California

Last day before I have to go back to reality. Arwen ambled slowly down the stairs. Her father was at work and her mom was in her study doing some research for her latest magazine article. She quietly tried the study door and found it open. Peeking around the door, she saw her mother with one hand on the computer and one hand flipping through the pages of a book. She looked up.

"Come in, sweetie."

"Mom, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Anything."

"How did you know Daddy was the right man? When did you know?" Arwen's family was loving and physically demonstrative, but she'd never asked about her parent's dating life. I just never occurred to her to ask about something so personal.

"I wondered if you were going to get up enough nerve to tell me what's wrong. Don't look at me like that! I'm your mother. I've known you since before you were born and I know all your moods. You haven't been happy since you came home." Linda stood, walked over to Arwen and drew her over to the loveseat under the window. "Is it Dr. Jackson?"

"Do all mothers get psychic powers when they give birth, or just you?" Arwen leaned against her mother's shoulder. "How do I know if I'm in love with him? How do I know it wasn't just the situation? We were completely alone for almost three months and he's smart, handsome – OK, he's hot! – and the most considerate man I've ever known. But what do I do now? And I think he has someone else."

"Arwen, you'll just need to give it some time. When you go back to work with him in a couple of days, you'll know if it was just the situation. If he loves someone else, well, you'll just have to deal with it." She pulled her daughter closer and began running her fingers through her hair.

"Your father and I met on a student trip to France. He was shy and his dark, wavy hair flopped into his eyes. I was always a sucker for long-haired geeks. By the time the trip was over, I was in love. But it was kind of like you've experienced. It wasn't real life. When we got home, he was four hundred miles away and we only saw each other over vacations." Linda got up and pulled a photo album off the shelf, dropping it into Arwen's lap.

"Here we are. I was sixteen and he was seventeen. We were so young." She smiled at the memories. "When we were seniors in high school that year, we planned to attend the same university and we did. We were married two weeks after graduation and we've been happy ever since."

Arwen had heard this story before, many times, and never tired of it. "But when did you know?"

"Probably about half way though college. We'd had a terrible fight – I don't remember over what – and didn't see each other for two weeks. Those were the two most horrible weeks of my life – until you went missing. I lost about ten pounds. I threw up just thinking about food. He finally called and we both apologized. We've never had a serious argument since. Little stuff, but nothing serious. Anyway, I knew we'd be fine after that."

"Thanks, Mom. I guess I'll have to wait to see him and figure it out from there."

Linda squeezed her daughter and wished she could take the pain away. "How about if we go to the restaurant and surprise your father?"

"Sounds good. I'll go get changed."

Arwen wondered when her mother had gotten so smart. Just ten years ago, when Arwen was seventeen, her mother hadn't known anything about life.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next afternoon Arwen was on a plane back to Colorado. She still had two days before she would be back on base and see Daniel, but she'd been gone from her apartment for three months and she had to clean and get groceries, all that domestic stuff she hated.

Over the next two days Arwen decided that she would go see Daniel in his office as soon as she could. She had to know what was going on.