Page 25 of The Homecoming

Curled up with him, Autumn didn’t want to fall asleep. He’d be gone by the time she woke up. Snuggled against his chest, she fought to stay awake and not cry. She didn’t want him to feel bad for leaving, so she resolved to face his deployment with bravery, knowing it was inevitable anyway. It wasn’t long before she fell asleep with him pressed against her back and his arm draped over her.

Autumn awoke alone with the sun peeking through the curtains, Daniel’s Go Army t-shirt draped on the bedpost. She grabbed the shirt and slid it on, hugging it to her body. If she never saw him again, at least she’d have a memento of their summer. The window now closed with the screen put back in its place. Out the window the new day had arrived and taken Daniel away.

***

Autumn parked out behind the old farmhouse and dragged herself up the back porch steps an hour and a half late. The goal of making it into the office without being spotted was thwarted when she ran into Brandon. “Whoa, rough night?” he asked.

“Daniel was deployed,” she said, walking in and dropping onto the sofa. “I didn’t get much sleep.”

“Oh man,” Brandon replied. He followed her into the office and sat next to her. “Are you okay?”

“I mean,” she shrugged, “it’s not like I didn’t know it was coming. Daniel said from the start he’d get called back again. I knew it was unavoidable.”

“It still sucks,” he said. “I guess you guys made up first.”

She nodded and blinked back tears. “I almost wish he’d left it as a summer fling instead of asking me to wait for him. Maybe this would be easier.”

“But you are in love with him, right?”

The tears fell down her face. “Of course I am. But, I don’t want to be.” She wiped her eyes. “Loving him means living in limbo. I don’t get to know anything about where he is or what he’s doing. I don’t even get to know if he’s still alive.”

“Hey, hey,” Brandon said, leaning over to hug her. “He’ll come back.”

“Then I’m still in limbo,” she said. “I’m in hell either way.”

Fall

15.

Bit by bit, the old farmhouse began looking like a venue, shining like new. The barn out back was coming together as they worked on laying out all the ways they could set up the place for different events—what kind of service the wedding would have, where the dance floor would go, and all the other small details that went into creating the ideal wedding experience. The new electrical system included a fancy digital light and sound system. Since neither Ben nor Brandon wanted to play with electricity, the electrical installation was one of the only things they contracted out. The guys, with Autumn’s help, installed three sliding doors on the east end of the barn and were hard at work building a covered patio on the same side. Doing so would create an indoor/outdoor option for the receptions. Admittedly, she had no business doing construction and had almost nailed Brandon to a board while learning to use the nail gun, but he had escaped unscathed. She threw herself into the project; it helped to stay as busy as possible to avoid thinking about Dan. No one brought him up, which both relieved and irritated her at the same time. She didn’t want to talk about him, but at the same time, she didn’t want them to forget he was somewhere defending all of them.

Mid-August, White Oak and the McMillan family received word that Jason was coming home. When dealing with the military, homecoming day scheduling had to be swallowed with a grain of salt. Until the plane was on the tarmac, everything was still unsolidified; the actual date and time had been rescheduled four times. Autumn and her parents were marched through security and had their identification checked against records before being herded along with a hundred or so other people onto one of four waiting buses. After sitting there for what felt like forever, Autumn half expected to hear an announcement that the plane was delayed again. But so far, the families were still heading to the hangar for the ceremony. The bus seats only held two people each, so Autumn found herself next to a stranger. She hated being so close to someone she didn’t know. The young woman in the seat next to her couldn’t have been more than nineteen. She looked both excited and about ready to vomit until she noticed Autumn look at her.

“My husband’s coming home,” she said. “This was our first separation; we got married right before he deployed.”

“Congratulations.”

“Who are you here for?”

“My brother.”

The girl nodded. “That’s great.”

“Yeah,” Autumn agreed.

“Have you done this coming home thing before?”

Autumn nodded. “Once for him. My boyfriend’s in too, but he’s a Green Beret, they don’t get ceremonies. They return just as quietly as they leave.”

“Wow,” she replied. “Is he home?”

Autumn shook her head and willed herself not to cry. “He was deployed a couple of weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s hard.”

Autumn nodded. She said she would wait. He’d promised to come back.

“What are these ceremonies like?”

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