“I will always be your hero but sometimes there are other people in the world that need saving and they have no one to help them. Wouldn’t you want me to help those people too?”
Her bottom lip jutting out heightening her sadness, she nodded. “I guess.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, resting her cheek against mine. Her sweet scent of lilac overpowering the cherry blossoms, tickled my senses.
“You stole Mom’s lilac perfume again,” I whispered, earning a giggle in my ear. I grinned at how well I knew every little thing about her.
“Promise you’ll come back soon.” She breathed in my ear.
“I promise.”
She released her hold on me and straightened, her expression pleading before she asked what I knew was coming. “Can I sleep in your room while you’re gone?”
I laughed. Since she was two, she’d snuck into my room whenever the weather was bad, she was sick, or she had a bad dream. Somehow, my presence seemed to calm her, and I’d allowed her to sleep in my bed.
“Yes.” My reply brightened her expression and this time she held my hand as we walked back home.
Two hours later, as Dad waited in the truck to drive me to the airport, I stood outside the passenger door trying to wave goodbye. But sadness rendered me motionless for just a moment. Tears streaming down her cheek, Skye pushed out of Mom’s embrace and barreled into me, flinging her arms around my waist.
“Don’t go,” she sobbed.
“Blue,” I tugged on her hands, but her grip tightened. “Skye,” I tried again, using her name this time, something I only did when I needed to be stern, a rarity.
That did the trick. She loosened her hold, leaned back and looked up at me.
“Son?” I glanced at Dad through the window. “We have to go,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
I looked down at Skye. Her big blue eyes shining with tears, her hands gripping my shirt. “Hey,” I knelt, not caring that the asphalt dug into my knee. “Before you know it, I’ll be back. Imagine I’m on a camping trip with Griffin, okay?” She nodded. “But if tomorrow never comes, remember, I love you lots. This is not goodbye, Blue, just a delayed see you soon.”
5. If Tomorrow Never Comes – Ronan Keating
Shay – 19 years; Skye7 years
Hello, Captain Hawk.
Dad says you’re not a captain, but I told him you’re my captain. Cool, right? Captain Hawk, the perfect hero for a marvel movie. Oh, wait, they already have Hawkeye, don’t they? Too bad for them that you’re way hotter than him. Oh, yuck, did I just say that. Well, my friends think so and they even say your eyes are so sexy? Can you see me rolling my eyes here? I gag when they do. Don’t feel bad, sisters are supposed to do that, right. LOL. But I always tell them you have way bigger muscles.
Her words had me laughing. My Grandpa was a Native American descendant and at my first football game, a hawk flew onto my shoulder. It just sat there for a whole minute, shocking everyone into silence. I won that game for my team and earned the name Shay ‘the Hawk’ Donovan both for my speed and the bird. Later Grandpa told me hawks were seen as guardians or messengers from our ancestors. The name stuck throughout school and now at the base after Griffin mentioned it during one of campfire talks.
