“Antai, please come over here for a moment.” Kadic waved to a woman wearing nurse- type clothing walking across the entrance to the women’s hut.

She approached Kadic with a radiant smile. She had short brown wavy hair and was petite in stature. “Hello, Kadic, what a lovely surprise,” she greeted him with a handshake.

“Antai, this is my girlfriend, Marissa.” He gently pushed the small of my back, getting me to address Antai directly.

Girlfriend?

“It’s lovely to meet you,” I exchanged a friendly greeting with her.

“And you, as well.” Antai gave me a wonderful smile.

“Antai, would you mind showing Marissa around the baby ward? She is curious as to how things run here.” He gave me a glance to which I narrowed my eyes, but I had promised to keep an open mind. I vowed to hold up to that promise.

“Yes, please—that would be great.” I flashed a polite grin to Antai.

Antai’s eyes lit up. “Oh, how simply wonderful. Yes, I’d love to show you around. Please, follow me.”

I did as instructed and turned around one last time to wave at Kadic, who was grinning from ear to ear. I rolled my eyes and followed Antai.

When we entered the main lobby of the women’s hut, I was impressed. The name didn’t do the building inside any justice. It was beautiful, clean, and organized; nothing at all like I had been expecting.

“Wow, it’s really nice in here.” I panned the room, scoping it out.

There were new mothers everywhere. Some were chatting on couches or rocking chairs as they bounced their new baby bundles of joy around on their knees.

Some of them nursed their babies and hugged them tightly under swaddled blankets.

“Thank you,” Antai said proudly. “We’ve worked hard to make the women’s hut the most upscale and high-end baby center on the whole planet.”

“I can tell,” I said, impressed beyond belief.

“This is Sarini. She just had her baby boy yesterday.” Antai and I walked up to a new mom who was grinning wildly and gazing love-struck at her newborn.

“Wow, he’s super cute,” I admitted as I stole a peek at him under his blanket. He slept peacefully and I had to resist the urge to reach out and touch him.

“Would you like to hold him?” Sarini looked up at me with a friendly smile.

“Who, me? Really?” I pointed to myself, surprised that this new mom would even think of allowing a stranger to hold her baby. “I’d be honored,” I said genuinely.

The woman handed me her baby ever so gently and every muscle in my body tensed up. I didn’t want to hurt the baby. I must have had a frightened look on my face because Antai patted my back.

“You’re doing great,” she praised me.

“Thanks,” I said sheepishly. I had to admit it was nice to hold a new baby. This one in particular was really soft and smelled good.

I just pray I don’t drop him.

I should have sat down before I agreed to hold him, but before long my hips began to rock and sway in a natural maternal instinct to keep the baby satisfied. I grinned. “This is fun,” I admitted.

“You seem like a real pro at this,” the baby’s mom offered.

“To be honest, I really don’t know anything about kids.” I laughed nervously.

“I would never have known it,” Antai said with warmth in her eyes.

I thought about how magical it would be to hold my own baby if holding this one that I’d never known before gave me the warm and fuzzies. I contemplated how it would feel to give birth to a person I helped grow inside my body. It seemed like an amazing idea.

I looked out the window and got a glimpse of Kadic outside. There was a little recreation area in the center of the building that was completely outside. This place was fascinating and had astounding architectural qualities I admired.

But the structure of the building wasn’t the only thing I had noticed. Kadic was currently thoroughly engaged with a little boy. If I had to guess his age, I would have guessed six or seven.

The boy was athletic and running around, giggling at Kadic’s moves.

Kadic kicked a ball to the boy, who returned the favor enthusiastically. They went back and forth for a little while with bright smiles on their faces.

Antai must have noticed me staring at Kadic through the window. “You’re really lucky to have found such an amazing man as Kadic.”

“Yeah, don’t let him get away,” one of the other moms added.

I looked at them both and pondered their assumptions. “He’s one of the most caring men I’ve ever met,” I said, the first time I’d admitted that to anyone, even myself.

“He’s patient, too. He’ll make a great leader.” This time it was Sarini who spoke up.

I had to nod in agreement with the women. It was undeniably and unmistakably true. Most men couldn’t hold a candle to the depth of Kadic’s caring, considerate, and compassionate nature.

“I haven’t exactly been nice to him recently,” I admitted to the ladies, feeling closer to them all of a sudden.

“Things take time,” Antai said without a single air of judgment in her voice, which I was grateful for.

“Yeah, it’s been a rough ride since leaving Earth. I told him I’d try to give Alpazon a chance before I decided whether to go home or not.”

I looked back out the window. He was now playing on a jungle gym set with a pair of twin girls who were chasing him. He pretended to be scared and I laughed.

“I’m glad you are willing to give him a chance,” Antai said.

I turned back to face her. The baby made a gentle cooing sound that melted my heart. “Yeah, I’m really starting to see the beauty of this world that he wanted desperately to unlock for me.”

I had been behaving like a spoiled, ungrateful guest. It dawned on me that he could have locked me up in a room and left me there until the spaceship arrived, but he didn’t. He saw the beauty in me and wanted me to see it for myself, too.

He’d given me a chance when I didn’t deserve one. Tears collected in my eyes and threatened to spill onto my cheeks. I looked up at the ceiling to contain them.

“I’ve been wrong about him the whole time,” I murmured and stared blankly out the window.

Antai squeezed my hand. “At least you see the light now.”

I sighed and gave her a heartfelt smile. It was time I looked past Kadic’s alien exterior and looked instead to his heart and his character.