Chapter 19
Six months later
The living room smelled faintly like lavender and microwave popcorn.
Fernando sat in the middle of the couch with a blanket tucked around his legs, feeling both amused and slightly overwhelmed.
His eight-month-pregnant belly stretched the soft fabric of his T-shirt, and a mountain of pillows had somehow appeared around him.
Iggy sat cuddled on one side of him, and Emma sat on the other. Wicked played on television.
“I feel like royalty,” he said.
“You are royalty,” Mateo replied from the kitchen. He carried a tray with a bowl of cut fruit, crackers, and a suspiciously large slice of chocolate cake. “The King of Babyland.”
Fernando laughed. “That’s not a real place. Damn, you’re so cheesy. I think I’m infected with it now, too.”
“Babyland is real today,” Mateo said, setting the tray in front of him like a waiter in a fancy restaurant. “Your Majesty’s lunch.”
In front of the couch, Valentina sat cross-legged on the floor with a bottle of black nail polish. “Don’t move your feet,” she warned. “I don’t want to accidentally paint your foot.”
Fernando tried to look over his belly. “You guys don’t have to do all this. Walker will be here for good tomorrow. I can handle myself for one day.”
Walker would be leaving the base for the last time tomorrow morning. They had already given up their apartment lease and moved everything up to Hobson Hills. It had been hard going back and forth the past six months, but soon, that wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
“Too late,” Valentina said. “We’ve already committed.”
Beans lay beside her and began to pre-clean one of Fernando’s feet.
“Beans, you are disgusting.” Fernando sighed.
The front door opened, and Gabriela stepped in carrying three grocery bags. “I bring offerings,” she announced.
“Wahasht?” Fernando asked as he took a large bite of cake.
Mateo peeked inside one bag. “Ice cream?”
“Three kinds,” Gabriela said proudly. “Chocolate, strawberry, and that weird pickle one you said pregnant people like.”
Fernando stared at her. “That was a joke, Gabs.”
She paused. “So nobody wants pickle ice cream?”
Valentina burst out laughing. “Seriously? They make that?”
Mateo clapped her on the shoulder. “Hermanita, you got played.”
Fernando leaned back into the pillows, smiling at the chaos around him.
Valentina gently lifted his foot and began painting his toenails with exaggerated care. “You know,” she said, “once the baby gets here, we expect visitation rights.”
“Visitation rights?” Fernando said.
“Absolutely,” Gabriela said, digging spoons out of a drawer. “We’re the cool aunts.”
Mateo pointed at himself. “What about me? I’m a cool uncle.”
Gabriela sniffed. “Sure, you are.”
“I’m teaching the kid how to ride a bike.”
“Before they can walk?” Gabriela asked.
“Early training,” Mateo said.
Fernando shook his head, laughing softly. For a moment, he rested his hands on his belly.
The baby kicked.
“Oh!” he said.
All three siblings froze.
“What?” Valentina said immediately.
“Did it move?” Gabriela asked, already kneeling beside the couch.
Fernando nodded, smiling wider now. “Yeah. Right here.”
Mateo crouched and placed a careful hand on his stomach.
Emma pressed her ear to his side, and Iggy’s small hand settled beside Mateo’s.
The room went quiet.
A second later, the baby kicked again.
Iggy’s eyes widened. “Whoa.”
“That’s so weird,” Valentina whispered, grinning.
Fernando looked at all three of them crowding around him, their faces full of amazement. “You guys are going to spoil this kid,” he said.
Mateo shrugged. “Runs in the family.”
Later that night, Fernando finally got rid of his siblings and had some peace and quiet.
He loved the old creaks and moans of their new home.
They had used some of Walker’s savings to put new siding on the house and replace the windows and doors.
The porch had been rebuilt, bigger and better.
The cranberry bog was dry now, vines green and new.
The front door creaked open before a knock even finished echoing through the house.
Fernando froze in the kitchen, a dish towel still clutched in his hands. For a moment, he thought he imagined it—the sound, the shift of air, the quiet footsteps on the hardwood floor.
“Hello?” a familiar voice called.
The towel slipped from his fingers.
Fernando stepped closer to the front door, heart pounding so loudly he could hear it in his ears.
Standing just inside the doorway, duffel bag slung over one shoulder, was Walker. He looked thinner. Tired. His hair was shorter than he remembered. That smile, though. Soft, unsure, and hopeful. It was exactly the same.
For a second, neither of them moved.
“Hey,” Walker said quietly, eyes on Fernando’s belly.
Fernando’s breath hitched. “You said tomorrow.”
“I know,” he said with a small shrug. “Thought I’d surprise you.”
That was all it took. He crossed the room in a heartbeat, throwing his arms around Walker so hard it nearly knocked the duffel bag off his shoulder.
Walker let out a startled laugh before wrapping his arms around Fernando, holding him just as tightly.
Fernando buried his face in Walker’s chest, breathing in the familiar smell of laundry soap and dust and something that was just him. “You’re here,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “You’re actually here.”
“I’m here,” Walker murmured, pressing his cheek to the top of his head.
During another long deployment, this time for humanitarian purposes, their conversations had been through screens and phone calls. Grainy video chats where the signal froze at the worst moments. Short texts that tried to hold entire feelings inside a few words.
Now there was no delay. Just warmth. Solid and real.
Fernando pulled back slightly, his hands cupping Walker’s face as if he needed proof that he wasn’t about to disappear again. “You’re okay?”
Walker nodded. “Yeah.”
“You’re really okay?”
Walker smiled softly. “I am now.”
Fernando laughed through tears and hugged him again.
From the living room, Beans suddenly exploded into barking, skidding across the hardwood floor before launching himself at Walker’s legs.
“Well, hey there, buddy.” Walker laughed, dropping the duffel bag to crouch down as the dog licked his face enthusiastically.
Fernando leaned against the wall, watching the two of them with watery eyes and a smile he couldn’t stop. He didn’t mention that Beans had been licking his feet earlier.
Walker looked up at him. “Missed you,” he said.
Fernando walked over and took his hand, squeezing it tight. “Good,” he replied softly. “Because you’re not leaving again for a very long time.”
He stood, pulling Fernando into his arms once more, holding him like he meant it. “I’m never leaving again.”