As Yvonne lay in bed dozing off, her cell rang on the bedside table next to her. Reaching over for the phone, she looked at the caller ID and answered.

“Mack…” she began, her tone apologetic.

“What did I ever do to you, Yvonne?”

“Hear me out, okay? I’ve got a plan.”

“You’d better, because I’ve got our fearless leader up my butt to manage a team of angry subordinates, and I am in no way qualified for this!”

She sounded nearly hysterical, and Yvonne felt for her. She knew that feeling—she had lived with it for several months, in fact.

“I know it seems crazy. What did John tell you?”

“He said you’re shirking your duties and would likely be fired by Monday. Then he told me you suggested I take your place, so I better not screw up like you did!”

Yvonne felt a rush of anger. Of course that’s what he said, the monster.

“That’s not entirely true. I’ve told him that I’m experiencing a family emergency, but I’ve also booked a flight to Abu Algar in the morning.”

“You’re chasing after Zadid? Why? He’s the one that left us. It’s not like he’s coming back, Yvonne. You have to get over this!”

She thought for a moment about whether or not to tell her friend about the pregnancy. It was an infallible reason for missing work if there ever was one, but she knew that Zadid deserved to hear the news first. She tucked that information away, her shoulders tense with guilt as she worked to explain herself as best she could.

“Look, Mack, I’ve got an idea. If this works, I might be able to convince Zadid to come back to the company, and everyone will stand to benefit. I just need you to stand up for me, cover for me while I’m away. Tell him there are things I know that no one can duplicate, and you’ll have to wait until I get back. Do you think you can do that?”

There was a pause as Mackenzie calmed herself.

“I’m the office manager. I can do anything.”

A rush of relief poured through her as she sent a mental hug across the phone line.

“You’re amazing, Mackenzie, you know that?”

“You’ve had my back since we started, Yvonne. I won’t let you down. Just please try and hurry. There’s no guarantee that I’ll still have a job by the time you get back.”

“I understand. He really is a beast, isn’t he?”

“That’s the understatement of the century. I can think of many better four-letter words to describe what he is.”

“I think we all can. Wish me luck. Hopefully I’ll come back from this journey unscathed.”

“You sure you don’t want to tell me what’s really going on? I can tell you’re hiding something.”

Yvonne felt compelled to spill her secret, to confide in a friend about the crazy day she had just experienced, but she knew that she would feel bad if she did. Zadid first, the world second.

“I promise to tell you in a few days when I get back, okay? Just try and keep the building afloat until I do.”

“You got it, Boss. Good luck to us all.”

“You said it,” Yvonne replied.

They ended the call amiably, with Yvonne feeling a tiny bit better about how things would be when she returned. Mackenzie may have been a tiny woman, but she was beyond fierce. She could hold her own against John Smalls, Yvonne was sure.

Relaxed from her bath and hopeful for the future, Yvonne was able to snuggle into her cozy mattress and fall fast asleep, imagining the scent of Zadid still on her pillows from their beautiful night together. As the world began to warm, she held onto that Christmas dinner with all her heart, hoping against hope that there might be a happy ending in store for her when all was said and done.

* * *

Her alarm beeped loudly, jarring her awake in the wee hours of the morning. After her unintentional sleep-in all those weeks ago, Yvonne had permanently changed the tone of her alarm, and it was far from pleasant. She slammed her hand on the clock to shut it up, rolling off the bed as she made quick work of getting dressed, her packed suitcase already waiting for her by the door.

She turned and cast one last look at her apartment, wondering once again what she would do with a family of four there.

She caught a cab to the airport, waiting in endless lines, wondering if it was safe for her to go through a security X-ray with her unborn children in her belly, then waiting some more. When she finally got on her first plane, she was already nodding off in her seat, crammed in as she was.

Buying a last-minute ticket to Abu Algar turned out to be quite the feat, with her sitting in a cramped middle seat for fifteen hours, her only distraction a series of movies she had already seen. Some of them she had actually seen with Zadid. Granted, it was usually part of some kind of business venture, but she had always enjoyed the interesting outings they went on in the name of finance.

As time passed, she had ample opportunity to think of worst-case scenarios as she tortured herself with thoughts about what might happen when she landed in Abu Algar. She thought back to the conversation she’d had with Zadid about going there someday, and he had mentioned he wanted to take her. Did he know at the time that he would be going there and never coming back?

“Excuse me, miss, but you look kind of down.”

An older woman was sitting next to her, gazing up at her with kind, watery eyes. Yvonne forced a smile.

“Not at all. It’s just a long flight.”

“I know. It’s been twelve hours with three more to go. Still, I’ve been keeping an eye on you, and you’ve had that look on your face since takeoff.”

Yvonne cleared her throat, unsure of what to say.

“Would you like a cookie?”

“What?” Yvonne asked with a laugh.

The woman reached into her bag and held out a prepackaged cookie with frosting inside.

“I find that cookies always make me feel better when I’m down. Especially when I was pregnant.”

“How do you…” she began, but the woman shook her head.

“I have a feeling about these kinds of things. You don’t look pregnant, but you certainly are. You have the glow.”

Unable to deny the truth to the stranger, Yvonne accepted the cookie, opening the packing and taking a bite. The rush of sugar gave her an instant stomach ache, and she set it on her tray table.

“The babies don’t have a sweet tooth, huh?”

“How do you know there’s more than one?”

The woman tapped her forehead.

“Let’s just say I have some abilities that others don’t. I think you should know that everything is going to work out totally fine. You’ll see. All of them will be healthy and strong, including you.”

Yvonne stared down at her with a creased brow. There was no way that woman could have guessed that she was pregnant with multiples! What kind of game was she playing?

“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want, and you certainly don’t have to eat that cookie if they don’t want it. I just wanted to let you know, you’ll be all right, dear. You’ll be just fine.”

Yvonne felt the urge to cry at her words. She was exhausted and uncomfortable and her mind was tortured beyond belief, and the kind words of a strange woman somehow made it better and worse, all at once.

“I hope so,” Yvonne replied, her voice shaking with unshed tears.

“Now, now. You’ll get there. Here,” the woman said, holding out a clean, white handkerchief.

Yvonne accepted it, dabbing her eyes delicately before handing it back to the woman. She put up her hands to refuse it.

“You keep it. It will remind you to be strong as obstacles appear ahead. Everything is not as it seems, but it will right itself. There is no need to fear as you do.”

Yvonne inhaled, releasing her breath into the stale plane air.

“You’re right. I am a strong woman who has made my own way in this world. I can do it with children, too.”

“Of course you can. People do it every day.”

Yvonne reached for the woman’s wrinkled, weathered hands, squeezing them as tight as she dared. Yvonne found herself wishing for the woman to be her long-lost grandmother, though she knew perfectly well that all her grandparents had died many years ago.

“Thank you,” she breathed.

The woman squeezed her hands back before releasing them, turning to the side and closing her eyes to sleep. Yvonne gazed out the window, contemplating her words, finding strength in them as they flew on over a foreign sea. When the plane landed, she jogged through the massive airport to reach her next flight, which she barely made as she jumped into line behind the last few passengers.

It was a much shorter flight, and Yvonne found herself wishing that her friend from the flight before was still with her, letting her know that things would work out okay. Instead, she was squished between two large men that both leaned inward, sandwiching her in, enveloping her with their stench. It was all she could do not to hurl as the two-hour flight passed, each minute seeming like a terrible eternity.

As the plane touched down in Abu Algar, Yvonne couldn’t even lean forward to look out the window. When the cabin doors opened and the passengers disembarked, she finally stood, her whole body feeling like she’d been hit by a train, she was so achy.

“Sorry, babies,” she whispered as she grabbed her suitcase from the overhead bin. “I promise this will be worth it.”

She just hoped that she wasn’t making false promises before her kids were even born.

Stepping out into the airport, she breathed in fresh air, grateful beyond words to finally be off the plane. Her eyes felt like sandpaper, her mind groggy and exhausted. She hailed a cab and directed the driver toward the hotel she’d booked in the capital, her vision slightly blurry in the sunlight as she looked around at the bustling city around her.

She hardly had the energy to appreciate Zadid’s homeland as she stumbled her way into her hotel and got the key to her room. She climbed the stairs one step at a time, happy to be using her legs again after such a long time sitting. When she opened the door to her room, she was treated to a perfect view of the golden palace which overlooked the sea.

Walking over to the terrace, she opened the door, breathing in the fresh sea air as the wind toyed with wisps of her hair. She sent out another wish on the wind, hoping that it might reach its intended target.

After all this time, after everything that had happened, Yvonne’s wish was still for a family of her own. She paired it with a prayer that her wish might actually come true as she watched the sun sink into the sea, a cascade of colors erupting all across the sky, just as Zadid had described.

Perhaps, she thought, this might actually work.