The Guard To My Sanctuary

Chapter 31

Marco

Elm had been a trooper sitting with me all day during work. He was six months pregnant and constantly tired, and I could tell he longed for some much-deserved alone time. Elm wasn't the most sociable of people and seemed to be really trying to be grateful for all the love and attention his family was giving him. He knew that they needed to be around him. It was about more than him being pregnant; I could see he was slowly going insane with all the coddling and the constant cycle of familial attention. Even his mother's aunts had video-called him once they learned about the baby.

I was happy to have him with me at work, even though we barely got to talk to each other throughout the day. I thought I loved what I was doing in the military, but working more on the civilian side was a hundred times better. I was making good money just for translating statements or looking through research, and my opinion was almost always taken into consideration due to my experience. Also, I have been excelling in grad school so far and could tell that if I worked hard, I might end up at the top of the class after dusting off some of the cobwebs. I had never been so happy and would only get happier if Elm liked my surprise.

"Baby, it's two-thirty. I'm ready to go," Elm reminded me. I was getting off early to take Elm to the surprise I had for him. He asked questions the whole way to my job, and I refused to answer them even when he gave me his head to coax the answer out of me.

"Alright, honey, put your bag together and let me send this file in, and we can go," I said, and he started moving around the office, gathering his computer and chargers. His stomach hadn't grown too much larger, but he was definitely showing more. I shook my focus off Elm, returned my report to the on-shift supervisor, logged off everything, and grabbed my bookbag. Elm was waiting by the door, so I walked over and grabbed his hand, and we walked into the main office.

"Hey Trafford, have a nice weekend. Bye, Elm, stay safe," my coworker Janet said with a smile. She was a sweet older lady who was almost the exact image one would picture when thinking about a soccer mom. From the bob hairstyle to the tan slacks and ruffly hem sweater, she would bring homemade vegan cookies for Elm so I could take them home. She, like almost everyone else, thought Elm was trans and pregnant, mainly because he didn't want to be looked at like an experiment, even though the lie we were pushing didn't stop the stares.

"Bye, Janet," we both said simultaneously. We continued walking out of the building, saying hello and goodbye to the people who passed. We reached my car, and Elm entered the front seat, ready to use his learner's permit. He wanted to be able to drive our kids around when they got here, so John and I worked with him for hours, teaching him how to drive. He wasn't half bad for someone with no prior experience. He buckled up and pulled out of the parking lot, driving just under the speed limit to the interstate via my directions.

"So, it's been a year since you have been back, and I was thinking about how much you have been through and how far we have come. I decided to do something big. I hope that you like it," I said to him as we got off the exit to Cupertino.

"What is the surprise that you are going to show me? You know that I hate surprises," Elm stated, annoyed at me.

"You might like this one. Wait till we get there," I said.

"Fine," he said, following my directions as we went up and down hills and passed commercial areas until I got him to our new address. I went home shopping one day alone just before Christmas and found a house I couldn't resist. The owners had just put it on the market, and I saw a lovely couple inside doing a serious walkthrough. I fell in love with everything about the house and could see Elm and me raising a family here, so I put an offer down.

I entered a savings account I started when I joined the Air Force. It had close to four hundred thousand built up through the money I put into it twice a month, the interest earned, and being lucky with my investments. Of course, I had to pay a tax on the money, but it was still enough to cover a large portion of the house. Then, I used the VA loan to cover the extra few hundred thousand, along with the money accumulated in the mutual fund I kept to buy furniture. I only hoped that Elm liked it and that I didn't waste all my money. It would suck to have put in all the work I put in, only for it to be in vain.