A Place to Call Home | 10

It's not long before Gaby's belly swells to the size of a beach ball. She's excited she'll soon be a mom, but she can't say she particularly enjoys being pregnant. If it's up to her, this'll be the first and last time she suffers through it. Luckily, relief (or at least distraction) is soon arriving in the form of a few friends she hasn't seen in years. She may not be able to travel in her condition, but that's not going to stop her from having fun.

"Oh my god, it's so good to see you guys!" she exclaims, rushing to greet her guests before they've even had time to knock.

"Careful, babe," Alvin says, lifting his head from his book as she passes. "You know you shouldn't be running around like that in your current state."

But she barely hears him. She's too busy taking in the sight of them: Juniper, Daphne, and Ros. The last time she saw them, they had all worked together to rescue Strangerville from the grips of the terrifying mother plant. She's happy to now be able to spend time with them under less stressful circumstances.

"This is a pretty swanky set-up you've got going out here," Juniper pipes up after they're all settled inside. "It must feel like you're on eternal vacation!"

"It did at first," Gaby replies, "but I've actually gotten involved in conservation, which is a lot more work than I thought it would be."

"And who's this adorable creature?" Daphne coos, kneeling to give Meli a good rub. "You're just beautiful, aren't you?"

They pass the rest of the morning catching each other up on recent developments in their lives. Gaby, as they can all clearly see, has moved to Sulani, gotten married, and found herself very knocked up. Ros and Juniper have an apartment together in San Myshuno, where Juniper does tech work for a nonprofit and Ros has become a personal trainer, a job her tough, no-nonsense personality is actually well-suited for. Daphne still lives in Strangerville. Her fledgling relationship with Evangeline didn't work out, but she's keeping herself occupied by renovating the trailer and expanding the garden. She finally feels comfortable enough there to lay down real roots, and her father is even thinking of moving back, now that the hysteria over the virus has passed.

"Enough talk, girls," Gaby says. "Are you ready to see the rest of Sulani? I've had to cram everything into a single weekend, so we're booked solid. There's no time to waste!"

"I'll stay here and hold down the fort," says Alvin. "Just promise me you and the baby will come back in one piece, okay?"

Their first destination is one of Lani St. Taz's luxurious (and expensive) upscale beach resorts.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" Daphne asks Gaby carefully when their cocktails arrive. "What with the baby and all?" It doesn't surprise Gaby that she's the motherly type, even when it comes to a baby not her own.

"It's okay. I don't think one drink is going to do any harm."

"At least you know your limits," Juniper jokes, eyeing Ros from across the bar, "unlike a certain someone who's already double-fisting a cocktail and a beer. You do realize it's barely noon, right?"

"Shut up," Ros says, pointedly guzzling half her beer. "I'm on vacation, and I'm not pregnant. Hell, yes, I'm going to enjoy myself."

They relocate to a cluster of lounge chairs with a perfect view out onto the open ocean. It's all a little bit surreal. Back in Strangerville, they never would have guessed they'd be sipping drinks from coconut shells on a tropical island one day. Then again, they weren't really thinking about much of anything except survival. But, now, their entire futures are spread out before them, worlds of endless possibility they weren't sure back then they would ever have the chance to experience.

Daphne turns to Gaby. "Do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl?"

Gaby shakes her head. "We decided we'd rather be surprised."

"But do you have any guesses?"

She smiles. "I can't explain why, but I have an inkling she's a girl. I'd like to have a daughter. Is that selfish, to hope for one over the other? Of course, I would love a boy just as much. But a daughter would feel... extra special somehow. Do you think I'll be a good mom?"

"Absolutely! No matter what the baby turns out to be, they'll be lucky to have you."

While Gaby and Daphne talk, Juniper and Ros sneak over to the other side of the pier, too excited to test the warm ocean waters to spend a second longer waiting to dive in.

It's clear they're even more in love now than the last time Gaby saw them. Ros still has her surly moments, of course, but she visibly softens every time Juniper touches her or even looks at her a certain way. And Juniper has lost the bumbling nervousness of someone with a crush they're not fully convinced is reciprocated and replaced it with easy, laidback affection. It's like they've known and loved each other their entire lives.

After they all take a refreshing dip, Gaby leads the others on a small tour, giving them just a little taste of the cultural and environmental wonders Sulani has to offer, from its native art...

...to its remarkably diverse plant and animal life...

...to its breathtakingly beautiful views.

Then its back to the water, where they pass a lazy afternoon that slowly transforms into evening.

Drifting in the middle of the ocean, as the others swim out of sight, Gaby almost feels like she's the last living person in the world. Even the baby's activity has quieted, leaving her more at peace than she's been in a long time.

It's good to momentarily have no purpose other than soaking in the boundless, impossible beauty of nature. It reminds Gaby how grand the universe really is - and how lucky she is not only to be a part of it but to be introducing a new life to its glory and abundance.

Of course, her serenity is soon interrupted, but she doesn't mind. As wonderful as it feels to be alone with the universe, it feels even better to share this particular corner of it with some of her greatest friends.

As the day winds down, Daphne finds her own form of peaceful solitude in sandcastle-building, which reminds her of a rare beach vacation she took with her parents as a kid.

Even Ros seems temporarily changed by the majesty of the island as it's cloaked in velvety darkness, her usual boisterousness replaced with awed silence.

Meanwhile, back on Mua Pel'am, Alvin spends another day searching the depths of Kelp Cave for its namesake seaweed. He spends so long inside that his guard dog, Meli, dozes off and a warm, gentle rain begins to fall from the sky.

Over the course of his many excursions into the cave, Alvin has realized that the mural on the outer cave wall, at first just an indiscernible scattering of faded paint flakes, has been seemingly restoring itself to its former glory, the picture growing more and more vivid and complete with every journey he makes. If Meli weren't enveloped in a deep blanket of sleep right now, she might see the final corner of the painting filling itself in at the exact moment Alvin cajoles a mass of seaweed from a pod of playful dolphins and feels the heft of it in his hand conjure a strange sensation inside of him, as though stirring a piece of himself he never quite realized was lying there dormant all along...

Everyone sleeps in the next morning, so they have an early lunch before heading off for another day in island paradise.

Juniper catches sight of Gaby's belly and does a double take, nearly choking on a bite of veggie burger. "Am I crazy, or have you somehow managed to get even bigger overnight?"

"I know you weren't sold on the idea when I first suggested it," Daphne tells her, "but I bet you're glad I suggested we book an entire day at the spa now, aren't you?"

Daphne is right, of course. Gaby isn't usually the type to pamper herself, but it does feel undeniably good to get her swollen feet massaged while she lies back and temporarily clears her mind of all worries.

"I knew you would love it," Daphne says, indulging in a hand massage for herself.

Juniper and Ros have chosen to forgo the massages in favor of spending an entire day luxuriating in the sauna.

Even after all that relaxation, Gaby can't help herself from changing into her wet suit (which she brought along for no particular reason...) and swimming out to clear away a pile of floating rubbish in the water. Unfortunately, there's no rest for the wicked (aka litterbugs), which means Gaby must always be ready to put on her environmentalist hat, even when she's about to burst.

Later, Alvin grills up a feast and invites over some of their friends from around the island. Meli, who has grown incredibly affectionate now that her initial days of skittishness are behind her, is overwhelmed with excitement at all the new faces.

Luckily, everyone seems to get along swimmingly.

More importantly, Daphne and Ros experience their first taste of kava, and it's a big hit.

Gaby is overjoyed to see so many friendly faces filling up her kitchen. She never envisioned her friends from Strangerville and her friends from Sulani being in the same room together. Now that it's happened, she realizes how grateful she is to have forged so many strong bonds with such amazing people over the years.

As the hour grows late, everyone gathers around the bonfire for more food and drink. In the morning, Juniper, Ros, and Daphne will have to catch an early flight back to the mainland. Gaby wishes they could stay longer, since she's suddenly filled with anxiety at the thought that she'll soon be delivering and caring for a newborn baby. But then she reminds herself that she's far from alone out here. She's got Alvin, even if he has been occupied with some secretive task that keeps him away from home for hours upon hours every day. She's got new friends - Kaimana, Mele and Alika, Lia, Makoa and Lilliana - many of whom have experienced parenthood themselves and all of whom are eager to help her out in any way they can. This child will have an entire community to support it, which means Gaby is worrying over nothing. Everything is going to turn out okay.