Page 143 of The Book of Summer

“Probably not. But he’d want to nonetheless.”

The woman led her inside and to the first-floor parlor that had been refashioned into her father’s bedroom since he could no longer navigate the stairs.

“Hi, Daddy,” she said, slowly approaching his bed. “Surprise!”

Ruby’s eyes landed on him and she gasped.I’ll see you in the fall,he’d said. Any fool could tell he’d never make it that far.

“Oh, Daddy.”

Ruby rushed to his bedside, careful not to jostle him in any way.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Aw, petal.” His eyelids were gummy, his skin a yellow-gray. “I’ve been dying for so many months I wouldn’t know the first thing to say.”

“Don’t saythat.”

“You can’t fear the truth, my darling girl. It’s not all bad.”

“I’m not interested in that irritating practicality of yours right now,” Ruby said with a smirk.

“Your mother tells me she’s bored up there,” he said, and lifted his gaze heavenward. “You have everything under control down on earth. She needs me more.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Ruby plummeted onto the bed, jostling be damned.

“There’s precisely nothing on earth I’d categorize as under control,” she said.

She’d planned to butter Daddy up before dropping the bomb but his bleak face told Ruby that this would be no sneak attack.

“Have you come with news?” he asked, eyes making a sweep of Ruby’s left hand.

In it she held the telegram, the very one with P.J.’s full name typed in caps. Ruby brought it in case she couldn’t find the words to say. A lucky thing, as that was the situation as she found it.

Ruby passed the paper to her father, hand trembling. A fresh crop of tears filled her eyes. As Daddy studied the telegram, Ruby realized the gross assumption she’d made.

“If you can’t read it—”

She reached out a hand.

“No. I can still read. My vision hasn’t failed quite yet. It’s addressed to me.”

Ruby bit down on her lip and gave a small nod.

“Tilda thought it’d be best if I read it first,” she said, “I hope you don’t mind.”

“No,” he answered, his voice a wheeze.

“See?” she said after Daddy held silent for some time. “Mother doesn’t need you. She has Topper and now P.J., Walter, too. I’m the one who needs you, Daddy. Someone has to stay down here for me.”

He crumpled the telegram and held it to his still-pumping heart. Ruby’s own heart could’ve combusted with sorrow.

“Sam,” he said at last. “Have you heard from Sam? Was he at Normandy, too?”

“No,” Ruby said, and sighed. “He was not.”

She hadn’t told her father about Sam, because what was there to say? Ruby didn’t even know how to speak about it herself.

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