Aline got on the stretcher and curled next to Lucette with her bandaged hand exposed.
Ruth kissed Lucette on both cheeks. “I’ll see you in England.”
Tears fell from the corners of Lucette’s eyes.
“All right,” Jimmie said to the soldiers. “Let’s move.”
The men lifted the stretcher and followed Jimmie and Ruth, clearing a path through the crowd.
Ruth ducked under the arm of a French soldier and shot ahead to the midshipman who was blocking the entrance to the gangway with a rope tied between two posts. “We have a badly injured woman with a child.”
“She’s full,” the officer said, looking at Ruth. “Step back. We’re preparing to depart.”
Gunfire blasted in the sky, and the Luftwaffe invaders veered away from the Hurricanes and retreated over the town.
Cheers boomed from soldiers along the harbor.
“Please,” Ruth said. “The woman is losing blood. She can’t wait for another boat.”
The midshipman eyed Ruth’s and Lucette’s uniforms, as if he were trying to determine if they were with the French Army. “I’m sorry.”
Jimmie pushed his way forward. “You must let her through—she needs immediate medical care.”
The officer shifted his weight. “I have my orders.”
“To hell with your orders!” Jimmie shouted. “Let her through!”
The midshipman held his ground.
A nurse caring for an injured soldier on the ship’s deck perked her head.
“Prepare for departure!” a Royal Navy commander called, walking down the gangway.
Ruth locked eyes with the commander and extended her hand. “Sir, I beg you, please allow this woman and child to come aboard.”
The commander glanced at Lucette and Aline, who were lying silently on the stretcher. Lines formed on the commander’s face. “Please forgive me. There’s no—”
“Commander!” a nurse shouted, running down the gangway. “I can make space for them.”
The commander glanced at the nurse and turned to the midshipman. “Let them through.”
Thank God. “She needs pressure to stop her blood loss,” Ruth called to the nurse.
“I’ll take care of her,” the nurse said.
A wave of relief rolled over Ruth. “Thank you.”
The nurse nodded.
The midshipman removed the rope, and the soldiers carried the stretcher with Lucette and Aline on board. The nurse guided them through throngs of injured soldiers and refugees on the deck, and Lucette and Aline were placed on the ground near a lifeboat. Afterward, the soldiers were escorted by a naval officer to leave the ship.
Ruth and Jimmie thanked the soldiers, and then labored their way through the crowd and exited the pier. They sat on a concrete seawall and looked out over the harbor. For Ruth, the hardest part was waiting for the hospital ship to sail away, knowing that the Luftwaffe could appear at any moment and rain down their bombs.
The ship’s horn sounded, the gangway was removed, and the ship floated away from its dock.
She felt Jimmie’s arm wrap around her. She leaned into him, and together they watched the ship sail through the harbor, enter the Atlantic, and gradually disappear out of sight.
CHAPTER 39
SAINT-NAZAIRE, FRANCE—JUNE 16, 1940
Ruth, sitting next to Jimmie on a seawall, looked out over the dark blue water of the shipless harbor. She silently prayed that Lucette would survive, and that she and Aline would safely arrive in England.
Jimmie rubbed her shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”
She nodded.
He stood and helped her to her feet.
They made their way past thousands of soldiers and refugees who were waiting in long lines that extended from piers. Instead of taking a place at the back of a column, they approached a Royal Navy officer, who was smoking a cigarette as he gazed over the shore.
“Excuse me, sir,” Jimmie said. “Do you know when more transport ships will arrive?”
“Tomorrow morning.” The officer, his hand slightly shaking, placed the cigarette to his lips and took a drag. He exhaled smoke through his nose and faced them. “The vessels are ocean liners, requisitioned by the government. They’ll have greater capacity to carry both troops and refugees.”
“Will the navy be spreading the word to the evacuees?” Ruth asked.
“We did.” The officer flicked ash from his cigarette. “They refuse to lose their place in line.”
