Traveling Soldier

The News

       "You're soldier is coming home in a week for good," one of the mail carriers told me,"Army orders." I gasped and tackled him into a huge hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I cried to him. He hugged me back and blushed a little when I kissed him on the cheek. "Take care!" I said, as I ran into the house to tell Delilah. "Delilah!" I called out. I couldn't find her but I ran to every room. "You just had to be in the very last room in the house," I said, laughing. "You look happy," she told me, folding the laundry. "Gabriel's coming home for good in a week!" I told her, beaming, "They found him!" She started smiling and shaking her head. "Young love," she muttered, "Wait...how bad of a condition is he in?" I hadn't thought about it. Maybe they were only letting him come home because he was too badly injured to ever come back. "I don't know," I said, lost in thought.

        Everyday for a week, I slept over at Beverly's house and brought Dylan with me. We cried together, told scary stories, laughed  A LOT, and told secrets. On the last night, we prayed for almost an hour that Gabriel was okay. In the moning, I rushed to jump into the shower and put on the dress that Gabriel favored with the navy pencil skirt. I pulled my hair back a little on one side and put on red lipstick and dark navy eyeliner. Mr. Brown came to pick Dylan and I up at around 10 and we went on our way to the station.

      "Do you see the train yet?" I asked Mr. Brown. "It's supposed to be here at 10:30," he replied. "It's 10:28..." I said, impatiently, while shifting Dylan to the other arm. A few minutes later, the train pulled in and soldiers filed out to go to their families. I was looking for Gabriel among the crowd. "Dylan, do you see him?" I said, absentmindedly. She was looking with her innocent blue eyes, craning her neck. "Have you found me, yet?" I heard a familiar deep voice behind me. I turned to see Gabriel craning his neck, looking through the crowd of soldiers like I was. "Oh!" I said, laughing. He tackled me and Dylan into a huge hug and kissed me right in front of everyone there. "Come on, Gabriel, let's go home," I said to him.

        That night, we made love sweeter than the time before. The only injury he had was the same ankle. "Why did they let you come home for good?" I asked him. "My platoon is all injured and I've gone home once before. They don't need me anymore," he informed me, before I got up to get Dylan from the living room. "Night, Mommy," she said again as I put her in her crib. "Did she just call you Mommy?" Gabriel asked. "Yeah, she's been doing that almost every night now," I told him. "She needs a mommy," he replied, letting me fall asleep in his arms.