Chapter 5 - The Sea of Gold and Bronze
The procession didn't stop at the back. They kept walking, filling the side aisles, the back rows, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder along the perimeter of the chapel until more than two hundred battle-hardened Navy SEALs and defense leaders had effectively surrounded the wedding party.
Melissa stopped dead in her tracks at the altar, her jaw dropping open as she stared at the sea of veterans who had suddenly materialized out of nowhere.
My father gripped the edge of the front pew so hard his knuckles turned ghostly white, his chest heaving as he looked back at me in total incomprehension.
Jack Hayes halted right beside my row, turned sharply toward the front of the chapel, and fixed his eyes not on the bride, not on the groom, but directly on me.
May you like
Before the stunned minister could utter a single syllable, Jack’s deep, parade-ground voice cut through the cavernous silence of the chapel with the force of a thunderclap.
“Admiral on Deck!”
