Others stopped to watch as they saw something dramatic seemed to be going on. They saw the two women staring at each other. They exchanged looks. She’d known that someone would meet them and saw a major standing by discreetly. He acknowledged the nod she sent him with a nod of his own.
Marsha took in Heather’s lovely face, the one she had dreamed of so often as she lay on her mat in the cave or in the tent. She looked over every line she could see, noting how much deeper the worry lines were from what she could remember.
Heather couldn’t believe that Marsha was standing before her. She knew that people had to go around the woman, but she didn’t really see them. All her focus was now on the woman she had finally resigned herself to accepting might be dead.
“Marsha?” Heather was the first to speak.
The black-haired woman nodded, almost hesitantly. Of all the voices she had longed to hear over the years…this one was the most endearing.
Neither one moved. Neither one knew what to do.
“Moray?” Amir said plaintively, and as Marsha automatically looked down, he held up his arms to be picked up. This drew attention from Marsha to the children next to her and Heather’s eyes opened wide.
Heather had never expected…children. She looked at the two children, realizing they had to be Marsha’s. They looked too much like her not to be. She glanced down at Hayley and saw her staring at the funnily-dressed woman and the children with her.
With Amir in her arms, she took Bahir’s hand again and led her forward. Not looking at Heather, she took a deep breath and in English said, “Bahir, Amir, I would like you to meet my wife. This is Heather.” She glanced up at Heather to see her reaction, wondering if she was still her wife. Still, she had been getting her paychecks they had said. She quickly looked back down to Bahir. The child looked puzzled as she stared at the other woman and the child with her.
The two girls stared at each other, assessing the possibility of friendship between them.
Heather looked at Marsha. Her eyes took it all in, but her mind took a moment to really understand the implications. The introduction took her breath away for a second before, taking a deep breath, she put on a fake smile for the children. The little girl was already ignoring her and staring intently at Hayley. The other child in Marsha’s arms was precious. For a moment, Heather felt a twinge of jealousy. These weren’t their children. These weren’t the children they had planned together. Hayley was their child. It was Hayley they should be focusing on. She immediately felt ashamed at the thought. It wasn’t Marsha’s fault, whatever she had gone through. Heather hadn’t heard her side of the story.
“Hello, Amir,” she didn’t know which child was which, the names didn’t seem gender specific. “Hello, Bahir.” Her glance took in both children, but she was really looking at Marsha, taking her in, wondering what had happened to her.
“And this is Hayley,” Marsha introduced her children, her hand tugging slightly to bring Bahir forward to meet her older sister. The two siblings were still staring intently at each other.
Hayley looked up at her name. She saw the woman from her photographs, although she looked…different. The child didn’t realize that the woman in the photograph wouldn’t look the same. She was older now, had been through too much to remain that same young and carefree woman. Her clothing alone changed a lot of how she looked. Shyly, the little girl stepped back and hid behind her mother’s leg.
“Hayley, don’t you want to greet your mom?” Heather protested.
“No…don’t make her,” Marsha excused her. “Don’t force it.”
The two adults looked hard into each other’s eyes as they came to some agreement without verbalizing it.
“Captain?” a new voice was heard.
Marsha looked over and recognized the major insignia on the uniform. Briefly, she wondered if she would have ever achieved that rank. She nodded, unable to salute and not in uniform so she didn’t need to. “Major.” The name on his tag read Osborn.
“I’m here to take you and your family home,” he offered generously. He glanced at her audience again. “We have a van.”
“Thank you, Major. That’s most kind.”
“We can talk…tomorrow,” he told her, seeing it would relieve her overtired mind. It had been quite a trip, he knew. Judging by the file folder he already had on her, they had a lot of talking to do.
“Thank you,” she said politely.
They all turned to walk away from the building. Marsha was carrying Amir, her hand in Bahir’s. Bahir walked beside Hayley who had come out from behind her mother and Heather was on the other side of Hayley, holding her hand and looking at Marsha as they walked. The major followed behind them, wondering how weird the conversation was going to be in that household this evening. He could tell by the shock on Heather’s face that she hadn’t known about the children. He could have told her, but felt it wasn’t his place. After all, she was a civilian. Johann and Pete walked behind the family after quietly introducing themselves to the major. They walked on either side, looking and evaluating any potential threat. Just because they were on American soil, this was not the time to relax; their duties weren’t complete yet.
They arrived outside and were escorted through a special gate to arrive back at the parked and waiting van. A uniformed guard was at the wheel and it scared the children. Amir had had enough. He was tired, cranky, and unable to run it off. He started crying and screaming.
“Is the child ill?” one of the uniformed men that Marsha assumed were guards, asked into the darkness as she comforted the little boy.
“No,” she answered quietly. Amir’s cries were annoying, but he was doing well despite the extended travel.
“Then why is he crying?” she was asked stupidly.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he’s been traveling for two days on planes, which he’d never seen before, and he’s only two years old?” she answered sarcastically. She heard Johann stifle a laugh. She heard Pete say something, but couldn’t hear what it was over the toddler’s cries. She wasn’t asked any more stupid questions.
Heather now understood why the major and his driver had brought a van. All those children and adults had needed the space. Marsha carefully strapped in the children once she had quieted Amir, glancing as Heather made sure Hayley was buckled in. She was curious about this first child of hers. She knew nothing about more than five years of her life. Her look was intercepted by Heather and they exchanged glances until both got busy again with the children.
“We should have brought car seats,” the major apologized, and then wondered if there would have been any available on the base.
“We’ll make do,” Marsha assured him as she sat down next to her two youngest children. She had made do on the airplanes too.
“Moray, where are we going?” Bahir asked in the local Tajik dialect she had been raised on.
“In English, Bahir,” Marsha corrected her.
Heather, listening, realized that the little girl must be the one named Bahir. She wondered how old the child was. It was obvious she was younger than Hayley. The little boy was looking around, interested, but still sniffling from crying so hard. He looked to be quite a handful. Heather had secretly wanted a boy when Marsha was pregnant with Hayley. She glanced at their daughter as she buckled herself in and knew she couldn’t imagine life without her.
“Where are we going?” the child asked in such a forlorn, little girl’s voice that Heather’s heart went out to her.
“We are going home,” Marsha told her, glancing at Heather briefly and then back at the little girl.
“Back to Padar?”
“No, baby, not to…Padar,” she hesitated, glancing again at Heather. “We have a new home.”
“Who is that?” the little girl asked, pointing at the major who had gotten into the front seat next to the driver. Pete and Johann got in the very back of the van and closed the sliding door behind them.
“That’s the major. He came to pick u
s up.”
“Who dat?” Amir spoke up, not to be left out. He pointed at Hayley as he twisted around in his seat.
Marsha and Heather exchanged another glance.
“That’s my other daughter, Hayley. She’s your sister,” Marsha answered without hesitation. Her eyes almost challenged Heather to contradict her.
“Sister?” the older girl asked, hearing the picture woman quite clearly.
“Remember, Hayley?” Heather encouraged, not wanting an awkward scene to be created. “This is your mom and this is your sister and brother.”
Marsha locked eyes with Heather and her eyes warmed at the words she spoke, thanking her for that.
That seemed to settle it for now for the young children and it wasn’t mentioned again. The younger children had a lot of questions as they drove along. Now that they were out of the airplane, it was like they could talk. Marsha knew part of it was that there was another child around, which made them feel a little more comfortable. She spent a lot of time explaining what things were as they drove along.
“Why don’t they know what that is?” Hayley asked Heather, trying to keep her voice at a whisper and failing.
“They’ve lived in a country that might not have it,” Heather guessed accurately.
Marsha twisted in her seat a bit to look at Heather and the baby kicked, protesting at the awkward position. She smiled as she took in her wife and daughter. “Yes, they have never seen these things,” she explained to the little girl. Hayley put her head against Heather shyly, but looked back up in time to see Marsha turn back.
“Why don’t you look like your picture?” she asked innocently to the woman’s back and Marsha twisted around again.
“I’m older. It has been five years,” she tried to explain. She looked Hayley right in the eye and realized how unfair things had been. Her child was over six years old, probably in school, and didn’t know her except for what other people had told her. She glanced again at Heather and sighed, then turned back to the front so the baby inside her would stop protesting at being twisted. The rest of the drive was rather quiet except for the two little ones asking what things were and Marsha answering.
They arrived at the house and Marsha looked at it. It looked like every other house on the block, but she knew it was theirs. She wondered how Heather had coped on her own. She supposed she would find out soon enough.
“Captain, I expect you in my office tomorrow for a further briefing,” the major said to her formally as they got out of the van.
“I’ll need some clothes,” she informed him as she gestured, almost self-consciously, to the burqa.
“Of course. I’ll have uniforms issued immediately,” he informed her.
Marsha glanced at Heather, who was looking at her curiously. As they went to walk up the sidewalk to the house she asked, “You don’t have any clothes?”
“Well,” she said with a smile, “we had to leave rather abruptly.”
Heather nodded as she took out her keys and unlocked the door.
“Moray, what is this place?” Bahir asked, looking about curiously. She had never seen buildings quite like this. When they had gone through Kabul, the architecture was quite different. She had seen more wonders in the past few days than anything in her short life.
“In English, Bahir,” she corrected her automatically. “This is our home,” she explained gently.
As they went in, Heather said hesitantly, “I wasn’t expecting…” she gestured awkwardly to the two children.
Marsha smiled. “I know. It’s going to take some adjustments, isn’t it?”
Heather chuckled. “That’s an understatement. We need to find some clothes for all of you….”
“Is anything of mine still left?”
“I put it all in boxes up in the garage.”
“Not in the basement?”
“No, I didn’t want it to get all musty.”
“Why didn’t you donate it?”
“You weren’t dead. I didn’t want to part with…” she confessed and then looked away, embarrassed.
Marsha put her hand on Heather’s arm, the first touch since they had seen each other. “It’s going to take time.”
Heather looked at the hand and then followed it up the fine material covering her wife’s arm to look into Marsha’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said sadly as she took Marsha in her arms.
Marsha sobbed a little as she felt enveloped by her wife’s hug. The feel of someone holding her that loved her, beyond her children, was something she had longed for, for so long. She could feel what she had been holding in for so long, slipping ever so slightly. She closed her eyes as she smelled the smell that was uniquely Heather. Her nose nuzzling into her neck, clutching hard for something they had lost. “I’ve missed you,” she confessed, mumbling into her neck.
“Probably as much as I missed you,” Heather rejoined as she pulled back to look at her again.
“I was coming home. I was coming home to you both when.…”
“I know. When they told me that your helicopter went down, we all thought the worst. When they couldn’t find it….” She was hinting at Marsha telling her more, but she saw the shadow that came over her wife’s face. “That can wait.”
The children were looking at each other uneasily. The two from overseas in an unfamiliar home, and Hayley, wondering what place she now had in this family. She hadn’t realized that by bringing her other mother home she would get a brother and a sister. She wasn’t certain if she liked that.
“Well, what should we do first?” Marsha asked to distract them all as she stepped back out of Heather’s arms. She longed to hug Hayley, but knew that between her strange garb, the situation, and the fact that before today the little girl didn’t really know her, it would be pushing it. She decided to be cheerful and let the little girl come to her. She hoped she would…eventually.
“Let’s get those boxes down out of the rafters in the garage and see if there is anything to salvage,” Heather announced.
“I’ll help,” Hayley volunteered.
They went out through the kitchen into the garage.
“Still have this, eh?” Marsha looked at the old car.
“I couldn’t afford another,” she confessed. It said a lot more about their situation than she intended. She untied a rope from the wall where it was pegged and lowered the platform that was on pulleys. It contained several boxes that were marked ‘Marsha’s clothes.’ “I’m sure you’ll find something in there to wear. We can go through some of Hayley’s things for Bahir. I don’t know about…” she indicated Amir. Both children were looking about the garage in wonder. So many things were different. They were quite overwhelmed. The past few days had brought about so much change.
“I’m sure we’ll find something,” Marsha agreed and took what looked like a light box from the top. Her back told her different as she began to carry it in the house.
“Here, you guys. Everyone take one,” Heather said as she handed out what were lighter boxes to each of the kids. Even Amir was able to take one, although she wasn’t certain he knew what he was doing. She wondered how young he really was. The box was small, however, and he followed the older girls. She frowned as she picked up a heavier box of Marsha’s things and wondered at how she had seen Marsha carry the first one. Marsha, so proud of being able to bench press a lot of weight for a woman, so thrilled with her ripped body, must have lost a lot of muscle tone to have a box like that make her twinge.
Marsha made her way into the living room. She’d wondered about carrying the box into the bedroom, but hadn’t been sure. She saw no sign that anyone else was living in the house with Heather, but she didn’t want to assume. It would only be natural if, after all this time, Heather had moved on. She looked up as each of the children, Amir included, brought in boxes. “Thank you,” she said politely as Hayley plopped her box down on top of the one Marsha had brought in.
“There’s more, but we can start with this,” Heather said as she
brought in her box. “Why didn’t you put it in the bedroom?” she asked, frowning at the boxes in the living room.
“I didn’t want to assume. I didn’t know what to expect,” Marsha answered, almost stammering in her awkwardness.
This was not the confident army woman that Heather remembered. It surprised her as Marsha blushed. She realized it was awkward for all of them.
“Hayley, why don’t you show your…brother and sister the playset in the back yard?” she told the little girl.
“Okay, Mommy,” the girl said brightly. She liked the idea of being useful and she grabbed Bahir’s hand to lead her out, but the little girl stopped dead in her tracks.
“Moray?” she questioned, looking up, unsure.
“It’s okay, Bahir. You and Amir are safe with your sister in the backyard,” Marsha assured them. She watched happily as the three children went off through the kitchen to the back door.
“Are they going to be okay?” Heather worried.
“This is all so new to them. They played with children their own age all the time…most were related somehow. They had fields and streams to play in, but nothing like that playset,” she had gotten up to look outside at the children. She worried constantly about them. “When did you get that?” she asked, her head tilting to indicate the playset. She was watching as Hayley enticed Bahir up the slide. The children almost instinctively knew what that was for.
“Your parents gave it to her one year.” She didn’t mention what gifts like that had almost cost her.
“Do they know?” she turned to look at Heather, wondering.
“No one knows. I only found out yesterday.”
“Has it been hard?” Her voice implied more than she was asking.
Heather nodded as she drew her lips into a hard line. “It hasn’t been easy on what the government let me have.”
“They didn’t give you my pay?” she was surprised. She had assumed….
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