One shot from "My Guardian Angel"

An Anniversary Surprise - Part 1

Note: so I don't want to delete this story since there are so many nice comments, but this one shot turned into an entire story that I'm continuing on "My Guardian Angel". So if you've already read Part 2 there, this is nothing more than the beginning of it.

"Dad, are you 100% sure you're ok with them?" I ask him once again.

"Beatrice, how many times have I watched them? I swear to you that Natalie and Jamie will be fine."

"It's not them I'm worried about, I want to make sure you can handle it. You're not as young as you used to be," I tease. I actually trust my dad implicitly, but this isn't the usual overnight stay for my kids, he'll be alone with them for almost a week.

"Just go before you miss your flight. Tell my favorite son-in-law I said 'hello' and have a good time. Everything is set up there for you," he tells me.

"Thanks again, Dad, I really appreciate it," I say while giving him a hug.  I give my kids one more hug before I leave. "Natalie, be sure to help Grandpa with Jamie, ok? You know he can be a handful sometimes."

"Oh Mommy, Grandpa's not so bad," she says with a smile and I bust out laughing.

"She's definitely your daughter, Beatrice," he says, shaking his head with a chuckle. I'm still laughing as I head to the car where Uriah has been waiting for me.

"Got everything you need?" he asks me.

"Yep, let's go." Uriah drives me the short distance up to Jacksonville Airport where I'll begin what will be a 14 hour journey. For the past 3 months, Tobias has been at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii completing a program working with the diving school there. Even though he has no plans to go back overseas, they want him trained because of his new promotion. The idea is that he should be well rounded in all areas of training, so they've sent him to Hawaii. We discussed me and the kids going with him, but we decided that it wouldn't be fair to take Natalie out of school or uproot 2 year old Jamie from his home.

The first leg of my journey seems to go quickly as I recall our ten years of marriage. There's a quick stop at Charlotte, and then we land in LAX. I decide to call Tobias before he tries to get a hold of me and can't because I'm on a plane. I'm happy I'm going to be able to hear his voice, but I know I'll need to make this quick so he doesn't figure out I'm in an airport.

"Hey, sweetheart. Happy anniversary," he says after the second ring.

"Hi, Tobias. Happy anniversary, I miss you."

"You have no idea. I wish you would have let me fly home like I wanted to." He tried to convince me that it would have been a good idea for him to fly home for the weekend so we can be together for our tenth anniversary. I said that was ridiculous though since he'd be coming the next week.

"We'll see each other soon enough. What do you have planned today?"

"Zeke's trying to convince me to go to the beach with him and some other guys." Zeke had just flown over last week since he doesn't need the same level of training as Tobias and he's completely in on the plan.

"You should go! Maybe you can Skype me from there and it'll be like we're on the beach together. Hey, I've got to go, I can hear Jamie crying. I'll talk to you soon, ok?"

"Um, yea ok. Tell the kids I love them and..." I can see the woman near me about to make an announcement so I cut him off, hoping I'm not hurting his feelings too much.

"I love you, bye!" I hang up the phone quickly, hating the fact that he's probably upset. I know he's lonely over there. I try to convince myself that everything will be ok once I'm in his arms. I decide to send Zeke a quick text.