Confused, Andy asked, “And you are…?”
“Herbert,” the stranger said, sticking out a hand that Andy shook. “Delosier. The third. That’s me.”
Andy frowned. “And you’re…” Okay with this?he wanted to ask.
Herbert interrupted him a second time. “A messmate, maybe a friend. Sam and I bunked together outside the Shenandoah and I caught a shot in my arm. I thought that was it, the war was over for me, so I made him promise to tell my girl back home if I died and he said he would. I asked if he had a girl and he said no, he had a boy who was waiting for him.”
“He toldyou that?” Andy asked, incredulous.
Herbert laughed. “Yeah. I’d never heard someone out and say it before. I mean, I know it happens, but still…”
He looked away, uncomfortable, and Andy felt a goofy, dazed grin tug at his lips. His heart swelled at the thought of his lover telling this gruff soldier before him, point-blank, that he was in love with another man.