Page 30 of Life After Levi

“Hey, Daddy,” I murmur with my head tucked into his shoulder. When another set of arms goes around me, I know it’s my mom and say, “Hey, Mama.”

“How’s my girl?” she asks.

“Tired,” I admit. “It was a busy shift.”

“Someone must have said the ‘Q’ word,” she surmises, giggling. She’s retired now, but she used to be a nurse at the hospital, so she understands the superstitions.

“The new probie, Doug,” I reply. “Trust me, Captain Irwin was still schooling him when I left this morning.”

That elicits chuckles as I finally turn to see the three newcomers, who are all beaming at me. “Hey,” I say. “I’m Emerie.”

Damien stands and walks over to me, pulling me in for a hug and a quick kiss. “I’d like to introduce you to my parents and my sister,” he says. “Mom, Dad, this is Emerie. Em, these are my parents, Don and Louise Strong, and my sister, Dena.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of y’all,” I say, walking over to shake his parents’ hands. Instead, I’m pulled into more hugs, which leaves me slightly perplexed since I don’t know these people outside of what Damien has shared. Still, I reciprocate since my daughter is watching me and she’s a little sponge, copying everything I do these days.

When I turn, I see Damien on one knee, a box opened up. “Damien?”

“Emerie, when I first came to Possum Creek, it was to fulfill a promise to my best friend by making sure the things he had for his family as well as you were finally brought home. I never expected to fall in love with you or Levinia, or his family. Yet, I did, and I believe this was all part of Levi’s plan.”

A few weeks back, I found something in the second notebook that was written to Damien, so I handed it over. Despite my curiosity, I didn’t ask what it said and now I suspect I know. Levi probably gave Damien his blessing to pursue something with me should anything ever happen to him, and if he was attracted to me.

By now I’m shaking, and tears are slowly slipping down my cheek as he continues. “But I love you and Levinia with every fiber of my being. Will you marry me?”

I don’t have to think twice; Levi was my past, but Damien is my future. “Yes!” I exclaim.

Vinnie claps her hands and says, “I kept the secret, Memaw!”

“You sure did, child,” Miriam replies. “Now, I think, since we’re all here, there’s no sense in waiting. What say we make an appointment down at the courthouse with the Justice of the Peace? We’ll get both of you pretty dresses, and then we can come back here and have a small reception.”

“What do you say, Emerie?” Damien asks as he slips the prettiest engagement ring on my finger.

“I say absolutely!” I reply, jumping into his arms with such force that he takes a step back.

Closing my eyes as I nestle into his arms, I send up a silent thanks to the man who sacrificed himself for our country.Thank you, Levi. For loving me, giving us your blessing, and making sure I’d always have the love and protection of your best friend, my world.

Epilogue

Emerie - Five Years Later

“Be careful, sweetie,”I say to Levinia as we walk along the pathway through the cemetery to the military section where the man who changed both of our worlds forever rests. While Levi could’ve been buried in a national cemetery, Miriam and Dale wanted him home in Possum Creek so they could visit him as often as they were able. Still, he has a beautiful headstone with the picture of him in his uniform embossed in the center, along with the Navy insignia, and beloved son, brother, and father engraved on the bottom below his dashes.

“I am, Mama!” she exclaims, skipping along. “I want Daddy to meet my bubba!”

My tears well up and spill over as I feel his arm wrap around my waist, while his other carries our one-week-old son, Levi.

When we arrive at Levi’s headstone, I watch as Levinia places the bouquet of flowers in the vase at the base. We’ve visited often over the years, as have my parents and his, so she knows how to remove the old ones and put the new ones in by now. Damien reaches over and places a quarter on the top, right next to the line of quarters he’s left before. Honoring his best friend and brother.

Damien clears his throat and says, “Hey, man, sure do miss the fu-fudge out of you. Want to introduce you to our son, your namesake, Levi Jonathan Strong. We’re going to call him LJ.”

“I’m a big sissy now, Daddy,” Levinia chimes in, causing Damien to chuckle as I swipe at my eyes. “Papa Damien says he looks like you did when you were a baby. Memaw showed him pictures!”

“He’s the spitting image of you, man, but then again, you and I always favored one another too, so that’s probably why,” my husband says.

“Daddy, can Papa Damien adopt me? I would still have your last name too, but I would hyphen it.”

“Hyphenate, Levinia,” I add.

“Yeah, what Mama said,” she says with a slight roll of her eyes. “That way, Little Levi and I can have the same last name. I’m going to protect him like you did Mama when she was little. I know I’m just a girl, but Pappy and Papa Damien said I’m strong like you were, so I can do it!” she exclaims.

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