Page 76 of The Soldier's Homecoming

He walked slowly, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

And when they did he saw a larger silhouette beside Gabby’s small one.

“Penny?” He dipped his mouth close to her ear, not wanting to wake Gabby. “Penny?” He nudged her shoulder gently.

She stirred, then mumbled something he couldn’t decipher.

“Pen, wake up.”

He took her by the hand, giving her a gentle tug. Her eyes popped open, he could see them flash in the dark.

“Daniel?”

“Shh.” He encouraged her to get up and she did, following him out into the hall.

The light there was only low level, and he didn’t want to talk to her in hushed tones outside their daughter’s bedroom.

“Daniel, what are you doing here?” her voice was a low hiss.

He beckoned for her to follow. “We need to talk.”

She followed but he could tell from her pace alone before she even spoke that she was going to resist.

“We’ve said everything, Daniel. Please, let’s not put ourselves through this again.”

He held his tongue until they were in their bedroom and he could close the door behind them.

“Penny, can you sit down?” he asked.

She looked reluctant, but she sat on the edge of the bed. He did the same, taking a deep breath tor courage before saying the words he needed to say. The words that had entered his mind, come to him, after he’d broken down in the hotel room. Too late to tell her before she left, but not too late to say now.

“Penny, I know you don’t think you can forget, but the truth is, I can’t either.”

She looked uncomfortable, about to protest, but he launched into what he had to say before she could stop him.

Daniel took her hands in his, shuffled closer to her on the bed and looked into her eyes.

“I’ll always remember your eyes, Penny Cartwright, for as long as I live,” he said, willing her to listen, needing to tell her this for both of their sakes. “Do you know why?”

She moved her head ever so slowly from side to side.

Daniel touched his hand to the edge of her eye, stroking his thumb lightly over the skin there. “Because these were the eyes I looked into on our wedding day,” he said gently. “The eyes that reassured me, without you needing to say a word. that I had nothing to be nervous about, that everything was going to be okay when we became man and wife.”

He watched as her eyes misted over, knew that he’d hit enough of a nerve for her to keep listening.

He was telling her the truth, nothing more, and it was the right thing to do. Daniel could feel in his heart that it was what he needed to say. No matter what happened, he owed it to both of them to be honest, to tell her how he felt.

“I looked into your eyes when you lost your mother, and I wished I could take away the pain I saw there, but I knew that by looking at you, you’d know how much I loved you.”

She reached to brush tears from her cheek, falling in a slow trickle.

“I’ll never forget your eyes because I looked into them seconds after our daughter was born and saw a happiness there I’ll never forget, and when you had to leave her to serve overseas, I’ll never forget the pain I saw there either.”

“Daniel…” She tried to stop him but he needed to say his fill, to get the words off his chest.

He moved his hand to her belly, resting it there.

“I’ll never forget your stomach, Penny, because I stroked it every night once I arrived home from overseas, talking to our little girl. I’ll never forget that you carried my child for nine months and made me the happiest man on the planet.”

---