Audrey was taking longer and longer to respond to Lizzie’s letters by then. The fight for her mother’s life was all-consuming, and she rarely had the time to sit down and write to anyone, even Lizzie. Each day was a life-and-death battle, and in November, Ellen finally lost the war. Ellen was unconscious for the final days of her life, and quietly slipped away as Audrey sat and watched her. Audrey was alone in the house, in the deathly silence, as she closed her mother’s eyes. Ellen had fought valiantly against her illness for a long time, and so had Audrey, and Ellen had earned her peace at last. Audrey kissed her cheek, and sat next to her for a long while, feeling her flesh cool rapidly. She realized as she looked at her mother that she was an orphan, alone in the world now. Both her parents, and her brother, were gone. She had no one. She wished that Lizzie could have been there with her. She felt excruciatingly alone. Audrey sent Lizzie a telegram in San Francisco telling Lizzie what had happened the day her mother died. Lizzie called her that night from the Presidio. Audrey had been crying when she answered.
“I’m so sorry, Aud,” she said, and they both cried. It wasn’t a surprise, but it was hard anyway. Caring for her mother had been her only life for two and a half years since she graduated from nursing school. The doctor had been amazed that Ellen had survived for as long as she had. It was mostly due to Audrey, and Ellen’s own determination not to abandon her daughter. But the Fates had conspired against them, and the major losses Ellen had suffered had weakened her even further. “What are you going to do now?” Lizzie asked her, worried about her best friend, although she and Alex had formed a bond too. Working together in wartime brought people closer quickly, not just romances but also friendships. Alex had become a good friend, as they shared their experiences day by day, working in the hospital and rooming together.
“I have no idea. This is all I’ve known and done for years now.” Since she was fifteen, when her father died and her mother got sick. “Maybe I should enlist, like you did.” She had thought of it a few times, but there was no question of it while her mother was alive. “I have no one left, no family, nowhere I have to be. I was thinking of getting a job as a nurse. I need to take some classes to brush up. I’ve only been doing what Mom needed. I’m a little rusty on the rest.”
“You can catch up in a month or two,” Lizzie said. “I wish I could be sure we’d be stationed together.” The armed forces kept fathers and sons and brothers together, when asked to do so, but friendships weren’t always respected.
“Maybe I will anyway. I’ll sign up for some classes. I need to do that anyway. I can’t just sit here in an empty house and do nothing.” She knew her mother had left her a little money, and she owned the house now, although she didn’t want to live there alone. She was thinking about closing it up and getting a nursing job in Baltimore, or enlisting in the army. It was too soon to say. She hadn’t even buried her mother yet.
“Let me know what you’re doing,” Lizzie said, and told her again how sorry she was. She would always have precious memories of Ellen and how kind she had been, and welcoming, when Audrey first brought her home from nursing school for Sunday dinners, which had become the mainstay of her student life, and a second family for her, warmer than her own.
* * *
—
The funeral was three days after Ellen died. Only Audrey, Mrs. Beavis, and two of their neighbors were there. Audrey arranged for burial in the naval cemetery at Annapolis, next to her father. The minister Audrey and her mother knew read from the Scriptures and spoke briefly about Ellen. Then her casket was lowered into the ground. It was a bleak November day, and Audrey went home alone. She started packing the next day. She didn’t know where she was going. But she knew she couldn’t stay long-term in the house that had become a hospital for her mother. It had served its purpose, but too many of its occupants were gone now. Audrey couldn’t bear the thought of being there alone any longer than she had to.
She signed up for a refresher course at her old nursing school. It was scheduled to last for four weeks, and she was surprised how quickly the material came back to her. She hadn’t forgotten as much as she had thought, even if she hadn’t used it. She was halfway through the class on Thanksgiving weekend, still living at home in the silent house, when Lizzie called her. Audrey had decided to ignore the holiday. She had no one to spend it with and didn’t want to celebrate. Lizzie sounded excited when Audrey answered.