The Guard To My Sanctuary

Chapter 31

Marco

Elm had been a trooper in sitting with me during work all day. He was six months pregnant and was always feeling tired and I could tell he was longing 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 but I could see he was slowly going insane with all the coddling and constant cycle of familial attention. Even his mother's aunts had been video calling him once they found out 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 was excelling in grad school so far and could tell that if I really worked hard I might end up towards the top of the class after dusting off some of the cobwebs. I had never been so happy in my life and I 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 head in an attempt 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 of Elm and turned in my report to the on-shift supervisor then logged off of everything and proceeded to grab my bookbag. Elm was waiting by the door so I walked over and grabbed his hand and we walked into the main office.

"Hey Tafferty, 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 Elm didn't want to be looked at like an experiment even though the like we were pushing didn't stop the stares.

"Bye Janet," we both said at the same time and continued walking out of the building saying hello and goodbye to the people that passed. We made it to my car and Elm got into the front seat ready to put his learners permit to use. He wanted to be able to drive our kids around when they got here so I and John 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 and drove just under the speed limit to the interstate via my directions.

"So it's been a year since you have been back now, and I was thinking about how much you have been through and how far we have come and 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 and followed my directions as we went up and down hills and passed commercial areas all the way till I got him to our new address. I went home shopping one day alone just before Christmas and found a house that 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 me and Elm raising a family here so I put an offer down. I went into 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 and the interest earned as well as being lucky with investments I had made. Of course, I had to pay a tax on the money but it was still enough to cover a large portion of the house on my own. Then 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 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.