by Grady, D. R.
“That’s a heavy charge.” Loletta sounded shell-shocked.
“I know,” he sighed. “I don’t really believe it, but I’ve been concerned. You know how she is. She’s a little...”
“Odd. I know. I guess I hadn’t thought about her actually murdering your father. That doesn’t seem right to me.”
“It’s against the law,” he sputtered. His heart weighed heavy in his chest.
“I know that.” She offered a heavy, weary sigh of her own. “What I mean is like you said, your mother loved your father. I can’t imagine her doing anything to hurt him.”
“Then why the nasty behavior? She has been utterly insulting and rude to Tia. A woman who has come to our home to help us.”
“Yes. But don’t forget, your mother has that absolute hatred of Americans.”
“Yes. It’s been close to forty years, and she still hates Maria.”
“I noticed last time I was there, Maria’s adopted a more British accent. I wondered if your mother’s antagonism had something to do with it.”
“Probably. It’s not Maria’s fault she was born in America.”
“If your mother hates America and Americans so much, why did she allow you to attend university there?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Father might have helped. I don’t know.”
“I’ll see what I can glean from her while we’re here in London.”
“I hope you’re not in danger with her.” Aleksi almost didn’t voice his newest concern. But felt he had to.
Loletta laughed. “I’m not, you know.”
“How can you be sure?”
“We’re sisters. Totally different relationship than husband and wife.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. It’s a shame you’re an only child. You can’t understand the relationship, but I’m safe.”
“I believe, I hope, she’s in the best possible place she could be.”
“I’m certain she’ll receive the help she needs here.”
Aleksi appreciated the confidence in his aunt’s voice. He needed to hear that he had done the right thing. “I’m relieved.”
“Yes. I’ll think about your theories and seek answers as to whether she was involved. I doubt it, honestly, but I promise to maintain an open mind.”
“I appreciate you, Loletta.”
Her sweet laugh warmed him. “You even love me.”
“Of course I love you. But I love my mother, too. Unfortunately, at the moment, I do not particularly like her.”
“No. But because you love her, you’ve taken steps to help her. That’s the best a son can do.”
“Thanks, Loletta.” And Aleksi meant it.
“I know, love. And I appreciate you and your efforts. Oh, by the way...”
Fear clenched his guts. Aleksi recognized that voice. “Yes?” He kept his voice even and controlled, but his aunt had definitely cast a fishing line. She wanted information.
“Your mother, while ranting about this American at your home, mentioned this Tia is attractive.”
Of course his mother would mention something like that. His aunt’s sonar was well developed. It would have beeped incessantly. She wanted to see Aleksi married off to a nice girl so he could produce an heir. Loletta worked as industriously at this project as his mother. Unlike his mother, though, she had nothing against Americans.
He decided to be honest. “She is.”
“Is she princess material?”
“Absolutely.”
“So what are you waiting for?”
Aleksi grimaced. “Mother made courting difficult.”
“Yes, of course. Be a challenge to court a woman with Her Gloominess about.”
“Yes.”
“Are her aunt and uncle still in residence?”
“They are. They plan to leave in the morning.”
“Hmm.”
“You’re not humorous, Aunt Loletta,” Aleksi warned, but his heart warmed again. He was heartened to learn she had no problems with this American usurper in his palace. If Loletta liked the idea of Tia as his princess, she’d be able to talk his mother around better than anyone else he knew.
“That’s okay, love. I don’t need to be. Good luck with the courtship.”
“Thank you.” Thinking about the kiss they’d shared this morning made him want to jump up and rediscover the joys of kissing Tia.
“I’d like to be kept informed,” she warned.
He laughed. “Like I plan to tell you anything.”
“I won’t tell,” she promised, trying to sound hurt. “More than five hundred or so people...”
“Since that number is conservative. No way.”
“Good luck, Aleksi.” He could tell from her voice that she smiled. At least one member of his family was happy about Tia’s role in his life.
“Thank you, Aunt Loletta. I’ll be fine. Just keep Mother entertained for a fortnight. That is all I ask.”
“I can do that.”
“You have my gratitude.”
She laughed at the heartfelt note in his voice, he was sure. “I’m having a great time already. And even though you’re not cooperating, I’ll keep you abreast of your mother’s appointments.”
“I do appreciate that. Think on my theories.”
“I will. In the meantime, maybe you could return to your courtship.”
“She has no idea that’s what I’m doing.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “How could she not know?”
“Tia believes she is here only to fix our wells.”
“Is she stupid?”
“Of course not. But she is very focused.”
“You haven’t even kissed her,” Loletta said with a groan. He could picture her placing a hand to her forehead while shaking her head.
“I have,” he corrected. And tried not to think about how much Tia had fired him up in those wonderful, too few minutes.
“Well that’s something. You won’t be able to kiss her if you’re talking to me, so hang up the telephone and get busy, son.”
“I’ll do that,” Aleksi said with a grin and they hung up.
He sat back in his chair and contemplated life, with his mother’s problems in general and Tia Morrison in particular. How did one go about conducting a courtship with a woman who had no clue as to his purpose?Very quietly. With many kisses.
Aleksi rose from his chair and moved to the door. There was no time like the present to conduct another kissing experiment with his intended.
***
Tia frowned at the plate Helena handed her. “Are you sure this is from well twenty-six?”
Helena nodded. “I labeled these plates myself. This is from well twenty-six.”
“What’s the problem?” Jorge asked, gliding over to where they stood. He peered at the plate and winced at the overgrowth. “Wow. That plate isn’t even quite twenty-four hours old yet.”
“No,” Tia said, staring at the various bacteria that had grown overnight. Usually seven days was required to support this much growth. “What about today’s plate?”
Maria selected a plate from the incubator where they had stored the day’s plates after spreading the water over them. She frowned, and from across the room, Tia could tell there was plenty of growth.
“We’ve got a problem,” she said.
“Besides the fact that this well feeds the hospital?” Maria asked, worry prevalent in her voice.
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Tia dropped heavily onto a stool.
Jorge’s eyebrows snapped together. “The hospital?” And he glanced at the plates again.
“This is bad,” Helena said on a moan.
“What’s wrong?” Aleksi asked from the doorway. He stared at them before crossing the distance rapidly.
Tia pointed to the plate on the bench in front of them. “That’s the problem.”
He glanced at the plate. “Wow, you can barely see the, what is that stuff it is on called?”
“Agar,” M
aria supplied.
“Thank you. You can’t see much of the agar.”
“That’s the problem,” Tia said.
“Why?” He frowned at her and her heart raced a little. She wanted to kiss him again, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
“Because this amount of growth shouldn’t happen for another six days. And the well this particular sample was taken from supplies the hospital.” Tia rubbed her forehead.
Aleksi blanched. “The hospital?”
“Yes.” Tia nodded. She saw comprehension dawn in his eyes.
“This would make anyone sick, I’m guessing.”
She, Jorge, Maria, and Helena all nodded solemnly.
“Is this why my people have grown sick?”
“It hasn’t helped matters,” Tia answered. “Whether it’s the cause is unknown. They are boiling the water, right?” She turned to Maria.
“Yes. I’ll go call Graham and tell him to make certain the hospital is still boiling.”
“Make certain they’re also following the entire procedure. No shortcuts.”
“I’ll explain that.”
“That well supplies all their water, right?” Helena asked.
Tia consulted the map before she shook her head. “No, well twenty-seven also supplies them.”
Helena raced for the incubator that held yesterday’s samples and tugged a couple more plates from the stack.
“This one looks okay,” she said, and handed the plate to Tia.
“There’s one spot on here.” Tia took the plate to the microscope.
After peering through the lens for a time, and moving the plate around, she nodded. “This is to be expected. But well twenty-six is not. What about well twenty-five?”
Helena handed her another plate, while Jorge took the first well twenty-six plate and placed it under another microscope. Tia glanced at well twenty-five’s plate, and was heartened to see it looked nearly like well twenty-seven. “Okay, wells twenty-five and twenty-seven both look normal. What are you seeing Jorge?”
He shook his head. “This plate is awful.”
She nudged him aside and peered through the lens. Tia adjusted the scope, so she’d see the least power, and slowly worked her way around the plate and up in lens power.
She didn’t like what she saw either.
“Okay, here’s what we need to do. Let’s isolate these colonies. I want to know specifically what these bacterium are. Once we know that and we should have those answers tomorrow, we can treat this well, at least.”
Jorge and Helena nodded and Helena took the plate Tia handed her.
Aleksi closed in and lifted her chin. “I am not a scientist, so I do not understand what you are so concerned about. Can you explain this to me?”
“All we know at this point is that well twenty-six is contaminated. Very contaminated. Whether the contaminant is a true threat, or a mild inconvenience or a little of both, we don’t know yet.”
“What else are you thinking?”
“The worst possible well to be so contaminated is the one that feeds the hospital.”
“Yes,” he said and nodded. Her heart dropped before spinning in circles. Tia wanted to clutch her chest to keep it from the acrobatics, but she didn’t want to draw attention to her predicament. At least not the inner one.
The outer one, with the hospital well in such bad shape, was bad enough.
“Tia, should we use all the same agars?” Jorge asked.
She shoved to her feet and trailed over to the bench where the others worked. “Yes, let’s do both plates and media broths. We might as well reproduce as much of these as we can.”
“I don’t like this,” Jorge muttered as he streaked more plates. Helena worked with the media tubes, poking them with the bacteria.
“No, you’re right, Jorge,” Tia said, and exchanged a worried glance with him. “I’m guessing we’ll need to do dilutions on these as well.”
“I just spoke with Graham. He’s planning to hold a meeting with all hospital staff in an hour,” Maria said and her eyes settled on Tia. “He’d like for you to be present, if at all possible.”
Tia nodded. “If he wants me there, I will be.” Tia bit her lip. “Do you have plate tape?”
Maria opened a drawer and tugged out a large scientific tape dispenser. “Will this do?”
“Of course. I’m thinking...”
“Yes?” Helena asked, her brow pleated. Aleksi moved to stand beside her as Tia watched Jorge streak yet another plate.
“I’m wondering if we should tape that plate up and pass it around. Most everyone who is hospital personnel will recognize the threat that plate represents.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “Of course. If we tape them, they’ll be safe for the medical staff to see the problem for themselves.”
“Yes, that’s what I’d like to do. Why should they take our word for it? When they can clearly see the problem just by viewing this plate?”
“That’s an excellent idea, Tia,” Helena said.
Jorge cocked his head. “Why don’t we tape up some of the others, the cleaner ones to show them what that plate should look like?”
“Another excellent idea,” Helena said. She bustled over to the incubator and extracted plates at random.
“I like how you folks think,” Tia said with a grin.
“I’ll come with you,” Aleksi said.
Maria’s head jerked up. “Graham is expecting you.” She grinned and batted at him when he ran his finger down her nose. Tia received the impression he teased her often.
Aleksi nodded. “I’ll be there.”
“Why don’t you come for me in forty minutes?” Tia suggested.
“She tends to get caught up in her work. You’ll have to come for her or she’ll forget,” Maria said dryly.
“I’m not even going to argue with you. I know how I am,” Tia said, but wrinkled her nose. She did have to admit she enjoyed working with these three. Between them, her wonderful hedonist’s shower, and this gorgeous prince, she couldn’t complain.
“So do we,” Maria burbled, and stretched lazily, like a cat. Like Tia’s niece, Starla. Neither tried to be graceful or gorgeous, they just were.
Maybe she could ask Maria to teach her how to be sexy. Starla was a little young to understand her incredible power. Tia knew her parents would appreciate Starla waiting until she was twenty-one before she hit puberty. Tia hoped she waited until she was at least thirteen like her older sister.
“I’ll come for you in forty minutes,” Aleksi said, and she liked the promise in his eyes. She’d like to explore the rich depths further, but Helena knocked into the table and muttered something dire, which reminded Tia they weren’t alone.
And from the look of things, Maria and Aleksi knew each other well. She couldn’t reveal how she felt to her lab mate. Not that Maria would harass her or anything, but she didn’t want to let on until she had more time to evaluate things.
“Remember, your aunt and uncle leave this afternoon.”
Helena frowned at Tia. “I thought they were supposed to leave this morning?”
“They were, but they decided to wait until this afternoon. Apparently they could hop a better flight if they waited.”
“Ah, comfort is important,” Maria acknowledged, as she taped up some of the plates Tia would take with her to the hospital.
“Yes,” Tia murmured and her eyes met Aleksi’s.
She was heartened to see he appeared as uncomfortable as she. Maybe he wanted to sample her lips again. That would definitely make her more comfortable.
Tia fanned herself with the sheaf of papers she’d been making notes on.
Chapter 12
As Aleksi paced up the hall, he kept an eye on the clock at the end of the space. He was a little late in fetching Tia, but he had done that on purpose. Too much time spent with her would only land him in trouble he didn’t need right now.
He shoved open the door to the lab, and as usual, unfamiliar and not s
o savory smells assaulted his olfactory senses. Hoping the lab folk did actually grow used to the odors, he glanced around the room for his quarry.
“Where is Tia?” he asked when he didn’t spot her.
“She actually kept an eye on the clock,” Helena said with pride. “She slipped out to use the water closet.”
“Ah,” Aleksi said, and watched the door.
Tia burst through, and he drank in the sight of her. She appeared as fresh and untouched as a newly plucked rose. He wanted to lean forward and sniff her, to touch the perfection of her petal soft skin.
He seriously doubted she had developed thorns like the flower. Tia seemed much too sweet for that. But then he remembered her initial reluctance to join him. She had been hardnosed about coming home with him. Maybe she did have the capacity to grow some thorns.
Aleksi made a mental note to be careful.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, a little breathless.
He desperately wanted to contribute to her breathlessness. Kissing her would cause that very reaction in both of them.
“You’re not late,” he murmured. He glanced at the clock, “but if we don’t hurry, we will be.”
“Okay.” She scooped up a pile of agar plates that sported brightly colored tape to hold the top and bottom together.
He watched with interest as she stacked them in a small plastic carrier that resembled a tool box. “I’m ready,” she stated, but he noticed her glancing around the room. She bit her lip. “I think.” Tia turned to Maria. “Am I forgetting something?”
Maria shook her head. “No, I think you’re ready, love.”
“Okay, I am ready,” Tia repeated.
“We should be off, then. The hour grows late,” Aleksi announced and placed his hand at the small of her back. He liked walking with his hand there.
Any other men around understood that subtle display of manliness. Back off, bozos, this woman is mine. Not that Tia likely caught on, but other men would. Aleksi decided that was good enough. He opened the door for her.
“Do you think this will take long?” Tia asked, breaking into his thoughts. Aleksi had to frantically think back to what she could be talking about.
He wanted her permanently, so yes, that would be long, but he didn’t think she knew his crazy thoughts. Hoped she didn’t know what he was thinking.
