Chapter Eight
On the two-hour drive back to Chicago, Becky asked both Kai and Ishme about their growing-up years. What kind of boys were they? What kind of mischief did they get into? Stories about them also included stories about their brothers.
After the first hour, the guys switched and asked Becky questions about her childhood. She did her best to avoid talking about it because it was mostly an unhappy period in her life. She tried to make light of the hard times she had gone through and deflect them with another question about HeVan. Glancing at Markus, she could see that she wasn’t fooling him.
It was when she got to the time she met Addie, that she was able to elaborate. She told funny stories about Addie and her in college. Then she left to start her own business with the consulting fees she’d earned while she was in school, while Addie had gone on to graduate school. Luckily, she was able to expand on those times.
She glossed over the work she did for the government, making it sound like she worked for local police only.
Finally, they arrived at her house. She pressed the button on the remote for the first garage door to open and pulled in. She owned two cars, the jeep, and a two-seater convertible that she only drove in the summer. The garage had four bays but she used only two.
Her desire for family had her owning a huge house with six bedrooms and a four-car garage on a ten-acre lot. It was the remnant of a farm. Most of the farms this close to Chicago had been converted into suburbs. She had been ecstatic when she located and bought this mini-estate.
She lived there all alone, though. She didn’t even have a pet or houseplants; she worked too many hours and kept killing them off by forgetting to water them. She finally gave up and stopped having any plants.
“Here we are, home sweet home,” she said.
The door to the mudroom opened and Rapha appeared in the doorway. They all started to get out of the Jeep and walk into the house. Becky stayed inside the vehicle for just a moment.
She wanted to take a quick shower. She looked down, realized she was still wearing the clothes she had on yesterday, which she had been up all night in them and spent time lying in the dirt, too. She looked around and then, disguising the move to appear as if she were looking around for something, lifted up her arms to sniff. Yep, a shower and clean clothes were definitely in order.
Getting out of the car and shutting the door, she followed the guys through the mudroom into the kitchen.
“How’s the patient?” Becky asked Rapha as she hung the Jeep’s keys on the hook by the door.
“Anxious to get out of bed, but he needs to stay put until tomorrow. Then he can move around. I have good news; Catherine seems to be warming up to my brothers, and I going over there. Now that Markus is here, you no longer need me in residence,” said Rapha.
“Do you need a lift to the house?” asked Becky.
“No, I called a cab. I know you have work you need to get to,” Rapha said.
“Yes, I do, and I had better get to it, but first I want to take a quick shower. I’m feeling really grungy and dirty. I’ve been in these clothes since yesterday. I honestly don’t see how you guys can stand to be around me right now,” she said, as she started up the back stairs.
“Show Markus to an empty bedroom, okay? I’m sure Addie gave you the tour when you arrived.”
As soon as she shut the door to her bedroom, she began stripping off her clothes. She threw the clothes in the general direction of the hamper in the corner. Becky would be the first to admit that a domestic goddess she was not. She paid people to clean her house and do her laundry, mow her lawn and rake her leaves. She’d much rather spend time in the depths of computer code than digging weeds or pulling clothes out of the deep well of the washing machine.
She decided to cut time by taking a fast shower. She remembered the first time she’d ever heard of a Navy shower. One of her foster parents pinched every penny he could. She could still hear him—“I ain’t see’n my hard-earned money go down the drain for some ‘good-fer-nothin-kids’ — he would say. He’d put timers on all the showers - forget taking a bath. Therefore, she had perfected the Navy shower: get wet all over in one minute, then turn off the water and wash everything, including her hair. Then use the remaining two minutes of water for rinsing off.
She didn’t turn the water off in between getting wet and getting clean anymore and she had stretched her showers to ten or fifteen minutes. She had never learned to take a long shower after that. When she wanted to relax, she soaked in her Jacuzzi tub. She looked longingly at the tub, it was big enough to fit four or five people and had jets everywhere.
It was one of her favorite luxuries. It was unfortunate that she hadn’t used it in over two months. Jumping in and out of the shower, she wrapped one towel around her head and then used another to dry off. She tossed it into the hamper and reached for her lotion. Fall was heading into winter and her skin always dried up in the cold weather. She liked to keep her skin soft and moisturized.
She pulled the towel off her head, wiped her hands on it, and threw it towards the hamper, too. Walking over to the mirror, she gave her face a quick examination. Makeup or no makeup, she considered as she combed out her hair. No makeup, she decided.
They’ll have to take me as they see me, she thought. Then she opened the door and stepped into her bedroom.
***
Back in the kitchen, the guys were standing in the room watching her run up the stairs.
After living in Addie’s house for two months, Ishme and the others decided they liked coffee, so Ishme went to the coffee machine to make some.
“I’m going to check on my brother. I’ll be back,” said Kai.
“I’ll come with you and you can introduce him to his new medical,” said Markus.
“Send Nyal to me,” said Ishme, as he filled the pot with water at the sink.
Rapha had called out his goodbyes and had gone to the front door to await the cab.
A few minutes later, Nyal Namkin entered the kitchen.
“Good, you’re making coffee. I would also like a cup. So - were you right? Is she the one?” asked Nyal, feigning a nonchalance he wasn’t feeling.
“Yes. However, there is a complication. Kai and his brother have been dreaming about her. They think she’s the female for them. My back continues to itch and Kai’s does not, so I believe our claim will prevail,” answered Ishme, giving his brother a look.
He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out some mugs. Becky collected mugs with words on them. Ishme enjoyed reading them, as they were often quite funny.
He skipped the mug that said, ‘She who must be obeyed,’ and went for a large one with the words, I’m not short. I’m fun sized. He had pondered the words for a time to gain their meaning the first time he used it this morning. Now that he’d met Becky in person, he knew why she owned it. She was much smaller than their six-foot-six frame.
He took another mug from the shelf to give to his brother; it said, I don’t suffer from insanity, I’m enjoying it.
He wanted Markus to read all the mugs. There was much about the female Becky that could be gleaned by reading them, he believed. The magnets on the refrigerator also told a story.
She was sarcastic and had a sense of the ridiculous. She was also highly stressed. A great many of the jokes on the mugs and magnets had to do with lack of time, anxiety, and stress.
She was drawn to these images, Ishme thought.
“Why don’t we take the coffee upstairs and have it in Ari’s room? That way, he can participate in the conversation,” suggested Nyal.
“Okay, you take the mugs and I’ll bring the coffee,” said Ishme.
Ishme took a slim cutting board and put the sugar bowl and a small carton of half-and-half on it. He didn’t see a tray, so this would have to work. He found a spoon and stuck it in the sugar bowl.
By then, the coffee had finished brewing. Holding the cutting board in one hand and the pot in the other, he walked through the hou
se. Nyal followed behind, carrying two mugs in one hand and three in the other. They passed through the kitchen, it was filled with sleek stainless steel appliances, long granite counters, and tile floor. They went through a swing door – ‘café doors,’ as he found out later, into the dining room. It had a long table that appeared as if it could seat ten or twelve people comfortably.
Here, the flooring was wood. Ishme wasn’t familiar with Earth designs, so he didn’t recognize the Craftsman style; he just admired the clean, plain lines of the furniture. Moving through an archway at the other side of the room, he entered the foyer. To the right was the front door and on the left side of the wall was a staircase. He went up the stairs and turned to the right. Ari was in the second bedroom? Luckily, the door was ajar.
He went in and saw Kai sitting on one side of the bed while Markus bent over Ari, giving him another scan. Ishme put the cutting board down on the dresser and looked around for a cloth. He didn’t want to put the hot coffee pot down on the wood. He ended up moving the sugar bowl and putting the pot on the cutting board.
All the bedrooms were different. They all had thick carpeting and large beds. The furniture was made up of different styles. The wood in this room had a hint of red in it. There were more embellishments, too. Addie had said it was cherry wood and the bed was called a sleigh bed. The walls were painted a soft green and the paintings on the walls were all of winter scenes.
“Are you getting tired of people asking you how you are feeling, Ari?” he asked, bringing him a mug of coffee with three full spoons of sugar.
They had been sharing guard duty at Addie’s farmhouse for over two months, so he knew how they took their coffee. After nearly two hundred years in a ship traveling to this distant planet, he knew every member of the crew. They had all mourned the loss of Markus’s brothers and the others who were killed.
“Yes, I am,” Ari said, giving Kai a look. “I feel fine. The medicals are being overly cautious.”
“We medicals like to be overly cautious; it keeps the patients where we like them and prevents return business. It gives us more time for our hobbies. Jeze’s and Tyr’s Assat, Suzanna, says that here on Earth the medicals all play a sport called Golf. I am considering learning it,” he said, as he finished his scan.
Markus took a moment to put away his tools. Then he walked over to the dresser and poured himself a mug of coffee.
He asked the others what the sugar and half-and-half were for and then tried the coffee black. Then he added some cream and tasted it again. After adding a spoon of sugar, he tasted it again. He finally decided on adding a little more cream and then was satisfied with the beverage. After taking a sip, he turned back to Ari.
“Your injuries were serious, Ari. You were lucky to have Rapha nearby. Justyn wasn’t nearly as lucky. He had to undergo a barbaric Earth surgery. Delpha and Zephyr were too late to treat his wounds with our methods. It was necessary to reopen the wounds and remove the stitches they had put in and then they were able to complete cellular regeneration. He’ll be in bed for a lot longer as a result. So be happy with the fact that you’re only relegated to remaining quiet for a day longer,” said Markus.
“That’s enough about you, Ari,” said Kai. “Today at the campsite, I met Becky and she’s the one we’ve been dreaming about. Only Ishme, here, says that she’s the female for him and Nyal. The other important thing is, Becky collapsed, and Markus had to treat her.”
He then turned to Markus. “Markus, should we be worried?” asked Kai.
“She has been working too hard for a long time and compromised her health. She needs rest and relaxation. I have great hopes that when two of you prove to be her Joins, that she’ll get the care she needs.
“You can tell from this great big house that she longs to fill it up. Having had no family as a child, she needs to make one of her own. Now Addie will be leaving for HeVan, as will Grace, and she’ll be alone once again,” said Markus.
“Won’t she be coming with us to HeVan once she’s Joined?” asked Nyal.
“No. Arjun says she’s too valuable here. She’ll be making all of the identification papers for any men sent down on shore leave and helping to organize the land north of here. It’s ironic, she needs rest, and we’re asking more of her.
“Arjun would like several Clusters to volunteer and remain here on Earth. I have already volunteered. I spoke about it to Arjun soon after he and his brothers Joined with our new Queen. I really don’t wish to go back without my brothers and I feel I can do some good here.”
Markus got up to refill his coffee mug, he decided he liked this new beverage. He began speaking again.
“Right now, Becky’s welfare has to be our primary goal. She needs to stay relaxed as much as possible and not have too many things to worry about. I’m concerned that with all four of you vying for her attention, that it will increase, rather than decrease, her stress. You won’t have to wait long. The image-matcher will be here in two days and that will settle it.
“So until then, I would ask that you not put any pressure on her to make a commitment to any of you,” Markus concluded.
“We will do as you suggest, Markus. I would also propose that we take over whatever duties we can around the house. Cooking, for one thing - Queen Aditya says that Becky doesn’t really know how to cook, though she’s always wanted to be a good one. She eats frozen meals or gets restaurants to deliver her meals most of the time,” said Kai.
“This is a large house. She does all the cleaning herself. We could help with that - and the grounds, keeping the grass and plants maintained and everything,” said Nyal.
“These are all really good ideas, but before we jump in, we should check with Becky. We do not want to do anything she doesn’t want us to do,” added Ishme.
“First, though, we should do some shopping for food. There wasn’t much here this morning and we didn’t stop for food on the way back from the campsite,” he said.
“I’ll go,” said Nyal. “I’ve been inside most of the day, I’d like to get out.”
“I’ll come along, if you don’t mind. I’d enjoy seeing more of this world,” said Markus.
By the time they finished their conversation, half an hour had passed. Before they left, Markus reminded the others not to let Becky work past her allotted three-hour time limit.
***
Ishme watched Nyal and Markus drive away in the Jeep. He shut the garage door and went back into the kitchen to start cleaning the mugs and dishes from the coffee they’d had. Becky had not yet come back downstairs to work in her office. He knew how important it was for her to make sure Addie and Grace would be safe in the future. He was worried that she may have collapsed again, so he decided to go up and check on her.
He ran up the back stairs and down the hall. He knocked lightly on her door and not receiving an answer, he knocked again. When he still didn’t receive an answer, he opened it.
He saw another door in the corner to his right open at the same time and then there she was, walking into the room gloriously naked. She squeaked when she noticed him standing in the doorway staring, and she rushed back into the other room, slamming the door.
“What are you doing in my room?” she shouted through the door. “It’s off limits to you!”
Ishme approached the door, not wanting to shout and bring the attention of the others in the house. Ari and Kai were right down the hall; they would be especially displeased with him.
“I apologize, Becky. I grew worried when you did not appear downstairs,” Ishme said in a quiet voice. “I thought you may have collapsed again. I did knock, perhaps you did not hear me.”
“You bet your sweet bippy, I didn’t hear you. I’ll be down in a few minutes. Now scram,” she said through the door.
Great! Well, now that he’s seen my fat ass and thunder thighs, I’m sure he’ll head for the hills as fast as he can.
After making sure he was gone, she ran to the door and locked it. Then she quickly dressed in comfortab
le clothes - black yoga pants and a T-shirt that had a picture of a squirrel holding an acorn.
On the front, it said, It’s all fun and games until someone loses a nut. She thought it went well with the theme of the evening.
Ishme went back down the stairs with the image of a naked Becky burned into his retinas. He’d gone rock hard in an instant. The urge to take her into his arms was so strong, that only his fear of scaring her had stopped him. He halted his progress to rub his back against the corner of the wall. He could feel his wings moving against his skin and he knew she was the one for him and his brother - and not the others.
Ishme had gone out to check the property when Becky came tripping down the front stairs to go to her office. She went straight to the safe to get the BEIP. She knew Markus would hold her to the three-hour time limit. While she turned on her computers, she reflected back on that instant when she had walked naked into her bedroom and seen Ishme standing in the doorway. She wished she’d been able to lose those twenty pounds.
Two and a half hours later, Becky was working madly to finish the work that would end Vasily Kadyrov’s power. She was almost there. She glanced at the clock and she had another twenty minutes. She redoubled her efforts. Ten minutes before her time was up, she had everything she needed. Logging off and shutting down the computers, she put the BEIP back in the safe and then gathered up her evidence.
I’m going to treat myself for dinner, she thought. My special homemade pocket picnic is the perfect celebration meal. I hope the guys like it.
She left the office and went out to see where everyone was. She walked into the kitchen and found Nyal, Ishme and Markus unloading groceries.
“Hi, guys, I see you did some shopping. That’s great, did you get any of the items I had on the shopping list?” she asked.
“Yes, we saw the list. We got everything on it, but we increased the quantities and got a few more things,” said Nyal.
“I have never been to a marketplace on your planet. It was quite an experience,” said Markus.
Lucy Kelly Page 9
