We’ve been a family of three ever since. A widow, a widower, and a little boy with his father’s ears.
Caleb goes to Hampton Roads Preparatory Academy.
It’s a private school in Virginia Beach. Brick buildings and white columns and green lawns that somebody mows every Tuesday. Navy blue blazers with a gold crest. Classes of fifteen kids.
We could never have afforded it.
But the academy has a scholarship. The Gold Star Fund. For the children of service members killed
in the line of duty. Full tuition, kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Caleb got it when he was five. Jess cried for a week.
Every spring, the academy hosts a Father-Son Breakfast.
It’s a big event. Fathers in tailored suits. Sons in their navy blazers. Round tables with white
tablecloths in the gymnasium. A guest speaker. Photographs on the front lawn afterward, under the big magnolia tree.
