October
It had been six months since I’d laid eyes on the USS Fort Stevens, but now, there it was—moored to the pier on which I was standing with what must have been hundreds of people. I’d been to a couple of ship’s homecomings before, but never pier-side. I’d always been aboard, waiting for liberty to be called so I could disembark.
Today, I was in the crowd of family members eagerly waiting to see Sailors who hadn’t been home since April. My stomach was fluttering and my heart was going a million miles an hour. After six months, Mark would finally be home.
And almost a year after I’d met him, this wasn’t just home for him. For the first time in too long, Anchor Point was home for me too. The US was home. The ground under my feet was stable, and even after the last several months, it was still a novelty to not be anxious, not be worried about money, and not be scared at every turn that everything would get yanked out from under me.
Mark had been true to his word about helping me get a job. Though the ship had started workups shortly after that, and he’d been at sea for a few days or weeks at a time, he’d kept tabs on my applications. No one was allowed to drag their feet unless they wanted a personal visit from him. Not long after he’d brought me all that paperwork, he’d gotten me an interview in admin, and though they’d decided to hire someone else, they’d referred me to the head of training. Turned out he wanted to overhaul the entire department and put a civilian contractor in charge to free himself up to run another department that had fallen in his lap. He’d interviewed several people with more experience, but at the urging of the head of admin—and Mark, I guessed—he’d called me in too.
Clint and I had clicked instantly. Half an hour and a handshake later, I had a job. Before I’d realized which way was up, I had a green card, a base ID, and an office with three people working for me. I wasn’t at all ashamed to say that the first time I’d opened my pay stub to see how much was being deposited in my account, I’d cried. So had my mom when she’d gotten the five hundred dollars I’d wired her the next day.
I’d started looking for apartments so I could finally have an actual place instead of living out of my landlady’s converted basement. That search hadn’t lasted long, though.
“Instead of taking on a whole set of rent and bills,” Mark had said one night in bed, “why don’t you split mine?”
I’d blinked in disbelief. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
The smile had answered the question clearly enough. Cupping my face, he’d said, “We spend almost every night together anyway.”
“So, it’s just for practical reasons.” I’d been teasing. Sort of.
Mark had laughed as he’d blushed. “No. It’s definitely not just for practical reasons.” Sobering a bit, he’d looked in my eyes. “Diego, I want to live with you because I love you. We’re going to have to spend some time apart soon anyway because of the deployment. Why not spend as much of the time we have together as we can?”
A month later, I’d moved in.
And now, after spending half a year alone in the house that had become home, I’d have Mark back in our bed.
Maybe even . . .
I closed my eyes and exhaled, trying to keep my heart from beating right out of my chest.
One thing at a time.
Cheers and commotion brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see a Sailor in his dress blues coming down the ramp with his seabag on his shoulders. Apparently he’d been the lucky winner of the first kiss, and sure enough, his wife was waiting for him. In front of dozens of cameras and hundreds of cheering people, they threw their arms around each other and shared a long kiss.
Once those two had cleared out, the rest of the crew started pouring off the boat.
I stayed back a bit. Mark wouldn’t be one of the first to disembark. The XO and CO never were. As impatient as I was to see my man again, I’d made it six months. I could wait a little longer.
And finally—there he was.
I inched toward the ramp, which was easier to do now that some of the junior Sailors’ families had cleared out. Heart thumping, I wondered for the billionth time how much affection was okay between us. We were sometimes affectionate when we went out, but a very public kiss? Here? That was up to him.
As soon as he’d reached the bottom of the ramp, Mark broke into a run, and a second later, he dropped his bag at our feet, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me. Well, that answered that. Holding him tight, I let the kiss go on. It wasn’t a deep one, not one that would get him into trouble, but there was plenty of promise in it. Promise that we’d probably do some damage to that new king-sized bed we’d bought two weeks before he’d deployed.
“I missed you so much,” he said, breathing hard.
“Me too.” I kissed him lightly again. “Another month and I’d have wound up with tennis elbow or something.”
Mark snorted. “You and me both. What do you say we get out of here?”
“Good idea.” I paused, and my heart shifted into overdrive. I’d debated doing this here, and as I looked into his eyes . . . Yeah. This was the perfect time and place. “Except I kind of got you a homecoming gift.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded, hoping like hell my nerves weren’t showing. “After you helped me get that job, I finally don’t have to live on tips anymore. For the first time, I don’t have to worry about starving or losing everything. You gave me my life back.”
“It wasn’t mine to give you,” he said softly. “You deserved to have it all along.”
“I know, but you cared enough to go through all that. And now I’m on my feet. I’m not sweating about money or getting deported. So I . . .” I swallowed as I reached into my pocket. “I figured the best way to spend some of that money was on this.”
Mark’s breath hitched, and I wondered if he’d already figured it out even before I opened my hand.
If he didn’t, I was pretty sure he caught on when I gingerly went to one knee on the concrete pier. “Mark, I love you. And if being away from you for six months told me anything, it’s that I don’t want to be away from you. So, will you—” I choked on the words.
Mark smiled, and he took my hand. “You better believe I’ll marry you.”
We locked eyes, and with his help, I stood again. As he pulled me into another embrace—tighter this time—and kissed me, people all around us broke into applause. I hadn’t even realized they’d fallen silent until now, probably because my pounding heart had drowned them all out.
The relief was so profound, it almost made me break down just like that first paycheck had. In fact, as I held him close and squeezed my eyes shut, a hot tear slipped free.
As Mark let me go, he cleared his throat and swiped at his own eyes. Then he smiled. “I guess that changes my plans for tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
He reached into his pocket, and when he pulled out the gold band, our eyes met again, and we both laughed.
“You were just quicker on the draw, I guess,” he said.
“Great minds think alike?”
“Apparently so.” He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder, wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and kissed my cheek. As we started walking, he said, “I’m really glad we’re on the same wavelength. I’ve been freaking out about this the last few nights.”
“Same here.”
“So, when do you want to do this?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But I don’t think we need to make a decision right this second.” I snaked my arm around his waist. “I’ve got the only answer I needed today.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
We glanced at each other again, grinned, and kept walking.
A year ago, my life had been a mess of uncertainty. So much anxiety. So many questions.
Today, there was only one question. Only one loose end.
And I didn’t mind it.
After all, there were worse things to worry about than when Mark and I would tie the knot.