Furnished

"I don't really care. Weird, coincidental, weird coincidence. It doesn't matter."

She hesitated then asked her mom, "Does it?"

"No. I don't suppose it does. It is...strange, but I don't think it's a big deal."

Megan hugged her mom then asked, "What do you think Daddy would say?"

Rachelle thought for a moment then said, "I can only say for sure that your father would want us both to be happy."

She smiled then added, "And loved."

Although it was a serious issue, Rachelle had a thought that made her smile.

"What's funny, Mom?"

"Sorry, honey. I was just thinking about, well, if I'd died, and Dad met a woman his age with a son Tom's age, and..."

Megan understood and started laughing.

"I could end up marrying my step brother!"

"Megan?"

"Yes?"

"Can we talk about something else?"

Megan laugh then hugged her mom and told her that sounded pretty wonderful.

On their way home Brad asked Tom what he thought of Megan.

"She's great. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Is it weirding you out?"

"I don't know."

"If it makes you feel any better, she has no interest in getting married or settling down. She has big plans and dreams of being a doctor, so it's not like she and I are gonna be getting married. You know, when you and Rachelle do."

Brad was listening but not really paying attention until he heard Tom mention marrying Rachelle. He didn't say anything but Tom knew.

"You don't just like her, do you?"

Brad finally turned to look over at Tom then said, "I know we just met. And you know I don't buy into omens or premonitions or anything like that."

"But?"

"But I gotta tell you, I think you're right."

"You aren't worried about the uh, the elephant in the room?"

"Our ages?"

Tom only gave his roomie a 'what else could it be' look which caused Brad to laugh.

"I always thought we chose the person we love, but after meeting Rachelle, I'm wondering if maybe we fall in love first then choose them."

Tom gave his friend a different look, and Brad understood that, too.

"I get it. It makes no sense. It's...counterintuitive. But I can't help but think it's true."

"Well, we don't choose our beliefs," Tom told him, and now Brad gave him a look.

"Seriously. You can't just choose to believe something. You have to first be convinced that it's true. Sure, you can say you believe something, but if you really do believe it, you've already become convinced it's true."

Brad thought about that for a few seconds then said, "I'm gonna stop giving you grief about being a dumb, VMI alum."

"Wow. That's high praise coming from you," his friend said with a laugh. "So what you're saying is I'm not as dumb as I look."

Brad laughed, too, then told Tom he agreed.

"Gee, thanks...buddy."

They both laughed then Brad got serious.

"I really am glad you're here. It's pretty great to have someone you trust to bounce things off of with."

"Okay, okay. Don't go gettin' all sappy on me, Academy Guy."

"No. I uh, I'd never do that," Brad told him knowing that they'd gone as deep as either one of them wanted to go on this topic.

But as they pulled into their apartment complex's parking lot, Tom said, "I could see you and Rachelle. Together. You know, as husband and wife."

Brad thought about that, too, for a moment then said, "Me, too, bro. Me, too."

The four of them spent the next day together, but by the time it ended, it was obvious that Tom and Megan weren't going to be more than friends, albeit with occasional benefits. But it was also becoming obvious that Brad and Rachelle were falling in love.

It didn't make any difference that they'd essentially just met or that there was a very large difference in their ages. What mattered was the way they felt, and the more they talked and learned about one other, the more they liked each other.

Megan went back to school, and although she occasionally came home to visit and maybe spend some time with Tom, there was nothing holding them together. But as the days and weeks passed, Brad and Rachelle found themselves hungry to spend every possible moment together.

They waited until they'd known one another for almost two months before sleeping together, and as amazing as it was, sex wasn't the be-all, end-all for either of them. It was just one more thing they shared that made spending time together the best part of their lives.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years were all spent together with Tom and Megan dropping in and out here and there. Both were also seeing other people, but Brad and Rachelle were not only still going steady, they were also going strong.

By springtime, love was most definitely in the air, and the happy couple began telling each other 'I love you' every time they met, spoke on the phone, or said goodbye.

The second week of May Brad told Tom he was going to ask Rachelle to marry him, and his roommate and best friend said, "It's about damn time!"

So after a special dinner at her home with Megan and Tom there, Brad got down on one knee and proposed. Rachelle was so overwhelmed with happiness she couldn't even say 'yes', but that didn't stop her from nodding and holding her hand out so Brad could place the beautiful diamond ring he'd recently bought on it.

Everything seemed storybook perfect until two weeks later when the squadron commander told his officers they were going to WestPac. WestPac stood for western Pacific, and the term was used to in lieu of saying, "We've been tapped for a six-month deployment to the Far East."

Brad knew it was coming. The war in Iraq was long over, Afghanistan was nothing like it used to be, and there was no pressing need for F-35s in the mideast. But the US still had commitments in the Pacific theater of operations, and it was 314's turn in the barrel.

Telling Rachelle was the hardest thing he'd ever done, and all he could do was hope she would understand.

"I know who I fell in love with, honey," she told him after he gave her the news. "The only question was 'when'."

"I still fee terrible," Brad told her.

"Me, too, but this is a lifetime commitment. If something like this could make me not want to be with you, then I'm not the right woman."

"You have no idea how much I love you," he told her as they held one another's hand, amazed by the way she looked at life.

"Honey? I'm the one who should be saying that. I was so fortunate to have known love once before. I...I think I hoped I'd find it again one day, but it wasn't until I met you that I realized that...lighting really had struck twice."

"Listen. We don't leave until mid-August, so we could get married earlier than we'd planned. If you..."

"Yes! I want to marry you before you go," Rachelle told him before he could get it all out.

Brad smiled then said, "Just when I thought I couldn't love you any more than I already do, you make me love you even more."

Rachelle laughed, snuggled up with him, then said, "Welcome to my world. You do that to me every day."

Brad, who never bragged, said, "I am kind of awesome like that, huh?"

Rachelle pulled away to see who was sitting next to her then pushed him over and climbed up on top.

"Yes. You are awesome that way. And in every other way."

"Wait. In every other way?" he said, as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Rachelle laughed and assured him he was very awesome...in that way, too.

"You know, it never hurts to be sure," she told him very seriously.

"Right. I mean, one can never be too sure, huh? Maybe we should go find out. So we can be sure."

She got up then took his hand and led him to her bedroom where he once again proved her right. Twice.

As she lay in his arms Brad asked if there was enough time left to plan a wedding.

"Do you want a big wedding?" was her reply.

"What? Me? No. But don't you?"

"Brad, I had a big wedding. And if that's important to you, I'll have another one. But as long as you and Megan are there, I don't care about anything else."

She saw him getting ready to say something and beat him to the punch.

"You're about to tell me I just made you love you even more, aren't you?"

"Who me?"

Brad was kidding but Rachelle wasn't as she said, "Yes, you. The man I love more than anything on earth."

"Except for Megan," Brad reminded her.

"That's different. I love her dearly, but I'm not in love with her."

Rachelle sat up and smiled at her handsome, much younger fiancé, then said, "But I am so in love with you."

"Talk is cheap, woman," Brad replied very seriously. "How about you show me?"

"Again?" she asked, as though she was exasperated.

"Oh, right. You need your rest. With you being so, you know, old."

"Ha! I'll show you old!" she told him as she slid down his body then stopped at just the right place. "Old. Ha! Take this!"

She laughed then said, "Actually, I'm the one taking this, but..."

Brad groaned with pleasure and wondered how he'd ever gotten so lucky as Rachelle worked her magic and showed him. Again.

Having only three months before Brad left seemed like a week to them, and he and Rachelle spent every possible moment together, and that still wasn't enough. But it was all they had, and neither ever complained about it, knowing they would have a lifetime together once he got home.

There were still family members to meet and details to plan as their wedding day got closer. Brad had moved out of the apartment after the 4th of July once Tom had a new roommate lined up to help with the expenses and moved in with Rachelle.

Both Marines were also crazy busy getting in all of the training they needed before the deployment. A part of that was a two-week deployment to Fallon, Nevada, giving Brad just ten days until the wedding after the squadron got back.

When the big day finally arrived, they kissed each other before going to get dressed separately. Rachelle had only seen Brad in his dress blues once, and he, of course, had never seen her in a wedding dress until she walked down the aisle of the little country church they'd chosen to be married in. Rachelle thought her soon-to-be husband was the most handsome man on earth, but she flat took his breath away when he saw her.

The ceremony was short and sweet, and the reception that followed was a happy time for both of them as they drank, danced, and spent time with the people they loved. Virtually everyone there knew there was a large difference in their ages, but after seeing Rachelle, those who didn't know her found it hard to believe she had just turned 43.

Age was the last thing on her mind as she danced with her now 28-year old husband. They held one another close and told each other how much they loved one another as they did their best to pretend Brad wasn't going anywhere in just a few more days.

But it was during those last few days when the best news Brad would ever hear was made. He'd been gone for just over six weeks when, during a FaceTime call home, Rachelle said she had a surprise for him.

"What kind of surprise?" he asked from Darwin, Australia, where they were currently deployed.

"Well..." she began before reaching for something Brad couldn't see.

When her hands came back in view each was holding a balloon. One pink and the other blue.

"This kind of surprise."

Brad got it immediately and nearly lost it.

"Oh, my God. Honey? Are you okay? Is everything all right? When is it due? Are you..."

"Brad! Please," she said as she tried not to laugh. "I'm fine. I feel wonderful. All I needed to know was that you're as happy as I am, but it would seem that you are, so..."

"Happy? Honey, I am THRILLED! I'm gonna be a father! I'm gonna have a..."

He realized they didn't know that yet and said, "A son or a daughter."

Rachelle laughed and told him again how much she loved him while warning him she would be rather...big...when he got home.

"Big is fine. You'll be beautiful no matter what!"

He saw her tearing up and asked if she was really okay.

"Yes. I...I couldn't possibly be any better," she told him as she dried her eyes. "I'm just so happy."

"Me, too, honey. Me, too."

By the time he returned to Southern California, Rachelle was bigger but not all that big. She'd only gained 12 pounds so far and still looked amazing. And because her OBGYN told her that sex was fine during pregnancy, and also because her hormones were raging, Brad was welcomed back with more lovemaking than he could have ever imagined.

Roughly two months later, Rachelle woke him up at 2:30am and told him it was time. She had a bag ready to go, packed some food for her husband, and was as calm as could be as he drove her to the hospital.

Just six hours later, Rachelle Kyser gave birth to a beautiful, healthy little boy, and when they handed Brad his son for the first time, Rachelle saw him tear up.

Brad gently laid him on his mother's chest as she reached out for her son, and after handing him to her, Brad kissed her.

"How did I ever get so lucky?" he told her as he fought off letting a tear fall.

"You? No, that's me, honey. I'm 43 and have an amazing husband and I'm holding a new life in my arms. That makes me the lucky one."

Brad bent down and put his arm around her then took a selfie of their new family and sent it out to everyone they knew. Congratulations came in from all over the country as well as from Marines stationed overseas.

But Captain Brad Kyser didn't bother replying to them as his only focus in life was on the woman he loved and the child they'd made together, a little boy they name Thomas Bradley Kyser, the greatest joy in their lives.

Rachelle looked at her handsome husband and said, "I was just thinking about how we met."

"Right. Had we not need to furnish the apartment..."

"We'd have never met."

"But it needed to be furnished and we did meet."

Rachelle smiled and said, "Yes, we did. And that was the happiest day of my life."

She looked at son then said, "Okay. Maybe the second happiest."

Brad laughed and she did, too, thankful beyond words that he had needed his apartment to be furnished.