Rift

by Heidi J. Leavitt

“What?” he said. “All I’m saying is Jenna’s got an excuse. The way I see it, she has one or two more freebie cries before I get to call her a weepy mess.”

  “Just for that, I’m going to wipe my face on your sleeve,” Jenna threatened.

  Marian threw up her hands. “You two are incorrigible.”

  Jimmy pulled Jenna away. “Yep. As long as we can be incorrigible together.”

  “Erik and Berry?” Jenna asked, wiping her nose with the tissue her uncle provided before she could make good on her threat to Jimmy’s shirt.

  “Taking a nap in the blue guest room. They’re in the bed, but Mark’s got some sleeping mats inflated. You can move them to the floor and take the bed yourselves,” Marian said. “Do you want a shower first?”

  But Jenna didn’t stop to listen to the rest of her mother’s question. She was already moving toward the hallway. Jimmy started to follow her, but Mark stopped him.

  “I just got a comm from Richard. All of the soldiers you brought back from Zoria are willing to testify against Admiral Leckey. Apparently, he has been having them do personal side jobs for him for a while. They had specific orders to make sure that Jenna either disappeared straight into his personal retreat in the south or that she was dead. Either way, they were supposed to make sure that she never made it back home. As for Kendra, they were going to leave her with the Rorans. Leckey wasn’t too interested in her, but he didn’t want her to make it home either.”

  Jimmy fought down the wave of fury that swelled up through his chest.

  “He deserves to be shot, but I guess I’ll be happy enough if they ship him to Krati.” He paused. “Will those testimonies be enough?”

  Mark shook his head. “I don’t know. Politics are complicated, and Leckey has a lot of allies. But I think if he goes on trial before the Security Council, banishment to Krati will be an option. Richard wants you guys back in Tarentino Bay before it goes public, so I’ve booked you for the evening shuttle. He has a deep-space comm scheduled with the Defense Secretary in an hour and a meeting with the planetary governor in the afternoon.”

  “It’s not going to stay quiet for very long, is it?” Jimmy rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. Well, at least in Tarentino they would be able to hide out on their property. “The media will turn it into a circus.”

  “Unfortunately, it’s not over yet,” Mark agreed somberly. “But we’re all here for you as long as it takes.” He squeezed Jimmy’s shoulder and headed back down the hallway toward his own room.

  Jimmy headed toward the guest bedroom, silently chewing over the future of a long, drawn-out trial for Leckey with the possibility that he would still get off in the end. Would they need Jenna to testify? Even if they didn’t, there would certainly be investigators asking plenty of questions. Not to mention that Jimmy really didn’t look forward to having media hounds track them down in Tarentino to boost traffic to the scandal feeds. Even worse, Jenna had hinted that Kendra had a connection to the strange storm that had killed Leckey’s goon captain. What if the turncoat soldiers reported that little detail to the Armada? Would they decide that Kendra needed to be “studied”? Would their lives ever be normal again?

  He stopped in the doorway, gazing at the large bed in the center of the room. A slow smile spread across his face. Jenna was already out cold in the center of the bed, one arm around Berry and the other under Kendra. Erik was sandwiched between Kendra and Jenna, his head on Jenna’s stomach. All three of the kids were trying to squirm closer to their mother, shoving one another away, while Jenna snored softly, her mouth wide open.

  It didn’t matter if their lives were never normal again. Jenna and the kids were alive and safe. That was the miracle. They would deal with the rest of it as long as they were together.

  54. Come What May

  “Stop fidgeting,” Jimmy ordered sternly.

  Jenna threw up her hands. “I’m not fidgeting!”

  “That’s even worse. Keep your hands down.” Jimmy continued to fumble with the clasp at the back of her dress. “There. I got it.” He turned her around by her shoulders and looked her up and down.

  “Is it OK?” Jenna asked nervously. She almost never wore a dress anymore.

  “You’re gorgeous. I’m tempted to scoop you up and carry you back to bed.”

  Jenna pressed closer to Jimmy. “I could take you up on that,” she whispered.

  Jimmy kissed her, but then he pushed her back a step. “You’re going to be late if you don’t get moving,” he said.

  Jenna looked at him with pleading eyes. “You know, once upon a time you helped me escape the girls’ night out part of a wedding.”

  “Yeah, that was so I could convince you to marry me, though. Only needed to work once.” Jimmy ran his hands down her arms lightly and smiled lopsidedly. “It’s going to be fine, Jenna. I have it on good authority that Grier is breaking his retirement again to shadow you tonight.”

  “Why my sister has to have her last fling at the QE, I’ll never know,” grumbled Jenna. When Andie had finally made her way back to Zenith, it was clear that she had rekindled a flame with her childhood best friend. Andie’s first night back on Zenith, she confessed to Jenna that she was already engaged to Casey. Their mother eagerly threw herself into planning a huge wedding, though Jenna knew that Andie had almost convinced Casey to just elope to the nearest Pilgrim’s office and escape all the fuss. But their mother had been determined, and Andie wasn’t about to deny their mother anything, not after so many long years away from home. That meant the traditional three days of festivities, including the middle day when the ladies went their separate ways from the men. In the morning, Andie endured the gift-and-advice shower, where all the women offered her wisdom on keeping her marriage happy. (Jenna’s advice was simple: “Laugh as often as you can, and hold tight to each other!” Casey’s outspoken grandmother offered the most threatening advice: “Do not betray my grandson, or I will personally break your kneecaps.” After which, Andie’s imposing Denicorizen friend Jerrapo threatened, “If you ever lay a finger on Andie, I will seek you out and personally break your kneecaps.” The horrified look on Margharita Morten’s face was priceless.) In the afternoon Andie went flying with a friend from her Academy days, and Jenna enjoyed an afternoon of lounging around the pool deck at the hotel with her mother and the kids. But for the evening, Andie had requested a night of dancing at the QE—with only Jenna for company.

  “The QE resort is the most exciting place on this planet!” Jimmy said in his best sales voice. She glared at him. “I would crash your girls’ night, but then who would watch the kids?” he added practically. “Besides, how long have you been wanting to make up for all those lost years with your sister? Here’s your chance.”

  She narrowed her eyes at Jimmy. “You’re way too eager for this. You could barely let me on the shuttle by myself when Andie first arrived. Now you’re practically shoving me out the door.” He shrugged, a little too casually. Jenna was instantly suspicious. If this had been the Jimmy of a couple years back, she could have believed it. But this last year following the kidnapping had been hard. Jimmy no longer casually did anything. He had refused to even discuss resuming her business trips to Omphalos, even though Jenna’s firm could have used all the sales she could personally drum up. He walked the girls down to the school when they had community class days. When Dale and Suge, the bodyguards hired by Jimmy’s father, showed up in Tarentino, Jimmy welcomed them eagerly and made sure everyone in the family endured their twice-weekly self-defense sessions. When Jenna had to make the trip to Tyre to testify at Admiral Leckey’s highly publicized trial, Jimmy reportedly drove everyone in the Armada mad with his obsessive comms about her safety.

  Now that Leckey had been convicted and sentenced to exile on the prison planet, Jimmy had relaxed a little—but only the tiniest bit. Not enough to casually stand by while she waltzed into the Red Zone, even if Grier would be th
ere. After all, Shiz was still out there somewhere. Even Lev with all his single-minded devotion hadn’t tied up that loose end yet.

  Jimmy tucked a stray strand of golden hair behind Jenna’s ear. “Lev Quintan personally assured me that his revamp of security is finished, and anyone not loyal to the company has been . . . dealt with.” Jenna winced. She was glad Jimmy didn’t elaborate. “So you should be perfectly safe.”

  Jenna stepped back and studied her husband’s not-so-innocent grin.

  “Have you been conspiring with Andie? What is really going on tonight?”

  “Me? Conspire with Andie? What makes you think either of us would get up to something?”

  “Experience.”

  “Trust me, Jenna. You don’t want to miss this night,” Jimmy said, kissing her again.

  ●●●

  Grier was waiting for them in the hotel lobby. “Mrs. Forrest. Ms. Donnell,” he said formally.

  “It’s so nice to see you again, Grier,” Jenna said. She smiled warmly. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”

  “My pleasure, Mrs. Forrest.” He escorted them out to the waiting luxury transport.

  “Wow,” Andie breathed. “You have quite the connections, Jenna.”

  Jenna raised a shoulder. “I had nothing to do with this.”

  “When Jimmy said he would arrange for a car, I thought he meant a Zipline,” Andie said. “Not something fit for royalty.”

  Jenna stiffened. She hadn’t taken a taxi since the kidnapping. During the two times she had returned to Omphalos since the kidnapping, even the sight of the green taxis made her chest tighten with anxiety. Andie noticed her reaction and put an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her gently as Grier opened the door for them. Jenna noted the armored plating as she slid into the passenger compartment. This car had to be one of Lev’s, then. Though Jenna and Jimmy had adamantly refused Lev’s renewed offer for them to move back into Quintan Tower, she was grateful he was willing to provide extra security tonight. Or maybe it had been Jimmy’s father. Her father-in-law was still recovering on Mullanur, but he was almost back to full health, directing his business by deep-space comms. He sent weekly comms to Jimmy and Jax, with individual messages often included for Jenna and Mrs. Smitz and the kids. He had hired his own personal Mullanese doctor, a specialist who had a great deal of experience. Apparently they were working on some kind of treatment that should make it possible for her father-in-law to safely travel back home to Terra within the next few months.

  Andie slid into the seat opposite Jenna, and Grier closed the door. She was studying Jenna’s face sympathetically.

  “Are you still having nightmares?” she asked.

  Jenna sighed. “Almost every night. You?”

  “Yep.”

  Andie didn’t elaborate, but Jenna could well imagine that Andie’s nightmares were worse than her own. Andie still hadn’t told her the full story, but Jenna knew enough. The “complications” Casey had mentioned in his original comm about Andie had included her sister being stranded in a city under siege for months, nearly starving to death, and finally allowing herself to be caught and imprisoned by the king of Corizen in the last-ditch effort to overthrow him.

  “How is Tiran adjusting? Is she doing better?” Andie’s young daughter, Tiran, had struggled to adapt to life on this planet. Corizen had been all that she had ever known, and she had withdrawn completely her first few weeks on Zenith, refusing to talk to anyone.

  Andie waved her hand. “Better. Not as well as I’d like, but she’s warmed up to Mom, of course. Since Casey got back, she’s even happier. I’m so lucky she already considers Casey her father.”

  Jenna bit her lip, wondering if she dared ask. But if it were her and she’d lost Jimmy, she wasn’t sure that the day she remarried would be easy.

  “And you? How are you doing with . . . getting married again?” While on Corizen, Andie had married a revolutionary named Laeren Bruche. He had died several years ago, and so not only had Andie been kidnapped, enslaved, and dragged through a war, she was also a widow. Sometimes Jenna wasn’t sure how her sister made it out of bed each morning.

  Andie was silent so long that Jenna thought she must have offended her. Just when Jenna was about to apologize for bringing it up, Andie spoke softly.

  “It’s a little bittersweet, to be honest. I still love Laeren, you know. I always will. But I love Casey too. And Laeren would want me to be happy. He would want Tiran to have a father.”

  “Are you planning to ever tell anyone besides Mom and Dad about him?” Jenna had to ask. Andie had insisted right from the start that no one could know about her first marriage. As far as everyone knew, Andie had never had any kind of serious relationship with anyone on Corizen. Everyone had been told that Tiran was a Denicorizen orphan that Andie and Casey had adopted. Jenna understood Andie’s reasoning—apparently Andie’s first husband still had enemies that would target them both if they knew he had living family members—but she wasn’t sure the extreme caution was necessary on Zenith. Still, it was her sister’s call, so Jenna went along with it. It was a good thing that Tiran looked very little like her mother. Even still, Jenna could see Andie’s expressions mirrored on Tiran’s face at times, and she wondered how anyone could possibly miss the resemblance.

  “No. I’m counting on you to take the secret to your grave,” Andie said. Then she smiled mischievously. “Of course, now you could blackmail me . . . maybe you should tell me one of your secrets so we’re even.”

  Jenna shifted uncomfortably and then forced a laugh. “My whole life is an open book at this point. After all the feed coverage during the trial, I have nothing left to hide.”

  For a moment Jenna did consider telling Andie about Kendra and the connection she seemed to have with some kind of alien being. Only a moment, though. Her mother had warned her. If anyone in the Armada ever got the slightest hint that Kendra shared something in common with Konrad Roran, they would make sure she disappeared into a lab somewhere, or worse. Not to mention how the general public would react. In fact, how would Andie herself treat Kendra if she knew? “Your niece is apparently possessed by an alien, and it gives her the power to call down lightning, among other things”—no. That would not go over well.

  Jenna was determined to protect Kendra from the fear and suspicion that would inevitably follow. Not once during the last year had she shown any special abilities in front of another person, and hopefully it would stay that way. It was a secret they would guard fiercely until Kendra was old enough to guard it herself. As for everyone who had interviewed her, Jenna had repeated over and over that Leckey’s ship had been destroyed by a freak storm that appeared unexpectedly over the Roran village. Then she and Jimmy had absolutely refused to let anyone ask Kendra questions about her ordeal.

  No one asked the Rorans. In fact, Jenna was strictly informed before she testified at the trial that the existence of the Roran village was classified, so she should refer to them only as villagers—without specifying anything about their origin—in any portions of the trial that would be made public. Per the agreement the Armada made with the Rorans when they were relocated to Zoria, a policy of strict noninterference would be maintained. Jenna was only too happy to agree.

  “Here we go, crossing into the Red Zone!” Andie suddenly said, pressing her nose right up against the window. “They still have the big red warning signs. It makes me feel like a daring eighteen-year-old pilot again.”

  She turned to her sister, nearly bouncing in her seat. “Are you ready? I have the biggest surprise for you tonight!”

  ●●●

  Once they made it through the QE security scans, Andie practically dragged Jenna to the concierge desk.

  “What did you mean about having a surprise for me tonight?” Jenna asked. “You are the one getting married! This night is supposed to be about you.”

  Andie glanced back over h
er shoulder with a bright smile. “I know. I said I wanted to go dancing, and I do want to, but before that there is a performance tonight that I think you’ll love.”

  “A performance,” Jenna repeated dubiously. “What kind of a performance?”

  “The rare kind,” Andie said cryptically.

  At the desk she had a whispered conversation with the attendant, who scanned Andie’s ID before waving forward another QE employee to lead them to their destination. Instead of leading them toward the lifts as Jenna had originally expected—most of the nightclubs were on higher levels—he led them through the casino and down a hallway that Jenna didn’t remember from her visits with Zane and Jimmy all those years ago.

  Eventually they reached a set of carved double doors emblazoned with the name “Williams Hall.” Jenna raised her eyebrows. When off-planet performers came to Zenith, this was where they usually performed. Lilah had shared a slew of stories about the famous Williams shows and their very talented, often eccentric divas, but Jenna had never been lucky enough to see one. Tickets for a Williams concert cost a great deal beyond the door price of the QE. “I think you went a little overboard, Andie,” Jenna said in a low voice. “Though now I can see why it’s only two of us here tonight.”

  Andie smirked. “Actually, I had an inside contact for free tickets. I don’t know why you never used it before.”

  “You asked Lilah for tickets?”

  “She offered.”

  Before Jenna could demand more of an explanation, their escort opened the door and directed them into the hall. Rows of plush seats swept down toward a curtained stage. Overhead the ceiling glowed a luminescent blue. A waiting usher scanned Andie’s ID again and then led them down the aisle and directed them to prime seats in the front center section. “Enjoy the show, ladies,” she said with a warm smile.

  Jenna took her seat next to Andie and stared around at the rapidly filling concert hall. “Looks like it’s going to be a sold-out show.” Jenna craned her neck to look up at the balcony seating. It was almost full as well. She turned back to her sister. She couldn’t even guess who her sister thought Jenna would be dying to see, since Jenna had little interest in celebrity musicians—unless Lilah . . . but no, Lilah couldn’t possibly be performing. The last time Jenna had visited Lilah, she had been still struggling to get her legs to cooperate. She was walking again, but there was no way she could be up to a concert.