San Antonio, Texas. Xerondar had finally found the carrier in a supermarket, buying groceries for her family. He casually followed her through the store as she shopped, studying her curiously.
She herself didn’t even seem to be aware yet that she was pregnant. She had two children already: a boy, about nine, and a six-year-old girl. The two seemed healthy enough, if a little spoiled and poorly behaved. The woman herself was average height, with a healthy figure, dark brown hair, and grey eyes. The carrier had a slightly orange-looking tan which had probably come from a bottle and not from the actual sun, but from the look of her youngest child, he could guess that under the tan she probably had very fair skin– the type to freckle easily.
Xerondar watched how she interacted with her children.
The boy had a Gameboy with him, and played it as he walked, often getting in the way of the other people in the store. The carrier occasionally grabbed her son by the back of his neck and steered him out of the way of particularly annoyed-looking customers, apologizing for him, but she didn’t hurt him, and neither did she scold him or tell him to watch where he was going. In fact, the child barely looked up at all when she pulled him about like that. He seemed only remotely aware of where he was, just instinctively following his mother down the aisles of the store. It was as if he were walking in a parallel universe, and the only part of him that was in this plane of existence was the image of a boy and the sound of the Zelda theme playing from the device in his hands.
The girl, unlike her brother, seemed to be a very social child. She had an opinion about every item that went into the shopping cart. The carrier had opened a box of Goldfish crackers and her daughter was snacking on them as they moved through the store. Whenever she made eye-contact with anyone, the girl would cheerfully announce, "I’m Samantha and I’m six!" She wanted cookies with no nuts in them. She wanted breakfast cereal with colorful marshmallows in it. She did not approve of the canned beets that the carrier insisted on putting in the cart "for daddy", nor did she think Flintstones vitamins were a necessary purchase, but she cheered when six boxes of macaroni and cheese were tossed into the cart.
To avoid suspicion, Xerondar picked up a few things for himself as he went along, selecting items that he would be able to keep and prepare in a motel room for the next few days, until he could arrange a more permanent residence. He made his purchases at the same time that the carrier made hers, and by the time she had loaded her groceries into the back of her minivan and corralled her two children into the backseat, he was in his car and ready to follow her.
The house was pleasant enough. It was one of hundreds that looked almost exactly like it in a sprawling suburban neighborhood. Two stories, beige brick with white wood trim. The double garage door dominated the facade, but that seemed to be a trend these days. There was a swing-set in the back yard. Three bedrooms, a small dog, flowerbeds. An elementary school within walking distance, and lots of young families living nearby. Xerondar parked around the corner and went for a walk through the neighborhood, making sure to pass by the carrier’s house once every half-hour, hoping to catch a glimpse of her husband when he got home.
Finally a beige SUV pulled up beside the carrier’s grey minivan and a man in a suit got out. He had a bald spot in the middle of his short, light-brown hair, and he wore rectangular wire-framed glasses. He appeared healthy, but for a bit of a round belly, and his face seemed pleasant and friendly, even though he was obviously worn out from a long day at work.
Xerondar would get background checks on the entire extended family later. For now, he drove around the neighborhood and took note of all of the houses for sale in the area, writing down the names and phone numbers of the real estate agents. The next day he would start calling, and hopefully by the end of the month he would be living within two blocks of her.
Of course it would be several months before she would be born. Sometime around August or September was most likely. And it would be years before he could safely approach her. Still, he felt comforted by the knowledge that she was finally back in this world, and that she was nearby. After all this time apart, just that was enough to satisfy him.
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