He smiled again as he stared into the face of the woman he loved. The woman he’d worried he might never see again. She looked as dazed and relieved as he felt. “It’s been a long time,” he told her. “I wasn’t sure…I wasn’t sure you would be here.” “Where else would I be?” she asked. Her confusion seemed genuine. Maybe she wanted to forget the tension that had existed between them before he’d shipped out. Gregory knew he did. It had weighed heavily on him during his entire deployment, intensifying after her letters had stopped. He pulled her into his arms again, rested his cheek against her temple. “Nowhere,” he mumbled into her hair. “This is where you belong, Devin. Right here. Forever.” Afterward, Gregory took her hands. His thumb rubbed against something hard on her third finger. He lifted her hand and studied the cheap, silver-plated band he’d placed there not all that long ago. Her eyes widened fractionally. “I know it’s nothing special,” he said on a self-conscious chuckle.
