She was thinner.
She wore jeans and a cream sweater.
And on her left hand was no wedding ring.
Aaron saw that immediately.
Hannah covered her mouth.
Her knees seemed to weaken.
"No."
Aaron stood in the doorway of the room containing the child.
Hannah stared.
"Aaron?"
He said nothing.
She stepped forward.
Then stopped.
Her face crumpled.
"Oh my God."
Aaron watched her cry.
He had dreamed about this.
He thought he would run to her.
He thought nothing would matter except holding her.
But the crib was three feet behind him.
And her ring was gone.
"Hannah."
She made a sound that was half laugh, half sob.
Then ran.
Aaron barely had time to brace before she threw both arms around him.
His body froze.
Hannah did not notice at first.
She buried her face against his chest.
"You're alive."
Aaron stared at the wall.
Her hands gripped the back of his shirt.
"You're alive."
He finally placed one hand against her back.
Not because everything was okay.
Because once, this woman was home.
Some part of him still remembered.
She pulled back.
Her hands moved to his face.
She stared at scars she had never seen.
"You..."
She could not finish.
Aaron looked into her eyes.
Then toward the room.
Hannah followed his gaze.
Her joy vanished.
She looked at Denise.
Denise whispered, "He saw Noah."
Hannah closed her eyes.
Aaron stepped away.
"Mom says he's mine."
Hannah looked at him.
"Yes."
"How?"
Her eyes filled.
Aaron waited.
"How, Hannah?"
She wiped her face.
"Frozen embryos."
The words did not land immediately.
Aaron stared.
Then memory returned.
A fertility clinic.
White walls.
Too many appointments.
Four years earlier.
Before the deployment.
Before everything.
Hannah had struggled to get pregnant for years.
They tried naturally.
Then medication.
Then intrauterine insemination.
Then IVF.
Two embryos were transferred.
Neither implanted.
Three more remained frozen.
Aaron remembered signing papers.
He remembered Hannah crying in the parking lot after the failed cycle.
He remembered telling her they would try again someday.
Then orders arrived.
They postponed everything.
Aaron left.
And then he disappeared.
He looked toward Noah.
"No."
Hannah's voice trembled.
"Yes."
"You used one."
She nodded.
"When?"
"Fourteen months after you went missing."
Aaron stared.
"Fourteen months."
"Yes."
"You were told I was dead."