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RYKER PUSHED HIMSELF up and looked around for the other members of his team, the sound of the explosion still pounding in his head. He couldn’t hear anything above the ringing in his ears, but was determined to find the others. He swiped the blood away from his eyes, and wiped his hand on his uniform. He knew that a piece of metal had ripped at his head and could feel his left arm nearly wrenched from the socket when he was slammed to the ground. He couldn’t focus on his own injuries, as he was able to move and needed to find his men and get everyone to safety.

He felt relief flow over him, as he watched Jett and Lane moving toward him bent low to the ground. Both men kept scanning their surroundings, not certain if the single explosion was a solitary event or merely the first in a series. He saw Jett’s face register emotion as he glanced past Ryker, and then make eye contact causing Ryker’s gut to clench. Slowly he turned and saw Bryce, the fourth member of their elite team, lying a few feet away in distress. The slight gurgling noises emanating from his mouth, and the blood oozing from a wound around his midsection, caused Ryker to forget his own safety as he lunged in Bryce’s direction. He half crawled half ran to Bryce, he needed to get the bleeding stopped and get him out of the open.

“Don’t move, Bry. Don’t move, Buddy.” His trained eyes darted in every direction keeping a watchful eye, as he applied intense pressure to Bryce’s wound.

“We need to get out of here,” Lane said as Jett turned to protect them from any enemies.

“It’s no good...remember....” Bryce gasped for breath, and reached out to grab Ryker’s shirt. “Your promise...remem...”

“I remember,” he said to Bryce. “But you are going to make it home to Darby.”

The mission had been completely successful up until five minutes ago. They had destroyed the stronghold of a known terrorist cell, and gotten back out unseen. At least that was what they had believed. They were less than two miles from their pickup site, and had been sensing freedom with Ryker bringing up the rear. All that had changed in a heartbeat when the rocket exploded in front of them, knocking them all about.

The team was very professional. Lane gave Bryce one last look and took his position to provide cover out of this god forsaken hellhole. Ryker wouldn’t have anyone else out here with him. They had done numerous operations together, and worked like a well-oiled machine, each anticipating and covering the others’ movements. Ryker took one last look at Bryce, whose eyes stared lifeless at the sky. This was the first loss for the team, and it wouldn’t be easy to recover from. He moved his hands over Bryce’s eyes, said a silent prayer, leaned over, and hoisted the limp body over his good shoulder. Mentally, he registered the pain the exertion was causing, but blocked it out. No one got left behind.

Bending under the weight of his responsibilities, he ducked and ran behind the cover that Jett and Lane provided. Two miles, and they would all be going home.

Darby was working hard to get the rows cleaned up in the oversized garden. The weeds needed to be removed, lettuce cut, and some of the beans culled out. She would have some help in a couple of hours from the season staff she had hired, but she liked getting out in the early morning light and tending to the garden on her own. It gave her time to think alone, with nothing but her own thoughts.

It was in those quiet moments that she talked to Bryce, and attempted to reconcile her future without him. She missed him as much today as six months ago when THAT letter had been delivered by the uniformed officer and a chaplain. Details about his demise in some war zone thousands of miles away were sketchy, as his mission had been highly classified. The details wouldn’t make her feel any better though. He was forever gone, and would never again hold her in his arms, or see the gorgeous farm that had been their mutual dream. The uniformed officers had offered their thanks on behalf of a grateful nation for his service, and platitudes for his loss. What they hadn’t been able to give her was even a shard of an idea of what she was to do now that he wasn’t ever coming home.

They had been high school sweethearts and become engaged before he shipped out the first time. In every fantasy, he had been her Prince Charming, the one who would truly make all her dreams a reality. He wasn’t coming home for their wedding though, and her fairy tale had abruptly ended without the happily ever after. Not one to sit and cry over spilled milk, she carried on with the help of her parents, a growing staff, and a love for the business she was running. She had hired help for the horse training and therapy classes she offered. A farm overseer saw to the bean, lettuce, celery, and strawberry fields, the surplus produce of which she sold to local markets.

When Darby was a junior in college, she and her mother had jointly inherited the property from her grandmother that had been in the family for two generations. Right after graduation, she and her parents had put into play the big plans she had for the farm. They had also started planning her wedding to Bryce. For a moment, her sight blurred. It was exactly two weeks until the day that she had planned for so carefully, and as it grew closer, she allowed herself some wallowing. She felt the weight of grief much heavier on her soul in recent days, more than even that original sharp stabbing pain when she had seen the car pull up and knew, even before she heard it, what the news would be. Perhaps she had been numb then.

Bryce had known the inherent risks of his job, but from as early as she could remember, he had been devotedly committed to serving his country. Almost as much as the farm was her dream, the military was his, and they had supported each other in equal measure. Even knowing how their story would end, Darby would not have done anything differently. It had been his destiny, and keeping him at home would have been an unhappy unfulfilled existence for him. He was with her now, and had died doing what he loved. In that, he was luckier than a lot of people she knew.

As she turned her face to the orange ball of sun on the horizon, she felt Bryce around her.

“Gorgeous day,” she said to him. “I miss you today. Just a couple of weeks and I would have been your wife. I hope you are home and happy, and I’m trying every day to be the same,” she whispered.

She turned and opened her eyes when she heard the car approaching along the drive. It was a newer SUV style, and she didn’t recognize it, which was rare in her small town. She knew everyone, and few visited this early. She stood, shielding her eyes and waiting.

LANE KEPT HIS ATTENTION on the road ahead of him, as he was unfamiliar with the dirt road they now traveled. He had made the promise months earlier to take this trip. He remembered the moment with clarity as if yesterday, but not for a moment had he been expecting the chip to be called in. He and his wife, Sarah, were making the trek to see Bryce’s fiancée Darby. He had never met the woman, but he felt like he knew her from all the stories that Bryce had told him. He and Bryce, along with Ryker and Jett, had been a close-knit team and had walked through hell together in the service to their country. They had been through so many missions that he had lost count, but that last one was different. Bryce hadn’t made it out alive, and Ryker hadn’t been cleared yet back to active duty after surgery on his arm. Jett and he had been luckier physically, but mentally, the moment that blast had ripped apart his life still constantly played out vividly in his nightmares.

He had been the one to bring Bryce’s body home. Ryker and Jett had both been hospitalized and not able to make the trip. He was the only married one of the group, and had needed to hug his wife. To reassure him that somewhere the inhumanity he worked around daily was balanced by the one woman who kept him tethered to his softer side. She was the picture he carried, the reason he fought, and the person he wanted to come home to while Jett and Ryker preferred to remain busy. Bryce had been fortunate to have that same type of connection with Darby, and it was something that had deeply bonded them together. He couldn’t even imagine what Darby was going through, and was grateful that it wasn’t his beloved Sarah having to experience such loss.

Sarah tightly squeezed his hand as he put the vehicle in park, pulling him out of his reverie. The farm was exactly as Bryce had described it, complete with a picturesque lovely old farmhouse and well organized gardens. He looked around and saw the horses Bryce had been so proud of, contentedly grazing in deep green fields. He inhaled deeply and took it all in.

“It’s going to be okay,” Sarah said. “I know I would have wanted to see one of your friends, and know what happened if it was me. Besides, I’ve never been to this particular amusement park, it should be fun,” she smiled at him.

He loved that she truly understood, and that she kept him grounded. Whenever he came back from a difficult mission, she was patient while he took the time to decompress. Sarah had been his high school sweetheart, just as Bryce had been Darby’s. He looked at his wife, and couldn’t fathom how hard it must be for Darby to go on, knowing that Bryce was never coming home. Military spouses, girlfriends, and the like were a special breed. Strong and secure in their ability to carry the weight when the other partner took on serving a higher calling. He was fortunate to have one of the good ones right beside him. Something he wished for Jett and Ryker, who struggled to overcome and process while surrounded only by military bad boys.

Darby was walking in their direction. He would recognize her anywhere from the pictures Bryce had repeatedly shown them. She had written nearly every other day when they were deployed, sent little care packages to be shared with the group, and served as Bryce’s strong anchor to life in the States. More than once, he had found Bryce rereading letters from Darby in the dark of night after something had gotten particularly dicey during one of their maneuvers.

He slowly exited the vehicle, gripping the packet of letters. He looked at the still unopened one on top, remembering the agreement he had made with Bryce. The contents of that last private letter were completely unknown. He blinked back tears that threatened as Darby finished her trek to him. Standing a few feet apart, she sized him up.

“Yes ma’am. I’m Lane Grettner and this is my wife Sarah,” he indicated Sarah still sitting in the car. She slowly exited, as if unsure what to do.

“Lane?” Darby looked confused, and when her eyes alighted on the letters she rapidly returned her gaze to his face. Her eyes were glistening. “Those are my Bryce’s.”

“Yes ma’am. I was asked by him to do him a solid and return them to you, and this one,” he pulled the fresh sealed letter from the top and extended it to her, “was mine to deliver personally. I am so sorry for your loss.” His own tears were making his voice hoarse, and he cleared his throat to gain control. “He was a brother in arms and I miss him every day.”

She opened her arms, and he stepped forward. “I miss him so much. Thank you,” she said as her arms encircled him.

After a moment, she stepped back and stared down at the envelope. “Do you know what it says? The front says to read it out loud with you.”

“Yes ma’am. I don’t know what it says, but he did make me promise a special outing. I’m sure he explains it.”

She looked at Sarah and gave a teary smile. Finally returning to the letter, she inhaled sharply and slid her finger through the seal. Pulling the paper slowly out, and unfolding the single sheet.

A fresh round of tears spilled over as she saw the familiar scrawl. In a soft voice, she began to read:

If you are reading this, it means that something went wrong. Please don’t focus on that, or let it define you. I loved you enough for an entire lifetime, and will forever be grateful to you for the childhood, dreams, and goals we shared. I need you to promise this will only be a single chapter in a life fully lived, as you promised me that night before I left. In order to force you forward to that future, I’ve made Lane promise to visit you. It has been six months since I went home to the Lord, so it is time.

I know you well enough to believe that you are throwing yourself into work at growing the farm and probably haven’t done a fun thing since you got word I was gone. I’m going to request that you get your mom and dad to watch the farm for a day, and take a road trip. I asked Lane to ensure that you go have some fun. You and Lane can swap stories about me. Sarah his beautiful bride and you have a lot in common, so I think you will certainly find something to gab about. Make this a dying wish of mine.

Adventure Land was something we always talked about—taking a day road trip to see, and riding every roller coaster. Sweetheart, take that road trip with Lane and Sarah.

I love you and will always watch over you....go have fun you three!

Love, Bryce

She sat staring at the letter for so long, Lane turned to Sarah who held up her hands in a gesture to indicate patience. When Darby did look up again, she threw herself at him, hugging him so tight that he was short of breath.

Darby took the last batch of hot moist cookies out of the oven. She slid them onto the cooling rack before she finished prepping the turkey and popped it in the hot oven. Looking around, she couldn’t see anything else that needed to be done this early in the morning. Taking the cup of hot cocoa she had prepared minutes ago, she walked the few paces to the dining room and sat down. Staring at the notebook in front of her, she allowed her mind to wander.

It was going to be her first Christmas since Bryce died. He had not been home the previous year, but his stocking had been hung in the same spot as each previous year, and presents had been left for him under the tree. They had been expecting him to make a visit home in June for the wedding, and his presents would have been waiting. Instead, in June, she had taken that day trip to Adventure Land with Lane and Sarah. She had to smile as she thought of that day. She kept one of those funny roller coaster cheesy framed pictures by her bedside. It had been the turning point out of her grief, and a gift from Bryce in the making.

This holiday was all about family and tradition, and she knew that he would truly be with them all in their hearts. Both of his parents would be here, celebrating with her family as they had for the last twenty years. His younger sister Clementine appeared to be having the hardest time of all of them letting go of her hero, but just the other day had excitedly talked to Darby about everything Christmas Bryce had