He then confessed to her, "I really thought you'd leave me."

Baskerville, 21, knows some people might expect that. But she replied to Hennagir that first night in the hospital this way:

"I said when you gave me that ring, I'm not going anywhere. When you got on that bus, and left for Iraq, I told you I'd be there waiting for you when you got back, no matter what."

That very first night, and many nights after, she sat beside his bed, in a metal folding chair, and watched over him. Her daughter was back in New Jersey, with Grandma.

"Not the end of the world," Baskerville said of Cpl. Hennagir's injuries. "We'll get through it."

Their road ahead will be difficult, for sure. He will spend the next year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, getting prosthetic legs and a hand, and learning how to use them. Baskerville will live in the small apartment with him and her daughter, caring for the two of them.

A turn for the better

His family agonized as he underwent surgery after surgery.

He was positive most of the time, and the family followed his lead.

"Ray feels this is a challenge but he can endure it," Donna said. "I always tell him 'Jeremiah 29:11.' "

She then quoted the Bible verse from memory:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

A few times Hennagir broke down in tears, which Donna felt was important.

"If he was holding it in," she said, "it would be another IED."

Jim had many overwhelming reactions sitting at Ray's bedside. Up and down the hallways were so many men like Hennagir, each with families.

He also marveled at the medical care, on the battlefield and every step along the way. He is determined to track down the Navy corpsman who kept Ray from bleeding to death and shake his hand.

Hennagir kept telling his family that he wanted to get to North Carolina, to see his platoon safely home.

It seemed hopeless. His wounds were so severe, the surgeries so many.

"In all reality, I didn't think he was going to make it," his fiancee said.