Seven months later
Few things unhinged Jenna Beaumont Mason. She could do cool, calm, and collected. She could do serene. She could go with the flow. She could chill.
Honestly, she was married to a Marine.
But try as she might, she could not talk around the lump in her throat.
Kevin smiled down at her, his eyes laughing beneath the bill of a Padres cap. They sat on bleachers in the Shamu stadium at Sea World on a hot summer day with thousands of other people. Far below, in the clear pools, enormous orcas swam gracefully.
He said, “You’ll be fine.”
“I’ll cry. I am crying.”
“That’s okay.” He waggled his brows. “You’re not worried I’ll fall flat on my face?”
She shook her head. Kevin moved with amazing agility with his prostheses. Artificial limbs. Plural. He needed three of them to make a thigh, a knee, a calf, an ankle, a foot.
“You’re not embarrassed about the way I look, I know that.”
People stared at his prosthetic leg whenever he wore shorts. They stared at his left arm’s odd color and texture whenever he wore short sleeves. Jenna had learned to receive their pity and horror with poise. She smiled and said he had been in the war. She explained to anyone still looking how his new leg worked. Wasn’t it fascinating?
No, she didn’t feel embarrassed. To have Kevin home alive and living with her was all that mattered.
He was still in the service, working on the base. They had moved near it. She was teaching summer school there. Their new circle of friends included some of the men he’d served with and their wives. Every day was a gift that she received with gratitude.
Kevin kissed her cheek. “Then what is it, pretty lady?”
“I-I’m just so happy,” she whispered. “I finally get to do this because I want to.”
He smiled. “I love you.”
A loud voice resonated from the sound system, and a hush fell over the crowd. Jenna and Kevin knew what was coming. Friends had told them to expect it.
As “America the Beautiful” played and scenic nature slides filtered across enormous screens behind the pool, the announcer asked all the servicemen and their families in the audience to stand.
Jenna practically flew to her feet. Kevin rose beside her, along with hundreds of others across the stadium. The crowd applauded loudly and long.
She tugged on his sleeve. He leaned near to catch her words.
“I am so proud to be your wife, Kevin Mason.”
He grinned and touched the small bump protruding at her waistline. “And I am so proud to be standing here with both of you.”