Wet behind the ears but full of bravado, both Clay and Daniel had enlisted to be all they could be. Hope filled Clay despite the perilous situation.Ĭlay had joined the Army straight out of high school and met Daniel at Fort Benning, Georgia. His very name was like a prayer, a call home. Unsure if he believed in God, miracles, happily-ever-afters, or any of that bullshit in storybooks, Clay sent a last-ditch prayer heavenward. He’d survived the Gulf War, cancer, addiction, and the death of pretty much everyone he’d ever loved. Stuck in a snowbank on a backwoods country road in the middle of a damn blizzard would not be how this soldier went down. It’d been a fool’s mission, a reckless, impulsive decision.Īnd apparently one that would end his life.Ĭlay pursed his cold lips together, his breath already frosting in front of his face.
“What were you thinking, coming out to the boonies at this hour?” he asked himself. Clay cursed and slammed his fists on the steering wheel, sending a sharp pain up his elbows. Outside his Chevy Malibu, white swirls of snow whisked across open farm fields, making visibility impossible. That’s what Clay Fisher got for being an idiot. Despite a lifetime of disappointing holidays, Clay hopes that this soldier is finally coming home for Christmas. The weight of past wounds and the scars of war might make their reunion awkward, but Clay is willing to take the risk to win back his lost love. All hope of seeing Daniel is lost-until a mysterious old man named Nick offers Clay a ride. But a blizzard strikes and Clay wrecks his car.
Impulsively, he sets out for Daniel’s hometown of Gilead, Ohio-where Daniel is now the mayor-to surprise him with a visit. Twenty-five years later, they’ve reconnected on Facebook, and Clay finds out Daniel will be alone on Christmas Eve. After Clay’s convoy was ambushed, PTSD changed him, and their relationship ended in a horrible fight on Christmas Eve.
Clay and Daniel fell in love as enlisted men during Desert Shield, but Don’t Ask Don’t Tell meant they had to keep it secret.
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