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“I can’t exactly argue with that, now can I?” I muttered, stroking my finger down the sleeve of his dress blues. “Especially not when it’s been so long since I’ve seen you in uniform.”
The rules that covered when veterans could wear their uniforms were specific, and it was one of the things I’d missed most when Deacon retired from the Navy. As sexy as he was in a cowboy hat, jeans, and a sweaty shirt when he was working at the ranch, he was even more so in his dress uniform. Which he darn well knew. “You can take your time stripping me out of it later.”
“Mm-hmm,” I hummed, squeezing his hand as the divisions started to march onto the drill deck. I scanned the faces, searching for my son in the crowd. I’d brought a pair of binoculars but didn’t need to use them since Deacon had somehow secured us a front row seat even though we hadn’t been the first to arrive. Being a retired Navy SEAL had its perks.
He spotted Sage first. “There’s our boy, the first sailor in the middle row.”
“He looks so different in uniform. All grown up.” Tears welled in my eyes as I pressed trembling fingers to my lips.
Deacon gave me a squeeze before stroking his fingers down the back of my neck to help soothe me. “Looks like he’s even more toned than when he left. He must’ve taken my advice about squeezing in extra workouts to heart. His PST score is the first impression he’s gonna make in the pipeline.”
I tilted my head back to smile up at him. “I’m sure he did. You’re the reason he aced the physical screening test and got his package with the SEAL challenge contract. You had him in tip-top shape before he shipped off.”
“No, baby. That was all Sage.” He shook his head as he beamed a proud smile at our son. “He’s the one who did all the hard work.”
Remembering all the running, swimming, and workouts Sage had done during the recruitment process, I nodded. “And it paid off for him.”
“Damn straight.”
I’d been to plenty of military events over the years, but this one hit me harder than ever before. I was proud of the sacrifices my husband had made to keep our country safe, but knowing that my son was going to do the same was bittersweet because I knew the challenges he was going to face in the years to come. But knowing how much this meant to Sage made me so happy for him, too.
I took about a million pictures, and texted several to Prue. She’d been disappointed about not being able to attend and had begged me to send as many as possible. Since there were twelve divisions graduating, Sage had only been able to get three tickets and she hadn’t wanted to fly out without Kohen since his paid leave was limited.
When the graduation ceremony concluded about an hour later, I jumped to my feet. “C’mon, I want to find Sage.”
“It’s better if we wait here.” He tugged me onto his lap. “Our boy knows where to find us.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “But I’m not waiting for long.”
“So impatient,” he teased, stroking his thumb against my thigh.
Luckily, about five minutes later, Sage came striding toward us. Leaping off Deacon’s lap, I threw my arms around my son’s muscular body. “I’m so proud of you, sweetie.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Lifting me off my feet, he twirled me around, laughing when his dad growled. After he set me back down and brushed a kiss against my cheek, he beamed a smile at Deacon. “I did it, Dad. Busted ass and got my PST score all the way down to 620. I’m gonna earn my Budweiser, just like you did.”
“I know you are.” My husband wrapped his hand around Sage’s neck and pulled him in for a hug. “I never doubted you for even a second, son.”
