Halcyon Nights (Star Sojourner Book 2)

by Kilczer, Jean

  She shook her head and hugged the stuffed horse closer.

  I shrugged. “OK.”

  She ran toward the bathroom door.

  'Hi, Squiggles,” I heard Jules say. “You want to take a shower with Daddy?”

  There was a pause, then “Oh, no, you can't bring Ginger in here. She'll get soaked.”

  I went to the refrig and took out some eggs and butter and bread. Then i paused. Well, I guess they were a little more open-minded on Earth than here on Halcyon.

  Jules and Lisa came out dressed in fresh clothes. He was towel-drying her hair. His own wet hair was stuck to his neck and forehead. Just seeing the two of them made the sun shine brighter in the room.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked him. Lisa and I had already eaten.

  He sat at the table and grinned at me. “Well, if you don't need one of those horses out there, you can put him on my plate.”

  “How about eggs and mock bacon instead?”

  “Sounds really good.”

  I turned to the stove.

  “Oh. I've got a present for you.” He went to his jacket, which was hanging on a hook, and pulled out four bumpy green fruit. “Lis',” he said. “did Mommy ever give you an avacodo to eat?”

  She shook her head.

  He flipped her one. She caught it, then dropped it. The avacodo rolled and Lisa chased it. Jules sat at the table and sliced another one open. It was green and yellow inside with a big pit.

  “Where'd you get them?” I asked. “I never saw a fruit like that. Is it ripe?

  “It was right outside the Wolf Ridge cottage you two were held in. Compliments of the czar's winter garden. They're ready to eat.”

  It was soft and creamy and sweet and we shared the delicious fruit.

  “You like it, Squiggles?” he asked Lisa.

  She nodded. “Uh huh. It tastes like green chocolate.”

  I laughed. “Now there's a leap. She's got your imagination, Jules.” And his beautiful blue eyes, I thought.

  Lisa climbed on his lap with the stuffed horse. She giggled as he made believe it was galloping across her back and down her chest.

  “Galump, galump,” he said. But he turned quiet as he ate.

  Lisa went outside to play with her dog, Tikkie. Jules stared out the window as though he were in his own world. Which one is that? I wondered. God, let it be Halcyon. I didn't want to hear what I knew he was building up to saying. That he was leaving.

  “I hear Tikkie ate your chickens,” he said, I think to break the tense moment.

  “He left us feathers.”

  “Sorry.” He studied the eggs in his plate. “I'd like to pay you for the hens.”

  “No, that's OK. I saved some frozen fertilized eggs from the hens a while back. They're already thawed out.” I sipped tea. “Few more days they'll be hatching. An' in a couple o' months, they'll be producing eggs.” I smiled at him.

  He smiled back sadly. “I feel bad for the hens Tikkie killed. No animal should have to go through that kind of death.”

  I caught myself staring at him. Growing up on a ranch, you get to know that death is just a part of it all. I've had to put down sick animals. But I blinked back tears at his tender concern for the birds.

  He sighed and stared out the window.

  I didn't want to hear what I knew he was building up to say. That he was going to leave. That he had to take Lisa back to Earth, and from there, who knew? I loved the tag, but you never knew which way he was going to jump.

  “Well, I'd still like to pay you for your time and your trouble,” he said and bit his lip.

  “I wouldn't think of it! I do all right with the credits from the trail rides an' the farm produce an' eggs I sell in Laurel. Well, the eggs I will be selling again in Laurel.”

  We laughed.

  “I didn't mean to insult you, Willa.” He sipped coffee and took a long breath, about to say something important again.

  I threw open the Friday edition of The Laurel Wreath newspaper and flipped to the Calendar of Events. Anything to hold him here just a little while longer.

  Events. Events. Hell's twisted spokes. Nothing. Wait!

  “Oh, Jules, look! There's a ballet troupe from planet Terrapin landed here. They're going to perform Night of the Carapace!” Whatever the hell that was.

  He paused with the raised cup. “A ballet?”

  “I love ballet.” I leaned forward. “You mean you don't?” I widened my eyes innocently. I knew he loved to look into my eyes.

  “I don't know.” He took a sip. “I've never seen one.”

  Neither had I, but I wasn't about to tell him that. “Be good for Lisa to be exposed to some culture.” I nodded for emphasis.

  “When is it?” He stared toward the window, where we could see Lisa playing with Tikkie.

  “First performance…says here, tomorrow night at the Community Center.”

  “I was going to tell you, Willa, I have to – “

  “It's for charity!” I pointed at the page. “Says it right here.”

  “First performance… says here, tomorrow night at the Community Center.”

  “I was going to tell you, Willa, that I have to – “

  “It's for charity.” I pointed at the page. “Says it right here.”

  “Well, the thing is, I have to take Lisa – “

  “It's for children of parents who can't afford hospital care and need operations bad!” The lie was growing a long nose.

  He shook his head. “I guess one more day…Ballet?”

  I smiled. “Ballet.”

  * * *

  We had our choice of seats for the show. Three families attended the event, with children who ran, yelling and chasing each other, and a drunk who slouched in a chair and snored.

  Lisa sat between us and watched the kids. “Daddy, can I go play with them?”

  “No, Lis'.” He rubbed her back. “That's an outdoor game.”

  I'd never seen him raise his voice to his daughter. I thought wistfully of the family we two could have, and how good life could be. I rested my arm around the back of Lisa's chair as the Events Coordinator, an older woman with blue hair and way too much makeup, strode proudly onto the stage.

  “Ladies and gentleman…” She frowned at the shrieking children and forced a smile. “Tonight you're in for a treat.” She waved toward the right wing and nodded. Tinny music began from there.

  “May I present,” The woman shouted over the din, “the world's renowned ballet troupe of Shoals and Shells!” She clapped and nodded toward the right wing, then strode off the stage shaking her head.

  We all clapped, except for the drunk, as a chorus line of planet Terrapin's race of amphibians, looking a lot like turtles to me, danced onto the stage on their hind flippers. Their bodies were round and shelled. Their green faces ended in yellow-streaked beaks. They wore black feathers tied to their tails in imitation, I guess, of some bird from Terrapin.

  They twirled and jumped and fluttered their flippers to the music while their feathers bounced. The music took on a darker note and a male dancer leaped onto the stage and spun on his belly shell.

  One of the ballerinas slid down to her belly shell and waddled toward him as though she was swimming. The two touched beaks and intertwined their flippers.

  I hummed with the music and stared at the dancers.

  Lisa kept hitting the chair with the heel of her shoe. “What do you call this pig stuff?” she asked Jules.

  He slid me a look. “Ballet.”

  If boredom were credits, I'd be rich.

  Lisa fidgeted. We didn't try to stop her, and finally, during the break between act one and act two, we made our escape.

  I nodded, afraid that if I spoke, I'd get choked up.

  We laughed as we strolled the cool, evening streets of Laurel as Halcyon swung toward spring, licking ice cream cones and smiling at families who also strolled.

  A group of young Terran girls eyed Jules as they went by, laughing and talking. One dark-skinned b
eauty with exotic eyes and a head of thick black hair paused and winked at him. I saw Jules wink back. She giggled and hurried on.

  “You'd have the pick of the litter,” I told him, and let the irritation show in my voice.

  “She's just a kid.” He draped an arm around my shoulders. “Anyway, I've already got the pick of the litter.” He kissed my head.

  Lisa took his hand. “Pick me up, Daddy. I want to ride on your shoulders.”

  “You're getting a little big for that, Lis',” he said.

  “I'll hold on.”

  “OK, Squiggles.” He swung her onto his shoulders and she clung to him.

  For that short time, he was our rock, our anchor to love. But there was an ache inside me I just couldn't shake. Soon now, we'd both lose him. Soon I'd be wrapped again in loneliness, worse because I knew how good life could be.

  * * *

  “I've got to take Lisa back to her mother and…her stepdad,” he said on Sunday morning while we candled fertilized hen eggs to see how they were doing. I saw his jaw twitch.

  “Is her mother's name Al?”

  “Althea.”

  “And then?” I held my breath.

  'Yeah, and then. They won't be happy to see me.” He replaced an egg in the incubator. “This one's growing.”

  I watched him gently turn the egg. “Neither will the authorities,” he added.

  I knew he'd kidnapped Lisa, but he must have had a good reason.

  “How do you know they're not roosters?” he asked. “You regulate the temperature?”

  I nodded, afraid that if I spoke, I'd get choked up.

  ”Yeah,” he said. “The lower temperature kills off more male embryos.”

  I cleared my throat. “I thought it just produced more hens,” I managed to say evenly and replaced the egg I held.

  “No. Just kills off the males.”

  “Sometimes I forget you're a biologist.” I lowered my head and swallowed. “I just order more female eggs. When will you be leaving?”

  “This afternoon.”

  “Oh.”

  We walked toward the house together. “I thought we might ride to the spaceport on the horses,” he said. “Lisa would like that.”

  I just nodded. My throat was too tight to answer him.

  He packed his and Lisa's few belongings while I fed and watered the horses. I checked their hoofs for pebbles and saddled them.

  Jules came out with his new backpack over his shoulder and a grim expression. He looked at me and I swear I saw love in his eyes. Then he lowered his gaze. He tied the backpack behind Galahad's saddle. I knew he couldn't make a commitment now. He didn't know where his future would take him and it would've been deceitful to tell me he'd be back. And he was never deceitful.

  The ride to Laurel's spaceport would've been pleasant if things were different. Lisa was happy to ride Ginger, the gentlest of my four horses. Still, Jules tied her reins to the horn of his saddle. Tikkie and my dog Buck trotted beside us.

  I think only Lisa enjoyed the bustle of the spaceport. Jules and I were both more comfortable with country quiet.

  Lisa stared wide-eyed as a group of Altairian tourists in glass methane and ammonia-filled diving helmets, with small tanks on their backs, walked to a shuttle. Bubble-heads, is what people called them. Not very nice.

  I picked up Lisa and hugged her. We both had tears in our eyes. “You come back an' visit me, Squiggles, OK?”

  She nodded. “Can I ride Ginger when I come back?”

  “Oh, honey, she'll be your horse whenever you're here.” I put her down reluctantly and wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

  Jules laid his hand on my shoulder. We looked into each other's eyes, then he hugged me. “Take care of yourself, Willa,” he said softly.

  “You too.” There was nothing more to say.

  He took Lisa's hand, his backpack, and walked toward the shuttle with Tikkie at Lisa's side. Buck tried to follow but I held his collar.

  Lisa looked back and waved. I waved to her, turned, and went to my horses.

  * * *

  And back to the quiet stretches of the ranch and the long dirt road to Laurel. It was a twenty Earth-day voyage to Earth with all the stops in between. I counted off each day on my E-calendar. Now their ship would be orbiting Altair while it took on supplies and delivered passengers and stuff. Now it would be time for the jump to the Vegan system and planet Kresthaven. Now the government seat on planet Alpha in the binary star system.

  The days on Halcyon turned warmer and flowers broke through melting snow. It was the tourist season and I kept busy taking Terrans and aliens on trail and hay rides.

  Now Jules and Lisa would be approaching the Sol System and Earth. What kind of welcome would he get?

  I spent a lot of time just staring out the kitchen window these days at the long dirt road. What did I expect to see? I didn't really know, but I felt guilty at the hope that he wouldn't get a good reception and could still return to Halcyon.

  Each time a personal craft settled onto my small launch pad, raising dust, I waited for it to settle to see who would emerge.

  Friends. Just friends. It was hard to remain cordial when they visited. I wanted to retreat from the shallow talk and go into that silent place within myself

  Josh Ashburn asked me for a date. He was a nice enough tag, but he wasn't Jules. No more than Puny was Galahad. I turned Josh down. Told him I was sick. But he knew I was lying. He didn't ask again.

  Now Jules and Lisa would be on Earth. Probably in Boulder, Colorado. I pictured a huge black rock with a town crowded around it.

  Ginger and Galahad mated again. I hoped this foal was better stock than Puny.

  The days grew hot. I grew restless. The sun blazed down and dried the stream. The four horses raised dust in the corral. I pumped water into the trough for them.

  I came to resent the work, the ranch, the loneliness. RECOIL had disbanded with their successful rout of the czar and his compound. What had Daddy seen in this kind of life? I no longer knew. The tourist customers asked the same dull questions:

  “Were you born on Halcyon?”

  “Yes, I was.”

  'Have you ever visited Earth?”

  “No, I haven't.”

  “Do you take care of this ranch all by yourself?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  'Wow, you're some woman.” Some woman.

  At night I fell asleep hugging my pillow to my chest and letting tears fall unwiped in the silence.

  The times I rode into town for supplies and to make deliveries, I'd always end up at the spaceport and just sit on a bench with Buck beside me and watch shuttles take off and land.

  Willa, I told myself, you can't keep living like this. He might never come back.

  I bought a For Sale sign and tacked it up on the town bulletin board.

  Ranch for Sale. Dirt Cheap! No Horses Included. Good trail and Hay Ride Business. Call Willa Carson Code 7324A

  Customers came and went. Some were just nosying around with no intention of buying, I knew. They wearied me with all their questions but I answered them. Over and over. Sundays were the busiest days, with families bringing their kids out with an excuse to show them a ranch.

  * * *

  It was Sunday again. There were a bunch of customers inspecting the barn, the pad, and every damn bale of hay, it seemed to me.

  “What's a tack room?”

  'How much does a horse eat?”

  “Do you sell the manure?”

  Why do you want to live on a damn ranch? I felt like asking, if you don't know horse manure from a hole in the ground?

  I went into the barn and found things to do to get some relief from the endless questions, the dust raised by landings and takeoffs, and my spooked horses. Somebody threw a white plastic square into the barn.

  Hell's twisted spokes! Now what's that?

  I picked it up, ready to dump it into the trash bin, turned it over and realized it was my For Sale sign. What kind of a stupid game
was this? I strode outside the barn ready to give a customer hell, and stopped short. My mouth fell open.

  He stood with the afternoon sun behind him, the backpack over one shoulder, in that slouchy pose he assumes when he's waiting. The light rimmed his hair with gold. His eyes, in shadows, were like a hawk's.

  I dropped the sign.

  He grinned and picked it up. “How much do you want for the ranch, woman?” His voice was the music that had rung in my memory for two months. “I always wanted to live on a ranch,” he said and smiled. “Don't I get a welcome?”

  “Oh, Jules,” I whispered. “My God. Is it really you?” My knees felt shaky.

  He hugged me and laid his head against mine. “I couldn't stop thinking about you, Willa.” He kissed my cheek.

  Tears started from my eyes and rolled down my face and wet my neck. I sobbed against him.

  “Gee,” he said, “I was hoping you'd be happy to see me.”

  'Oh, Jules. I love you,” I whispered. “I've loved you since the first time I saw you.” I wiped my tears against his shirt.

  'Is that why you didn't shoot me when I stole Galahad?”

  'Are you here to stay, or is this just a visit? I have to know this time.”

  “Willa.” He cupped my face in his hands. “When I left you at the spaceport, I felt sick in my heart, but I couldn't make a commitment then. There was a real possibility they'd throw me in jail for kidnapping, even though it was my daughter.”

  I smiled. “Did you smile at them and charm your way out?”

  “Not likely! My former father-in-law was a W-CIA agent. He still has influence with the right people. He convinced them that Spirit threatened to kill Lisa if I didn't take her with me.”

  I drew back. “You think Spirit would've done that?”

  “He was capable of it.”

  'It's over, Jules.” I touched his lips. “You're safe now.”

  He smiled. “You're so pretty, Willa. Your face was burned in my heart. You branded me, woman.” He kissed me and I clung to him. “Can you make a commitment now?” I asked him.

  He nodded. “If you need another hand on the ranch, I'm your man.”

  I drew in a breath. My man! The sudden sense of joy was too much. I felt dizzy. “You're the only man I ever wanted!” I hugged him tight. “My Jules. My Galahad.”