Isaiah

Three Years Later

Dear Isaiah,

It’s so strange to think that this will be the last letter you ever get from me while overseas. In a way, it’s bittersweet, like the closing chapter of an amazing book you’ve spent years devouring, but mostly it’s just sweet because now we get to start our sequel.

No more goodbyes. No more sleepless nights. No more waiting. No more worrying.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what’s next for us. I’ve always kind of liked not knowing what was next, and I’ve always thought it’d be nice to wing it with you because I can’t imagine any scenario being less than amazing as long as you’re in it.

In your last letter you mentioned that you’d never wanted kids until you met me, and that one night you dreamt we had three kids and it got you excited. To be honest, it caught me off guard because I never knew if I wanted to have a family either. Being an only child with one cousin and parents who were never around all that much doesn’t really instill much for family values, but since I’ve met you, I’ve been thinking …

And I want a big, loud, crazy family and I want it with you.

So yes. Let’s do it. Because I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else.

See you soon …

Yours forever,

Maritza

P.S. I love you.

I spot her from the other side of a high school gymnasium in Burbank, where my troop is making their official homecoming entrance. It’s loud as hell in here, people crying tears of joy and shouting and running into each other’s arms, but there’s my girl, standing under a basketball hoop in a pretty floral sundress, scanning the room.

It only takes a moment until our eyes catch and the way her face lights sends a shock of joy to my chest. A second later, she runs to me, jumping into my arms and wrapping her long legs around me.

“We made it, baby,” I say, holding her tighter than I’ve ever held her before. “I’m done. I’m all yours now.”

She kisses my neck and breathes me in again and again. “I’ve waited so long for this day.”

I think about everything we’ve been through. Our chance meeting. The fact that, against all odds, we somehow couldn’t get enough of each other. I’ve never once believed in fate, but I’ve always believed in karma, and I like to believe I did something right to get an effervescent girl like her to fall head over heels in love with a damaged soul like me.

Maritza slides down, but she doesn’t let me go and she won’t stop looking at me. It’s been six months since I’ve seen her last, but this is my fourth deployment since she’s met me. It never gets any easier and there’s always that unspoken chance that I might not make it home this time.

But I made it home in one piece.

The last few tours were some of the hardest of my life. Turns out things are different when you’ve got someone waiting for you back home, but my stint in the Army is officially over and I’m never going back.

Maritza is my home now. She’s the place I run to when life gets hard. She’s my refuge and my solace from the storm. When I’m with her, all my worries and cares and demons tend to fade into the background, sometimes melting away entirely.

“Ian’s probation got denied,” she tells me, biting a smirk.

“Good.” The bastard got caught last year embezzling money from the brokerage firm he was working for in Brentwood. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was another Bernie Madoff in the making, but now we’ll never know because he’s serving time at some white-collar facility on the east coast and once he’s out, he’ll never be allowed to work in finance again.

“Your sister called and told me this morning. Wanted to personally deliver the news. Kind of sad though. Almost feel bad for him.”

“I don’t,” I chuff. “I feel bad for all the people who trusted him with their money.”

“True … anyway, let’s focus on the important stuff. Like the fact that you’re home for good and the fact that I cannot wait to show you my new office space in Riverside and introduce you to my newly hired assistant.” She does a little jump. “It’s so weird being someone’s boss but I kind of love it.”

I kiss her forehead. During my latest deployment, she opened a small PR and web development firm out of some cheap office space in Riverside. From what she’s told me, everything’s going well, but I’ve yet to see it in person. “I knew you’d find your element. Never doubted you for a sec.”

I make my rounds, saying goodbye to all the familiar faces, and then we head out to the parking lot where Maritza parked my vintage Porsche.

“I knew you’d want to drive her first thing when you got back,” she says, handing me the keys, which I gladly accept before stealing a kiss from that sweet mouth of hers. As soon as we get to the car, Maritza flings her arms around me once more. She does this whenever I get back, hugs me and kisses me and touches me a hundred thousand times, like she has to make sure I’m real, that I’m here to stay. “So what next? What do you want to do now?”

Resting my hand beneath her chin, I peer into her gorgeous dark eyes and smile. “First I’m going to marry you. Finally. And then I’m going to buy you a house. And we’re going to fill it with lots of babies. After that, I think I’m going to spend the rest of my life growing old with you. A lifetime of Saturdays. How’s that sound?”

Maritza chuckles. “I meant, like … are you hungry? Do you want to grab dinner? Do you want to stop at your mom’s? But I like your answer. It sounds pretty perfect to me.”

I kiss her, threading my hand through hers and pinning her back against my car.

Our future starts right here, right now, in this high school parking lot, just a former waitress, a former Army corporal, and a lifetime of memories ahead of them.