Chapter Thirty-Two
CLARA
Clara’s heart raced as she arrived at the base and frantically hurried to the security office. She was desperate to get out to the flight line. She needed to get there, to see Brent before he left.
“Please, my name is right there on the list,” she pleaded to the security officer. “I’m running late, and I have to get out there—now.”
“Well, ma’am, there’s a little bit of paperwork we need you to—”
“Airman Peck!” Clara recognized the same old stodgy Senior Airman immediately. She ran over to him with a look of desperation. “Please, I need to get out there immediately. You remember me, don’t you?”
He looked at her sideways. “No, ma’am, I sure don’t.”
“I’m a friend of Major McNally’s, and I have to see him before he leaves.” Clara looked up at him, pleading with her eyes.
Airman Peck turned toward the security desk, looking for confirmation. The guy only nodded. He looked back at her and softened a bit. He let out a long sigh. “Well, okay. Come on.”
Clara grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.” She hurried ahead of him to the bus that would take her out to the flight line.
He followed behind, working hard to keep up with her fast pace.
They boarded the empty bus. Where was everyone else? Was she too late? Had she missed it completely?
“To the flight line. Now!” she said to the driver.
The driver turned to look at Airman Peck, who only shrugged his shoulders. “Go ahead, I guess,” he said. “Let’s get her out there.”
Clara watched out the window as the bus started to move. She closed her eyes and said a prayer that she wouldn’t be too late. She couldn’t bear the thought of Brent leaving, thinking she never showed up. She needed to see him before he left. There was so much she needed to tell him.
She stiffened, her brain suddenly slammed with a new thought.
What exactly would she tell him when she saw him?
Clara had been ready to tell him the truth yesterday, about everything.
She couldn’t exactly do that now since they were back to the previous year.
There was no wish to even tell him about.
She hadn’t skipped anything yet. In fact, she wouldn’t be skipping anything at all.
The whole messy ordeal had never even happened.
She certainly didn’t want to tell him about her newly discovered feelings for him.
Not yet, anyway. She didn’t want to freak him out since they had just started dating.
Clara laughed, feeling relieved to be back on a timeline that made sense to her.
Besides, she wanted him to fall in love with her the right way—slowly.
No, all she needed to tell him now was that she was willing to do the hard work. To be in this relationship with him. The rest would work itself out in its own time.
Airman Peck tapped away at his tablet. “It looks like you’re going to be okay, ma’am, the plane—”
“Look!”
As they approached the flight line, they both looked up to see a gray plane taking off into the foggy sky. Clara’s heart sank. She was too late. She had missed him.
The bus came to a stop, and Clara immediately rushed off.
Her eyes looked painfully at the sad sky and the departing plane as she stood at the bottom of the steps.
She watched as it lifted higher into the sky, leaving her alone on the cold ground.
She wrapped her arms around herself and dropped her chin to her chest. All the emotions of the past few weeks—or perhaps the past year—spilled out of her like a burst dam.
She covered her face with her hands and leaned forward as she wept into them.
Airman Peck watched her from the top of the bus stairs. “Ma’am, are you okay?”
She looked up at him through her tears. “I never got to tell him,” Clara cried.
He said nothing; he just stared at her with a stunned look.
“I never got to tell him that he’s worth the wait.” Clara paced back and forth, wringing out her hands as she thought about all the things she’d realized over the past few weeks.
She was no longer talking to Airman Peck.
She was addressing her thoughts more to the sky—and to the plane that had left.
“I didn’t get to tell him that we would get through this year together.
I didn’t get to tell him that this deployment could be a blessing for us.
That it could bring us closer together in a way I could have never understood initially.
And I never got to tell him that I’d be honored to be a part of something as important as serving our country, even in the smallest of ways. ”
Well, Clara supposed there had been more she needed to tell him. It didn’t matter now, though. She had been too late for any of it.
Airman Peck continued to stare at her. A hint of a smile crept in as his gaze fell behind her.
She turned around to see what he was looking at. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. There, in a sand-colored flight suit, looking exactly the way he’d looked last year, was Brent. Another C-17 stood behind him, where several airmen were loading equipment.
A heavy weight immediately disappeared from her shoulders. She pressed her palms to her eyes and wiped the tears so that she could see more clearly. She stared at Brent. She hadn’t missed him. She hadn’t been too late.
He looked at her. His eyes sparkled, and his left dimple was exaggerated.
“Did you hear all that?” she asked.
He nodded and walked closer. “I was afraid you weren’t going to come out and see me off.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with that. It wasn’t part of my plan.”
Relief flooded her as she smiled back. “Well, sometimes surprises can work out even better than our plans.”
Brent smiled, coming even closer until he was right in front of her. “I couldn’t agree with you more. Speaking of surprises, I have one for you, but you’ll have to wait for Christmas morning to get it.”
Clara closed her eyes in gratitude, thinking about the blue star she knew would be waiting for her. “I can’t wait.” She stood on her tiptoes to hug him, then stopped to reconsider. “Actually, on second thought, some things are worth the wait.”
Pulling her in close, he gazed into her eyes.
She ran a hand along his cheek. “Brent, I want to be here for you, no matter what you go through out there. I’m here to support you. Okay?”
He smiled back. “And I’ll be here to support you too.” He moved a piece of hair out of her face. “Speaking of . . . What are your big plans for the next year?”
Clara was quick to answer. She knew exactly what her priorities were going to be. “I’m going to spend a lot of time with my Grams—she won’t be around forever, you know. I’m going to help Lily plan a beautiful wedding. And I’m going to quit my job at the Darlington and start something new.”
Brent raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
She nodded.
“Wow. You seem to have it all figured out already.”
She flinched, suddenly hit with a strange feeling. It was more like a realization of a concept she hadn’t felt much of lately—reality. Sure, her magical experience had given her a glimpse into a future that could have been. But would it unfold that way now that she was back in the real world?
Clara bit her lip as she realized she knew the truth; she had no idea what was actually in store for her year ahead or for her future in general.
How could she? How could anybody know what the next year would bring?
She closed her eyes and felt that same feeling of intense fear she had when Brent had first told her about the deployment.
What would happen? Would it all work out? Could she actually do this?
No, she wouldn’t let these thoughts hold her back this time.
She was an entirely different person now.
Clara knew things about herself that she didn’t then.
She knew she was capable of handling whatever life threw at her.
She knew that time and patience were vital for life and love to flourish.
And she knew that sometimes you simply needed to be brave and take a chance, even if there were no guarantees.
She shrugged in reply. “Actually, the only thing I really do know about the next year is that I’m going to make a lot of memories—with you.”
Brent smiled and pulled her close to him.
She pressed herself against his chest, her heart pounding with excitement.
The gray sky suddenly gave way as a bright ray of sun sliced through the clouds. A light snow began to gently fall around them. The sound of jet engines roared in the background. It was the most comforting sound in the world.
Brent leaned down and pressed his lips to her mouth. She melted into him, and it felt like magic. Clara had the distinct feeling that this Christmas would be their best one ever, even though they’d be apart.
With the year they had in store for them, she knew one thing was certain—the real magic was just getting started.
The End