Page 51 of The Soldier's Homecoming

He relaxed into Penny as she held on to him like she’d never let go. Like nothing had torn them apart and they hadn’t been estranged, forced apart by distance and emotion, these past few months.

All the fighting, the pain, the heartache of what had happened fell away.

Until they were just two people who needed one another.

Two people who never wanted to let go of the other.

Penny sobbed gently in his arms, snuffling into his chest, her face tucked against him. He released one of his hands from her waist and touched the back of her hair, let his fingers work through the softness of each silky dark strand.

She tilted her head back then, tipped her tear-stained face up to him, eyes wide, worry and sadness like pools within them.

“I’m so sorry, Penny. I’m…”

She shook her head and made him stop. The tilt of her head telling him no. That she didn’t want him to talk.

Penny stood on tiptoe, her petite frame reaching up toward him.

Daniel didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Was paralyzed and unable to do a thing.

She brought her lips slowly, painfully slowly, toward his. He felt her breath whisper across his lips before her mouth touched his.

Penny moved her lips tenderly, her hand moving to hover across his cheek as she did so.

Their mouths met for only a moment, but it filled Daniel with hope. A hope that had been missing within him, but once ignited was like the steady beat of a drum, a light that had been dull and was now shining bright.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He was numb as she stepped away, hand still touching his cheek.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “For what?” he mumbled.

“For being such a great dad,” she said, quietly so they couldn’t be overheard. “There’s no one else in the world I would have trusted to leave our daughter with while I was away. You’re a wonderful father, and I don’t think I’ve ever told you that before.”

Daniel shook his head, but Penny only stepped back and pressed a finger to her lips.

“There are so many things I never told you, and I’m sorry. You gave up so much to be a great dad, and I’m proud of you.”

Daniel felt like a child who’d finally been given a gold star in class. A warmth spread through him, warming him when before he’d been chilled.

“And the answer is yes.”

“Yes?” he repeated.

She let her head move up and down in a nod. “You asked me to give you a chance. To let you prove yourself to me. And the answer is yes,” Penny told him. “I don’t know if we can ever be a couple again, Daniel, but I’m not saying no.”

He reached for her again, slung his arm around her shoulder as they both turned toward Gabby.

“She’s the most important thing in the world, Penny.”

She tuckedher head against his shoulder. “She’s going to be okay, I just know it.”

They stood together and looked at their little girl, and Daniel felt a pain in his chest that threatened to stop his heart.

He had no idea how it was possible to feel such a strong pull of emotions. Having Penny by his side, feeling her body touch his when they’d spent so long with a void between them, gave him a strength he couldn’t define.

But seeing Gabby on a hospital bed, when the last time he’d set foot within a hospital was the day she’d been born, sent a shiver down his spine that threatened to chill every pore of his skin.

“Do you remember the last time we were here?”

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