Icicles hung from the branches of bare trees like long, slender ribbons of glass. They sparkled in the sunlight, catching its rays and scattering them into hundreds of little rainbows on the snow-covered ground. Though the air was chilly, the sun was just warm enough that some of the ice had begun to melt.

Gibbs stood, silent as one of the trees himself, half-hidden in the shadows as he stared at the tombstones in the small graveyard a few feet from where he stood.

A few feet a few feet and a few too many years lie between himself and the people buried there.

iThe little boy looked around at the wintery world, casting his eyes here and there as if trying to take it all into his mind and hold it there for all times.

"Leroy, be still," said the young girl beside him, dressed in a heavy winter dress and a . of dark black. "Here," she told him. "Take my hand."

He took it, squeezing her gloved hand tightly with his bare one, thankful for the warmth in her woolen gloves. His fingers were freezing.

"You'll live with us now," the girl - Katie Ann - said with a nod of her head. "Now that Aunt Mellie is dead, you'll live with us. Momma won't let them take you away, you know." She smiled down at him. "You will be my brother, Leroy. Wouldn't you like that?"

He nodded his head in the affirmative, trying his best to ignore the hot tear sliding down his cold cheeks. Her Aunt Mellie was the only mother he had ever known and now she was gone. He barely knew her sister or these cousins who huddled around the graveyard in their black cloaks. Silently, he nodded his head again. It seemed to appease her and she said nothing more to them as they stood there in the snow. /i

It had been a life time since those days, and Gibbs was no longer the scared little boy who had clung to Katie Ann's hand for dear life. Neither was he the fresh-faced boy who'd joined the army just so he could please his adopted father. Nor, also, was he the man who had been called back into duty during the War of 1812. Childless and now wifeless, he had kissed his sister and aging mother on the cheek and promised to make it home all right.

That was over a hundred years ago, and now, another war was calling. The Great War in Europe was escalating and an old soldier like himself knew that it was only a matter of time before President Wilson did something about it. And when he did, Gibbs would go. He had never seen what was on the other side of the pond, but if his nation went to war, he most assuredly would.

Gibbs had never gone into battle without saying good-bye to his family. That was why he was here, now, standing in the cold amid the trees. The family cemetery was still there, although the land had long since passed from his adopted family's hands and belonged to someone else. It had been years, he noted, since the graves had been tended with any kind of care. Brush and small trees grew around the stone markers, but they were not so far in disrepair that he could not find Katie's, Momma's and even Mellie's almost immediately.

Between Katie Ann's and Mellie's, another marker had been set up, bearing the name of one who had never really died.

bLeroy Gibbs/b

Beneath the name was the simple inscription: iHave not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest./i

There were no dates, a testament to the fact that Momma and Katie Ann had held onto the hope that he would return someday, like he had promised.

At last, the promise had been fulfilled.