****Author passes out virtual tissues. Sorry guys. Tag a friend in this story so they can be your support. Only a few chapters left! Please remember to vote and share!
Lucas
How do you let go of someone when you're not sure you're ever coming back to them? Nothing I could think of helped ease the ache of the morning. We got up and ready in silence. The room was dark since the sun was not up yet to creep in from around the old curtains. I could still see her in the glow of the bathroom light behind us. I watched as she dressed and prayed that I'd have the strength to drive her to the airport without completely losing it.
"You have everything?" I asked, coming up behind her and lightly rubbing my hands over her shoulders. I kissed the back of her head and then wrapped my arms around her waist. She held my hands in hers and it was a small comfort to see our rings together again.
"I think so," she answered, leaning her head back against my shoulder.
"We have to go or I'll be late back to base." I stretched my time off as long as possible, but I needed to be back at the shop before 6:30AM. Bailey's plane was on schedule to take off at 6AM. She nodded her head and moved to grab her purse from the small table.
I wanted to remember it all. How she looked as she climbed into my truck, and the way her glasses seemed to slip more in the cold. Even in the best of cases, I wouldn't be home for nine months. In the worst, I wasn't coming home at all. I didn't want to think about that, but it kept creeping into my thoughts as I made the drive to the airport.
The ground was covered in snow and our windows kept fogging up. I think we were both not talking because we feared what would happen if we were honest with each other. My heart was so heavy already, if I heard how scared or sad she was, it might just cave under the weight of her words. And me? What could I say to her that would make any of this better?
I reached across the seat and took her hand in mine. I could see from the corner of my eye her wipe a tear and turn away so she could hide. I squeezed her hand. Once I parked the truck, I quickly unfastened her seat belt and pulled her onto my lap. She moved willingly, straddling my legs so she could be held in my arms.
"I'm afraid this war is going to erase us," she confessed softly. "You've told me our love is like a book, but I don't know what the next chapter brings and I'm so scared the pages will be blank." I tightened our embrace, pulling her so close to me that I could tuck her head over my shoulder.
"Bailey, it could never be blank. Even sad stories have an ending." I felt her body shake in my arms. "I need you to keep turning the pages. I need you to keep living this story even if my words won't fill the pages."
"I don't want to be in the story if it isn't about us." I pulled her up so I could look into her beautiful eyes, swollen from her night of tears.
"It's always been about us. Every story has to have some conflict. There has to be something the characters must endure or conquer. This deployment is our story's climax. It's only going to get better from here." I brought her lips to mine. I kissed them slowly, tasting the salt of her tears. If she had any idea how torn up inside I felt, she wouldn't have trusted a word I said. I loved her madly, and knew that of the two of us, I was the lucky one. If we weren't going to have a happy ending, she'd have to survive that—not me. 5:40AM.
"I wish we could jump straight to the epilogue. I want to know how happy our marriage was and how many kids you talked me into. I want our grandkids to find our emails and talk about how lucky we were to find this kind of love." I kissed her again, because if I didn't, she would see my eyes getting glossy and the way my throat was making it hard to swallow.
"It's time, Bailey." She nodded her head at my words and slid from my lap. I felt the loss of her weight immediately, not just in my skin, but in my soul.
We checked her luggage and then I carried her backpack to security, the furthest point I was allowed to go. Her hand was clamped so tightly around mine, I wasn't sure if my fingers were even getting any blood. She turned and wrapped her arms around my neck, no longer able to hold back the sobs. My heart twisted, causing a sharp stab of pain to shoot through my chest and steal my breath. When I inhaled, I breathed her in. Closing my eyes, I lifted her from the ground and rocked her in my arms.
"I love you, Lucas."
"I love you more." I set her back down on her feet and kissed her one last time. "Bailey Athena Garver, turn around and get on that plane so I can hurry and come home to you." She nodded and wiped the tears from her face. It was a futile task as there were many more streaming down right behind them. When she took a step back, I told her, "Don't turn around and look back, baby. It's bad luck." She paused for a minute as if she was taking a picture in her head and then turned away from me and did exactly as I told her.
5:47AM I wondered if she knew that I didn't give a shit about bad luck, but I couldn't stand to let her see me cry.