Going Home

He took her in his arms then said referring to her being in all white, "You look absolutely perfect, Nurse Orr."

"You say that because it's nearly dark in here," she told him, her insecurities surfacing.

"No. I can see quite clearly, and trust me, you look amazing."

Reagan put her arms around him and kissed him softly then began slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Once it fell to the floor, she saw his muscled chest and abs and as she ran her hands across them said, "Now that is perfect."

Gray laughed and kissed her for several seconds before they worked together to unbuckle his pants which soon fell next to his shirt.

Reagan purred as she reached for him for the first time through the boxers he was wearing and moaned softly when she found him.

"Mmmm. I was hoping your were big," she cooed.

"I don't know about 'big', but I trust I'm big...enough," he told her.

As his boxers also fell to the floor, Reagan saw him for the first time and said, "Oh, you are definitely big enough," before pushing him back on the bed then kneeling between his legs and taking him her mouth for the first time.

After paying 'him' a lot of attention, he lifted the nightie over her head, then pulled her up and laid her on the bed and returned the favor. Between his very skilled middle finger and his equally-talented tongue, it didn't take long to bring Reagan to her first orgasm in years. At least the first one that hadn't been self-induced.

Because the girls were just across the hall, she stifled a scream as her body shuddered in several waves that rocked her world. Gray gave her time to recover as they kissed and petted until she let him know she was ready. He hadn't done this once since Kate was alive, so he let her know not to expect too much. She quickly helped him put on a condom, and then spread her legs wide for him as he entered her for the first time.

She was warm and wet and oh-so tight, but he somehow managed to hold off until Reagan was on the verge of coming again. When she let him know both verbally and by digging her nails into his back so it hurt, he let go and came with her.

"Wow. Just...wow," Reagan said as she lay in his arms just minutes later.

"Wow indeed," Gray told her as he played with her hair.

She snuggled up as close as she could then, with her head resting on chest said, "I can't believe I almost missed this, all because I thought you were too young."

"I had a similar thought. Not about age, though," he told her.

"Can you share it?" she asked very sweetly.

"I...I was just thinking about everything that had to happen for this to even be possible. I don't know if I should say anything else."

Reagan raised up and looked at him then said, "You don't have to."

She smiled at him then said, "Remember. I get it."

"Yes. Yes, you do," he told her as he raised up to kiss her.

"And...I just got it," she told him playfully.

Gray laughed and said, "Why, yes you did."

"I wouldn't mind...getting it...again."

Gray hadn't yet heard Reagan giggle until just then. When she did, he rolled on top of her then said, "I do love you."

"I love you, too," she told him as the giggling stopped in favor of the happiness and warmth his words brought her.

Both of them fully understood how fast this was happening, but neither of them cared because they had both suffered such tragic, life-altering losses, and the person they now loved not only filled the hole in their souls, it made them whole again.

The following morning, neither of them could sleep and were up early enough to shower together and make love again.

As Reagan got dressed she asked what they should tell the girls.

"I think we tell them Kady fell asleep here and hope she doesn't ask any questions."

"That'll work," Reagan replied as she walked over to him half dressed just so she could hold him again.

After breakfast, Gray took Kady and Skyler home with him, and his mother not only didn't ask why, she didn't ask where her son was going when he left again right after lunch.

That afternoon and evening, while Gray was at Reagan's making love to her as often as Mother Nature would allow, Ella took the girls to the grocery store. She put them in a double-wide cart that looked like a frog, and while she was pushing them around, she saw someone she hadn't seen in at least two years.

He was in the produce section and Ella came up and waited for him to look. He glanced over then did a double take.

"Ella? Ella Lukeman?"

"Doctor Miller. How are you?"

"Fine, Ella. Thank you for asking. I heard you recently retired."

"I did," she told him. "This little girl is my granddaughter, Kady, and the other cutie pie is her new best friend, Skylar."

The doctor, who was now 67 years old and thinking seriously about retiring himself, bent down and said hello to the girls.

"Kady is Luke's son," she reminded him.

"Yes. Right. The Marine."

"Well. Soon-to-be former Marine," she said explaining the situation.

He nodded then said, "I...I lost my wife two years ago, myself, Ella."

"Oh. I...I had no idea. I'm so sorry," she said as her heart went out to him.

"Cancer. Very aggressive," he said. "Anyway, so you're doing okay?"

"Yes. Wonderful," she said as she looked at her granddaughter.

"Well, it was...wonderful...seeing you again," the doctor told her with a smile and a slight bow of his head.

"You, too, Doctor Miller," she said.

"Ed. Please."

"Okay. Ed," Ella said with a smile. "Well, maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"Yes. Maybe so," Ed told her.

She went to turn the cart around when Ed said, "Ella? Would it be okay if I called you sometime?"

For the first time in years, her strong aversion to dating began to disappear.

"Oh. Well, I...I suppose that would be okay," she told him in a voice she hadn't used in years.

They exchanged numbers, and Ella left feeling like her entire life had somehow just changed—again. She didn't mention it to Gray because she had no idea if the good doctor would actually call, and even if he did, she didn't know what it might mean.

When he did call the very next day, he asked her out almost immediately, and without even thinking out it, Ella said 'yes'.

When she asked Gray if they could talk soon after the phone call, Gray got scared.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Oh. Yes. I'm fine, honey. I just have some...news."

Gray smiled when she told him and then he hugged her.

"I'm really happy for you."

"It was so unexpected," his mom said. "I always thought he was such a nice man."

"Well, I kind of want to talk to you about something," he told her.

The 'talk' included inviting Reagan to join them for Christmas, and Ella agreed immediately. He also suggested that if things went well with the doctor, she should invite him, too. His mom told him 'we'll see' before he then mentioned going away for a few days with Reagan.

"Oh. I see," his mom said, using her son's favorite phrase with a smile. "That sounds very nice, honey."

"Everything's booked solid until after New Year's, but we'd like to spend 3-4 days in the San Juans the first week of January."

His mother told him she thought that was a wonderful idea and asked if things were getting serious.

"It's...well, it's...crazy, but...yes. I'm...I'm in love with her, Mom."

"And...is she in love with you?"

"She's told me she loves me, so...yes?" he offered. "I know it's been fast, but it just feels so right."

"Then follow your feelings, honey. Reagan is a wonderful girl, and Skylar is just as sweet as Kady."

"Yes. Yes, she is," Gray said.

Reagan not only joined them for Christmas, she felt like this was her family. Even Doctor Miller seemed like someone she'd always known as she spent the entire day with them cooking, baking, talking, and having the most wonderful time she could remember since her husband was alive.

She and Gray had already been spending every free moment together, but the bond that formed that day was one that would last the rest of their lives, even though neither of them knew that for sure just then.

During their trip to the San Juans, she and Gray were laying in bed one afternoon when he said, "I've told you I love you a bunch of times, right?"

"Yes, and I've told you that, too," she reminded him with a smile.

He turned over and looked into her eyes then said, "Well, in case it isn't clear, I need to tell you I'm...in love with you, too, Reagan. Because I am. Crazy, head-over-heels in love with you."

Reagan teared up almost immediately as she said it back to him.

"I'm normally a planner to the Nth degree," he told her. "But this is totally unplanned. Well, almost totally."

"What is?" she said.

He got out of bed, pulled on a pair of sweat pants then asked her to sit up. When she did, Gray got down on one knee and started speaking.

"Reagan. I know we only recently met. I know we don't know all that much about each other. But I do know I love you. And I know I'm in love with you. And I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she listened to every word.

"I don't even have a ring with me, but if you'll have me..."

"Yes!" she said, unable to stop crying. "Yes, I'll have you!"

"So...you'll marry me?" he asked, one eyebrow raised high.

"Yes, you goof! Of course I'll marry you!"

"You do remember I don't have a job, right?"

"I don't care about that," she told him as she used a sheet to dry her eyes. "All I care about is being with you. Forever."

He stood up then bent over and kissed her and said, "I never thought I'd ever be happy again."

"Me, either," she told him as she pulled on top of herself. "But all that's changed."

"Yes. Yes, it has," Gray agreed as he lay there just staring into her eyes. "You are just so beautiful."

"You're not so bad yourself, you know," she said, her smile back and brighter than ever just before he entered her again.

Just before they left to return home, Gray said he wanted to ask her a question; a question that had been eating at him since the day he left Camp Pendleton.

Reagan sat down and listened then asked, "Can you even do that?"

"I don't know, but I won't even try unless you're okay with it."

"Honey, I love you with all my heart, and I want you to be happy. If that's what you want, then, yes, I'll be very okay with it, and we'll make it work no matter what."

The following morning he was on the phone with his former battalion commander who was getting ready to deploy soon. He couldn't give the date over the phone, but Gray knew they were going to Afghanistan in the very near future.

"Listen, I've got a good friend at Headquarters Marine Corps. He's the monitor for field grade officers, but let him know I gave you his name and asked you to call. If this can be done, he'll know how to do it."

The 'monitor' was what other services called a 'detailer' or various other names. In a word, he made recommendations on where all infantry majors and lieutenant colonels should go on their next assignment then issued orders once the request was approved.

Gray hung up and called the number, and after being put on hold twice, reached his former CO's friend.

"So you're still on terminal leave?" the lieutenant colonel asked him.

"Yes, sir."

"And you can sign an affidavit certifying you're deployable? That you've got childcare?"

"I can, sir."

"All right. Is this the best number to reach you at?" he asked Gray.

"Yes, sir," he said again.

"I have a good friend who just made colonel. He not only can answer this question, but his boss is the person who makes these kinds of decisions. Give me 24 hours and I'll call you back."

Gray told Reagan about the phone call, and she told him again she was willing to do anything to support him.

'Support'—financial support—was thing Gray had been so concerned about. It was important when it was just Kady, but he was getting ready to take on two more people, and letting Reagan support them wasn't an option.

Although she wasn't worried at all, she'd hinted around about his future job, so he showed her how much money he'd be making (and was actually still making), and Reagan was stunned.

"Whoa! $4,850 a month? That's more than I make!" she told him in disbelief.

"And we'll get a house on base or enough money to buy or rent one off base. And when I make captain, it'll go up by another $800 a month."

"I...I had no idea," she told him assuming everyone in the military was poor.

"We won't get rich, but we'll more than get by, even if you don't work."

Reagan had dreamed of staying home for years, but now she was afraid to dream in case this didn't happen. In fact, she barely slept that night wondering what the answer would be.

By 2pm that afternoon, Gray had an answer.

"Okay. I've good news and bad news," the monitor told him.

"Go ahead, sir," Gray told him as he held his breath.

"The good news is we can stop your resignation and keep you on active duty. Had you waited another week, it would be impossible. That's the good news."

"And the bad, sir?"

"If you want to stay on active duty, you're not staying in the infantry. Or any combat arms field. In fact, there's only only one MOS taking people like yourself."

"Please don't say 'adjutant', colonel," Gray told him.

Gray was an infantry officer and knew going back to this old career field wouldn't be possible. But adjutants were paper pushers who did nothing but administrative work their entire careers. Their function was critically important, but very few officers wanted the job, and that's why there were always openings for more of them.

"Sorry. That's the one. You'll have to attend the Adjutant's course at Camp Lejeune then you'll stay right there. I have no say over where you go beyond assigning you to the 2nd Marine Division, but you'll be back in uniform."

"I'll take it, sir," he said without hesitation.

"Great. Fax me that affidavit ASAP along with your signed request to pull your resignation. I'll shoot it up the chain of command where the skids have already been greased. I should have a formal response for you within ten days."

"That's it?" Gray asked before adding, "Sir."

"That's it. Welcome back, Lieutenant. And I did some checking and noticed you're in zone for captain. That's a damn near automatic promotion so you should be wearing railroad tracks within a year. Maybe less."

"Wow. Um...thank you, sir," Gray said before the call ended.

Within 24 hours, the paperwork he needed signed was done and on its way to Washington, DC.

Seven working days later, formal, written orders arrived in the mail sending '1stLt Lukeman, G.K. to the Adjutant Officer's course at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, then on to the 2nd Marine Division for duty."

The effective date was February 1st, meaning Gray needed to get moving.

He went out and bought a beautiful diamond ring as soon as he read the orders and formally proposed to Reagan that evening after explaining it all to her.

"So what does that mean?" she asked as she admired the ring on her finger over and over.

"It means we need to get married. Soon."

"I like the sound of that," his fiancé said very happily.

"And you'll need to give notice. Very soon."

"I like that almost as much," she told him.

"And we'll be having movers come to pack up whatever you want to take with us—soon."

"I think I'm going to like being a Marine's wife," she told him as she put her arms around him.

Gray only had one real concern, and that was his mom whose whole world had been built around him and Kady coming home. But as things unfolded for him to return to active duty, she told him that things with Doctor Ed Miller were unfolding rather nicely, as well.

"We're becoming...close," his mom told him with the kind of smile that bordered on 'took much information'.

"How close?" Gray asked with a smile.

"Very?" his mother said with the same kind of smile.

"Close enough that Kady and I can leave?"

"I don't want you to go, of course, but Ed's decided to retire, and we could come and visit as often as you can stand having us."

"We, huh? Wow. That is close," Gray told her before telling her how happy he was for her. "And you're both welcome as often as you like."

One week later, Gray and Reagan were married in Ella's home, and to everyone's surprise, later that night Ed proposed to her during a break in the conversation.

"We're taking a page out of your playbook," Ella told her son and new daughter-in-law once she recovered from the shock. "Why wait when you're in love, right?"

Gray put his arm around his new wife and said to his mom, "I couldn't agree more."

Gray, Reagan, and their two daughters piled into his still-new car (after selling hers) and headed out for North Carolina three days later. They arrived a couple of days early which allowed him time to get a proper haircut, and go look for an SUV or minivan for his wife and kids.

Two days later, he reported for the first day of class while the 'girls' stayed on base in the Hostess House, a facility for active duty families in transit, as they awaited getting a place of their own.

Three weeks to the day after arriving, they moved into a very decent, comfortable place in officer housing, one that was much nicer than Reagan's house in Renton, and she found herself on Cloud Nine being able to stay home and decorate it and turn it into her dream house for the next four years or so.

She missed nursing, but the joy of being home with her two girls, and spending her nights and weekends with the handsome young Marine she loved was more than she could have dreamed of.

They talked often about having another child, but in the end, they decided two was more than enough.

Gray finished at the top of his class then ended up working at one of the Marine Regimental headquarters where the biggest danger he faced was from a paper cut. But he was able to be a Marine and go home nearly every night to his gorgeous wife and two beautiful girls, Kady and Skylar Lukeman.

So while his new job wasn't ideal, it was more than good enough, and the rest of his life was just about perfect. That was just as true for the woman who'd married him and given up her career after knowing him for a relatively short amount of time.

"Any regrets?" Gray asked her on their first anniversary after a wonderful dinner out with their daughters.

"No. Not one," she told him.

She smiled then said, "How could I? I'm married to the man of my dreams and able to stay home with our girls. I'd say that's about as close to heaven on earth as it gets."

Gray smiled, then leaned over and kissed her before saying, "Yeah, and I get to make love to an angel all the time."

"Hmmm. Is that a hint?" she asked, a happy smile on her face.

"No. That's...an order!" he teased. "Come on, let's go!"

"Ohhh. Okay. Well...yes, sir—Captain!" she said happily as he led her to their bedroom and locked the door behind them.