December 20th – a Year Earlier
The entire room suddenly surged like a tsunami towards Wyatt and Gretchen.
Julie, Heidi, and Claire crying, sped down the spiral stairs from the piano balcony while Dieter raced across the room from the other side.
Dieter in a fog along with the others stopped just short of Gretchen. He didn’t know who to greet first. His wonderfully alive little Gretchen girl or the small stranger shyly hiding behind her very pregnant mother. He looked down at Helen peering up at him and then at Gretchen. Gretchen nodded Dieter towards Helen. Dieter knelt in front of her. She seemed a little apprehensive as she looked around at the forest of people towering above her.
“Helen, this is my daddy…your grandfather,” said Gretchen as she gently pushed her daughter towards Dieter. “The bessssst cook in the whole wide world.”
Dieter, tears flowing, held out his arms. Helen grinned…
“Gran-daddddy!”
…and she leaped into his embrace.
Meanwhile, Wyatt looked up from the baby he cradled and smiled serenely at Julie, Heidi, and Claire trembling in front of him. His wives didn’t know what to do while he held a baby.
Wyatt glanced at Dieter hugging Helen and then at Julie. He nodded towards Helen. “We named our first daughter after your mother Julie,” said Wyatt. “Helen Z-Morgen.”
Julie looked at Helen in Dieter’s arms and sighed.
Wyatt turned to Heidi. “Heidi, we named this little girl after your mother,” said Wyatt. “Her name is Anna Z-Morgen.”
Wyatt gently transferred Anna to Heidi’s excited arms. The moment he did, Julie and Claire mobbed Wyatt and refused to stop kissing and hugging him.
“We thought we had lost you,” they said as they cried and cried until finally exhausted, they rested themselves on his shoulders.
“As I watched the life drain from you, I felt like I was dying too,” sobbed Julie.
Dieter picked up a delighted Helen in his arm and stood. Then he carefully wrapped his free arm around Gretchen’s bulging figure and kissed and hugged her again and again while curious little Helen played with his ear. Handing off Anna to an adoring Claire, Heidi waded through the boisterous crowd around Wyatt to help Julie kiss him.
After several minutes in Wyatt’s arms, Heidi drew back in a moment of realization. She looked at Helen on Dieter’s shoulder, at Claire holding Anna, and finally at a very pregnant Gretchen.
“Wait a second, you wascally Wabbit,” said a happy but confused Heidi. “You have a lot of explaining to do. It’s pretty obvious what you two have been up to. But how is this all possible? You’ve only been gone a day.”
Playing with Anna’s grabby little hand, Claire looked at Wyatt.
“Yes, Wyatt,” said a curious Julie before Claire said anything. “Where have you two been?”
Meanwhile, Claire like Julie did the math in her head.
“Merde,” exclaimed Claire. “You two must have been gone at least three years!”
Heidi chuckled at her sister. “Wyatt has certainly kept you barefoot and pregnant.”
Gretchen smiled at her sister. “In our other world, females can decide whether or not they want to be fertile,” said Gretchen. “We can also decide the sex of the baby.”
Gretchen looked at Claire and patted her stomach. “Claire, this one is named after your mother, Sara.”
Helen, who sat on Dieter’s lap, joyfully chimed in. “Daddy teach me swim!”
Wyatt knelt and tickled Helen on her stomach. “And Daddy’s little girl is such a good little swimmer. Isn’t she?”
Helen giggled. When she had enough, Helen hugged her daddy to make him stop.
“I love you, Daddy,” said Helen as the room sighed.
“I love my little porpoise too,” replied Wyatt, squeezing her.
“By the way,” said Gretchen, grinning at Julie, Heidi, and Claire. “You three have a lot to look forward to while you’re pregnant. He’s a very attentive husband and father. He has me spoiled rotten. Do you know I haven’t had to get up even once in the middle of the night to change a diaper?”
“You married my sister?” blurted Heidi.
Gretchen held up her left hand with a gold ring on it while Wyatt held up his hand with two wedding bands.
“Since we were sharing a bed every night, I thought it was the right thing to do,” said Wyatt. “We didn’t believe we were ever returning here again.”
“Wyatt has missed you three so much he wouldn’t take off your wedding ring,” said Gretchen. “And I never asked him to. Soon as he realized that I was pregnant with Helen, Wyatt and I had a ceremony with a few of our other-world friends.”
“So where have you two been?” asked Claire again.
Wyatt looked at Gretchen sitting on the couch next to Dieter while Raelene held her hand. Gretchen smiled at him while she held her stomach and nodded. Glancing around the room Wyatt noticed that all eyes were on him. Scratching his head, he wondered where to begin.
“I don’t know exactly where we live,” he said. “Gretchen and I have a comfortable two-story log house with a large porch on a beautiful lake underneath a wonderful sky.”
“Daddy,” shouted Helen. “We sail.”
“Yes, we do,” said Wyatt, grinning at his little girl as she giggled.
Gretchen held a finger to her lips. “Shhh, Helen honey,” she said firmly. “Allow Daddy to finish.”
“Gretchen has a garden and I have a greenhouse,” continued Wyatt, “and every day a half cord of wood appears at the side of the house and I take off my shirt and split wood while Gretchen watches. After I’m done, the wood disappears.”
“It probably goes to Pablo’s house,” commented Gretchen. “He’s always using a lot of wood. I remember him saying over some wine one night that being warm like Spain inspires him to paint better.”
Wyatt chuckled. “Yeah, probably Pablo.”
He glanced at Heidi. “Thanks to a certain white garter, Gretchen was pregnant immediately. Four months after the birth of Helen, we both wanted another child so she became pregnant again…”
Wyatt became worried. He looked at Julie, Heidi, and Claire.
“Are you angry?” he asked. “We’re still married, aren’t we? Technically, I guess you could opt out since I was dead.”
Julie jokingly poked Wyatt in the chest with her finger. “You seem pretty darn alive to me.”
Julie looked at Heidi and Claire. “How about you two?”
Claire leaped into Wyatt’s arms. “You’re not getting out of your responsibilities that easy, monsieur!”
Wyatt looked down at Heidi sitting on the couch. He saw tears forming in the corners of Heidi’s eyes. “How about you little bunny?”
Heidi stood, and Wyatt wrapped his other arm around her. “I’m pregnant with your child, Wyatt,” said Heidi warmly against him. “What do you think?”
Wyatt smiled and gripped them tightly.
In the background, Konrad spoke while he gently rocked and admired Anna. “What I want to know is…well…uh…you were dead. So…how did…were…you able to return?”
Wyatt glanced upward at Michael, Rachel, and Erin on the piano balcony above. “Michael woke Gretchen and I up a little while ago and told us to get the kids ready to leave. He was taking us back,” said Wyatt. “I understand from Erin that Michael has been exiled to Earth again for his defiance.”
Everyone silently looked upward at Michael. Claire, with tears in her eyes, clapped while she mouthed “thank you” to him. From everywhere, hands swiftly came alive and tentacles slapped together with loud cheers of bravo.
While the room thundered around him, Rachel whispered into Michael’s ear while she rubbed his arm. “I don’t know how it’s possible to love you any more than I do at this moment, but I’m going to try.”
Suddenly, over the cheering, Raelene shouted, “Dr. Collins, we need you! Gretchen’s water just broke!”
Rushing to Gretchen’s side, Wyatt with Dr. Collins helped her from the couch.
“Let’s get you to the hospital,” advised Dr. Collins.
“Thank you, but no thanks,” replied Gretchen. “Sara needs to be born here. Take me to one of the guestrooms.”
Dr. Collins looked at Wyatt. “She’s right, Doc,” said Wyatt. “Can you handle it here?”
“Sure,” he said, “but I’m going to need a few things.”
Michael appeared next to them.
“The first guestroom on the right has everything you’ll need, Dr. Collins,” said Michael. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
Wyatt helped Gretchen down the hallway until they reached the guestroom door. Then, despite Wyatt’s persistence, Raelene took over and very firmly shooed Wyatt away while allowing Heidi to be present to comfort her sister. Realizing Heidi’s need to be with her sister at this moment was greater than his need to be in the room Wyatt relented.
When he returned to the living room Wyatt found Michael waiting for him with a margarita while the mood in the house had completely changed from despair to celebration. Margaritas seemed to be in every hand, courtesy of Michael.
“Did you enjoy splitting wood?” asked Michael.
“I did,” said Wyatt, “but I liked Gretchen watching me chop more. She said it made her feel pretty.”
“It got you three daughters,” said Michael, grinning.
Wyatt put his arm on Michael’s shoulder and changed the subject. “Michael, I really want to thank you. I know it cost you a lot.”
Michael laughed. “It’s a slap on the wrist.”
He glanced around the room. “Besides, this is a pretty nice prison.”
“Nevertheless,” said Wyatt, “we owe you.”
“Just take care of our family,” said Michael as he sipped his margarita. “You know Rachel and I are going to be adding to it soon.”
“In the meantime, drink up,” advised Michael. “You need to decompress. After all, you’ve been dead for almost three years.”
A half hour later, Dr. Collins held out his hands while Heidi and Raelene propped up Gretchen’s shoulders.
“She’s almost here. One more time,” he urged. “Push!”
Gretchen grimaced and pushed.
Crying.
“Oh, my!” blurted an amazed Dr. Collins. “I can see why you wanted to give birth here.”
Wyatt walked across the room to Glorb-O and shook hands. Commander Pinky, unable to restrain herself any longer, gave Wyatt a big, crushing tiger hug. When she finally let go Wyatt turned to Glorb-O.
“I understand from Michael that the Empire intended to offer me the initial ULE ambassadorship to Earth before I died,” said Wyatt.
Glorb-O’s three eyes widened in surprise. “Michael seems to know everything.”
“I’ll take the job under one condition,” said Wyatt.
“And that is…” asked Glorb-O.
“That Gretchen is my equal partner in the job.”
Meanwhile, on the couch, as Dieter held Anna, his hand felt something strange through her blanket. He turned to Julie and Claire sitting next to him playing with Helen and pointed to Wyatt.
A few seconds, after Julie took Wyatt away, Glorb-O and Commander Pinky clinked margarita glasses.
“Well, that was easy,” said a happy Glorb-O. “The Emperor will be extremely pleased.”
“Dieter, you wanted to ask me about something,” said Wyatt as he knelt and played with Anna’s giggling little fingers.
“Yeah, Wyatt,” replied Dieter. “I was holding my hand here on Anna’s back and…”
Just then, on the other side of the room, Dr. Collins holding Sara emerged from the hallway with Heidi and Raelene.
“Wyatt,” said Dr. Collins. “I need to show you something!”
Wyatt turned and saw the way Dr. Collins held Sara on top of the blanket.
“Oh my God!” he shouted. “Don’t hold her like that!”
But, too late…
Wings flapped and despite Dr. Collins’s last-minute grab, naked little Sara flew towards the ceiling. Anna’s eyes opened wide when she heard her little sister’s wings, and before Dieter noticed, Anna had crawled from her blanket and flew after her crying little sister just beyond everyone’s reach.
Meanwhile, Helen, not to be left out of the fun, allowed her wings to become visible and raced after her two sisters.
“Wheeeee!” squealed Helen, delightfully giggling and spinning about.
Round and round the living room ceiling, Helen and Anna, highly entertained, chased their new sister.
“Oh shit,” cursed an amused Wyatt under his breath as he watched.
Wyatt’s wings became visible, and he extended them, WHOOSH, almost knocking over Thomas and Jeremy.
When Helen, Anna, and Sara heard Wyatt’s authoritative big wings unfold, they instinctively flew to him. Doctor Collins held out the baby blanket and Wyatt wrapped up Sara cozy and warm but tight. And while Wyatt apprehended Sara, Dieter took her curious sister into custody and, following Wyatt’s example, wrapped her up tight as well. Afterwards Wyatt retracted and disappeared his wings.
“Sara was just hungry and searching for her mom,” said Wyatt as he chuckled and looked around at the amazed beings staring at him while he gently rocked his new daughter.
He held Sara up with pride for all to see. “Isn’t our little Sara beautiful?” he shouted with joy.
Helen hovered next to her father. “Daddy,” she asked. “Me ok fly inside now?”
Wyatt kissed his daughter on the cheek. “As much as you want my little birdie.”
Helen giggled and happily fluttered around the room as her astonished new family watched.
Dieter looked down at his giggling granddaughter gazing inquisitively up at him with her smiling big curious blue eyes.
“Well, that answers my question,” said an amazed Dieter.
Next to him, Claire and Julie goofily grinned at each other while wondering about Wyatt later.
“I think we’re going to need a bigger bedroom,” said Julie, unconsciously fiddling with the top button of her blouse.
“…with a higher ceiling,” commented Claire.
Across the room, Glorb-O clinked glasses with Commander Pinky again.
“Our new Ambassadors have wings. The Emperor is not going to believe how all the elements of the ancient prophecy have fallen into place this fast,” proclaimed an overjoyed Glorb-O with a big toothy smile as he looked across the room at Wyatt. “Instruct their personal residential security detail to report as soon as possible!”
“Also,” he added, “make sure Wyatt has a passive security bubble over him at all times.”
Everybody watching at that moment had a different reaction to the flutter of wings about them, but then, as almost one mind, everyone also realized that their lives together were, suddenly, …a lot more interesting.