"Isabel?" Alex asked when Max told him about it at dinner one night. "Didn't she elope last year?"

"Yeah, our parents didn't approve of her choice of a husband."

Alex grinned. "I know the feeling. I wish I could be with Liz when her parents figure out where that ring came from. They won't be happy."

Max frowned, swallowing the last of his noxious sandwich. "Why do they hate you so much?"

"For building up their trust and then spoiling their innocent little daughter, that's why," Alex said. "Liz says they feel like I've betrayed them."

"Have you written to Liz?" Alex looked away and didn't say anything. Max gaped. "Have you written to her?"

"Well...sort of."

"Sort of? There's no sort of, Alex. I've been writing to her and I'm not the one engaged to her!"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know why I don't write back to her. She writes me every week, but...I have this feeling that something is going to happen, and I don't know what. And I don't want her to know."

"Yes, Alex, something is going to happen. We're going to be shipped overseas, and then you'll be lucky if you can write her!"

"I can't, Max. I just can't."

Max glowered at his best friend. "Liz deserves better."

Alex didn't respond.

"Listen...I know you two are closer than I could probably understand. But you can't fuck and run, Alex. Not with Liz. She's my friend too."

Alex glared at him. "That's exactly what I'm not doing, Max."

"Then what the hell are you doing? You ask her to marry you, you spend your last night at home with her--and then nothing?"

"I don't think you've got much room to talk, Max. I didn't see you leaving alone that night."

Max's eyes narrowed. "It's different with Tess."

"How is it different, Max? How exactly is it different?"

****

In his next letter, Max apologized for his best friend. "Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into him. I know he loves you, and he hopes you're happy."

She responded curtly to him. "I know that Alex loves me, and I know what's wrong. You don't need to make excuses for him." Max winced a little reading it. Whatever was going on, Liz was not a happy girl. And Max had witnessed himself many times how awful her temper could be. She finished her letter with "Remember your promise."

Max even wrote to Tess, telling her about the food, the endless Nebraska corn, the uniforms, and their drill sergeants, some of whom could be described as nothing less than sadistic. She wrote back in curly, drippy scrawl that Max could barely read. She told him about how simply awful the weather was in Roswell, and how she and the other girls were thinking of becoming nurses. Alex peeked over his shoulder, reading the words with a grin. "Just think of all those poor wounded boys she could help," Alex said. "Of course, she might not help them in the Army-approved way, would she?"

Max rolled his eyes. In truth, he was glad to be away from Tess. She was clingy and yet distant. Their last night together, she had mentioned marriage. Max was horrified by the thought. He prayed she would find someone else while he was away.

Their training was tough, and Max's already muscular physique developed even further with the benefit of regular exercise. Alex remained tall and skinny, though he gained a dexterity and general strength he hadn't had before. The 13 weeks seemed to pass in an instant.

When they climbed aboard the train that would take them to New York, where they would meet their ship, Max looked Alex over.

"Have you written her?" he mouthed over the roar of the train.

Alex looked away.

****

The American base in southern England was quite a shock to the boys from Roswell, New Mexico. They'd never been anyplace quite so...moist.

The weather was miserable at best. It was mid-September, but it rained nearly every day and it was much colder than they were used to. Even Fort Crook, far to the north of where they'd grown up, was miserably hot in the summer months they'd spent there. The concept of mildew and constant chill were new to the boys from the arid desert. In Roswell, even the winters were mild.

They had watch every night, and they completed some more training; Alex in bomb disarmament, and Max became more fluent in the languages he'd learned in high school--French and German. Both were an essential skill for soldiers soon to be sent to the continent. The training dragged on for weeks. Most of the soldiers were miserable in the English weather, although not all of them had come from places as dry as New Mexico.

Talk began amongst the soldiers as to when, if ever, they'd be sent across the Channel. Alex seemed unnerved by rumors he'd overheard from some of their superiors. A major invasion was being planned, to bust Hitler's stronghold right down the middle. Somehow it seemed doubtful to Max that they could break what seemed to be such an impenetrable barrier, but he said nothing.

It wasn't his place to question these people. After all, he wasn't really one of them.

****

Back in Roswell, where the weather was pleasantly sunny, Liz was carefully writing out a letter to Max. Her record player was plugged in next to her, and Billie Holiday's sultry voice soared through the air. "The very thought of you...and I forget to do...those little ordinary things that everyone ought to do..."

"Max, I just got your latest letter. Is the weather really all that bad in England? I don't believe it could be. We got the worst kind of flooding around here just last month. I'd never seen anything like it. How could the weather there be worse than that?

"You asked me how Tess was, she's good for sure. I haven't seen her too much, but she seems to be enjoying herself, anyhow. She still goes out dancing every night, as far as I've heard. But I wonder why you ask...I never really got the impression that you cared all that much for her, beyond her obvious...uh...assets. But I suppose your love life isn't really any of my business...

"Also, tell Alex that he needs to write his mother. She's worried out of her head about him, and she panics when she doesn't receive a letter. She thinks that he's been killed, though I've told her you two aren't in combat yet. Do you know when you will be? Do you know if you will be together? I suppose you will be, you have been up until this point..."

She heard her mother enter the room and carefully slid the letter between two books on her desk.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?"

Liz turned around and shrugged. "Nothing important, Ma."

Her mother's lips narrowed disapprovingly. "I don't like the way you've been sitting around the house lately, Elizabeth. What happened to the girl who used to go out dancing every night?"

"My dancing partners are in England. Besides, I thought you hated when I went out at night."

"Well, this moping around the house worries us, dear. We miss our Elizabeth who was so full of life. We don't..." her words trailed off as she caught sight of a glint of gold around Liz's finger. "What is that?"

"What's what?" Liz asked calmly, sliding her hands behind her back.

Her mother reached forward and pulled her hand around, revealing the gold ring with the sliver of diamond on top. "Elizabeth Parker!" she screeched. "You're not engaged, are you?"

"Yes, mother, I am. I have been since June. Thanks for noticing."

Her mother frowned, a deep line appearing across her forehead. "Well...who on earth is it?"

"Who do you think?" she shrieked.

"Well, we never know, you're always skulking around with those boys..."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Those boys...Alex and Max, is it?"

"Yes, mom, we've known each other since the third goddamn grade. Apparently you just noticed."

Her mother clutched at her arm. "Do NOT raise your voice to me, young lady, do NOT curse at me, and do not talk back."

Liz glared, her lip trembling. "I'm not six years old anymore, mom. I'm a grown woman."

"Well, you certainly aren't acting like one! And what have you been doing, hiding that ring all this time? You're much too young to be married."

"Don't be ridiculous. Girls my age get married all the time."

Liz's mother pulled away from her daughter in pain, collapsing backward on her bed. "Yes, and they all end up widows," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Don't do this, Liz. You'll regret it all your life. I know you will."

Liz shook her head. "I'm doing it. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"We'll see about that," her mother said as she left, closing the door with a soft snick behind her.

Liz's face scrunched up as she burst into tears, pounding on the door. "Mom...mom...I love you, Mom."

"I see your face in every flower...your eyes in stars above...it's just the thought of you, the very thought of you, my love..." Billie purred, and the record came to an end with a screeching halt.

****

The next day, Liz went to the same enlistment office where Alex and Max had gone after graduation. But instead of standing outside the door, waiting, this time she walked straight inside and up to the desk.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The soldier behind the desk looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, ma'am?"

"How does one go about joining the USO?"

****

Liz had taken ballet lessons since early childhood, gaining a grace and an easy way of moving that was present in her every action. The USO was eager to have her as a member, and she was offered a spot as a dancer in one of their routines. She accepted without hesitation.

She added an addendum to the letter she'd begun the night before. "Max, I may not be able to answer your letters for quite some time. I will write to you if I can, as I will most likely be traveling a lot. Please don't attempt to write me. I will write you."