Winds of War (148 page)
But he was living in 1941. Below in the brightening dawn lay his own sunken ship and his own destroyed fleet. The professional sailors and fliers who had done this thing, and done a damned smart job of it, had obeyed orders of politicians working with Hitler. Until the life was beaten out of that monster, the world could not move an inch toward a more sane existence. There was nothing to do now but win the war. So Victor Henry meditated as the
Enterprise
moved down channel in the sunrise and out to sea under the escort of destroyers and cruisers, taking his firstborn son into battle.
Back at the house, he found Janice all dressed. “Hi. Going somewhere?” he said. “I thought you’d still be asleep.”
“Oh, it’s Vic’s cough. It hangs on and on. I’m taking him to the clinic down at the base for a checkup. You just missed a call from Captain Larkin.”
“Jocko? This early?”
“Yes. He left a message for you. He said, ‘She’s all yours.’”
Victor Henry dropped in a chair, with a blankly startled look.
“Good news, I hope?” Janice asked. “He said you’d understand.”
“
‘She’s all yours’
? That’s the whole message?
“That’s it. He said he wouldn’t be in his office till noon, but he thought you’d want to know right away.”
“I see. Well, it’s pretty fair news. Is the coffee on?”
“Yes. Anna May will make you breakfast.”
“No, no, coffee’s all I want, thanks. Look Janice you’ll be passing by Western Union. Can you send Rhoda a cable for me?”
“Sure.”
Victor Henry reached for the memo pad by the telephone and scrawled: LETTER COMING AM FINE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT.
Glancing at the little sheet he handed her, Janice curved her mouth in an indulgent female grin.
“What’s the matter with that?” Pug said.
“How about ‘
Love’?”
“By all means. Thanks, Jan. You add that.”
When she left with the baby, he was on the telephone, trying to reach Commander, Cruisers Pacific. He responded to her farewell wave with a bleak preoccupied smile. Janice thought, closing the door on him, that nothing could be more like her austere, remote father-in-law than the little business of the cable. You had to remind this man that he loved his wife.
Table of Contents
Chapter 30 - Eagle and Sea Lion
Chapter 41 - The Negative Front
Chapter 49 - The March on Moscow
Chapter 57 - The Pearl Harbor Catastrophe