“I want you to move in with us. I’m tired of you having to run up the mountain every time you need to change clothes. I hate that you have to get up earlier in the morning just to get all your gear. I made room for you, Jesse.”
“I’m touched. I really am. But what will I do with my cabin?”
She’d thought about that. “You could rent it. You could keep it as a man cave.”
He chuckled. “That would be one hell of a man cave.”
She unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “We could use it for secret trysts.”
“Now you’re talking.” He bent down and kissed her, the two of them still standing in her closet doorway. “So, you want to live in sin, is that it?”
She didn’t want to rush him. “Only if you’re ready.”
He nudged her with his erection. “With you, I’m always ready.”
Epilogue
“I think this is as close as we’re going to get.” Jesse pulled into a parking place and turned off their rental car, then glanced at the app on his smartphone, his tan beret tucked into the front pocket of his dress blues.
Ellie slipped her handbag over her shoulder, picked up roses she’d brought, then stepped out of the car and smoothed the wrinkles out of her black linen dress. She glanced around. Nothing seemed familiar. Then again, it had been four years since she’d been here, and she’d been numb with grief.
She got Daniel out of his car seat and straightened his little suit. Jesse joined her with Daisy in his arms. They sat both kids down on the nearest bench, and she knelt in front of them, looking them straight in the eyes. “Do you remember what I told you? We’re in a very special place. You can’t run or play here, and you can only use your inside voices, okay? No yelling or being noisy.”
“Okay,” said Daniel.
Daisy squirmed.
Ellie stood again. “I’m not sure where to go from here.”
Jesse pulled his beret out of his pocket and put it on. “Section sixty is over there.”
He picked up Daisy and started down the sidewalk.
Ellie took Daniel’s hand and followed.
She’d come to Washington, D.C., for a nursing conference, and they’d decided to make a family vacation of it. She had attended only the workshops she’d needed to attend to keep her certifications current, giving them time to visit the sights.
But today, they weren’t tourists. They had come to Arlington National Cemetery to pay their respects. It had been Jesse’s idea, but as soon as he’d mentioned it, she’d been on board. Dan had never seen his kids, and they had never known him.
Today, she would take them to his grave.
The June sunshine was warm, the air much more humid than she was used to, living in Colorado.
“Over here.” Jesse pointed, waiting for Ellie and Daniel to catch up.
Section 60 had more graves than she remembered, but then soldiers were still fighting and dying in Iraq.
Jesse turned down a row and stopped, setting Daisy down. “Hey, Christine. So, this is where they put you.”
Ellie walked up, watching as Jesse paid his respects to the woman who had died in his arms. He knelt down, touched the white marble headstone, then pulled the chocolate bar out of his pocket.
“I brought you chocolate. It’s Godiva—the dark stuff you like so much.” He was quiet for a moment, and Ellie knew this was hard for him. “You begged me not to let you die, and I did my best. It just wasn’t enough. I’m so sorry, Christine. If I could have taken that blast for you, if I could have caught that shrapnel, I would have. If I could have worked miracles… I was supposed to protect you, but… There was just no way.”
Ellie blinked away tears. She had promised herself she would not cry today. She wanted this to be a positive experience for the kids, something they remembered not with fear, but with reverence and happiness. Still, she knew how hard Jesse had worked to put aside the sense of guilt he’d carried with him since the day of Christine’s death, and it was impossible not to get choked up.
He unpinned a medal from his uniform. “They gave me this for that day. Bunch of idiots. I want you to have it.”
He placed the medal on the chocolate bar and bowed his head, his eyes squeezed shut. When he got to his feet, there were tears on his face.
Ellie handed him a red rose.
He took the flower and stood it up against the headstone. “Rest easy, Christine.”
He stepped back, stood at attention, and saluted.
They started toward Dan’s grave, stopping along the way so Jesse could pay his respects to some of the men he’d fought with, fellow Rangers, men he’d known well. They left roses on each of their graves, too, each visit ending with Jesse giving a salute.
Another row down and one over.
The breath left Ellie’s lungs.
Oh, my God.
Daniel Thomas Meeks
Captain
US Army
Iraq
Dec 15 1985
Oct 5 2013
Silver Star
Loving husband and son
Operation Enduring Freedom