“I have to go,” Peter said quietly, avoiding her gaze.
“I know,” she whispered. Cora couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She didn’t know when she’d see him again, or even if she’d ever see him again. Cora lifted her eyes to his face, her eyes tracing every feature of his body, trying to commit them to memory. She mentally engraved his crooked nose, his perfectly shaped lips, his chocolate brown eyes, and his freckled cheeks.
“You know I’ll be home soon, and I can call you almost every day,” Peter trailed off, afraid that if he kept going he might lose it. He knew that he couldn’t do that in front of Cora, she wouldn’t be able to be strong if he couldn’t.
“Peter, I don’t think I can handle it here without you. It’s so close to the time…” Cora couldn’t finish her sentence. Peter gently touched her stomach, where his first child was resting away. The thought of missing the birth of his first child almost killed him, but the badge on his chest and the boots on his feet were his job, and his passion.
“You have to be strong, we have to be strong. I’ll be home before you know it. I know exactly what I’m doing and I’ll do everything I have to just to get home to you.”
Cora closed her eyes, holding back the waterfall of tears she knew was coming. He had dedicated himself to the Army before they’d ever met. His roughness and proud job had been something that had originally attracted her to him, but now the thought of him leaving her for the first time was the scariest thought she’d ever had.
“I have to get going. I’ll call you as soon as we land in Texas and before we leave for Iraq.”
Just the mention of his destination made her shiver. She buried her face into his strong chest, and wrapped her arms around him. His arms held her for what seemed like a second, but in reality a much longer embrace. It took all of her strength to let him go off into the tunnel, and onto the plane.
“I love you, Cora,” Peter said with nothing but truth in his voice.
“I love you too, Peter.”
And before she knew it, he was gone, her last words to him circling in her mind, still fresh on her lips. It was there last goodbye.
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