Chapter 21
"Oh, Grace, I'm so glad you answered." Damon let out a sigh of relief.
"Why are you calling again?" Grace rushed on. "I mean I'm glad you did, but isn't it like four in the morning there?"
"It's almost five. I know I talked to you during your lunch break, but I just wanted to let you know that I got orders late last night. They're shipping my unit and one other out on special assignment. I could be gone for as long as two, maybe even three weeks.”
It was actually multiple assignments depending on how the first two went.
"Three weeks!" Grace's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. "Will you be able to call and text?"
"It's doubtful."
"Is this mission...dangerous?"
Damon couldn't meet her eyes. Instead, he looked around the barracks at his buddies who were still packing their bags. King, Durrant, and McDonald had already left.
"Damon?" Her brows furrowed. "I know you can't tell me what the mission is, but will you be in danger?"
"It’s...an area of...high conflict." He hated having to tell her that. This was the reason he’d avoided serious relationships.
Tears filled Grace's eyes, causing a pang in his chest. "And you don't know how long you'll be gone."
This was why he'd stayed unattached for so long. He hated putting someone he loved through this kind of worry.
"No."
"Have you called your mom?"
"I don't have time. We're shipping out any minute now. I was hoping you'd tell her for me."
"Yes, I'll tell her, but..."
"I'm going to miss you so much, Gracie. It's going to be torture not being able to talk to you every day."
"Ditto." Grace's brows remained furrowed.
"Come on, Lancelot. Kerns is barking orders." Romero nudged his shoulder, then he leaned down and looked at Damon's phone screen. "Hey, Grace, Lover Boy's gotta go now."
Damon shoved Romero away.
"Be safe, Damon." Tears wet Grace's cheeks, making Damon's chest ache. "I love you."
Damon froze. A spark of joy hit his chest, erasing the ache so fast it took his breath away.
"What did you say?" He leaned forward, peering into his phone as if that would ensure she repeated the words he wanted to hear.
Grace's eyes dipped as a soft smile lifted her lips.
"Come on, Gracie, say it again please." His voice was gentle and coaxing. He held his breath, waiting for her to say the words.
She looked directly at her phone and grinned. "I love you, Damon Knight."
"Woohoo." He punched his arms in the air. "I've been waiting so long for you to say those three little words."
Flores laughed across the room then rolled his eyes as he hefted his duffel bag onto his shoulder, but Damon didn't care who was listening.
"Technically, that was five words."
"Lancelot!" King stuck his head through the door as Flores hurried out. "Get your rear in gear."
"I'm coming," he called as he slung his duffel bag over his shoulder. Then he looked back at Grace. "They were the most beautiful words I've ever heard."
A flush covered her cheeks. "If I'd known you were going to make such a big deal out of it, I wouldn't have said them."
"Please don't say that." He stopped at the top of stairs outside the barracks. "I've loved you for months now, and it makes me so happy to know we're finally on the same page."
"You're thousands of miles away. We're hardly on the same page." Doubt flitted through her eyes.
"Are we at least on the same chapter now?" He refused to let the distance put a damper on his joy.
"I think so, but you're still ahead of me."
"Spoiler alert." Damon paused again halfway down the stairs and stared at her pretty face. "I'm going to marry you, Graciela Rivera."
"I don't—" Shadows filled her eyes as she shook her head. "There's something I need to tell you before you say stuff like that."
"You've already said the most important words you could ever tell me." He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he continued down the stairs to the Humvee.
"No, there's something else." Her brow furrowed again as she chewed on her bottom lip. "You might think twice about wanting to marry me after you hear it."
"Impossible."
"Knight!" There was a growl in Kern's voice. "Get in the Humvee now! Before I write you up for insubordination."
Damon grimaced. "I gotta go, Gracie. I love you." Even though Kerns now breathed down his neck, Damon gave her an imploring look. "Please say it one more time."
"I love you, Damon." Tears lingered in her eyes. "Be safe."
"Bye, beautiful." He pocketed his phone and climbed into the Humvee. He couldn't wait until he returned to base so he could hear Grace say those words again. And again.
"And he didn't say where he was heading?" Charity looked at Grace as she punched down her bread dough.
The woman was always baking something tasty. Grace didn't know how she stayed so slim.
Probably because she gives most of it away.
"No, just that it was an area of high conflict, and that he would probably be gone a couple weeks." Grace recalled the sense of urgency that enveloped her last night when Damon called.
At least I finally told him I love him.
She didn’t regret it at all. She should have told him a long time ago. But she still needed to tell him the secret she’d been keeping from him. Waiting any longer would only hurt their chances of building of building a strong relationship.
I’ll tell him the next time I talk to him.
"Oh dear. I always hate it when he goes on those kinds of missions.
" Charity continued to punch the dough even though it had been thoroughly kneaded.
"I worry so much about him. At least when he's at base camp, there is relatively little danger, and he checks in often. It's not knowing that gets you."
"I'm beginning to see that." Grace shook her head. "I don't know how you do it year after year."
"With lots of prayer. That's the only way I make it through his deployments.
" Charity set her dough aside to let it rise.
"Other than him being stationed so far away, it hasn't all been bad.
Out of the twelve years that he's been in the Army, this is only the fourth time he's been deployed.
These last two deployments were only a year apart though, which makes it rough. "
"He loves serving his country. Is it horrible of me to ask him to leave the Army so we can be together?"
"Are you asking him to leave?" Charity arched a brow. "Or is he offering to leave?"
"If he's doing it for me, is there a difference? I don't want him to resent me down the road if he regrets getting out."
“Something you need to understand about Damon.
..he never does anything without putting his entire heart into it.
" Charity rounded the counter and put her arm around Grace.
"He was different the last time he was home.
He was less restless and more content. It was the first time he didn't want to leave.
I'm sure it was because of you, but the fact he is even contemplating getting out means he's ready for a change. "
"I hope you're right. I mean, I don't want to make him leave the military, but I'm also not eager to move away from the only family I have. Besides, now that I've started school, it could make relocating a little more complicated."
"More complicated maybe, but not impossible."
"You're right. I don't know why I'm second guessing everything."
"They are big decisions. For both of you." Charity's arms tightened around her shoulders. "But if you pray for the Lord to guide you in all your decisions—big and small—everything will fall into place. You'll see."
Charity sounded so much like Grace's mom in that moment, it was comforting.
Charity gave her a final squeeze before releasing her. "Now, I need your help. Faith and I have decided to do a simple Twelve Days of Christmas meals for a couple of widows and widowers who don't have any family nearby. I'd like your opinion on the menu I have planned."
Simple?
Grace felt her brows hike up. That sounded like a lot of work.
"You're going to take dinner to senior citizens for twelve days straight?"
"It would only be like five people, although we're thinking about adding a sixth.
He's not a widower, but he never remarried after getting divorced years ago.
" She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not that big of deal, really.
Instead of making a chicken pot pie for myself and eating it all week, I'll cook a meal each day and share it. "
"You really enjoy cooking and serving others, don't you?"
Charity let out a lengthy sigh. "I thought I was ready to retire, but I honestly don't know what to do with all of my free time."
"Count me in. I'd love to help any way possible."
Maybe if she focused on serving others during the holidays, she wouldn't feel her mom's absence quite so acutely.