Page 98 of Buck & Mari

Junior got up, going from a cross-legged posture on the blanket, to his hands and feet, and finally upright.

Reiko handed him his little ghost-like figure, and he toddled over to his mother, the white fabric covered ball with its two dotted eyes and a somewhat crooked smile.

He watched as Donna hugged her son and listened as he told her all about how he’d made it and once he had a reassurance that they’d hang it up from the eaves of their house, the child happily laid down as the music changed to a new song.

Buck reached a hand up and rubbed it over her back, enjoying her soft sigh that reached his ears. Time with Mari was never misspent.

Never boring.

Even when the moment could be considered mundane, it made him feel like he was in the right place.

With the right person.

He knew that either way, whatever decision he made about the military, he wanted her in his life.

Sitting up, he moved so he was hip to hip with her on the grass, feeling it under his hands.

He heard the music in the air, the soft flutter of leaves over their heads and the soft, murmured conversations of friends.

Buck looked at Mari and saw the way her eyes widened just a hint and her lips parted for a breath.

He smiled at her and leaned in until he was just a few inches away from her.

“I love you.” His voice was rough. His head lighter than it should be and his heart stuttering in his chest. “I’m not trying to scare you,” he pulled in a shaking breath, “but I love you.”

Mari reached up a hand and cupped the back of his neck, her fingers brushing against the close-cut hairs at the top of his neck. “I am a little scared,” she admitted, “but not of you. When I met you,” she drew in a breath, her shoulders raising, “my whole life changed. From here, I don’t care if it keeps changing or if we settle into normal. I just know that I want you with me.”

Buck wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her gently against his side.

Mari leaned in closer and brushed her lips against the soft shell of his ear. “I love you, too.”

Buck closed his eyes and held her as his heart beat steadily in his chest.

A distant rumble of thunder out at sea turned his head. He swore he felt the sound deep in his gut, an unsettling feeling that told him he shouldn’t be too complacent.

After all, the Osprey they’d flown in that night seemed just fine…

Until it wasn’t.

He made a conscious effort to push those thoughts out of his head. He didn’t want to sink back into his dark thoughts.

Not when he had Mari in his arms.

TWELVE

BUCK

He had a plan.

He’d already scheduled a meeting with Pallas to go over his decision next week. While Pallas hadn’t asked him what his decision was, Buck heard the disappointment in the other man’s voice on the phone.

But every time he tried to say the words out loud, he couldn’t quite get them out.

It was hard to admit that he wanted to walk away from the life he’d built for himself over the years.

He just didn’t have the heart to do it anymore.

He wanted to make the most of his life from that point on.