With the sun on her face she catches a breeze from the east in her hair, sweet with the smell of the sea.
Toes in the sand, she notices a figure
moving toward her from a distance.

Who could it be?
No one knows she is here.
This is her own private spot
to escape with her thoughts.
This time she came to mend her broken heart.
She truly wanted to be alone.
Like it or not here was this figure, a man
intruding on her moment of grief.

The sun tucks itself behind the clouds.
She sees more clearly now the outline
of the approaching mans face.
The outline is one that she recognizes, but how can it be?

She recalls the words she heard
that cold February day, so clearly
it’s as if she is hearing them for the first time.
“We searched the rubble for three days”
his best friend and fellow Marine had said.
“There is no way he made it out alive.”

Had she cried herself to sleep?
She thinks to herself, I can’t be dreaming.
But if I am I don’t care.
She stands, tears rolling down her face,
vision blurry, she runs to the figure on the horizon.

As she reaches him
a look of confusion takes over her face.
About to speak, he places his soft fingers over her mouth
and says “No questions now
my dearest love, just know that I am here
and will never leave you again.”