Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

FIFTY-THREE

October 26, 1945

The Statue of Liberty rose up before them. For a moment, Alice wished she'd been with the boys of Easy when they'd seen it the first time, pulling out of the harbor and heading into the Atlantic. As it was, she remembered the first she'd seen it. Alice had marveled at its size, its towering strength against the clouds. It had been cloudy the first day she'd arrived in America, and it was cloudy yet again.

She couldn't help but smile as she thought about Bill going on and on about the Statue of Liberty in Paris. She hadn't had the heart to tell him that it, too, had been built by the French. But as she looked at the torch in the hands of the woman in green, Alice decided it didn't matter. The Statue of Liberty spoke to the freedom of the States as much as the craftsmanship of the French.

Nixon stood beside her on deck, Harry to her right and Dick to his left. They all stayed quiet. Dozens of other men in uniform stood on the deck as well. As the sun sank in the sky, twilight not far off, only the sounds of the waves breaking against the ship accompanied them. As they approached the harbor, passing Ellis Island, the horn of the ship rang out.

If she'd been asked three years ago where she thought she'd end up at the end of the war, Alice would've given a thousand answers except right back in New York City. She'd have said she would end up dead on the ground in Europe, or back in Paris, or living in the countryside of Germany. Alice might even have said England. The States had never crossed her mind.

Alice spared a glance at Harry. He looked worried, more worried than she remembered seeing him in a long time. His eyebrows were furrowed, his left hand gripping the rail of the deck. In his right hand, his canteen with almost certainly whiskey. To her left, Nixon seemed almost as anxious. He took a drink from his flask. She grabbed his hand. He physically relaxed at the touch, and glanced at her. She smiled.

When the ship docked at the harbor, a massive crowd met them. Hundreds of women and children and men stood waiting for their loved ones. As they got ready to leave, Alice turned to Harry. She wanted to say goodbye properly, before he went off with Kitty. Without even hesitating, she grabbed him into a hug.

"Thank you, for everything," she whispered to him.

He just smirked and hugged her back. "See you in two months."

When she pulled away from him, Alice laughed and nodded. They had a wedding to attend. And while she couldn't wait to meet Kitty, she was also looking to a couple months of adjustment herself. She knew Harry would need the same.

The jostling crowd pushed them all towards the exit. She grabbed onto Nix for dear life, it seemed like. An overwhelming fear of being touched by the crowd consumed her. Alice tried to block out the memories being conjured up. Focus on Nix, focus on Dick, focus on Harry.

At the top of the large plank walkway down, she paused in her step. A sea of faces waited for them at the bottom. Somewhere in there waited the mother of the man she'd fallen in love with, and the sister he so dearly adored. Her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. But she followed Nix anyways.

The clouds had lifted some by the time she walked towards the ground. Light cut through them like beams from heaven. It took her breath away. She decided to take it as a good sign. Providence, perhaps, if such a thing existed.

When she hit the ground, Alice suddenly missed her Corcoran boots. She'd lived in them for three years, and now she felt oddly exposed in such a frantic mass of people who could step on her at any moment.

Harry left them first. He stopped in the middle of the crowd. With a last nod and smile to Dick and Nixon, and a squeeze of her arm, he left them to the woman calling his name. Alice never caught sight of her, but she knew it was Kitty. And once Harry had gone, it didn't take long for them to lose Dick. They'd not said goodbye, maybe more as an effort to remind each other that he'd be back in New Jersey within a month or two. But she hugged him first, and so did Nix.