I picked it up and saw a new message alert from Kendra.

She’d sent a photo of a square cardboard box on our kitchen counter back in Texas.

It was wrapped in heavy packing tape and green military shipping labels.

A second message came in right after the picture loaded.

“I kept every letter you sent me from deployment, David.

I count the days.”

She’d added three heart emojis and a long paragraph about our coming eighth anniversary.

It read like a script for the perfect military marriage.