Page 17 of Wrong Number, Right Soldier
Mom’s smile is bright, cheeky, and a little bit devious. “And now, my son, you are a man.”
I grin at her. “I thought I became a man after Basic.”
And she cackles: “Not even close.” She reaches out for Saylis’s hand, pulling her inside. “Come in! See my lovely home. Your home, too,” she says to us both. “What do I always tell you, Trey? My home isalwaysyour home.”
Home—there’s that word again. It isn’t the childhood house I grew up in that Mom sold. It isn’t the place I kept in Dallas. When I’m on deployment, home is just a phone call away. It sounds like a line from a children’s fable, or a Hallmark card, but it’s the truth: Home is the loveinsideof us. We carry it with us, we harbor it.
Wherever I might go, I’ve got home.
Epilogue
Saylis
5 Years Later
If you can help it, try not to ever fall in love with a soldier. It’s a hard life, but what else am I supposed to do—notbe with the love of my life? That’s out of the question.Unthinkable.
Even now, pregnant while my husband is on his third deployment since I’ve known him. At least this one is only for six months, and he gets to take a few weeks of his caregiver leave starting a week before my due date, so as long as baby Evelyn doesn’t try for an early departure—or a late one, for that matter—he’ll get to see our daughter be born and hold her for those precious first two weeks. I vow every day not to expect perfection from our child,but just this once, baby girl, I need you to beexactlyon time.
Trey once told me he’d retire from the Army because he didn’t think he was “smart enough” for anything else, but that was either bullshit or ignorance. The man is brilliant, in his own, wonderful, inspiring way. He’s still in the Army because he freakinglovesit, that’s why.
To be honest? I’ve learned to love it, too. We move a lot, but I make friends wherever we go, I teach on base, and when I’m off-the-clock I go exploring around the local city. Not necessarily the townsrightoff-base—A nice way to put it? Those places don’t usually have a whole lot to offer—I mean the nearest larger cities, like Austin, Savannah, Raleigh. My friends keep in touch: they’ll come visit, I’ll go visit; it’s not the same, but it’s not impossible, either.
Nothing is impossible, if you think about it. Not even falling in love with a virtual stranger while he’sliterally deployed. As a Language Arts teacher, I can promise you that wilder storieshave been lived to be told. I get to be the keeper of those stories, until someday some of my impressionable eleven-year-olds grow up to be the new keepers.
We all do our service. If mine isn’t the most fulfilling work in the whole wide world, I have no clue what is. I’m certain Trey would be of another mind, but his fulfillment and mine? A tad bit different, I’d say.
As a mom-to-be, I am not sure which is stronger, my love for Evelyn already, or my curiosity. What will she be like?Looklike?Soundlike? What will she dream of, wish for, want more thananything?
Will she be obsessed with reading, like her mommy, or will she be wild and fierce, goofy and maybe…a bit of a maverick—or is that just a nice way of describing someone utterly strong-willed?—like the man who set my heart on fire more than anything or anyone ever had?
…try not to ever fall in love with a soldier.
Oh, my sweet girl. She’s going to be so in love with our soldier before she can even think to form the word, ‘love.’ Herfirstlove.
Sorry, Evelyn.
Not sorry, though.
Time is doing that thing again: expanding and collapsing. It goes so, so slow, and then everything happens all at once.
“Are you ready, honey?” I ask gently, but so that I know she can hear me. “It’s almost time. Everyone will be here. I can’t wait to meet you, to really meet you, Evelyn-girl… I already know: it’s going to be the greatest joy of my life, to watch you start yours.”
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Trey
4 More Years Later
And that’s how I became the luckiest and happiest man on Earth.
Since the day we found out Saylis was pregnant, I vowed to always be a better father than my own dad had been, which isn’t a tall order. Sometimes, I pretend I had a really great dad, and it’shimI try to make proud every day. It’s the same in the Army: I haven’t had the best leaders or mentors. To be honest, they’ve all kind of been dicks. So it’s on me: I’ve got to be the exception. I’ve got to be good. A light in dark spaces. I don’t always succeed at that, I just do the best I can.
It’s what we can all be. Circumstances and past traumas be damned.
Right now, with our closest friends, family, and our young daughter Evelyn, who is as beautiful as her mom with electric blue eyes rimmed in black, I can’t help thinking:How did I ever get blessed with this?It wasn’t in the cards for me to have an abundant life like this. I have the women in my life to thank. Saylis, and Mom.Girl energy.
I’m so here for it. Evelyn will have the best examples to grow up to be a kind, capable woman. And I will show her how a real man takes care of his girls. Sometimes with tender love. Sometimes by batting away all the baddies.
