Chad
Chad stirred in his bed, pulling the sheets from over his head. The street light trickled in through his window. He sighed, glancing at the clock before he saw the curled-up form on the recliner, covered with a patriotic quilt.
Hope.
Hope had come in at some point between dinner and his last anxiety medication dose. She came back. Even after all the things he said to her, she came back.
She looked pensive, her face etched with concern, and her eyes had circles underneath them. He knew he was the cause of all of it. He shook his head as he rolled over to his side to watch her in the dark. At least she looked to be resting, as peacefully as she could.
What interrupted the peaceful observation was a Corpsman coming in to take his vitals. He nodded to the young lady when she walked in with the vitals pole, offering his left arm up to her.
“Are you in any kind of pain?” the Corpsman asked softly, mindful of the other sleeping person in the room.
“No,” Chad replied.
“Can I get you anything? Do you need the nurse to bring you your sleeping pill?” she asked, observing his late wakefulness.
“No. I’m okay. How long has she been here?” Chad whispered, pressing his forehead to the side rail of his bed, his eyes never leaving Hope.
“She just made it in before visiting hours ended. We got her a recliner; the doctor approved her to stay.” The young Corpsman smiled as she made her way out of the room.
“Oh.” A comment that would not be heard by the Corpsman. He watched her stir, the whispers and noise of the blood pressure machine waking her. He cursed under his breath, not wanting her to be disturbed.
He watched her stretch, tucking the quilt under her chin, looking over at him, and smiling when she saw him awake. That smile… all the anxiety, and fear that he had ruined what he had with her disappeared with that simple smile. He broke the silence. “Hi honey.”
“Hi babe,” Hope whispered back, as if there was someone else in the room.
He moved over, clearing off half his bed, patting the surface for her to come to him. He watched her eagerly push against the recliner and make her way to the bed. She crawled in and instantly curled up and under his arm as she usually did. He pressed his face into her hair, pulling her close. In this moment, everything was perfect.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said and did out there,” he whispered in her ear, his arm around her waist.
He felt Hope shaking her head against his chest. “No baby, I brought up a topic that I shouldn’t have at that time. And I know it was emotional as it was…” He knew Hope was trying to find the words for all her feelings around what happened, her whole body moving as she talked.
“Whoa, whoa. No. I shouldn’t have gone off like that. You have been nothing but helpful and supportive. I… I lost control of my temper. I just want to go home,” he admitted, solemnly.
Hope looked up at him, her blonde hair framing her face delicately. “I have an answer to that. Well, the start of an answer.”
“What do you mean?” Chad scooted down so he could be face to face with her. He pulled his sheets and blankets over them, as if they were hiding in a blanket fort, away from the nurses and hospital employees.
“When I came, the nurse told me you were having a bad day.” She paused. “We talked, and that was when your doctor came in.” She paused again. “I don’t want you to be angry or anything. I wasn’t trying to do anything behind your back, but I was worried.”
Chad placed a finger over her lips to quiet her. “No. I would do it for you if I was worried.” He watched her eyes, searching for what she was implying in her words.
“Well, the doctor said he was going to put in for discharge by the end of the week.” Her voice rose an octave, a sign of her excitement.
“What?” Chad pulled the sheet down, holding her face for a moment, wanting confirmation. “Home by the weekend?”
“Well, we don’t know yet, but he said with everything panning out the way it is, he thinks you are stable to be reassigned for rehabilitation at your home duty station!”
There wasn’t more he could do, but stroke the tops of her cheekbones and press a tender, delicate yet hungry kiss on her lips. His tongue dipped in to meet hers, tasting her for the first time in a very long time. He only broke the kiss when he heard her moan a soft protest, swatting at his hands playfully.
“No conjugal visits, or they’ll kick me out,” she ribbed him as she pressed a soft kiss on his neck. “But I can’t wait to…” Her voice trailed off as she rested her head on his chest.
He laughed at her protest, stroking her hair back. “Me too.”
The drive back to Norfolk started tenuously. Hope’s father was the one to drive since Chad had yet to get clearance to do so, but he was hoping his doctor at home would clear him. Ace was fussy, and he could tell Hope was nervous. Words were forced, and the ride was mostly quiet. The drive was only three hours, and it took about an hour before Chad felt the nerves ease, and the conversation begin to flow naturally.
“Isabella is going to flip her lid when she sees you,” Hope said. Chad could feel her hand on his shoulder from the backseat, where she sat with Ace.
Chad laughed. “You said you guys didn’t tell her?”
“No, but Harper is terrible at keeping good surprises, remember?” Ben added, chuckling.
“I think she will be good. I think,” Hope laughed.
“What's the first thing you are going to do when you get home?” Ben asked, looking over to the passenger side to Chad.
“Hug Isabella to death, squeeze her. Make up for all those lost weeks,” Chad pondered, as he watched the landscape fly by on the highway. “Then take a long shower in our shower, and then maybe go get some burgers, and eat by the lake. I miss the green, and the water. I miss how the sun sets over it.”
“Oooh. The lake. We need to do a picnic there, maybe tomorrow, if you’re feeling up for it? Dad? Would you make some of your killer butter burgers?” Hope asked, her voice filled with elation.
“I think that sounds like a great idea. A ‘welcome home’ picnic. I’m sure Isabella and Harper will love that idea,” Ben said.
The three of them continued their conversation for the next couple hours, planning and imagining what they were going to do over the next few days. Ben and Harper would probably head back to their homes within the first week, to let Hope and Chad return to some normalcy. But until then, both Chad and Hope would be grateful for their assistance.
As they pulled up to their home, Chad laid his head against the back of the headrest as Ben put the car in park. “The last time I saw this place was when I pulled away from the house to go on deployment. Hope, you were standing right there.” He pointed to the garage, which was beginning to open from the remote in the car.
He heard Hope unclick her seatbelt and lean forward, wrapping her arms around him from behind the seat. “I know. And now you’re home,” Hope whispered.
Ben had gotten out of the car while they shared the moment. He opened the backseat and pulled out the car seat holding a sleeping Ace. “Come out whenever you’re ready. I can hear Isabella outside in the back.” He winked at them as he walked into the house through the garage.
“Ready?” Hope asked, as she opened her door to slide out.
“I can’t wait to hold her,” Chad said as he stepped out as well. He wrapped an arm around Hope’s waist, and they both walked into their home. The small girl’s voice echoed from the backyard, filled with squeals and laughter.
“Let me go out first, and then you can surprise her?” Hope suggested as they walked into the kitchen, still out of sight of the backyard windows.
“Good idea. I’ll wait right here.” Chad stopped, leaning his hip against the island in the kitchen.
He watched Hope excitedly step out to their deck, and listened as he heard voices before the shrill sound of excitement. Isabella had spotted her mother. It was the sound he’d ached for, for so long. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the tone and laughter-filled conversation approaching the door cued him that they were coming inside. Hope carried the three-year-old through the door.
Before he could react, she had jumped out of Hope’s arms and sprinted to him, her small arms circling around his legs. He kneeled down and wrapped his arms around his daughter, and lifted her up to him. “Hi, my Peanut.. I missed you so much.” He rocked her in his arms.
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Isabella continued to squeal as she wrapped her little arms around his neck tightly.
“Yes, I’m home. I’m home.” He pushed himself up from kneeling to standing, holding the girl in his arms. What he didn’t expect were his own tears; his face was streaked with them as he rocked her. There weren’t words. His soul was happy. Their family was together again.
He felt Hope wrap her arms around them, and he was pretty sure she was crying too. He looked over to see Harper had already taken Ace’s carrier from Ben, and was exclaiming over how much he had grown. Chad couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. He was grateful he survived, and grateful to be home.
Once everyone settled from the grand entrance, the first thing Chad did was sit with Isabella at the coffee table and color. It was the most thrilling task the three-year-old could do. She drew him a picture and he colored it in. All he could do was listen to the hours long testimony of the last several months of her life. She had grown, her curls now reached below her chin. He intermittently tucked a curl behind her ear fondly.
Hope sat behind him on the couch, catching up with Harper and her dad, and nursing Ace as he got hungry. Chad reached over to Isabella and tickled her sides, pulling her to him, and placing her in his lap. He whispered into her ear, “Daddy loves you so much.”
“I love Daddy more!” Isabella squealed in laughter as she squirmed to face him. “I love Daddy the most!”
“No fair, it wasn’t your turn to say the next line!” Chad teased her as he tickled her some more, laughing as she squealed again and doubled over in giggles.
Chad, Isabella, Hope, Harper, Ace and Ben sat in the family room for hours. They had chosen to order pizza for the first dinner home, and there was nothing more delicious to Chad than that first slice. No pineapple, of course.
Isabella quickly grew drowsy as the sun began to set, her bedtime creeping up. Harper got up to lift the child from Chad’s lap, offering to take her to bed.
Chad shook his head. “Let me,” he smiled, as he offered the girl to her so he could get up. He was stiff from sitting on the floor, but he hadn’t felt any better.
“I’m sure she would like that.” Harper grinned, patting him on his elbow as she slid the sleepy girl back in his arms once he stood. Hope grazed Isabella’s foot, wishing her a good night. Ben rubbed her back gently as he stood to get something from the kitchen.
“Alright now, little Peanut, time for bed.” Chad walked slowly down the hallway, taking in the fact he was walking in the same halls that he missed so much. As he walked into the little girl’s room, he smiled, seeing her wall covered in paintings and drawings she had done. Her innocence made his heart swell.
Chad helped the little girl change into her nightgown, then she jumped into her bed, her initial drowsiness apparently disappearing. He sat next to the bed, searching her little bookshelf for a suitable book. “What do you want me to read to you?”
Isabella laughed, holding her father’s face in her hands, shaking her head. “No Daddy, sing to me.”
“You want me to sing to you before you go to bed? Do you have a song?” Chad smiled, pressing an affectionate kiss on her head as he settled next to her, his back to the shelf.
“You pick,” Isabella offered as she lowered her head on her pillow, snuggling him.
Chad smiled, knowing exactly which song he would sing to her. He leaned over her, and wrapped an arm around her head, stroking her curls behind her ear with the other hand. “Okay, I can do that.” He started softly, with his favorite song for her. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, You make me happy when skies are gray, You'll never know dear, how much I love you, Please don't take my sunshine away…”