by Rena Marks
“Faster,” he yelled. “Create a breeze! Dry those drops off your skin.”
They were panting before they completely dried, and giggling while they redressed.
“Good job, warriors,” he complimented. Mostly because the mates stated it was important to keep spirits up among the little ones. He wasn’t sure why.
“Done,” Titi said.
“Done first,” Reese said.
“You both did really great. You are the best small warriors ever.”
Just then Marcie came out onto the porch. She watched for a minute while the offspring high-fived each other. “Is Titi’s dress on backward?”
“Um, no,” he said. “I mean, yes. I mean, I think that’s how she’s been wearing it. All day.”
“Yup, yup,” Titi hollered.
He winked at the precocious being. She was kind of cute, in her own way.
“Well, I guess she’s passable. Kresna and Diamond are coming for tea. They’re bringing Declan, so he can keep an eye on these two while they all play.”
If there was nothing else in the world…Bajoc loved high tea. It was his dirty little secret. Those delightful little scones Marcie made, with that sweetly sour yellow cream to smear on top. And the entire affair was served in the daintiest bone china cups that looked like they would smash in a Freijian’s large hands…but of course, his own grip was delicate and cultured. He was one of the finer things in life. Marcie was lucky to have him as her mate.
She’d found the fragile cups and tea kettle on the zoo planet, of all places. Those strange characters—Cluxcli the big bird, and Blearsh the…octopus-creature, showed the ladies their collectable finery. Marcie had insisted on the replication, and secretly, he was glad. It would be funny to see Kresna with his huge, clumsy fingers handling those teacups.
He knew many of the warriors dreaded when their mates received an invitation from his gorgeous mate for high tea. They were so jealous of his spotless manners. But, of course, he shouldn’t find it gleeful that the rest of the warriors couldn’t keep up. Poor wretched beings. He tapped his fingers in expectation of what was to come. Life was good.
Just then a knock sounded at the door.
“Let me,” he said, standing with flourish. He grabbed a dishtowel. Marcie looked impressed. She loved his tea manners. What a way to impress his mate again.
He opened the front door with the dishtowel draped over one forearm. “Please enter our humble abode,” he said, ignoring Kresna’s immediate frown.
“Hello, Bajoc. You’re so well-mannered. Isn’t he well-mannered, Kresna?” Diamond’s voice was sharp toward her mate. Apparently she wasn’t as impressed with who she had gotten saddled with during the mate pickings.
“I guess,” Kresna mumbled, like a petulant child.
Bajoc harrumphed. Common folk. There was nothing worse.
“Welcome, Declan,” Bajoc said to the little man standing with them. “Reese and Titi are in his bedroom. You’re welcome to go outside to play in my man cave shed thing. If you so desire.” He bowed a little.
Declan’s eyes rounded, because he knew the trunk of special claws and tails and toes were inside that normally forbidden, outdoor man-cave. Bajoc gave him a little smile and a wink.
“I’ll take good care of the little ones,” he said eagerly, careful not to let the other adults know their little secret.
“He’s such a good boy,” Diamond gushed, watching her son walk quickly to Reese’s room. “He loves taking care of those little ones.”
Bajoc walked them to the dining area. Marcie had a small table set up for tea that he’d built with his very own hands—during one of the episodes back when she was pregnant and he’d had to mollify her for his outlandish behavior. That was before he’d learned manners.
For now, Bajoc grinned evilly at the scene before him. Kresna looked extremely, uncomfortably, embarrassed to be seated at the tiny table, with the tiny teacups in front of him.
Marcie and Diamond were blowing gentle, lady-like air kisses on each other’s cheeks. Diamond wore white gloves—without fingers—that stretched up to her upper arms. They were rather elegant. Marcie had on her little hat with the tiny beads hanging over the front like a veil. She looked upper crust.
Kresna—well, Kresna looked like he did every other day. Bajoc looked down his nose at him. Fury built in Kresna’s eyes when he realized this. His delicate mate, Diamond, elbowed him in the ribs and muttered to be nice.
They all pretended not to hear her warning, because that was how the fine and elite behaved. Some of the other warriors hadn’t a clue.
Bajoc leaned across the table to engage his guests. “A proper tea is so delightful, isn’t it, Diamond?”
“Very much so. Thank you, Bajoc. Your manners are flawless.”
“Thank you, my dear. Would you like a scone?”
“I would.”
Marcie poured. “Kresna, would you like the black tea? Or an herbal decaf?”
Poor Kresna looked clueless. He inserted a finger into his neckline and tugged it away from the pulse that throbbed there. “I’ll take the man’s tea,” he said, deepening his voice.
Bajoc sighed. “Marcie makes a superb herbal. It has the most delicate essence of flowery undertones. I’ll have that one, my dearest.”
“My biggest fan,” Marcie said, smiling graciously.
“I’ll simply have to have that one, too,” Diamond said.
“Three herbals and a…black tea.” Just the way Marcie said it made Kresna gulp as if he wondered if he made a social blunder. But it was too late to take it back.
Bajoc wanted to laugh out loud, but to do so would simply be faux pas. Instead, he took a sip of his tea, careful to extend his finger delicately, but not overdoing it. It was a fine line he was proud he’d mastered.
Poor Kresna. He looked ever more the idiot compared to Bajoc’s gentlemanly status.
“The supreme commander has suggested we have a ball,” Bajoc said.
“Really? How droll.” Diamond wiped her lip, ignoring Kresna’s stare.
“What deco shall we adorn for the ball?” Bajoc asked of the women, ignoring Kresna also.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to a disco theme,” Diamond said, looking at Marcie.
“That could be fun.” She sighed. “But we must focus on the Puritans.” She practically spat out the word. “And I’m afraid we must go a bit slower as for the dance forum. Those poor, ungraceful beings. You’ll see what I mean tomorrow, Diamond.”
“Bless them,” Diamond said, sipping her tea.
“Bless them,” Marcie and Bajoc said simultaneously. They clinked their cups together and smiled, as the socially elite frequently did.
Kresna’s panicked eyes darted back and forth across the table. “Bless them.” His voice sounded forlorn and out of place, not at all sincere like the rest of them.
Poor fool. He was so uncouth.
“Perhaps some slower love ballads?” Bajoc suggested. “Until they grow accustomed to dance, of course. May I even be so forward as to propose dance lessons?”
“What a great idea, Bajoc,” Diamond said. “Marcie, you’re so lucky to have a husband who understands.”
Marcie smiled serenely. “I chose him for his sensitivity and civility.”
Kresna snorted. “He slaughtered the captain of the ship you were on. Smeared his guts on the wall just to show off.”
“Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people’s bad manners.” Bajoc sipped his tea. “That’s a quote from H. Jackson Brown, Jr.”
“That is so true.” Diamond nodded.
“May I suggest you have the Puritans wear a different color? It will show their maiden status, setting them apart from the much-luckier mates.” Bajoc used his small napkin, cut into a heart shape, to dab at the corners of his lips.
“Good idea,” Marcie said. “I mean, it’s not their fault they’re complete wallflowers, but we certainly don’t want anyone thinking we’re losers, too. But, bless the poor idiots anyway.
”
“Bless them,” Bajoc and Diamond said together, delicately under their breath. They clinked their tea cups.
“Bless them,” Kresna said quickly, trying to catch up in his much harsher voice. It was too late. Bajoc raised his brows and looked away, feeling sorry for the uncouth moron. He knew it was snobbish, but he simply could not help it in this moment.
Kresna shoved an entire scone into his mouth, and chomped it hungrily. He didn’t even notice the crumbs that scattered all over the table, his plate, and his shirt. He gulped his tea in one swallow. “It’s not like you can get them to wear a ridiculous outfit that screams Maidenform, anyway,” he snickered.
“Hmm,” Marcie said, looking at Bajoc for his expert advice. “That could be a problem.”
“Not so, my sweet,” he assured her, loving the way she looked so relieved. “Anything you human mates produce for them to wear would be haute couture for those poor simpletons. Bless them.”
“Bless them,” Marcie and Diamond murmured, and clinked their cups.
“Bless them!” A frantic Kresna screeched, slamming his empty cup into Marcie’s and Diamond’s. The fine china shattered and indeed clinked as pieces dropped onto the table.
“Oh, my,” Marcie said.
“Kresna!” Diamond chided.
“My dear man. Do try to be somewhat genteel…”
“Genteel? You son-of-a-beast! I’ll show you how updated my manners are.” Kresna clenched his fists.
“Is that how you handle a woman? The same way you handle your fine bone china?”
Diamond nodded. Marcie gasped, holding her hand up over her mouth. She looked at her friend with genuine pity in her eyes.
“I do so hate to pull rank,” Bajoc said, in his perfectly well-modulated voice. “But perhaps you could make up for this disastrous tea party by volunteering your services to the Supreme Commander. These poor Puritans will need a real person to step on his toes.”
“Bless them,” Marcie and Diamond said.
Bajoc wiped his lips with the elegant little napkin. “Thank you for being so gracious.”
Kresna gritted his teeth.
Chapter Four
Marcie:
“Thanks for gathering, ladies. Please come in. We’ll have a quick meeting while the children play outside.”
“What’s going on?” Raine asked, her now-sculpted eyebrows rising to her hairline. It hadn’t been so long ago they were barely-penciled in with a thin line. She didn’t find them so easy to hand pluck since hot wax wasn’t available.
“I’m sure you all heard from our guys about the Quakers who have arrived. That’s if you haven’t run across them yet,” Lara said.
“I’ve heard about them, but I haven’t seen them,” Anita said. “What’s so important that we need to have a meeting about them? Tell me they’re not gorgeous and voluptuous,” she said, halfway joking.
“Looks don’t matter,” Marcie said. “As I was telling Lara, what is it that attracted the guys to us?”
Jannie scratched her head. “Uh, the fact that we were the only women on the planet?”
Bewilderment rolled across the faces of all the ladies as they realized…she was right.
“That and our schoolmarm appearance,” Marcie said. “It drove them crazy to see us all buttoned up and uptight. Remember how horrified we were of the bloody walls when they slaughtered the space pirates who were about to kidnap us? I think that turned them on.”
“What? No way,” Merry said.
“Think about it,” Lara said. “It made those big ole protective instincts rise inside them. And the newest problem, ladies, is that there are others here who are even more schoolmarmish than we were.”
“The Quakers?” Raine asked.
“Exactly,” Marcie nodded. “The younger four could pass for human…I think. It’s kind of hard to tell under the heavy woolen dresses they wear. But as they get older, they’ll grow a unibrow.”
“Well, no worries, then,” Raine laughed. “That’s not exactly attractive. Why the big drama?”
Lara looked straight at her. “Because on their planet, a full unibrow signifies sexual maturity. At least, that’s what I heard Tristan passing along to Bajoc.”
For once, the ladies were silent as they took in the gravity of the situation.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Anita said.
“And the guys seem smitten. Yesterday Bajoc allowed one of them to hold his hand as she showed him the sign of the cross. I swear he giggled like a schoolboy.”
“Bajoc?” Anita’s face was incredulous. It was true, Bajoc was the least likely to show his feelings.
“I swear,” Marcie said, and her voice was grim.
Lara joined in. “Tristan’s acting weird, too. He seems more upset with the fact that Titi glued eyebrows onto her and Reese to make fun of the Quakers than the fact that babies had dangerous glue around their eyes. I thought his behavior was odd, but now it makes sense that he’s enamored with the Quakers also.”
“Calian said he loves the name Molli,” Isabel said. “Is that one of them?” At Marcie’s nod, she continued. “He thought it would make a delicate name for a sweet little baby girl. I’ll kill him for suggesting it.”
“Bajoc suggested I replicate my diamonds for those skeezy tramps,” Marcie said.
“Girl, no,” Anita said, eyes wide.
“We have to nip this little Puritan infatuation in the bud,” Lara said.
“How?”
“We get those Puritans to loosen up, and our guys will lose interest. You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar, so let’s befriend them. Every single one, even the nasty two—the older, bible-thumping ones. Convince them we have their best interests at heart. And when the unibrows grow on the young, firm, pretty things, we talk them into shaving, waxing, or plain-out plucking. Anything to have them looking like they’re sexually immature.”
“Yes,” Marcie said, excitement rounding her eyes. “Get them to change their dress. Explain how hot the suns are here, and it beats on their dark, gloomy colors. Crow about how blue looks gorgeous against blond hair. Red looks fantastic on brunettes. Get them to show some ankle and a bit of cleavage.”
“Exactly,” Lara said. “Girls, we gotta slut them up.”
“In the meantime, what do we do about our men?” Jannie asked.
“We watch out for them,” Marcie said, her eyes narrowed. “Like the soul sisters we are,”—yeah, she knew she stole that one, but what the hell—“we’ll keep an eye on each other’s guys. They’re not going to flirt in front of their own mate, but they’ll slip up if their mate isn’t around. And if someone else catches them, we report to each other.”
“Yes. And we punish accordingly,” Lara added. “Dinner can be gourmet…or burned. It all depends on how we’re feeling that day.”
“Or how they make us feel,” Anita snickered.
From the window, Lisette called out. “I see horned, hulking figures on the horizon. Break up the meeting, ladies, and act casual.”
Marcie and Lara made their way out back, where the children played.
“It rained last night,” Marcie said. “I had Bajoc come and remove the top from the wading pool so it would fill up. Earlier this morning, he should have put it back on.”
“Oh, good job,” Lara said. “Let’s take it off and let the kids wet their feet.”
The wading pool was actually a shallow bathtub from the ship. It was used in the infirmary for injured soldiers who couldn’t shower, but the guys had said it had never once been used. They’d hauled it outside and made a cover for it. It was good sized, especially since the soldiers were such large men. The children squealed when they saw the lid being removed.
Titi began removing her clothes.
“No, baby girl,” Lara giggled. “It’s not a bath. Only your shoes need to come off.”
Tomlak helped her pull her sheath back on.
“Titi, do you need to go potty?” Trince asked suspiciously.
<
br /> “Nuh, uh.” She nodded solemnly.
“Are you sure?”
“She’s sure,” Eelia said. “I took her earlier.”
They all let out a sigh of relief. Because while the tub was easily drained, they always had to wait for a good rain to fill it up again.
Marcie was aware of her man every minute. Bajoc slunk around back while the little ones splashed.
“Honey?” He finally called out, his voice adorably unsure and confused. He wore the baby sling with Lily tucked inside. “It’s feeding time.”
Tristan had already come around to Lara, removed his sling with Hagan inside, and Lara settled back to nurse.
Marcie reached for her own baby, kissing her sweet head while Lily rooted around for her breast. She tried sucking through her clothing, and Marcie sighed as she pulled the fabric from Lily’s mouth. She was definitely her father’s daughter.
“Supreme Commander Kriekjan would like for you to introduce the Quackpots to the other women today,” Bajoc said.
“Quackers. I mean, Quakers.”
“He thought perhaps, for the ball, we can put up a temporary housing unit called a barn.”
“Why is he so gung-ho on trying to have this ball?” Even to her ears, she sounded suspicious.
Bajoc shrugged. “He thought the Quakers needed to make friends and this would be a good way. That perhaps the other women could bond with them over the planning of the ball. The dress, the music, all that stuff.”
Hmm. That could work in her favor since she wanted to slut them up anyway.
“You know, my love. No one would throw a better bash than you. You are the best.”
“I am?” she murmured.
He nodded solemnly. “You have the best attire. You make the best meals. I am sure no one could do what you can.”
He did have a point.
Reese came floating by in the bathtub slash makeshift pool, a huge smile on his little face as he showed off for his mummy. The water wasn’t deep enough to actually float so Marcie knew he must be using his hands underneath him to move. She smiled at his resourcefulness.
Bajoc leaned in toward her. “Just between you and me, Kriekjan is moonsick over the leader.”
