“Bet they didn’t have this over there in France.” He brushed a homemade mustard concoction onto the ribs. “Carolina sauce.”
“They sure didn’t. And don’t even ask about grits and cornbread.”
He laughed and looked at her. Jenny put an arm around him, and he automatically stiffened up, still not used to the idea of her touching anyone. Then he relaxed and hugged her around the neck, kissing her head.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked in a low voice. “Ain’t nobody out there looking for you?”
“They already sealed and buried the original Homeland Security investigation,” Jenny said. “The people who captured us this time are...well, we dealt with them. My friend Mariella said she thought the general wasn’t telling his superiors what he was really doing, they thought he was just doing some card-reading experiments or something. She would know best, she pretended to work with him for months.” Jenny paused, thinking about her lost friend, then shook her head. “I looked up ASTRIA on the net. They were just a joke Cold War agency, looking for UFOs and Russian psychic spies. I don’t think anyone knew what Ward was really doing out there. And now it’s all destroyed.” Jenny shrugged. “We could get by for a long time with nobody bothering us, maybe. It’s not like we’re on the FBI’s Most Wanted list or anything.”
“If you think you’re okay.” Her dad didn’t sound entirely convinced, but he’d always worried too much.
“Running and hiding didn’t help,” Jenny said. “We tried that already. Might as well be where we want to be.”
“Well, you’re both welcome to stay here as long as you want,” he said. “I don’t guess Seth’s house is an option, since there ain’t nothing left but a brick or two, and it’s federally condemned and all.”
“We’d have to bring a tent,” Jenny said.
“Found them!” Seth walked out of the house with plastic cups, which he sat out on the table and filled with iced tea. Jenny took a cup. It was frigid and sweet, just what she needed after her walk in the woods.
“When are you going to have another one?” June asked Seth, while smiling at the baby in her lap. “How many you gonna have? Four? Five?”
“Um,” Seth said. “So, those ribs look great, huh?”
They ate outside at the table, leaving little Miriam in her car seat, where she seemed happiest. They ate the smoky ribs and corn, cole slaw, cornbread, green beans cooked with fatback. Jenny truly felt at home.
Later, Seth and Jenny walked out to the driveway to watch the sunset burn down through the trees. Seth held little Miriam against his shoulder, humming to her.
“You think we ever get to go where they go?” Jenny asked, watching the light fade. “After we die, I mean?”
“Where everyone goes, you mean? All the normal people?”
“Yeah. We can find each other between lives, just floating around out there in empty space, but where does everyone else go? Somewhere different? Do you think we’ll ever get to move on? Like in some future lifetime, after you die, you’re not just waiting and watching between lives, but there’s someone there to meet you...or a door to someplace else where we’ve never been...”
“I guess we’ll see,” Seth said. “I don’t want to go anytime soon.”
“Me, neither.” Jenny kissed the Miriam’s cheek, which only seemed to annoy the baby.
“Do you think she’s like us?” Seth asked. “Will she have some strange power she can use to terrorize us when she’s a toddler?”
“I hope not, for her sake,” Jenny said. “I hope there’s nothing supernatural about her at all.”
She looked up at Seth, his kind blue eyes, his strong arms holding their small child. She felt so much love for them she thought she might burst. She was grateful that she got to be with him until the end of time.
She rose up and kissed him softly on the lips.
“I love you,” Jenny said. “Forever.”
The End