We made it home in fifteen minutes. Delaney jumped out of the car and raced inside. We were slower, holding hands as we made our way down the hallway. She came back with a black sharpie. “Mommy said we had to wait until you were here.”

“So she did,” Grayson said, taking her hand and letting her tug him around the corner to the pantry door.

He opened it and waited for her to slip off her little ballet flats. He tickled her toes, and Delaney’s laughter echoed through our home. Then he leaned her up against the door and marked a line over her head, and dated it.

“Whoa! You grew a ton while I was gone!” he exclaimed, swinging her into his arms. “What have you been eating?”

“A lot of tacos,” she said with a very serious face that looked way too much like her father’s. “Can you cook tomorrow?” she whispered very loudly.

“Hey!” I joked. “It’s time for you to get to bed, young lady.”

“Can Daddy take me?”

I nodded, and Grayson kissed my cheek before running up the steps with our daughter. She was a perfect balance of us both, with Grayson’s reflexes, my sarcasm, and a stubbornness that rivaled us both.

I turned back to the door and smiled as I heard them giggle upstairs in her room. The door had come with us to Fort Rucker, then for a stint at Fort Bragg, and now was hanging again here at home in Colorado. On it were etched the tiny lines of Delaney’s life, and our story.

Grayson’s arms wrapped around me, and I jumped. “That was quick.”

He shook his head. “You’ve been zoned out for about ten minutes. Where are you?”

I turned in his arms. “Here. With you.”

“Good, because I need you.” He swept me into his arms and carried me up the stairs to our bedroom. We waited until the door was closed and locked before our clothes hit the ground.

I damn near shredded his uniform to get him out of it, and I know I heard more than a few rips in the fabric of my dress as he took it off.

His body was even more cut, defined, and my mouth watered. “You look amazing.” I sighed, running my fingertips along his abs.

“I pretty much worked out every time I wanted to jump my wife through the webcam. Hence, I worked out a lot. You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever put eyes on, Samantha Masters.”

He picked me up, and words were forgotten in a flurry of hands, mouths, moans, and sighs. When we were finished, we got in the shower, and then started again. After we’d worn ourselves to the bone, and the sun began to warm the sky, I snuggled into his side. “Welcome home, baby.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m so damn glad to be here.”

I smiled and let my eyes drift shut for the hour or two of sleep we could manage before Delaney knocked on the door, content for the first time since he’d left nine months ago.

And though he’d been the one halfway around the world, in his arms I felt like I’d finally come home, too.