"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 saywhere 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. Atleast 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 youaskinghim to leave?" Charity arched a brow. "Or is heofferingto 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'twantto 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 toguide 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?"
