Jack looks at the three blue stars.

He remembers the night before his first departure.

Baby Lily had been lying in her crib, unable to sleep.

He had touched her blanket three times and whispered a promise.

JACK: "One for Mommy. One for Daddy. One for Lily. Three stars, always together."

Years later, Sarah had turned those words into a bedtime ritual.

Jack looks at the drawing.

JACK: "Who taught you to draw those stars, pumpkin?"

LILY: "My daddy did."

JACK: "What do they mean?"

Lily raises three fingers.

LILY: "Mommy. Daddy. Me."

Jack takes a shaky breath.

He taps the bench three times with his left hand.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

JACK: "Three stars."

Lily looks up sharply.

LILY: "How do you know that?"

Jack smiles.

JACK: "Because I said it to you when you were a baby."

Lily's expression changes.

For one brief second, curiosity replaces fear.

But then she shakes her head.

LILY: "Mommy could have told you."

Jack's smile fades, though he nods.

JACK: "You're right. She could have."

He doesn't argue.

Instead, he takes a small blue notebook from his uniform pocket.

On its cover are three hand-drawn stars.

JACK: "I've carried these with me for five years."

Lily leans forward.

LILY: "What's inside?"

Jack opens the notebook.

Every page contains a date and a short message.

Lily's first birthday.

Lily's first day of preschool.

Lily learned to ride her bicycle.

Jack never witnessed those moments, but Sarah had written to him about them.

And beneath every entry, Jack had written:

One day, I'll tell you how proud I was.

CHAPTER END HOOK: Lily finds an envelope tucked inside the notebook, labeled in Jack's handwriting:

"For Lily — When I Finally Come Home."