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Alecia slammed the trunk of her ’97 Buick Skylark shut. She grunted slightly as sheunfolded the huge, pink monster stroller and locked it in place. She had only had thestroller for a month, a gracious gift from her in-laws, but she still didn’t feel completelycomfortable using the thing. She triple checked to make sure the stroller was properlyassembled before wheeling it around the side of the car. She opened the back door andsmiled at her baby.“Hey there baby girl,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Are you ready to go inside?”The baby waved a tiny fist as way of greeting and flashed a toothless grin. A bubble of spittle popped at the side of her mouth, leaving tiny droplets of moisture dotting herlower lip. Alecia chuckled.“I’ll take that as a yes.”She grabbed the pink and purple pastel diaper bag and dragged the heavy bag across theseat. “For a tiny person, you sure need a lot of stuff,” she mumbled under her breath.The baby cooed in response.Alecia placed the diaper bag on the ground and then reached in to unbuckle her daughter.Her fingers moved automatically and she had her free in record time.“I remember when this used to take me forever,” Alecia said while lifting the tiny girlfrom the car seat. “I’m getting pretty good at this mommy stuff.”She gently placed her daughter into the stroller, buckled her in, balanced the heavy diaperbag onto her shoulder and began the trek across the short-term parking lot, her head heldup high.The day had finally come. After ten long months of short, frantic, hurried phone calls,pages of emails and countless sleepless nights, they were finally going to see him.She hoped he hadn’t changed.She knew he had to have changed.Alecia blinked back tears of apprehension and lifted her chin. Now was the not the timeto get teary eyed, she would need all of her strength to see herself, and her daughter,through the next two hours.She stiffened her arm around her baby girl as she made her way across the airportdriveway. Though the traffic hadn’t been bad when she first entered the parking lot,

numerous cars now dotted the drop-off lane. Her large, sky-blue eyes quickly scanned thepeople lined up on the sidewalk. Most were busy tugging large pieces of multi-coloredluggage from the trunks of cars, a handful of people stared expectantly down thedriveway, their expressions tight and eager as they waited for their rides.Alecia maneuvered her way between the parked cars and pushed her way into the airport.The blast of cold air hit them squarely in the face.Alecia could feel, rather than see, her baby girl tensing from the sudden, and unexpectednoise and activity of the airport. They were from a small town, so their airport wassmaller than most, but it seemed overly crowded to Alecia. Though she had only been tothe airport a half dozen times in her life, it had never been this busy.She muttered a smattering of apologizes as she navigated the stroller through the throngof people. It wasn’t until they had found a series of seats, all arranged in a half circle by alarge window overlooking the drop-off area, did she relax her hold on the baby carrier.“Whew,” she exhaled as she plopped down on the hard, cushioned seat. “There are a lotof people here today,” she said while dragging the diaper bag off the stroller. “I’m bettingthere are a lot of military people coming home today.” She pushed the diaper bag underher feet and swept a hand across her moist forehead. “What do you think, Lisa?”The baby began waving her arms and kicking her feet at the sound of her name.Alecia laughed and settled back in her seat. She continued to gaze at her beautifuldaughter, the love she had for this little being, the creature that her and her husband hadmade, (she still hadn’t quite come to terms with that fact), caused her eyes to twinkle andher face to soften.“You’ll be a good girl for mommy, right?” She nervously chewed on her lower lip. Theplane was scheduled to land in two hours. She glanced at her watch and then lifted hergaze to look out of the window. Her in-laws were supposed to meet her in twentyminutes. She hoped her baby girl would behave herself until grandma got there.“Excuse me,” a tall, thin man with a long thick scar running across his right cheek addressed her.Alecia stiffened and pasted on a polite smile. “Yes?”“Are these seats taken?”He gestured to the seats on either side of her. “Actually,” she cleared her throat. “I’mexpecting my in-laws to be here any minute, so I need a few of them.” She offered asmile to soften the rejection.

“Oh, okay. I understand,” he responded and glanced down at the baby. “She’s adorable.”Lisa blinked up at the strange man.“Thank you,” Alecia said and sat up a little straighter. Lisa was a beautiful baby. She hadthick, soft hair the color of a raven’s wing and dark blue eyes that sparkled like jewels inher round face. The baby offered a smile at the stranger, a dimple, just to the left of hermoist mouth deepened.“Ah, she’s going to be a heart breaker.”Alecia chuckled and nodded. “I’m afraid you’re right about that.”The stranger nodded politely and moved down several seats to settle slowly into a chair.Alecia studied the man from under her lashes. She was curious to know if this man hadserved in the military. Had he received that scar in service? Was his body stiff fromcombat? Her thoughts turned to her own husband and she wondered if Carter’s scarswould be visible, or merely buried deep inside.A warning cry from her daughter captured her attention. She knew that sound. If shedidn’t feed Lisa within the next fifteen minutes, the whole building would hear herdispleasure.Alecia rummaged in the large diaper bag and pulled out a bottle. She had finished makingthe formula moments before they had left the apartment, so she shook a few droplets ontoher forearm – it was warm, but not hot.“All right, baby girl,” she said as she balanced the bottle between her knees, “lunchtime.” She unfastened the baby from the stroller and lifted her out of the carriage. A fewpeople passing by slowed to look at them. Alecia squirmed and settled the baby next toher breast feeling self-conscious and on display. Though she could understand people’scuriosity, she still wished people would just ignore her.A woman, most likely in her late 40’s, stopped completely to watch. Alecia could feel hercheeks grow warm under the woman’s scrutiny. She plucked the bottle from between herknees and rubbed the nipple gently against Lisa’s lips; she smiled as the baby gave it agreedy suck.“Someone was hungry!” she said softly. Lisa lifted a tiny hand to her mother; Aleciaplaced her index finger in the baby’s palm, the small fingers curled around her skin andsqueezed.“Let’s go Wanda,” the man beside the woman who had stopped said. “We’re going to belate.”