For a moment Nancy felt as uplifted as she had been on the night she took her Florence Nightingale pledge so long ago. Major Reed was opening the door to the goal for which she had worked so long.
“You’ve been such a good scout, Nancy, and put on such a splendid program today this was the only reward I could offer you right now—to tell you a little ahead of the others that we’re soon going out into the Pacific. I fear the work here will seem like play compared with what we’ll meet there.”
“I’m ready and eager to go,” she assured him. “When do we leave?”
“Shortly. But you are not to mention it until it’s officially announced.”
The general announcement was made sooner than Nancy dared hope—three evenings later. They had to be ready to leave the following morning. The new nursing unit was expected in that night to take over.
Before Nancy started packing she went to find Bruce Williams and tell him good-bye. He was genuinely distressed.
“I was afraid it was too much good luck, having you here even this long,” he said.
“But you won’t be here much longer either,” she told him. She leaned across the table in the recreation room where he had been reading. “I’ll tell you something if you won’t mention it.”
“Oh, jimminy! Nancy, are you really going to marry me?”
“Don’t be silly!” she exclaimed. “We’ve got a war to win first. I was going to tell you that you’re going to be sent home with the next bunch that goes out from here.”