Natalia looked anxiously out the window for the tenth time that morning, waiting for the sign that she'd never thought she'd see. She tried to hid her face from Amelia and Cameron so that they couldn't see the worry in her eyes as she awaited his return. It had been three years, three months, one week and five days, and now he was finally coming home. She wasn't sure weather she wanted to bonce around like a little girl or break down crying, so she settled for nervously twisting the ring on her finger. It was a bright, polished silver with a small but glistening blue diamond set in the middle. He had known that blue was her favorite color, and he wanted to get her something special.
"You aren't some other girl, Nat. You're you, and you deserve something better than clear." he had whispered in her ear as he slid the ring on and said his vows. She had smiled at that, all of her anxiety gone the moment she had stepped into the isle and seen him waiting.
When he had told her about the war, at first she thought he was joking. Cameron had just been born, of course he wasn't leaving. He was going to play catch, and go fishing, and do all of that stuff that he had talked about. He was going to grill out every Friday, and help Amelia with her homework, and read the kids bedtime stories. He wasn't leaving. He couldn't. But his eyes were dead serious. He was never that serious.
She sobbed while he held her, and Amelia watched quietly in the hall, tears making tracks down her face.
She and Amelia had taught Cameron how to walk, talk, and even write a little. His first word was "daddy." Amelia didn't tell her mother when she came home from the supermarket. Cameron's first sentence had been, "Sissy, who's daddy?"
Amelia had cried and told her mother she stubbed her toe.
On father's career day, Amelia prepared a speech of her own.
"My papa is very brave. He's away from home right now, but he'll be back soon. That's what mama tells me and Cameron. He is a good fighter, and he is good at protecting mama and Cameron and I. I love my papa very much." When she finished, Miss Elizaveta was crying.
When she asked Natalia about, she had told her that Miss Elizaveta's husband was also in the war, and that he and papa were fighting as allies.
Miss Elizaveta got a letter one day that said that her husband wasn't coming home. That made Amelia worried. What if mama got a letter like that? So every day after that, she checked the mail to make sure that there weren't any letters about papa. There weren't.
All of this flew through Natalia's mind in a matter of minutes. She glanced out the window again, and stiffened to see a car pulling into the driveway. She slowly made her way over to the screen door and opened it, stepping out onto the porch. She watched with un-shed tears in her eyes as he got out of the car and closed the door. Then she ran.
"ALFRED!" she screamed his name as the tears broke, coming in a flood down her cheeks. Her bare feet worked at the dirt of the driveway, and her arms extended and she closed the space between them. He caught her as she collapsed into his arms, sobbing. She threw her own arms around him, clasping onto the fabric of his shirt.
"Shhh. I'm here, Nat. I'm back. And I'm never leaving again. Not ever." he whispered into her hair, tears also washing down his face.
"Papa!" Amelia came rushing out of the house, her arms outstretched much like her mother's had been. She was also crying, and he caught her and pulled her into the hug.
"Papa, you're back. You're back." the twelve year old whispered, as if she was trying to convince herself that he wasn't a ghost that would slip away.
"I'm back Amelia. I'm not going anywhere." he said, gently caressing his daughter's hair the way he remembered she liked.
Suddenly, his eyes caught a little boy that was standing by the stairs to the porch, not really sure what to do. Whispering to his daughter and wife, he stood up. He made his was over to the boy, bending down to the child's height.
"Are you Daddy?" Cameron asked, his head tilted slightly sideways.
"Yes, Cameron. I'm Daddy. It's nice to meet you. I was here when you were born, you know." Alfred said, smiling. He held out a hand and the boy tentatively shook it, before launching himself into his father's arms.
"It's nice to meet you too, Daddy. I love you a whole lot." he said, nuzzling into the older man's chest.
"I love you too kiddo." Alfred said, glancing up at Natalia. In that moment, he knew that they were both thinking the same thing.
I'm home.