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From underneath a retreat of blankets and pillows, Cate's hand emerged. The black Bakelite telephone was rattling and ringing again even after she had ignored it the first time. She picked it up and dropped it back down, effectively silencing the racket.
With a groan, she rolled over and put her back to the empty room. Mira's empty twin bed by the window had been stripped and the sheets sent down to be cleaned. Her friend's side of the closet was bare. For the first time since she had joined the Nurse Corps, she had a room completely to herself. The feeling was almost eerie.
Again, the phone rang. Cate sat up straight, rubbing a hand through her mussed hair. She glared bleary eyed at the telephone on the bedside table.
"Hello?" Cate finally conceded, swinging her bare feet onto the cool, wooden floorboards.
"So you decided to actually pick it up this time?"
"I can't get rid of you, can I?"
"Not that easily," Mira replied curtly. Cate smirked when she heard a muted conversation in the background, "Sorry, Anthony is just being…opinionated."
"Sounds like someone I know."
"So," Mira continued, "I know you asked me after the wedding not to mention all this again-"
"Mira, please don't tell me you told Roy I was ready to go out on another date."
"No this has nothing to do with Roy. Though I will say he does seem pretty smitten with you. Even after your best Bette Davis impression out in that downpour. This has something to do with someone else."
Cate shifted on the bed, her finger twisting around the cord, "What do you mean?"
She heard Mira take a deep breath on the other line, "Anthony thinks I need to mind my own business and honestly, he might be right. But don't tell him I said that. I found out where Ted McNeil is staying while he's here in Paris."
Cate stood and gave a nervous laugh, "How did you do that?"
"Oh you know, I called in a favor."
Shaking her head, Cate bit her lip. She rubbed her fingers across her forehead and walked to the window. It was midmorning and the first time the sun had been out all week. She had spent the last five days kicking herself for not speaking out that night in the rain. She should have at least yelled at him for scaring her to pieces, making her believe he was dead for months. Rehearsing what she could have said over and over again in the wee hours, now that she had the chance to do it, Cate was hesitant.
"It's actually close to where you live," Mira continued tentatively, "You don't have to get the address from me if you don't want to, I understand. I just want to give you the option because-"
"I love you too," Cate picked up a pencil and the message pad by the phone. It couldn't hurt to have it on hand just in case, "Alright, let's have it."
Her curiosity got the best of her and an hour later, Cate stood outside the hotel. It was much nicer than the place where the Corps had put them. Cate squinted as she peered up at the impressive building. She stepped back, steadying her hat as she looked through the glass doors into the lobby. There was a good chance Ted wasn't even there. Sunday lunch, he was probably out enjoying the city.
Cate took another step back and nearly sat down on the curb like a child. She was having difficulty understanding why he had never written but showed up at Mira's wedding. His surprise appearance had to be more than mere coincidence. There was a good chance the answer was a simple one. He was as confused as she was by the whole thing.
Impulsively, she walked down the sidewalk away from the hotel. There had been too much destruction and grief. Too much heartbreak. In all likelihood, what they had been left with was exactly the thing Anthony and Mira feared would happen to them. They were looking at strangers that had once meant something to one another for a brief moment in time.
"Catie?"
Jarred from her thoughts, Cate jolted to a stop on the sidewalk. Her foot caught the curb and down she went landing on the side of her thigh and hip. She grasped her hat from the cement and looked up to see Ted standing over her.
"Goodness," she groaned under her breath, a few other people stopping to make sure she hadn't hurt herself. Cate's stomach tightened with humiliation. She felt like she was going to vomit right there.
"Are you alright?" Ted asked fervently, crouching down at her side, "I didn't mean to startle you."
"I'm fine, really," Cate replied with a grunt.
Ted held her elbow and helped her to her feet. Putting a hand at her waist, he walked her over to the table at the sidewalk café where he had been sitting. A newspaper was splayed out, stained with coffee that he had spilled when he spotted her.
Cate winced as she looked down at the side of her shin. Her stockings, a brand new pair but thankfully not silk, were ruined. She didn't have a deep cut but there was blood.
"Here," Ted dipped a napkin in a glass of water and crouched down, lifting her ankle as he dabbed away the grit, "You didn't hurt yourself too badly."
"Just my pride, huh?"
Ted glanced up with a grin, "Yeah, but that's an easy fix."
Cate shook her head. Her smile dimmed as he kept his eyes on her, his hand still wrapped around her calf. He loosed her and sat back in the seat, lifting a hand to get the waiter's attention. Cate tucked in the frayed edge of her skirt as he ordered two more coffees. Her face still hot with mortification, Cate attempted to subtly neaten her hair.
"I like what you have done with it," Ted commented, indicating to her hair, "It's gotten longer."
"I'm hoping that my mother won't be too scandalized when I see her again. Though honestly, I wouldn't mind shocking her a little bit,” Cate smirked
"Oh yes, Mother Doyle," Ted nodded as the waiter brought them the petite cups of strong coffee that they served in most Parisian cafes, "How is your family doing?"
Cate's eyes drifted down to the newspaper as Ted pushed her cup towards her, "Well enough, Owen is back home and has decided to become a teacher. Patrick has decided to pursue a career in the Marines."
"That's great, I'm glad to hear it." Ted's tone was reverent, clearly remembering to tread lightly when speaking of her brothers.
"I will be seeing them next week."
She sensed his eyes dart up and glue to her. Cate stirred a cube of sugar into her cup, the spoon clicking against the sides.
"You are going home?"
"Yes," Cate forced a smile, "I have fulfilled my commitment. I will be out on the afternoon tide on Wednesday."
"So soon?"
"Not soon enough. I have had enough of Europe to last me a lifetime. Haven't you?"
Ted's mouth tightened and he shrugged, "I don't know how home is going to look after all this."
"Just because you have changed doesn't mean home has," Cate murmured, gently laying her spoon on the off-white saucer, "Some things are meant to remain the same, even when everything else has come to ruin."
Neither of them looked up from their cups of coffee. A warm breeze swept through the street, swirling with foreign voices and wafts of car fumes but the space between them felt oddly quiet.
"I am glad I got to see you again. I hate that I left you like that the other night."
Cate snorted, "I wish I had gone across the street instead of standing there like a dolt."
"Well, you had that guy to worry about...what is his name? Your date?"
Cate looked up to see Ted studying her with a furrowed brow as though trying to understand the relationship she had with the pilot from Mississippi. She smiled lightly, bringing the cup to her lips and taking a sip, "Roy. Mira set us up for the evening, it was the first time I had met him."
Ted's expression relaxed, "He seems like a nice guy."
Cate’s eyes drifted down to where his hand rested on the table, "I am glad to see you are well. When you didn't write, I feared the worst."
Ted sat forward in his seat and rubbed a hand through his dark red hair, "Catie, I just didn't-"
"No really its fine, I understand," Cate gave another compulsory smile, fiercely swallowing back the growing lump in her throat, "You don't need to explain, please."
"I don't know how to explain. We were at Berchtesgaden in Hitler's damn mountaintop retreat on VE day and there was this bottle of champagne-"
Cate reached out and laid her hand on his, "I understand. Ted, we barely knew each other. You don't have to explain or apologize." Cate stood abruptly, straightening her skirt and grasping her hat in her other hand. "I need to get going."
"Wait, would you give me a second please?"
Cate forced back the tears, "I am glad I got to see you. I really hope the best for you."
She barreled down the sidewalk, hot tears staining her cheeks as she forced her way through the crowd. The last thing she wanted to happen in Paris was to hear a weak apology and subsequent rejection from the man she had come to love.
Love.
She barely knew him. It was a stupid notion from a heart broken and grief sickened girl desperate for something good to come out of this dark season. A stupid, stupid girl.
"Catie! Wait!" Ted shouted catching up to her. He grasped her arm. She stopped with a gasp as he twirled her around on the crowded sidewalk to face him.
"Please, Ted-"
She didn't get the rest of the sentence out. Pulling her waist tightly towards him, he planted a firm kiss on her lips. The moment had come as such a surprise, she didn't have a second to register what was happening. All she knew was that things never felt more right than when she was in his arms.
He let go but kept his face close to hers, "There should have been nothing keeping me from writing you the minute I heard that Germany surrendered. I was stupid."
Catie let out a short, breathy laugh, "What?"
"I doubted us."
"But we barely know each other."
"I have all the time in the world to get to know you, Catie Doyle," He cradled the side of her face with his rough palm, "And that's a privilege I am not willing to compromise."
Catie turned her face towards his hand and kissed the heel of it. Ted's grip on her hip tightened.
"Will you give me that chance?" He shifted, searching her face, "Please say you will."
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