Far From Home - E-book - ePub

As WWII rages on, nurse Elena Mancuso treats severely injured soldiers in Letterman Hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco. Elena's fiancé was killed at the Battle of Midway in 1942, so she volunteers for as many shifts as possible to escape the crushing pain. When Italy surrenders to the Allied forces in 1943, the US must decide how to handle more than 50, 000 Italian POWs. The military offers them an opportunity to work for the army, so Italian Service Units are formed.
Matteo Sabattini's ISU is deployed to Letterman, and he soon finds there are those who resent Italian soldiers like him-bitter that American boys are still being killed, while the ISU troops are living an easy life out of harm's way. But when Matteo rescues Elena from a delusional patient traumatized by shell shock, he falls for the beautiful nurse right on the spot. Elena's grandmother insists on thanking him with a sumptuous meal, and he sees a different side of Italian life in America.
As he feels the promise of home in their welcome, he falls for the whole family as hard as he's fallen for Elena. Elena isn't immune to that charm, but she resists. Even after she admits she's attracted to him. Even after she realizes all they have in common. Even after she sees how much he loves her. Matteo will be sent back to Italy as soon as the war is over. Losing one man is more than enough pain for one lifetime-she can't bear to lose another.
Can Matteo break through Elena's armor and capture her heart, or will peace tear apart one more couple and leave them both far from home?