“American?” Dolly prompted.
“Exactly. Do I look American? As American as Dolley Madison?”
“Dolley Madison?” Gail laughed. “You look as American as Coca-Cola. You’re one hundred percent red, white, and blue.”
“Do you think Mitch will think so?” Aria asked, still looking at herself in the mirror.
“Mitch?” Bonnie gasped. “But J.T.—”
Aria caught herself. “Of course I meant my husband. It’s just that Mitch laughs. I mean, I’m sure that Lieutenant Montgomery does too. I’ve even seen him laugh. But as a general rule…” She trailed off as the four women watched her with interest.
Dolly broke the silence. “J.T.’s a barrel of laughs. A regular riot. He’s just had a lot to think about lately what with this new radar and all. He’ll cheer up as soon as he’s sure everything’s gonna work. You’ll see. Hey! It’s quarter after three. We better get going. The guys’ll be waiting.”
Bonnie, Gail, and Patty left through the front door of Gail’s house while Dolly caught Aria’s arm. “J.T.’s a really great guy. He’s had every single woman and half the married women on the island after him since he arrived.”
Aria was incredulous. “Really? Perhaps there is a shortage of single men.”
“In a navy town during a war?” Dolly gave Aria a long look. “J.T. hasn’t been very good to you, has he?”
“He is m
y husband.” Aria realized that these American women had a way of making her forget herself. “He has been very kind to me.”
“Bill starts being ‘kind’ to me and I’ll think there’s another woman. Come on, let’s go get some ice cream.”
The husbands, except for J.T., were there, and Mitch was waiting for them. The way Mitch looked at Aria made her lower her head and blush. Involuntarily, she wished the army had chosen someone like this man for her husband.
“You are gorgeous,” he said, taking her arm and leading her to a chair.
It never occurred to Aria to tell this man he wasn’t allowed to touch her. The other couples, all newly married, were wrapped around each other, acting as if they hadn’t seen one another for months. Aria, with her new haircut and her borrowed sundress, felt almost as if she were one of them instead of a foreign princess. It seemed natural when Mitch moved his chair very close to hers and put his arm around the back of her chair.
“I can’t get over how different you look,” he said softly. “You were beautiful before but now you could stop traffic. Maybe later we could get together for a moonlight drive.”
Aria looked at her hands. This man was making her feel heavenly, as if she were enormously desirable, so very different from the way she had been feeling since she had arrived in America. “My husband,” she murmured.
Mitch moved a little closer to her. “It’s obvious that J.T. doesn’t appreciate a dish like you. Princess, I’m serious about you. I like the way you look, the way you move. I’ve never met a girl like you. You and J.T. don’t seem to be exactly in love. There must be some other reason why you married him. A baby on the way?”
“Certainly not,” Aria said, but gently.
Mitch’s hand moved to her shoulder, his fingers caressing her skin, and his touch felt delicious. No man had ever touched her skin like this before.
She looked up into his eyes, their noses almost touching.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mitch whispered.
She was on the verge of agreeing when all hell broke loose—the hell being in the form of Lieutenant J. T. Montgomery.
“Jesus H. Christ!” he bellowed. “What have you done to your goddamned hair?”
In an instant, Aria went from being an American wife to being a royal princess. She was on her feet. “How dare you use such language in my presence!” she yelled back at him. “You are dismissed! Go! Leave my chamber.”
The crowd in the ice cream parlor had come to a halt at J.T.’s first shout. Some of them had smiled at his words. But Aria’s command left them stunned.
Dolly recovered first and, at the moment, she feared J.T. less than she did the autocratic Aria. “J.T., honey, sit down and stop glaring so. Waitress, bring this man a root beer float.” She turned to Aria, her voice automatically lowering. “Your Royal—I mean, Princess, please have a seat.”
Aria was recovering and she realized how she had called attention to herself and how she had reestablished herself as a foreigner. She felt Mitch take her hand and give a gentle tug. She sat, J.T. still standing, still hovering, still frowning.
“Sit down, J.T.,” Dolly commanded, her voice filled with disgust. “Newlyweds,” she said loudly to the watching crowd, and gradually they turned back around, although one ensign muttered, “Who’s married to who?” as he nodded from J.T. to Aria to Mitch.