A couple of weeks later, Yuri and Erica were allowed to bring Mason home from the hospital. He'd been moved from the NICU to the regular nursery. A nurse met them at its entrance and helped to strap the baby into the car seat. To Erica he still looked unbelievably tiny.
"Hi, Mason." She spoke his name very softy, and he opened his eyes and gazed at her. "You're coming home today to meet your big sisters Toni and Sonya. Won't that be fun?"
Yuri carried the car seat to the car and fastened it into the middle of the back seat. Then he and Erica got into the car and rode the short ride home, stopping at the neighbors' briefly to pick up Toni and Sonya. The girls sat one on either side of Mason on the way home, gazing in silence at their sleeping baby brother.
Mason began to cry when Erica removed him from his car seat at home, and Erica immediately felt both her breasts begin to leak, soaking the front of her shirt. Yuri quickly got both girls occupied with a video game while Erica went into the bedroom to nurse her son for the very first time. Since her milk had come in, she'd used a breast pump and taken the milk to the hospital for Mason, looking forward to the day when she'd be able to feed him herself.
Quickly she opened her shirt and nursing bra, and little Mason latched on hungrily and began to nurse. Erica stroked the fuzzy down on the top of his head and watched as his soft spot pulsed. Soon he was asleep again, and she gently laid him in his crib and went to join Yuri and the girls.
Caring for a newborn was physically draining at first, but after a few days, things settled down and life finally seemed back to normal. Toni and Sonya were both crazy about their new baby brother. Erica showed them how to support his head when they held him so that it wouldn't fall back.
One night Erica was sitting in the rocking chair nursing Mason and singing to him when she glanced up to see Yuri watching her with a smile.
She smiled back. "What is it?"
He came to stand beside her and stroked her hair. "I was just thinking about what a wonderful wife and mother you are, Erica, and how lucky I am to have you."
She blushed with pleasure at the unexpected complement. "Well, I think I'm pretty lucky too."
His finger lightly touched her cheek. "So you think you are lucky to be married to man who came to your country to make war against it?"
"You were only doing what was expected of you, Yuri. I always realized that and never held it against you."
Mason had finished nursing and was fast asleep. Erica stood and gently laid him in his crib. Then Yuri took her into his arms and held her. "I love you, Erica."
"I love you too, Yuri."
"I know you do."
They went to bed and fell asleep in one another's arms.
Many thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story. :)