Evelyn's Tale

-Twenty Two-

"Ev, are you in there? Open the goddamn door."

"Shit it's Bill," Evelyn hissed as she hurriedly jumped up from the bed and began buttoning her top, not noticing in her haste that she was doing it up all skewwhiff. "He's gonna kill me."

"Not before he kills me first," Liebgott muttered as the door rattled louder, the chair looking like it might give way any second.

The two of them smoothed down their clothes and Evelyn tried to tame her hair which had long ago fallen out of its bun. Look innocent Evelyn. Just act casually and not like you were in the middle of getting it on with Liebgott. But even as she gave herself a mental pep talk, she felt dread in the pit of her stomach gnawing away hungrily. Bill would take one look at her face and know what had almost just happened, she knew it.

Suddenly the chair gave way and the door burst open. Bill stormed in first followed swiftly by Joe Toye and Babe hot on his heels. Without even missing a beat Bill clenched his fist and hit Liebgott squarely in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. Evelyn screeched and was on her knees beside him in an instant, while Toye and Babe used all of their combined strength to hold Bill back from doing anything further.

"Joe, are you ok?" Evelyn demanded to know, tenderly touching his jaw which was already a fierce red.

He nodded and allowed her to help him stand back up. All the while she wouldn't let go of his arm, afraid he was going to try and fight Bill, and afraid of what would happen if Toye and Babe were to lose their hold on her brother who was snarling like a rabid animal.

"Get the fuck off me," Bill growled, trying to shrug his oppressors off of him. "If it was one of your sisters, wouldn't you wanna do the same?"

"Probably," Toye agreed. "But the fact of the matter is Bill, we're not home where we can settle this with our fists like we're used to. We're in the middle of a war and we're paratroopers for Christ's sake. You're lucky if you don't get court martialled once that bruise comes up on his face. Do anything else to him and you'll be out of the airborne altogether."

"And it wouldn't hurt you to find out what exactly was going on here before you start throwing anymore punches around," Babe said logically, and Evelyn was glad to see that not all of the men from her neighbourhood thought only with their fists and not their brains. Bill could learn a thing or two from Babe Heffron.

Bill knew Toye and Heffron were right, but he couldn't see past the red veil of rage over his eyes. He was blinded by it. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that his sister had a bit of a thing for Liebgott, and he knew for an absolute fact that they wouldn't have wedged the door closed if they weren't trying to hide whatever it was they were up to. He should know, he'd done it himself more times than he could count. The thought of anyone touching his baby sister drove him insane, especially the thought of Joseph fucking Liebgott. Of all the guys, it just had to be him didn't it? He wondered how long Liebgott had waited for him to be gone before he had made his move on Evelyn, and he wondered how they had managed to go unnoticed by not only Babe but everyone else? He was convinced that none of this was his sister's doing. She was young and naïve, which was why he always felt the need to keep such a watchful eye on her. And the one time that he wasn't there to do that meant that one of his worst fears had come to fruition.

"Toye, Heffron, if he wants to fight me then let him," Liebgott decided, gently removing Evelyn's hand from his arm and stepping forward. He wasn't afraid of Bill Guarnere. He wasn't going to stand down or be bullied by him. In fact, he would quite enjoy the fight.

"No," Evelyn shook her head, stepping in between the two of them just as she had done once before on the way over to England. "Bill, you need to calm down and apologise."