would be their way of finally exorcising some of the demons.
Julia no longer dreamed about Antarctica. She no longer desired to go there. All she wanted now was a little peace and happiness.
And it seemed she'd found them both.
Mick came down the ladder and leaned over the porch railing to kiss her. 'Is that fresh lemonade?'
She smiled. 'Have some.'
He took a sip and sighed. 'Good.'
She smiled. 'Are you going to work all afternoon?'
'Don't want our baby coming home to a shoddy place, do you? But I suppose I can take a break if you need me to.'
'I need you to.'
He sat down next to her on the swing chair and for a long minute, neither said anything to the other. This happened sometimes. They'd seen so much together, that there didn't always seem enough silence in the world to help drown out all the agony of their past.
'Nice to be here,' said Julia.
Mick nodded. 'I miss them, too.'
She looked at him. 'How did you know I was thinking about them?'
He looked at her. 'After all of it, how could you not? I know I think about them all the time, too.'
She smiled. 'Well, we've got some other things to think about now. I suppose we won't ever forget them, but maybe we should move on.'
'Time will help,' said Mick. 'If nothing else.'
Julia took one of Mick's gnarled hands and placed it on her stomach. 'He's kicking.'
Mick grinned. 'It's a 'he' now?'
'I think so.'
'What makes you say that?'
'Just a feeling.'
Mick rubbed her belly. 'Any other feelings you want to share?'
Julia saw the horrible images that had been filling her head at night — the disfigured beak for a mouth, the red slit eyes, the scaly skin, the twisted claws, the long thin spiked tail — she thought about how she'd started waking up in a cold sweat night after night while Mick slept peacefully beside her. She thought about how lately her stomach had hurt more often than not. She thought about how much she'd taken to praying lately that her child wouldn't be some freak of nature. That the aliens hadn't successfully impregnated her after all.
She thought about it all, but only smiled at Mick.
'No,' she said.
And then, only to herself, she began to pray.
