Going Home

“How do I look?” Mia demanded anxiously of her husband.

Joshua briefly took his eyes off the road to glance at his pregnant wife. “Beautiful – like always.” Ever since they had deplaned at LA-X, she had been fussing. They had battled two vampires for their very souls and she hadn’t been this twitchy. He wasn’t certain at six months pregnant it was good for her to be this tightly wound.

After they had returned home free of their vampiric curse, Joshua had set about finding her parents. They had moved from their upstate New York home, but it hadn’t taken long to locate them in California. Mia had been the one to hesitate about contacting them. How would they react to a long lost daughter returning nearly 27 years later – and not have aged but a year? Her discovery of her pregnancy and a horrible first trimester of morning sickness had kept her from the decision. The Sheppards were about to become grandparents – and she thought they should know. At last, she had made her mind up; so here they were driving out to Malibu.

The day they returned from their showdown with the dark prince was the day their lives had begun truly as one. They had made tender love – and Mia insisted that was when their child was conceived. Joshua had very sweetly asked she speak their vows for the world to know, to become legally joined. Then he had taken her to Disney World – and she had gotten slightly sunburned. It had been the most joyous, perfect day!

“If you don’t settle down,” Joshua warned, “I’ll turn this car around.”

“How do I explain? Who would believe this story? How—“

“Whoa! You’re gonna stroke out and that’s not good for the baby. They love you. You love them. All they’ll care about it the fact you’re alive. The rest will come.”

Standing at thedoor of the Sheppards’ sprawling beach house, Mia turned to Joshua.

“If you ask me how you look, I promise I’m outa here.”

Mia’s mouth snapped shut as he reached for the doorbell.

The door swung open and Mia was faced with – herself. Well, not exactly. This young woman had shorter hair and was not pregnant. Still it was a near mirror image.

The young woman stared at her – no doubt thinking the same thoughts. After a moment, she asked, “May I help you?”

“I—um—I am looking for Carl and Elise Sheppard,” Mia stated uneasily.

“Michelle, who is it?” a female voice called.

“Mama?” Mia cried.

“Oh, my God! It can’t be!” Elise Sheppard had been 43 when her first-born had disappeared. Now at 70, she was faced with the daughter she had given up for dead. “Mia?” she whispered disbelievingly.

“Yes, Mama, it’s Mia.”

“How?…” Elise’s eyes dropped to the girl’s rounded belly and then to the young man who stood behind her. “Never mind that. You need to sit down.”

“Oh, Mama!” Mia flung herself at her mother joyously, receiving her first maternal hug in 27 long years. “I’ve missed you so!”

“I told you she wouldn’t care what you looked like,” Joshua muttered to himself as the family reunion was taken inside.