When Ethan pulled back at last, he kept his hands on my shoulders, gripping them hard, and his own eyes were bloodshot and wet as they moved over my face — searching it, I understood later, for the little brother he had left behind, and finding instead someone older than he had expected.

“Look at you,” he said, and a tired, amazed laugh came up out of him.

“You actually did it.

Top of your class, just like Mom always said you would.” His voice caught on the word Mom, and he pushed through it.

“How — how are you even here?” I wiped my face with the sleeve of my gown, my mind scrambling to make it make sense.

“Your deployment doesn’t end until December.