Defend

“Where’s Gregory?”

“Still asleep,” Logan answers.

I step into their room and walk over to where his bed hangs from the ceiling. He has one eye open. “You don’t want to come outside and see the icebergs and whatever else we might see?”

“Depends.”

“On what?” I ask.

“What did Jamie tell you about our conversation?”

I wait to answer because Logan steps inside to grab his and Kayla’s hoodies. “She said she promised secrecy and y’all talked about what happened yesterday. She said I should trust you’ll make good decisions and if I want to know more about why you’re upset, I needed to talk to you. That’s it. She wouldn’t tell me more and I even got mad with her.”

Gregory smiles. “I’ll come outside.” He starts to climb down the ladder at the foot of the bed.

“Are you going to tell me what y’all talked about?”

“Maybe, but not right now.” He finds his hoodie and I follow him outside. It is a bit chilly, partly due to the wind. Gregory goes over to Jamie and hugs her quickly.

“What was that for?” she asks as I come to stand next to her.

“You kept your promise.”

Jamie smiles. “I wasn’t even tempted to tell.”

There are a lot of folks out on their balconies this morning. We see various sized icebergs as we slowly travel through the water. There are a few waterfalls among the trees on the mountains across from us, which are beautiful. Some of the pieces of ice are a pretty blue color. Clouds hang low, just feet above the water near the mountains, making the view that much more awe-inspiring.

“I could use some hot chocolate right about now,” Jamie says with a yawn.

“Drink in the beauty instead,” I tease.

She rolls her eyes. “It is relaxing and beautiful.”

Soon, we get to a point where the ship can’t go any further and it has to turn around. We hear some commentary about the area as well. Afterward, we get ready for our day, eat, and before long, we’re at our next port: Juneau.

Our primary destination is the Mendenhall Glacier. We ride on a bus that’s taking us there now. Jamie grabs my arm hard and points out the window. “Look!”

On one of the light poles, a bald eagle rests.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen one in person before.” Even though I only got a glimpse and it wasn’t that close, it’s amazing how they still look majestic.

Jamie twists in her seat to tell Kayla, Logan, and Gregory to be on the lookout for more. We end up seeing three more. It blows my mind every time. Before we’re let off the bus, we’re told about how we’ll get picked up. We get off and then walk around a little bit before going into the visitor’s center. There are things to read and look at and a short video to watch. Once we’ve done that, we head down to get a better view of the glacier that has been retreating for a long time now.

It looks wedged between two mountains, almost like a huge river rushing down, but frozen in place. Parts of it look blue, parts look as if there’s dirt along the crevices. It would be more beautiful if I didn’t have two kids and a jackass taking turns talking about how cold it is and how much bite the wind has. Jamie is silent, but I know she’s cold too. She’s huddled against me, her arms around me, and her hands in my back pockets. It is cold, definitely doesn’t feel like the forecasted sixty degrees, but there’s no need to complain about it. I’m not that cold because I wore an extra layer of clothing, and I tried to get them to do the same. They didn’t listen to me.

After Kayla gets plenty of pictures, we walk along a trail that will bring us closer to a nearby waterfall. That warms them up, thankfully. Nugget Falls is even more beautiful up close.

“Brent?”

I glance down at Jamie. “Yeah?”

“We can’t come here, see something this pretty, and you not kiss me.” Her hands are already reaching up to tangle in my hair.

Our mouths meet in the middle with the sound of water rushing down into the lake behind us. Maybe if I kiss her hard enough and with all the feelings I have, she’ll realize it’s a fantastic decision to move in with me now rather than later. I’m confident about this; I’d like her to be as well.

“That’s the kind of kiss I was talking about,” she whispers.

“Anything you want, you get.” Reluctantly, I remove my arms from her waist. “We should probably head back.” The kids seem ready, too.