Only a Paper Moon [ Band of Brothers ] 3

Chapter Sixteen

February 10, 1946
London, England

"Mrs. Lewis Nixon."

Alice couldn't help but smirk at her own words. As she sat up beneath the sheets, she closed her eyes. A gentle pitter-patter of midnight rain sounded on the single window in their hotel room in London.

Nix moved across the room from where he'd been changing. The bed moved as he shifted up next to her. "You gonna start calling me Lewis now, Mrs. Lewis Nixon?" he teased.

Alice took a deep breath, the scent of his cologne and her newly washed hair filling her nose. She opened her eyes. Staring back at her was her husband. At the thought, Alice smiled again. "Should I?"

When his hands cupped her face, Alice shuddered. She let him turn her head and pull her into a kiss. His hands moved to her hair, and she pushed deeper into the embrace. It felt right. He felt like home, all of home. She didn't have to keep searching, because no matter where they went, as long as they were together, she would have a home. Adélaïde had gotten what she wanted.

Alice choked on a sob at the thought. It almost hurt to pull back, to break the beautiful tension. But emotions overwhelmed her, and she had to calm down. Alice felt herself shaking. "I'm sorry," she apologized through her tears. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong?"

Everything and nothing. But she didn't know what to say. It didn't make sense. She'd slept with him dozens of times. She couldn't explain it. Alice shot up from the bed, bouncing a bit as she scrambled to the floor. Her white tank top had wet spots from her tears even as she poured herself a glass of Vat 69 from the vanity.

"Damn it," she hissed to herself. Her heart pounded in her chest, from stress and from love and from the many contradictory emotions. It confused her. Thoughts of the war filled her mind, the blood and the cold and the hatred and despair.

But then she turned around. Nix still sat on the bed. Lewis Nixon. Her husband, shirt off, hair still messy and wet from his shower, looked at her with so much concern and love that she couldn't help but smile and choke back another sob. "Nothing's wrong." And yet her stress continued to rise. "Shit. Nothing's wrong. What's wrong with me!"

All she could think about was Skip and the way he'd regale the company with all the ways he planned to show Faye how much he loved her. It had kept them going, some days. Alice coughed again. With every cough, her anxiety spiked.

"Hey! Hey," Nix said. He scrambled off the bed as she grabbed at her chest again. "You're not getting sick. Alice look at me!"

Another harsh sob escaped her. "God damnit."

This wasn't how she'd planned the night of her wedding to go. She'd not imagined herself standing in a hotel room in London. She'd not imagined herself struggling to breathe from the anxiety racing through her. Her vision blurred. "I'm sorry."

But he said nothing. Instead, he just pulled her into an embrace. Alice rested her face on his warm skin, forcing herself to calm down. She could hear his heart beating. The steadiness made her pause. She took several deep breaths.

"It's our wedding day. You can't cry," he muttered. Her hair muffled his voice. "You can cry after we have to say goodbye to England."

Alice laughed at his joke. But she didn't move, still relishing the safety of the firm embrace. With each breath she calmed down more. She focused on the surrounding sounds instead of her own overwhelmed emotions. The pounding rain, the ticking of the clock on the wall, her own unsteady breathing, the beating of her heart, she tried to focus on those. Alice didn't know how long they'd stood there, but eventually, she pulled away and looked at him. Home.