SUSANNA
“There they are!” I pointed at the familiar figures of our children running to us across the school grounds.
Xilvo was ahead of everyone, with Ivex close on his heels. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed them all during our trip with Xavran. I couldn’t hold back, taking off towards them.
“Hi, Mom!” Xilvo crashed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet before catching me in a hug.
“Yay! You’re back!” Ivex slammed into me from the other side, his arms wrapping tight around me.
“Easy,” Xavran laughed, catching our girls in a hug. “Don’t hurt your mother, boys!”
The kids had been getting so big. After yet another growth spurt recently, the boys were almost taller than me now. Their horns were quickly catching up with their dad’s impressive crown.
“How was camp?” I asked after all the hugs and kisses.
“Great!” Ene beamed at us. “We went swimming.”
“And we had to sleep in a shelter,” Xilvo exclaimed excitedly. “With a roof!”
“Yep,” Illal confirmed. “A real roof made of wood and leaves. They have no energy shields in the forest, so they have to make roofs to hide from the rain.
“No energy shields? Talk about roughing it.” I laughed. At least, there was no danger of any giant worms bursting through the ground that far into the terraformed territory.
Ene took her bag off her shoulder. “And we did lots of crafts.”
Xilvo dropped his bag too. “We made this for you!” He yanked something out of the bag.
“Me too!” Ivex dug into his bag as well.
“For me?” I took a string of long, colorful beads from Xilvo.
“It’s a necklace.” Ene gestured for me to lean closer, then placed a string of her own around my neck.
Illal did the same, followed by the boys. Soon, I had four strings of colorful painted cylinders cascading down my chest.
“We don’t have macaroni,” Ene explained. “So, we dried up some ustor stems, cut them up and painted them.”
“Oh...” I clutched the strings of handmade beads in my hands, my heart filling with so much emotion, I feared it’d burst.
“It’s been a year since our Mother’s Day party, right?” Illal said.
“We figured yesterday was Mother’s Day again,” Xilvo explained.
Had it been a year? Already? Time had flown by so fast. Aldrai had become my true home. All my friends and family were here. Except for Mara. She remained on Earth. From what I’d heard, Jason never proposed to her, and she was still in search of a perfect man who, I feared, didn’t exist.
Ene slid her finger down the colorful beads in my hands. “Since you were away, we couldn’t give these to you.”
“But now we can!” Ivex grinned, his smile sliding a bit sideways, just like his dad’s.
I wasn’t going to tell them that Mother's Day was celebrated on a Sunday and fell on a different date each year. It didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that I had four amazing children, and they made their version of macaroni necklaces for me.
“I...” Love filled me to the rim—warm, effervescent, and wonderful. My heart felt so full, it overflowed with tears.
“Oh no, she’s crying,” Illal gasped.
“Great job, you guys.” Ivex huffed. “We made Mom upset. On Mother’s Day.”
“But how?” Xilvo scratched behind his right horn. “What did we do?”
“Shh,” Ene hushed them. “This could be good. She cries when she’s happy too. Remember when we gave her flowers for her birthday?”
Illal perked up. “Right! And when Ene invited her to school to speak about the job of being a mother on Career Day, remember? Mom cried then too.”
“Oh, stop it...” I waved both hands in front of my face, trying to collect myself. A new bout of tears threatened to erupt from thinking about that day when Ene, the last of the four, had finally called me ‘Mom.’ I sniffled. “Just... give me a minute.”
“Come here, my heart.” Xavran wrapped me into his big, strong arms. “Tell me you’re happy or else I’ll have to find whatever made you upset and fix it.”
“Oh, I am happy, darling.” I sniffled again, wiping my tears with my arm. Kids giggled, joining us in the ‘family hug.’ “I’m so, so happy to have all of you in my life.”