Chapter Three
That night, I didn’t sleep a wink. Believe me, I tried, but no matter what I did, I just kept watching Logan… I knew that this would be our last night together for a long time. He had said over and over that he may only be gone a week, but we both knew that time span was only a dream.
Truth was, we didn’t know how long he would be gone. The General had said a year at most and for me, that was truly a nightmare. I didn’t want to go to Doctor’s visits without him, he was supposed to be there when the gender’s revealed, and he’s supposed to be there when I had cravings in the middle of the night.
If Logan’s gone the full year, he’ll miss all of those things and the birth of our child. That was definitely something I was terrified of; birth. If I didn’t have him there with me, who would I yell at? Who would be the one to calm me down and tell me silly jokes?
Just thinking of all this, mortified me. I felt like everything was caving in on me and there was nothing I could do… “Logan? We need to go.” I yell walking into the bedroom from the bathroom. He sits up, sleepily. “Come on, we got to go. I’ll wait for you in the car.”
I walk through the house and grab the keys to the Camaro before heading out to the garage. Yes, Logan still has Crimson, and yes, he actually calls his car that too. As for me, I still have my Mustang, Phoenix, she’s still my baby, although I’m sure once the little one arrives, she’ll have to take a backseat.
I get in the passenger side and put the keys in the ignition. I wait for another ten minutes or so before Logan comes out in his army uniform along with his matching suitcase, which is really just a big, loose bag.
He smiles as he gets in and throws the bag in the back. “My car, eh?” He asks curiously.
“Of course, I figured you’d like to drive it since it’ll probably be a long time before you even see it again.” He rolls his eyes as the garage door opens.
“So thoughtful, Caroline.” He adds, sarcastically. He pulls out onto the road and heads toward the airport. It was only a few miles from base, so it didn’t take long to reach the parking garage. We were lucky and got a spot on the first floor.
We park as Logan hands me the keys and gets his stuff. It’s quiet as we make our way into the airport. There're tons of army guys around, it looks like they’re flying the whole base out. I continue following Logan through the crowd as I look around at all the families saying goodbye to their loved ones.
I knew that would be me in just a few minutes… Sadness settles over me as I keep thinking of what I promised Logan. I have to keep myself together… Just for a little while longer…
Suddenly, he stops near the terminal and turns to me, “Now, I expect lots of letters while I’m gone and I want pictures!” I laugh at his enthusiasm, “Oh, and promise me another thing.” His face goes serious, “Do not let my brother anywhere near my car! If he tries, threaten the life out of him.”
“Yes, sir!” I salute.
“This is for you,” He hands me an envelope, “This will start our frenzy of letters to one another. Expect another within the next week or so and don’t open this one until you’re at home, alright?”
I nod as a woman comes over the intercom, “Flight 689 to Iran Military Base, now boarding.” All the soldiers begin boarding the plane as Logan pulls me tightly into a hug.
“I love you, Caroline, and don’t you forget it.”
“Ditto,” I mutter as he kisses me one last time before pulling away. I fight back the tears as he picks up his bag and watches me carefully. I knew he wouldn’t walk away from me while I was still standing there, so I knew I had to be the one to turn away first.
I looked at him one last time as I slowly turned and walked away. I knew not to look back, if I did, he would see me cry and I didn’t think he would handle that well.
The tears began to flow freely as I made it back to the car. I sat the letter in the passenger seat as I wait for the waterworks to subside just enough for me to be able to see to get home.
I sat there for a good thirty minutes and cried as hard as I could. I would be alright and I knew I was finally going to break down sometime. Every time I looked at him, the past few days, that’s all I wanted to do. Cry.
Maybe it’s just all my crazy hormones raging, who knows.
When I was finally able to see the road, I left the airport and headed home. I parked Crimson in his usual spot as I shut the garage door and went into the house. I sat down at the counter and opened the letter.
Letter #1
Dear Caroline,
If you listened to me earlier, you should be at home now. While you read this, I’m about thirty thousand feet in the air with my unit as well as many others. I know when you got back to the car, you had a bit of a meltdown, but that’s okay. I knew, no matter what, you would keep your promise and not cry in front of me. I knew that because you’ve never let me down, Care.
I’m writing this while you’re in the shower and let me tell you, for the first time in my life, I’m actually thankful that you take such long showers, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to write this without you knowing.
I’m truly sorry that you have to go through this, especially right now, but I’ll be okay. I don’t want you to worry too much about me, stress isn’t good for the baby, ya know, and no matter when I get back, before or after the baby’s born, I want to find a healthy Caroline and Julianna. :)
You continue to believe it’s a boy, but I’m telling you, it is a girl! I’ve had that feeling ever since you told me the news. But don’t worry, we may have a little Jackson Nickolas later, you never know.
I just heard you get out of the shower, a little quicker tonight, eh? Now, remember, I want to hear from you and I want tons of pictures! I want to hear about your weird cravings, that I’m sure you’re going to have, and I want to see your little baby bump grow!
No matter what, you’ll always be the one. You’ll always be my Caroline.
Love Always,
Logan