Danielle Steel - Wings

“What the hell does that mean?” Desmond shouted at them. “What kind of complications?”

‘They didn't tell me, sir,” the woman on the phone said to him politely.

Cassie's fever didn't respond to any of the medication, and she was dehydrated to the point of death. She was still delirious, and had violent dysentery, and she had started passing blood, which the medics told one of the men was a sure sign it was all over.

“Poor kid,” one of the midshipmen said. “She's the same age as my sister, and she can't even drive a car yet.”

“Looks like Cassie didn't drive so hot either,” one of the men joked, but he had tears in his eyes as he said it. The entire ship was talking about her, and praying for her, and so was the entire country, as well as the world.

In England, Nick had been called into his commander's office at Hornchurch. Word had gotten out eventually that he was extremely close to Cassie O'Malley, though no one knew the details. And he had been in rough shape since her disappearance in October. They'd sent him back to flying missions eventually, but he'd been hard on all his men, and dangerously willing to take unnatural risks for too long now.

“I wouldn't get my hopes up excessively, Major Galvin, but I thought you ought to know. We've just heard that they found her.”

“Found who?” Nick looked confused. He'd been asleep after flying two night missions over Germany back to back, when they'd told him to see the commander.

“I believe the O'Malley woman is a friend of yours, isn't she?” Gossip was everywhere in the Army, all the way to the commander's office.

“Cassie?” Nick looked as though he'd gotten an electric shock as he realized what the commander was telling him. “Cassie's alive? They found her?”

‘They found her. She's in critical condition on one of your warships in the Pacific. It sounds as though she might not make it, from what I've seen so far. But we'll keep you informed of any developments, if you like.”

“I'd appreciate that, sir,” Nick said, looking pale, as the commander watched him.

“You look like you need a break, Major. This might be the right time, depending on what happens.”

“I wouldn't know what to do with it, sir,” Nick said honestly. He was afraid to go home now. For him, there was nothing to go home to. Cassie would be with Desmond if she survived… and oh God, he hoped so… he would be willing to sacrifice his own life to make that happen. He would have been willing to do anything, if she just lived… even see her with Desmond Williams for the rest of her life. Anything was better than knowing she had died, or fearing it as he had for the past seven weeks. He had given up hope in the last month. It was just impossible that they'd still be alive somewhere in the Pacific. “Any word of her navigator?”

The commander nodded. They were all used to losing friends now, but this was a hard way to do it. “He didn't make it, they found him on the island with her. I'm afraid I don't know the details.”

‘Thank you, sir.” Nick stood up to leave, looking exhausted but hopeful. “Will you let me know if you hear anything else?”

“As soon as we do, Major. We'll call you at once.”

“Thank you, sir.” They saluted each other, and Nick walked slowly back to his barracks, thinking of Cassie. All he could think of, as he had a thousand times since May, was the night they'd spent at the airstrip in the moonlight. If only he'd held onto her, if only he'd been able to keep her from going… if only she'd live… for the first time in twenty years, he found himself praying, as tears rolled down his cheeks, and he went back to his barracks.

20

Three days after they had found Cassie in the cave, the Lexington steamed into Pearl Harbor. She had regained consciousness once, but lost it again. She was transferred to the naval hospital by ambulance. And when she got there, Desmond was waiting for her. He had flown over from L.A, leaving Nancy Firestone to control the members of the press who were waiting for her arrival in LA.

The doctors gave Desmond a report when they first saw her, and Desmond then explained to the reporters what had happened. But they had still heard none of it from Cassie.

“Will she be all right?” they asked with tears in their eyes, and Desmond's tears matched theirs. He was obviously deeply moved by his wife's condition.

“We don't know yet.”

A little while later, he went out to see what was left of the plane, which had come in on the Lexington too, and Desmond thanked the captain for bringing her home safely, as photographers snapped their picture.

“I only wish we had found her sooner. She's a great gal. We're all rooting for her. You tell her that as soon as she can hear you.”

“I will, sir,” Desmond said, as they took another picture of him with the captain. Desmond went back to the hospital after that to wait for news and after another hour or two, they finally let him see her. She looked ravaged by everything she'd been through and she had IV tubes in both arms, one giving her medication and the other glucose. But she never stirred. And he never touched her. He simply stood staring at her, and the nurses couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Billy Nolan's body was sent back to San Francisco that day, on a flight Desmond had arranged. And funeral services were set for two days later. And in churches everywhere, people were praying for Cassie.

It was the fourth of December by then, and all over the country, people were talking about Christmas, but all the O'Malleys could think about was Cassie, comatose in Hawaii. They called Honolulu every morning and night for news of Cassie's condition. Pat wanted to fly them there, but his doctor didn't advise it. He was even thinking of calling that miserable husband of hers to lend him a plane, but he had heard he was already in Honolulu. Desmond was milking it for all the publicity he could get out of it. And on December 5, the doctor at the naval hospital called them again. Oona dreaded it now when the phone rang, and at the same time she longed for it. She was desperate for news of Cassie.

“Mrs. O'Malley?”

“Yes.” She recognized instantly the scratchy connection of long distance. ‘there's someone here who'd like to talk to you.” She thought it was Desmond, and she didn't want to talk to him, but maybe he had news for them. And then she heard Cassie. Her voice was so weak she could hardly hear her, but it was her. Oona was crying so hard she couldn't even tell Pat what was happening.

“Mama?” Cassie said softly, and her mother nodded, and then forced herself to speak through her tears as Pat understood and began to cry too.

“Cassie?… oh, baby… oh, sweetheart… we love you so much… we were so worried about you…”

“I'm okay,” she said, and ran out of steam almost immediately. The doctor took the phone from her hand, and the nurse explained that Miss O'Malley was very weak, but she was doing much better. And then Cassie insisted on having the phone back again so she could tell her mother she loved her.“… and tell Daddy…” she whispered and he could hear her anyway, as Oona shared the receiver with Pat and he cried openly as he listened,“… I love him too…” She wanted to tell them about Billy, but she didn't have the strength, and the nurse took the phone away then. And a little while later they let her see Desmond. The nurse stayed in the room with them, as Cassie needed to be watched constantly. She was so weak that sometimes she even had trouble breathing.

Desmond stood beside her bed, and looked down at her unhappily. He didn't know what to say to her, except that he was glad she had survived. It was an awkward moment for them. Everything he should have felt or said was wrong because of their circumstances, but he was relieved that she was alive. And he couldn't help wondering if she'd been careless about the plane. Or had there been some fatal flaw they hadn't known about before she left? Eventually he would need to ask her, but this wasn't the moment.