Tom Sileo (31 page)

As they held hands, Amy saw the bracelet bearing Travis's name, which Brendan hadn't taken off since it was given to him by Travis's mom in October 2007.

There were some lighthearted moments as the priest told stories of Brendan harmlessly misbehaving in high school. While pointing out the beauty of the bride, he also recounted a conversation he'd had with Brendan after being introduced to Amy.

“It was a pleasure meeting your fiancée,” had said Father Damian, who once taught Brendan, his brothers, their father, and several uncles and cousins at DeMatha Catholic High School. “But I'm wondering how a guy like you got so lucky?”

Everyone laughed, including the Manions, who had barely managed a chuckle in fourteen months.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Brendan Looney,” the priest said.

Brendan looked into Amy's big brown eyes, which he had admired since the day they met, and kissed his bride as applause echoed through the church.

While clapping, Janet's tear-filled eyes met her much taller husband's. The Manions would never be able to see their only son get married, but they were thrilled to witness Travis's close friend experiencing such a special moment.

After pictures had been snapped and hugs exchanged with Brendan's parents, Kevin and Maureen, the Manions weren't sure what to do next. They had managed to avoid stopping at their second home just outside the Naval Academy gates before the wedding. The house had so many memories, and they weren't sure if they wanted to go inside to spend the couple of hours before the reception started at a nearby hotel. Travis, along with Brendan and many other buddies, had spent countless weekends at the house. Janet hadn't been inside since her son was killed.

Tom, who had been back a few times, thought visiting the house would be a big step and gently encouraged his wife to take it. Still, Janet was trembling as they sat in their parked car in front of the bed and breakfast next door. Through the sunlight she could still see Travis sitting on the back porch with his group of friends, which often included Brendan.
He was just here
.

Janet stayed in the car, nervously straightening her short, dark hair, while Tom opened the front gate and then the wooden, creaking “front” door, which was on the right side of the house. As Tom gently waved her inside, his wife took a deep breath and said the same quick prayer she had recited after Travis died: “Lord, help me to remember that nothing is going to happen today that you and I together can't handle.”

Even though Travis had been killed thousands of miles away, going inside the house felt like returning to the scene of a horrible accident. Janet struggled to breathe at first, but was determined to get through it as Tom put his arm around her. She looked right toward the kitchen, where Travis used to sit and play cards. She looked left toward the living room, where he had watched football games with his dad.

Travis's mother then walked upstairs, where she saw a small pile of clothes.

She collapsed.

A few of Travis's T-shirts, including a Navy wrestling shirt he had worn in school, were lying on the floor. Cries of sorrow could be heard that summer evening near downtown Annapolis as an anguished mother longed to hug her son.
He was just here
.

Arriving at the Marriott hotel on the waterfront for Brendan and Amy's wedding reception was another challenge. In December 2006, just before their son had left for his second deployment to Iraq, they had been with Travis at the same Annapolis wedding that Ryan was thinking of earlier in the evening. On that occasion Travis, looking lean, muscular, and strikingly handsome in his
full Marine Corps dress uniform, had caused a stir by carrying two bridesmaids into his buddy Ben Mathews's reception. As Janet and Tom stepped inside the ballroom, they could still hear the laughs and applause of friends, including Brendan, when Travis had made his memorable entrance.
He was just here
.

Despite the difficult memories the Manions, determined not to let their grief spoil a special evening for the Looneys, couldn't wait to chat with Brendan. Where was he taking Amy for their honeymoon? Did he have any news from his SEAL commanders on when he'd go to Iraq?

The Manions didn't know he was just hours away from deploying. Brendan was still waiting for the chance to tell them.

Although Janet and Tom saw Travis everywhere, they still marveled at the reception's ambience. Light from the setting sun glistened off the water and straight through the balcony doors, where it met the dance floor. Custom floral centerpieces, arranged by Amy's mom, were on every table. Handsome military men were everywhere, many holding the hands of dazzling dates in gorgeous gowns. It was almost perfect.

As is the case at many weddings, the bride and groom breathed a sigh of relief when the church ceremony was finally over and the time came to eat, drink, and be merry. Naval Academy guys who weren't in Iraq, Afghanistan, or some faraway base already had drinks in hand and were ready to party.

When it was time to snap a few pictures of Brendan and his side of the wedding party, the groom made a beeline toward Tom.

“We're taking some pictures outside and you're going to take Travis's place,” Brendan said.

“No, that's alright buddy, you don't have to do that,” Tom said with a smile.

“Respectfully, sir, you're getting in these pictures,” Brendan said. Though not accustomed to receiving orders from officers junior to his rank, there was no way Tom was turning down the SEAL's request.

Amy was also determined to make this a fun night, and anyone who started asking Brendan about leaving for Iraq was politely asked to “check it at the door.” For one Saturday night there would be no war, except for two special, unexpected moments that the Manions would never forget.

As Brendan and Amy made the rounds of their guests, Brendan excused himself to have a private talk with Tom and Janet that he had been rehearsing in his mind. He hadn't had a long conversation with Travis's parents since ten months earlier, when he gave that stirring speech honoring his roommate before the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon. Keeping his emotions in check, Brendan finally told the Manions where he was headed in forty-eight hours.

“I'm leaving on Monday for Iraq,” he said, afraid to look into the eyes of his best friend's grieving mother.

“What?” Janet said. “You're not going on a honeymoon?”

“No ma'am, although we do hope to take one eventually,” Brendan answered.

There was a brief moment of silence until Tom, sensing Brendan's uneasiness, spoke up.

“You stay safe over there, buddy,” said Tom, drink in one hand and patting Brendan on the back with the other.

“And you stay in the back of the fight,” Janet said as her emotions swelled.

“I think you know me better than that,” Brendan, forcing a smile, said candidly before hugging a tearful Janet and saying he'd be right back. It was time for his brothers to give their joint best man speech.

Steve and Billy Looney had bonded even further with their brother as teammates on Navy's men's lacrosse team, which made the improbable run to the 2004 NCAA national championship game. They also grieved for Travis, but were determined to ensure that Brendan's wedding night—the last time they would see him before he left for Iraq—was fun and memorable. So when it came time to team up for their mutual speech, the Looney brothers, both of whom bore a striking resemblance to Brendan, made light
of their twenty-seven-year-old brother's stoicism in a chandelier-lit ballroom.

Steve and Billy kidded their brother for being “a man of few words.” After he met Amy, they explained, he wouldn't stop talking about her. They told a story about the first time they heard Brendan tell Amy he loved her, which reinforced that their older brother and fellow midshipman was serious about the pretty Johns Hopkins student he had met in Baltimore.

Their parents and three sisters, Bridget, Erin, and Kellie, smiled as Steve and Billy proposed a toast to their big brother and the new sister-in-law they were welcoming into the Looney family.

“Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay safe,” the brothers said as applause and the clinking of spoons against glasses filled the room.

After the audience-requested kiss and subsequent speech by the maid of honor, Amy and Brendan made more rounds to thank their guests for coming. Brendan approached the bar, where Travis normally would have been waiting to hand him a Guinness, to spend a few minutes with some friends. He declined to do a shot with his buddies, not wanting to risk getting drunk on his wedding night or spending Sunday hung over. For all he knew, it could be his last full day with the woman he had just married.

“Seriously, bro,” said one of his Naval Academy friends, who had started drinking earlier in the day at Pusser's, the downstairs bar. “Let's have a drink for Travis.”

Brendan nodded and took a few small sips of beer while talking about lacrosse and football with the guys. But in that moment, all he could think about was his earlier conversation with the Manions and the pain they were feeling.

Suddenly Brendan realized that the Lonestar song “Amazed” was about to play, meaning it was time for his first wedding dance with Amy.

Even though they wanted to see the dance, Tom and Janet—still rattled by learning that Brendan was leaving for Iraq—retreated to
a balcony overlooking the harbor. They knew Travis's friend would soon face considerable danger as a Navy SEAL.

As the Manions stared into the water, Brendan stared into Amy's eyes back on the dance floor. Fittingly, the song's lyrics describe the emotions of two lovers looking squarely at each other.

Amy rested her head on Brendan's broad shoulders and squeezed him tightly as the song's chorus—“baby I'm amazed by you”—soared through the crowded ballroom. She was so proud of her new husband, who had overcome an enormous obstacle—the death of a dear friend at the start of his BUD/S training—to become a Navy SEAL.

Next came a moment Brendan would always treasure: a dance with his caring, compassionate mother. From always being there for Brendan while he grew up to flying across the country to cook his meals and do his laundry after he finished Hell Week at BUD/S, there was nothing Maureen wouldn't do for her children. Brendan felt truly blessed to call her his mom.

Janet, who was standing just a few feet off the dance floor, couldn't help but think about all the special moments she would never get to enjoy with her own son. But she also was genuinely happy that Maureen got to see her son marry a wonderful woman and mature into such an honorable young man. No wonder Travis always thought the world of Brendan and his family.

Tom, meanwhile, was still standing outside on the balcony. He was looking at the boats and reflecting on the sacrifice he knew Brendan was making by leaving so soon to go to war. After spending more than a quarter century in the Marines and watching his only son leave for Iraq twice, Tom understood what thousands of young men and women were giving up by volunteering to spend years of their lives in dangerous places. Tom knew how much Brendan wanted to be a Navy SEAL and marveled at how hard he had worked to become one. But still, he worried about his son's good friend going into harm's way.

As the mother-son dance ended, the entire audience applauded when Brendan kissed Maureen's cheek. They shared more hugs, laughs, and smiles before Brendan started walking back to Amy so the couple could resume greeting and thanking guests.

That's when Brendan saw Janet, who was about to go back out on the balcony to find her husband. Having just shared such a special dance with his own mother, he thought about the grief Travis's mom was still experiencing. Almost instinctively, Brendan reached into the pocket of his mess dress uniform and then got Janet's attention.

“If you don't mind, there's something I want to give you,” he said.

Inside Brendan's pocket was the gold trident pin that every Navy SEAL makes almost impossible sacrifices, during many months of training, including Hell Week, to earn. But to Brendan it also represented Travis. In front of more than 250 people, he took out the trident and gently placed it in Janet's right hand.

“This is the pin they gave me last month at graduation,” Brendan said. “I want you to have it.”

“Oh, Brendan,” Janet said. She began crying, not for herself, but for the heartache this young man was experiencing on his wedding night.

“Whenever things got rough, Travis was always there to keep me going,” Brendan said. “I never stopped thinking about him.”

Also becoming emotional, he hugged his friend's grieving mother.

“No matter what, Travis will always be in my heart,” he said. “Amy and I would do anything for you.”

Very few guests could hear what Brendan and Janet were saying, but several in the ballroom understood the significance of a moment usually seen only in movies. This was the real thing.

After Brendan and Janet's tearful embrace, it was time for the dancing to resume as Brendan and Amy's families, as well as their guests, enjoyed one of the most jubilant wedding receptions
anyone could remember. But after that night, the SEAL trident would be with Janet, just as the bracelet bearing Travis's name would be on Brendan's wrist.