Veil of Silence (13 page)

“You’re having a baby?” she asked, surprised.  As if having a new brother and sister wasn’t a surprise.

“
We’re
having a baby,” Heather corrected immediately, prepared for the question.

Marsha looked at Heather with a grateful smile.  “Yes, Hayley, we are going to have another baby soon.”

“How soon?”

“I don’t know.  We’ll have to find that out.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“I don’t know.  Which would you like to have?”

The little girl thought about it as her sister looked on.  This was a strange conversation to be having, and while her English wasn’t perfect, she was following it.  She couldn’t recall her gradam—her other mother, Papa’s first wife—ever talking like this.  She was fascinated.  “I think I would like another sister, but that wouldn’t be fair to Amir.”

“Why wouldn’t it be fair to Amir?” she asked, but she smiled, thinking she knew the answer.  The little girl was trying to be fair.

“Well, we have two moms,” she began and the adults nodded, encouraging her.  “He’s the only boy.  He should have another boy to even things out.”

“That sounds about right,” Heather agreed with a smile, “but, you know, it just might be a girl again.”

“Nope, it should be a boy,” the little girl asserted stoutly.

“Well, we will go to the doctor’s in the next few days and make sure Mom is okay,” Heather told her.  “We also have to get her some clothes!  She can’t wear that all the time.”

Marsha looked down at the stretched and taut t-shirt and sweats.  “What’s wrong with this?  Isn’t this what all the fashionable captains are wearing this time of year?”

“I’m sure the army will have something to say about that.”

“I’m sure they will have a lot to say about many things,” she agreed as she sobered at the thought.  She wasn’t looking forward to the interrogations she would be going through.  They had been hard on her in Kabul and she could only imagine what they would put her through here.  Remembering the beatings she had taken back in the hills for speaking her mind or talking too much, she wasn’t inclined to share.

“What were you thinking just now?” Heather asked.

Marsha shook her head, unable or unwilling to share.  Just then the doorbell rang and she jumped at the sound.  The raucous noise was something she wasn’t used to.

“Easy there, it’s just the doorbell,” Heather tried to make it amusing as she got up to answer.  “You stay there and finish your dinner,” she told Hayley, who tried to get up to see who was at the door.  “You too,” she joked to Marsha.  She could see the noise had unsettled her, or perhaps her thoughts had.

Marsha was surprised at how the doorbell had alarmed her.  The sound had set her pulses racing.  She could feel the anxiety that immediately started.  She was sweating, so she took a sip of the water from her glass.  She could hear Heather clearly in the small house.

“Yes?” Heather answered the door.

“I have a package for Captain Gagliano?” the crack in the visitor’s voice indicating he was either very young or had a speech impediment.

Marsha heard and pulled herself up.  “Stay here,” she looked pointedly at Amir and Bahir.  She waddled her way into the living room, feeling every bit of the journey it had taken to get home the past few days.

Heather heard Marsha get up from the kitchen table so she told the private at their door, “One moment.”  She turned as Marsha came around the corner of the kitchen so she missed the widening of the private’s eyes, but Marsha didn’t.

“What do you have for me, Private?” she asked him as she waddled up.

“You are Captain Gagliano?” he asked, unsure.

“Yes, I am,” she assured him, feeling very ungainly. 

He quickly saluted, nearly dropping his package.  “I have some clothes for you, ma’am,” he sounded official and then dubious.

“Is there a problem, Private?” she asked, resuming the sound of command she had been used to so long ago as a lieutenant.

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am.  The clothes were issued based on your previous size,” he answered with an almost audible gulp, realizing he was being forward and possibly insubordinate.

Marsha nearly laughed.  Instead, she fixed her face so as not to betray anything as she ordered, “Then I suggest that accommodations be made to alleviate this problem, don’t you think, Private?”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” he said, saluting again.  “I’ll leave your insignia and be back with the proper clothing.”

“That would be fine,” she told him.

He quickly rummaged in the parcel and handed her a small box.  Saluting once more, he turned and marched quickly away.  Heather closed the door, amused.  “You missed doing that, didn’t you?” she teased.

“Doing what?” Marsha asked, trying to sound innocent as she opened the box to reveal her captain’s bars.

“My, don’t those look pretty,” Heather said, rubbing Marsha’s arm.

“Yeah,” she answered almost reverently.  “And about time, eh?”  She looked at Heather.  They had both wanted this way back when, or at least she had told herself they both wanted it.  She knew she wanted it.  Heather had wanted her home.

“Let’s finish dinner,” Heather suggested.

* * * * *

Bedtime was awkward as the children needed baths.  Heather solved the problem by letting the children bathe together.  Already fast friends, they played and made such a mess that they were reluctant to get out.  Heather could see they were all tired out by the full day.  She found that old t-shirts of Marsha’s fit like dresses on the children and included Hayley in the odd outfits.

“How are we going to arrange the sleeping?” Marsha asked as she finished up washing the dishes.  She felt it was only fair since her wife had cooked.

Heather at first misunderstood, thinking that Marsha was talking about them.  Then, realizing she meant the children, she answered, “Let them all sleep in Hayley’s room tonight.  We will have to see about getting more beds.”

Marsha realized her mistake as soon as the words were out of her mouth and she saw Heather’s reaction.  She nodded.  “That sounds like a good idea.”  She decided to ignore the awkward tension she felt building between her and her wife.

The children were soon in Hayley’s room with extra blankets and Heather even managed to make a tent fort with Marsha’s assistance so that as the children camped out on the floor together, they could sleep.  She read them a story with Marsha looking on.

This was some of what she had dreamed to come home to so long ago.  She hadn’t wanted to take that extra tour, but with Captain’s pay she could retire with the benefits they would need to raise their daughter and she could get a job.  She hadn’t planned for any of this to happen.  She had been on her way home to them.  She looked at the other two children and her hand cupped her big belly.  She didn’t regret them.  She just hadn’t planned on them.

Just as the children were falling to sleep, the doorbell rang again.  Heather looked up sharply to see Marsha flinch and then clutch at her chest.  “Are you okay?”

Marsha nodded as she turned from where she had been leaning in the doorway, admiring what was so obviously a little girl’s room devoted to their daughter.  The pink ponies on the wall made her wonder what cartoons and shows children watched nowadays.  The heart pounding hit her again and she clutched at her chest as she turned to head for the front door.

“Who’s here, Mommy?” Hayley asked, sleepily.  She was enjoying the story and had just dozed off.

“Shhhh, or do you want me to stop reading?”

“No, more,” she protested.

“More,” Amir parroted, showing he wasn’t quite as asleep as Bahir, who didn’t answer.

“Yes?” Marsha said as she opened the door.  She saw it was the private back again.

“Ma’am, I have your clothing,” he said respectfully as he attempted to salute her.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely.  “You think you have the right sizes now?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he assured her.

“How do you know?”  She was curious.

“My sister was pregnant and I guessed,” he blushingly told her as he held out the stack of neatly folded clothes.

“Let’s see what you have here,” she ignored his blush and the comment about his sister as she unfolded the uniform.  The shirt was enormous and she knew it had to be in a men’s size.  It would probably cover her quite well, like a tent.  “What else you got?” she asked, looking at the pants.  They too were enormous, but she was certain with a pin or two she could make them fit.  “Thank you, Private.  These will do nicely.”

“I’m to escort you tomorrow, ma’am,” he informed her, again blushing.

“Escort me?” she asked, concerned.

“To Major Osborn’s office,” he stated, his eyebrows beetling as though she should know.

“Oh, yes,” she answered.  “What time?”

“Ten okay with you, ma’am?”

“Ten is fine,” she answered.  “Good night, Private,” she told him as she closed the door, taking the clothes with her to the bedroom.

Heather found her holding the oversized clothing up to her body.  “What is that?” she asked, trying not to laugh.

“Apparently, this is what I’m wearing tomorrow,” she answered dryly.  She could see the humor in it, but she wasn’t feeling very humorous at the moment.  She was tired, very tired, and wanted a bath desperately.  A shower would have to do, but she wanted to soak in a hot tub.  She knew that was bad for a pregnant woman, but she craved that to-the-bone heat.  Sighing, she hung up the slacks and shirt.

“Do you want me to iron those?”

“Oh, would you?” she answered gratefully.

“Sure,” she reached to pull them off the hanger Marsha had just put them on.

“You don’t have to do it tonight,” she protested.

Heather shrugged as she continued carrying the clothes out of the bedroom, taking them to the kitchen.  Marsha shrugged and went into the bathroom to shower.

CHAPTER TEN

“Moray is only going away for a little while.  Mommy will be here to watch you,” Marsha explained for the third time.  Leaving the little ones was going to be hard and they were frightened since they didn’t even have Hayley, who’d gone back to school today.

“Don’t go,” Bahir whined in Tajik.

“Baby,” she used the same language, “Moray has to go, it’s her duty.  You wouldn’t want me to get into trouble, would you?”

The little girl understood that.  She glanced at Heather who was watching them.  She wasn’t sure she liked this other woman that her moray was calling Mommy.

“Come on, Bahir.  It will be fun,” Heather promised.  She already had Amir in her arms.  He’d said goodbye without a peep, but she could tell he too would be crying if Bahir kept this up.  She’d watched how effortlessly Marsha spoke in the foreign tongue to the little girl and wondered what they had said.

Marsha finally just had to hand Bahir off to Heather.  Her expression was apologetic, but she had to get out.  The private was waiting with a staff car to drive her to the major.  She heard Bahir crying in the house as she shut the door behind her.  She was sure this was going to be a long day.

The private was impressed with how smart she looked in the oversized clothes.  He didn’t know it, but Heather had pinned and pulled and made it look fitted to Marsha’s overbloated body.  Her cap was set at the proper angle and her captain’s bars gleamed.  Heather had even found her some dress shoes that she shined up.  Her ribbons and accommodations were pinned neatly over her chest, confiscated from some of her other dress uniforms that she had left at home.  She was ready for this. 

Marsha wondered what they would ask.  She knew they would want her to recount everything that had happened to her, but it would be hard.  She wasn’t used to talking openly anymore…that had been beaten out of her a long time ago.  She was used to standing and waiting to be seen.  She was used to being quiet.  She didn’t know if she wanted to tell them, but she knew she had no choice.

* * * * *

Heather watched as Marsha drove away, escorted by the private who had brought her the clothing yesterday.  She looked fine in her dress blues.  She didn’t have all her ribbons on her chest, just the few they had taken from other clothes.  They’d have to replace those, but the captain’s bars looked fine.  The oversized shirt and pants hid nothing, but they made her look a lot more comfortable as she waddled off.  How Marsha had hidden that waddle the previous day, Heather didn’t know.  Now it was more pronounced, but perhaps she was still a bit tired.  She’d slept soundly.  Both of them kept to their own side of the bed, but just knowing she was home helped Heather to sleep better.  Finding her leg touching her wife’s was a comfort.  Neither felt comfortable yet holding the other for anything more than a hug or two, but Heather hoped that would change.  They needed to talk.  It wasn’t like Marsha not to tell her things.  This silence was unnerving.  They’d had such a good relationship before….

“Mommy,” Bahir said almost formally, not realizing the meaning of the name.  It was close enough to moray that she accepted it.  She was used to having two mothers.  Malekah had been her first mother even though she knew that Mahsa was the mother that had birthed her.  She accepted that as their way.  The tribe had other couples with two wives.  She was too young to realize that these two mothers were different.