron.” He thumped his fist on his chest. “You

have one too.”

She stared into his chilly blue eyes, and the cold seeped

down to her toes. How did he get so close to the truth? Long

ago she’d clamped an iron shell around her heart and nothing

and no one could pry it loose, but deep inside, the tender

flesh still beat.

“Come on, Ruth.” His gaze settled on her mouth. “Just

one kiss. I can’t resist those lips one day longer. You must

be a great kisser.”

Her insides shrank into a squirming mass. She had listened

to Eddie Reynolds when he told her she was the best kisser in

the whole eighth grade, with that great boyish grin and that

sheet of brown hair flopping over one eye, but she would not

listen to this poor excuse for a physician.

Dr. Sinclair put his hand on her waist.

Ruth’s lungs collapsed under the weight of memories. She

slapped away his arm. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch

me.”

“Oh, come on—”

Ruth shouldered past him and out onto the ward. Her

breath returned in little bursts, and white sparkles appeared

before her eyes. She made her way down the long semicylinder

of the ward. “Sergeant Giovanni, I need—I need a

short break. I’ll be right back.”

“Good time to do it while the doc’s here.”

Ruth grabbed her blue cape from the hook by the front

door and stepped outside. After she swung her cape around

her shoulders, she braced her hands on her knees and forced

slow, even breaths.

She couldn’t work with Dr. Sinclair, but what could she do?

Should she talk to the chief nurse? Would it do any good?

Ruth straightened up. Her vision was clear and so was her

course of action. A discreet talk with the chief and a transfer

to another ward. She just needed to get away.

She marched down the muddy road flanked by the corrugated

tin Nissen huts that served as wards and into the

administration building. Lt. Vera Benson’s door stood open,

and Ruth stepped inside.

The chief nurse held a phone to her ear. Ruth backed up to

exit, but Lieutenant Benson motioned for her to sit down.

“I’m so sorry, Agnes. Already? Three nurses PWOP?” She

arched a strawberry blonde eyebrow at Ruth.

Pregnant Without Permission—the easiest way for a nurse

to be relieved from her commitment to the military.

“Yes, that does create a problem. I’ll see what I can do.

We don’t have our full contingent of nurses here either, but

I’ll talk to the girls.”

Lieutenant Benson hung up the phone. “Now, how can I

help you, Lieutenant Doherty?”

“Was that another hos—I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”

Lieutenant Benson tilted her head and smiled. “I invited

you to eavesdrop, and yes, it’s our business. The 12th Evac

is setting up in Suffolk. Horribly short-staffed. Even more

so than we are.”

“I’ll transfer, ma’am.”

The chief tilted her head in the other direction. “Excuse

me?”

A smile floated up Ruth’s face. How often did a solution

come so quickly, so neatly? If she didn’t know better, she’d

think God was on her side. “Please, ma’am. A transfer is

just what I need.” view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

1 Deep inside, most women wish they were beautiful. How is Ruth’s beauty a blessing and how is it a curse?

2 Jack is a natural leader. Is his desire for a promotion good or bad? How does his ambition change throughout the story? How are Jack Novak and Jeff Babcock alike and different?

3 The Eighth Air Force took heavy losses before fighter escort was available all the way to the targets. On Aug. 17, 1943, they lost 60 of 376 bombers, and on “Black Thursday,” October 14, 1943, they lost 60 of 320 over Schweinfurt, with ten men on each plane. How did those young men deal with such staggering losses? How do you think Americans of today would deal with the same circumstances?

4 Although Jack has no desire to be a pastor, he pushes for that goal. Why do you think he does so? Have you ever tried to fill a role you weren’t cut out for?

5 Ruth feels a great responsibility for her family. What circumstances in her life factor into this? How does Aunt Pauline manage to manipulate Ruth? What does Ruth have to learn before she can stand up to her aunt?

6 Five hundred women served as flight nurses during World War II, and seventeen were killed in action. Considering the role of women at the time, flight nurses were pioneers in many ways. What ways do you see?

7 Why do you think Jack reacts the way he does when he discovers Ruth’s secret? Why does May react so differently? What was your gut reaction to Ruth’s secret?

8 At the beginning of the story, Ruth says she doesn’t need friends. Is she telling the truth? Why does she reject female friends? Ruth also deals with cattiness and gossip among her fellow nurses. Why do you think female relationships, which can be so close and supportive, can veer in the opposite direction?

9 At the beginning of the story, Jack and Charlie are content in their roles as hero and sidekick. What changes in their lives cause growing friction? How does their friendship change throughout the story?

10 Ruth doesn’t trust God because of the bad things that have happened to her. Have you ever felt like that? Do you tend to pray for God to take you out of “the valley of the shadow of death,” or to be with you in the valley? How does Ruth learn to trust God?

11 Jack sees Ruth as wearing a “cloak of shame.” How does shame weigh Ruth down? How does she learn to throw off her shame, and how does this change her life? Have you ever felt the burden of shame? What have you learned about how to deal with it?

12 Jack comes to see pride as his root problem. How is this manifested in Jack’s life? In your life do you struggle with pride? In general, what role does pride play in sin?

Weblinks

»	Author Sarah Sundin's web site

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