In the bright light of the terminal, reunited families clung to each other. A trio of business men in suites shook hands and smiled their greetings. Children giggled and ducked out of the way when family members threatened to tickle them.
He wasn't there.
Her heart sank lower and lower with each pass over the chaos of the lobby.
And suddenly, a fare haired little boy with Aanon's blue eyes weaved through the crowd. A tiny bouquet of flowers was clutched in his tiny hand, and he yelled her name. Dodge plowed into her, gripping her legs as his head rested against her stomach.
"Ms. Farrah," Dodge said again.
A warm smile stretched her face as she rubbed his back. "I'm here."
And then he was there, too, her Aanon.
He stood stark against the background of motion. Everything blurred behind him, making him brighter, clearer. He stood with an uncertain look on his face. He'd lost weight, and ghosts danced in his eyes where none had dared before. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a questioning smile. He was magnificent.
Her hand slid from the handle of her luggage as she and Dodge stepped toward him. Shaken from whatever trance had taken him, Aanon reached her in four long strides, and his lips crashed onto hers with the emotion of a tidal wave. A helpless sound left her throat as tears slid down her cheeks. He was hers, and nothing stood between them anymore.
Dodge clung to their legs, and she pulled back an inch. Her free hand to Aanon's cheek, she brushed away the moisture she found there. "My boys," she said, her lip trembling.
He stroked the curve of her stomach. "My girls," he whispered.
Chapter Twenty-One
Aanon pulled off the highway and into the gas station in Homer where they'd met.
"Why are we stopping here?" Farrah asked with a suspicious little grin tugging at her lips.
"I thought we could grab a bite to eat here for old time's sake." She leaned to open the door, but he stilled her. "Farrah?"
"Yeah?"
He had a hard time watching the road with her so close, so beautiful. She was radiant. A day would never pass when he didn't think about how she looked at the airport. Glancing around like she halfway expected him to stand her up. Vulnerable, all her hopes and dreams packed into the suitcase she carried behind her. His insecurities were mirrored in the woman he loved. She'd worn jeans and a cherry red sweater that hugged her beautiful curves. She'd changed in the past few months-somehow she'd grown even more intoxicating than when she'd left.
He tucked a flyaway lock of her silken hair behind her ear. "I missed you."
The most alluring color touched her cheekbones, and pride swelled that he'd been able to cause it.
"Give me a second to grab Dodge and I'll help you out."
"You know," she said as he unbuckled the car seat for his son. "You won't be able to coddle me like this at the homestead."
"Oh yes, I can. I'm not taking as many construction jobs this year so I'll be there to do the bulk of the work around the house with you. And anyway, Dr. Jansen said you're going to have to take it easy until the baby comes, and then for a couple months after. I'm fully prepared to coddle."
****
Aanon and Dodge rounded the back of the truck and helped Farrah out. And thank goodness for the hand, because the Chevy was a lot higher off the ground than she remembered. Or maybe she was just a much different shape with a new and unimproved center of gravity.
The same waitress who had served them the day they met those months before, Clara, gave them an uncertain frown.
"I remember you. You two were in here a long time ago. Bickering from what I remember. And now look at you."
Farrah grinned over Dodge's head as Aanon stared at her with such pride in the icy blue hues of his eyes.
He hadn't even remembered her that day, and now she was his.
After putting their order in, Aanon said, "We're going to have to stop by your mom's house on the way home. She's been worrying something awful about you."
She touched the condensation on her glass of ice water, and a fat drop trickled down and disappeared into the napkin beneath. "You talked to my mom?"
"I've been bringing her food every so often."
"Aanon, you can't keep taking care of her like that. She needs to learn to stand on her own."
"It wasn't for her. I visited her for me. You talked to Miles about the custody hearings and that was your only connection with me, right? Well, talking to your mom was all I had."
"Oh," she said, swallowing hard. It was difficult to come to grips with Aanon suffering as she had those months apart. She'd do just about anything to save him pain. Even borderline desperate to see the homestead again, she agreed to the stop. It would be nice to see Mom again. Geez, she'd never thought she would ever think that, but things had changed. She had changed since she'd let Aanon into her heart. For the better.
Loaded back into the truck, the snowy Alaskan scenery she'd pined for passed by in a blur. If it wasn't for the bone-chilling cold, she'd open the window to feel the fresh air against her face. The greens and browns of the passing foliage fused with the blue-white of the fallen snow and made the most beautiful artwork she'd ever seen. Condensation clung to the inside of her window and she wrote I Love U into the moisture with her fingertip.
With a shy smile, she squeezed Aanon's hand and leaned back for him to see.
The look of adoration in his eyes was breathtaking. "I love you, too," he said in a thick voice and dragged his gaze back to the road that stretched in front of them.
Cooper Landing, Population 289, the green sign read as they passed into the town. Something lifted in Farrah. Fate kept leading her back here, and for good reason. The Landing was where she belonged.
Mom stood waving on the front porch of her house as they pulled up, as if she knew exactly when they'd show up. Maybe she did.
Hugging Farrah around the neck and laughing despite the tears in her eyes, she gave in and melted into the embrace.
"I won't keep you too long. I just wanted to be the first to see you when you came home," she rambled as she shooed them into the warmth of the house.
Dodge immediately found a chest of toys from Farrah's childhood that sat in the corner and started sorting through them.
"Where did you get that?" she asked Mom.
"I've been saving those toys in case you ever gave me a grandbaby. I had Bob bring them out of the crawl space last week. I also got these." She handed over a pack of corner protectors for baby proofing.
"Mom, this is great. I'm going to have to get some of these. I need to get a lot of things, honestly."
"Oh, I got too many so you can have the extras. We really don't have three packs worth of corners to protect the baby from, and I have two more than I need." The cabinet under the sink creaked as she dug around and muttered to herself. "Here," she said, handing them over. "And this."
A light pink gift bag with yellow tissue paper dangled from her outstretched fingers.
"What's this?" Farrah asked.
Mom had rarely given her a present growing up besides the toys that cluttered the bin. One per Christmas.
"A gift for Oleanna. Aanon told me the name."
"You did?" she asked, bewildered.
"I told everyone," he said with a sheepish grin.
"As he should. It's a beautiful name. The perfect one to suit my granddaughter." Pride filled every word.
Miles may not have liked the name she had chosen, but the people who mattered did.
Inside the bag was a onesie and pant set, pink with a yellow smiling sun that said, You Are My Sunshine.
It was possibly the cutest thing she'd ever seen. It was so tiny. She stared at it in wonder, draped across her palms. It was the first time she'd realized how small babies really were. Dodge was a sturdy three year old, and she had only been around a handful of kids, none of them newborn.
"Dodge, clean up the toys," Aanon said. "You can play with them again next time we come over." With minimal grumbling, he replaced the toys and took Aanon's hand on the way out.
In a move that surprised her to stillness, Mom clutched her shoulders and looked her square in the eye. "I'm proud of you, Farrah. I messed up everything when you were growing up, and you still turned out good. I know I can't take credit for any of that, but I'm still so proud of you I could burst. You'll make a great momma." She pulled her in for a quick hug, then turned and disappeared in the house, leaving Farrah stunned. She swayed like a tranquilized buffalo, and Aanon gripped her arm as she descended the stairs.