“That was quite something,” Lizzie said when he rejoined them.
“Just a little entertainment for the locals.” He smiled modestly and leaned over and kissed Lizzie on the cheek.
“You scared me to death,” she admitted. “That trick where you all looked like you were going to crash and then pulled out of it flipped my stomach over.”
“Mine too,” he teased her, “or it used to. We’ve never had an accident in any of my formations. Flying is the most exciting thing in the world…or it was, until you came along,” he said and she nodded. She felt that way about him too. It had all happened so fast, and she and Audrey were leaving the next day. He told her that night that he would try to get some time off at Christmas, or right after, to come to see her in Boston. “I’ll be counting the hours until I see you again, Lizzie,” he said, and kissed her passionately that night, before she left him and went back to her room, where Audrey was waiting. They were all packed and leaving in the morning for the flight to San Francisco. Will had promised to take them to the airport. It had been the most wonderful week of Lizzie’s life, and Audrey’s too. Her mother had given them the best vacation and graduation gift she could ever have imagined. Ellen had spared nothing for them. A week with her brother had meant a lot to Audrey too. They had only seen each other during brief, infrequent visits in recent years. A whole week with him had been a luxury she knew she would treasure forever. And Lizzie would too.
He took them to the airport the next day, and helped them check in for the Pan Am flight. They stood outside the terminal afterwards, with the tropical flowers all around them. He put a gardenia lei around Lizzie’s neck, and then a bright fuchsia one around Audrey’s. He kissed Lizzie openly in front of his sister and the other passengers, and Audrey went to buy a red and yellow lei safely nestled in a plastic box for her mother. The flight was announced then, and they walked across the tarmac to the plane. Lizzie turned to wave at him a few times, and stopped as she entered the plane to wave at him for a last time. Audrey did too. Both girls stood together waving at him, as the tall, handsome young navy pilot waved his long arms, and then they disappeared. He stood there looking bereft until the big plane took off, taking with it the woman he knew he would marry one day. He had never felt as lonely in his life as he did when he drove away. All he wanted to do now was see her again. Lizzie had cried when the plane took off, and Audrey held her hand, smiling at her. For all three of them, it had been the best trip of their lives. And the fragrance of the leis followed them all the way to New York. After the United flight from San Francisco the next day, they landed at LaGuardia on Monday night, and Lizzie hopped a short flight to Boston so she could get to work on time the next morning. Audrey took a cab into the city to Pennsylvania Station, where she took a train to Baltimore, and a cab to Annapolis. She walked into her house very late that night. Her mother had woken in the middle of the night and Mrs. Beavis was settling her again. Ellen looked pale and tired but smiled when she saw her daughter. Audrey had a deep tan, and was wearing the lei Will had given her. Her mother looked instantly peaceful and pleased. She was happy to see her, and Audrey looked young and beautiful.
“Welcome home. How was it?” she asked, as Audrey kissed her.
“Oh, Mom, it was the best ever. You can’t even imagine how great it was. We even saw Will fly yesterday. You gave me, and Lizzie, the best gift of our lives.” She was going to tell her mother about Will and Lizzie later, but it was too late that night. It had been a long trip from San Francisco to Annapolis, and she felt like she was on another planet now. The trip to Hawaii seemed like a dream. When she went to her room she got the lei for her mother out of its box in her suitcase where she had carefully put it for the flight to San Francisco. It was still fragrant and beautiful, and she put it next to her mother’s bed as Ellen drifted off to sleep with a smile.
* * *
—
Helping to serve her patients lunch in the post-op ward the day after they got home, Lizzie felt like she was in a daze, but she smiled every time she thought of Will. She could see her future now. Maybe her parents had been right after all. Marriage and children no longer sounded like such a bad idea, even if it had meant giving up medical school. If she had gone to medical school, she would never have met Audrey or her brother, and would never have gone to Hawaii. She had put the lei carefully on her bed table the night before. Its delicate fragrance filled the room and reminded her of Will.