Doubt Thou Stars Are Fire

Chapter Two

The morning came too quickly, Florence pushed me awake and I had nearly fallen off the bed. I stood up in my night gown, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "I brought you coffee." She held out a copper mug filled with a black liquid. In the beginning I hated coffee's bitter taste but I grew to be fond of it's effects.
"Thank you," I smiled and let her leave before taking a drink. My old green chest that was moved by the soldiers into my room last night stood at the foot of my bed. I rummaged through it to find a dress, I had only brought three. I pulled out a dark pink color and began to assemble myself. My hair was pulled into a bun, and with some difficulty, my dress was pulled on too.
The outside didn't look much different in the day than at night. I thought the colors would have been more vibrant once the sun has stirred awake but I was proven false. The dull colors stayed. Florence stood talking to two younger nurses as she waited for me. When I had arrived she shooed the girls off. "What's first on the agenda?"
"See if the patients need anything, there's a lot of them so don't waste your time, I'm sure you understand that, Artois."
"You can call me Winnie." I stared out at the mass of tents, trying to figure out which one was Benjamin's.
"Are you looking for anyone?" I was caught off guard by her question and stumbled over my words.
"N-no! Not at all. Just trying to see how many tents there are."
"Theres at least forty....or more, with about one to maybe five inside each." She sighed,"you can handle that, right?"
"It's almost too easy," I lied.
"I'll see you this afternoon." She bid me off to my work and she went inside the first tent. The first tent I had entered housed six men, I could barely walk inside without my knees running into a cot. "Do you men need anything?" They're  stench equaled that of rotting flesh. Two of them groaned in reply and the other four lies silent. I had a feeling there was a reason they kept silent but I pushed the thought off. I didn't want to think of the dead. I came back later with mugs of warm water. For those who lied still I set a mug by each of their cots.
I felt hot and sticky as I entered the next tent. These men weren't ill, they sat up with their hands writing feverishly on paper. "Do you men need anything?"
"Have you water or biscuits?" They asked me, almost in unison.
"I think we do, I'll supply you with what I have." I hurriedly left. The two men faced their works again. I saw Florence floating around the camp, I grabbed her arm and asked where the food was.
"They'll get it at lunch, just bring them water for now." She held empty cups in her hands,"Did I not tell you?"
I shook my head,"I'm afraid you didn't."
"Oh...uh, I'm sorry, just go ahead and do that." She said, running off to fill the cups with water. That was weird. I shrugged it off and ran off to retrieve the cups from each of the soldiers.
I have to say, I love the fall weather. The nippy coldness in the morning kept me cool, but with the rising sun, I began to sweat under my clothes as I finished my last tents, only to do the same thing in a few minutes, but with carrying plates of biscuits. Beads of sweat began to form on my forehead when the nurses began to break for lunch. Florence sat on the grass with a book in her lap. Orange and red leaves fell around her like she was a display piece. There was pictures of the human anatomy on the pages. She held a green apple in her hand.
"Where did you get that?" I asked, my stomach began to grumble.
"Theres a lot in an orchard a bit that way, there should be one or two in my tent." She said, not taking her eyes off the words.
"You stole them?" I questioned.
She shrugged,"Yeah, theres not really another way to get fresh fruit or vegetables without it being pickled." She scrunched her nose,"I hate pickled things."
"I suppose you're right." I walked to get an apple. Two large green apples lied on her pillow, I picked one up and ran back to her. My interest sat on the book that was in her lap. I sat next to her and read silently.
"I didn't know you were interested in reading about this?" She said, glancing over at me. Her beautiful green eyes danced in my blue ones. I nodded and looked back to the book. She shut the book,"we're going to keep this between you and I, understand?"
I nodded again,"I can do that."
"I have a hidden stash of books underneath my bed, you're allowed to help yourself to them, but don't tell anyone." Her voice was low and quiet. I nodded quickly in reply.
"Thank you, Why can't I tell?" I asked.
"I stole them." She said, looking down at her medical book.
"There has to be an honest way to receive an education," I said, taking the book from her grasp and flipping through the pages nonchalantly.
"My mother and father strictly wanted me to be married away for wealth to a man who was...much older than me." She looked down at her book,"I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping next to that fat bastard for the rest of my life, even if it did benefit my family. Education wasn't an option."
"Where are you from? I mean I can obviously make assumption off your last name, but how did you get here?" I asked.
"Italy, I snuck onto a book when I was twelve to get away, I didn't care where it went, I wanted away. I found myself in America." She met my eyes. Her olive skin glowed in the sun.
"I had no idea." I shut the book and gave it back to her.
"No one does, and since we're going to spend most of our time together, I thought that we should begin to trust each other." She took the book and brushed a piece of her thick curly hair behind her shoulder,"who are you to be married to?" She picked up my hand and studied the plain band on my finger.
"His name is Jack, oh, and he's handsome." I smiled,"he's got a mass of dark curly hair like yours on his head, and his eyes are just so captivating." I bit the apple.
"Hm." She said, setting down my hand and returning her attention back to the book,"men aren't that great."
"I mean, you are right." I smiled and leaned my head on her shoulder,"They cheat, they lie..."
"They're not as smart as girls." She giggled with me.
"That's right!" I laughed.

// Thank you so much for your reading, I'm trying a little bit of girl power in this book and focusing more on love and not just the main female character. Your reads mean everything, thank you so much!