Page 12 of The Gunnery Sergeant's Ready-Made Family

“I think it sounds amazing, let me know if you need any help, okay?”

“Actually, I was hoping you would say that,” she grinned up at him. “I was hoping to get the vegetable garden sorted out this week, I was thinking of raised garden beds along the fence line, four or six. If I picked up the supplies, would you be able to build them for me please, building is not really my forte.”

“I know,” Chase chuckled, “I remember the tool you made when you were fifteen.”

“And yet I still passed shop class, I think my teacher just wanted to be rid of me.”

“I’ll tell you what, once Ranger and I finish the shed we’ll go grab the supplies needed, if not today, tomorrow.”

As it happened, Chase and Ranger finished the shed before lunch, and the four of them went together to pick out the supplies that Stevie needed for her gardening projects. Chase enjoyed seeing her so happy, he thought her ideas for the garden sounded great, he only hoped that everything grew as she expected them to. Loaded up with her purchases, Stevie refused to allow him to pay, although she did allow him to carry everything out to the truck for her, which Chase was more than happy to do. Chase spent the afternoon building the raised garden beds Stevie had asked for, while Ranger played in his cubby house and Stevie held fast to Finn’s hands as he tested out the feeling of standing upright, wobbling back and forth, not quite ready to do it alone. Chase smiled as he worked, listening to Stevie’s voice telling Finn about everything that they were going to grow in their little garden, about all of the wonderful foods they would be able to cook with the produce, about how lucky they all were that God had blessed them with each other and this house. Chase couldn’t have agreed more.

The first day of Chase’s new job had gone better than even he could have hoped. He had been worried that some of the younger recruits wouldn’t listen to him or wouldn’t take him seriously, especially considering that he had had no formal teaching qualifications, only the Army certified courses, but in the end, he needn’t have worried, the recruits had all listened, enraptured, as Chase had explained just what could go wrong if they didn’t learn these necessary skills for survival. Chase was conflicted about scaring the recruits in case they chose a different speciality, but the Army needed the best-trained snipers, and it was better to weed them out now than to suffer losses later on. When Chase arrived home it was to be greeted by Ranger, flinging himself into his arms, desperate to tell Chase everything that had happened at home while he had been at work. It was nice, to feel missed, and wanted, and Chase held Ranger close and listened until Ranger had told him everything that he thought Chase needed to know, only then turning his attention to Stevie.

“Your day sounds exhausting.”

“I guess it was,” she laughed, “now tell me about yours, did everything go okay?”

Chase had confided in Stevie last night, telling her all of his fears, and was touched that she remembered. He sat at the kitchen table as she cooked dinner, and told her about his class, about his pupils, the hopes they had, the responsibility he felt towards them all, to train them correctly, to keep them alive, to bring them home to their families. It was nice to have someone to talk to, to confide things in, to share his world with.

Chase smiled as he drifted off to sleep, the memory of another day spent in the company of Stevie and the boys fresh in his mind. His last conscious thought was that this is what it felt like to be happy, content, and loved.

The sun was so bright it hurt, Chase’s eyes squinting in protest. He wondered when he would be free of this endless dust and heat. He had another three months of this deployment left, and then who knew where he would be sent, maybe they would keep him here, they did that sometimes, particularly if a mission was going well. He sighed as he scanned the horizon, seeing nothing. Where were they? They had to be around here somewhere, their intel was good, Chase knew that. Chase gave the order for the men to stop. Water bottles came out, faces were cooled down, and maps were checked. Chase leaned against his backpack and stretched his legs out in front of him, wriggling his toes inside his boot.

“What I wouldn’t give for a nice, long, hot bubble bath,” he sighed. “When I get home, that will be the first thing I do.”

“The first thing I’m going to do is tell my girl that I love her,” his youngest platoon member said wistfully. It had been a hard tour on his relationship. The comment sparked an impromptu round robin of answers, each of the men admitting what the first thing they were going to do when they got home was.

The answers were surprising to Chase. There were a few who longed for the chance to repair their relationships with loved ones, something Chase saw on each tour. Others wanted to eat a particular food, see the sun set over the ocean, go on an exotic holiday, or learn how to juggle. Chase wasn’t entirely sure the last answer was genuine.

“I want to build a cubby house for my sons.” Kyle’s answer was just what Chase expected him to say, devoted as he was to his kids.

“How are they?” Chase asked quietly.

“They’re fine, Stevie has them, I just wish...” Kyle didn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t have to, Chase knew how he felt, how hard it was for him. He was lucky he had Stevie, although Chase didn’t tell him how lucky, as close as Chase and Kyle were, Chase didn’t think that Kyle would appreciate knowing he was crushing on his sister and had for years. Besides, nothing would ever come of it, Chase was certain, Stevie deserved a life better than the one he could offer her, no matter how he felt, even if she had felt the same way, which she didn’t.

Break over, they fell into line again, Kyle offering to take the lead while Chase brought up the rear. If they didn’t find their target soon, they would head back to base and get fresh intel tomorrow. Chase agreed, he knew a pair of fresh eyes were better than his weary ones, no matter how well trained. They had been walking for less than twenty minutes when the shout to take cover came, the sound of a bullet whistling through the air. Men scrambled around him, seeking whatever cover they could, setting up their weapons, taking their shots. Chase shouted orders throughout the chaos, never letting up. He saw a pair of boots in the dirt, the body face down.

“Cover me!” Chase ordered, crawling over and dragging the body back to the relative safety of the cover his men had secured. With a heave, he flipped the body over, staring down into the face of his best friend, his brother, Kyle, his blood on Chase’s hands.

Chapter Nine

“Morning,” Stevie heard Chase speak from the doorway of the kitchen, pasting a smile on her face before turning around to answer him.

“Morning, sleep well?” She couldn’t help adding the extra question on at the end, curious as to what he would say.

“Mmhmm, not bad, you?” Chase helped himself to a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a coffee from the pot, before coming to join her at the kitchen table, watching as she measured out and mixed the ingredients needed to make a batch of pancakes.

“Pancakes?” There was the hint of a smile in Chase’s voice.

“Ranger loves them, I thought it would be nice.” Stevie sighed. “I slept fine,” she steered the conversation back to the original topic, “a bit disjointed, but fine.”

“Did Finn wake you again?”

“No, thankfully. If he is teething, he must be over the worst of it.” Stevie set aside her pancake batter and looked straight at Chase.

“Chase, I heard you last night, you were screaming out, calling for Kyle, it sounded as if you were having a nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?” Stevie decided to just come right out and say it, there was no point in being vague.

“It’s nothing, really, I can barely remember it.” Chase brushed her off, not even looking at her as he answered.

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