Firestone Rings (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 4)

by J. Naomi Ay

  An hour or so later, I’d come back inside and then I ran back to their room and climbed in the bed between them. I loved being there snuggled between my mom and dad looking out at the ocean, watching the birds soar in the sky above us. I loved it when we were just a family.

  Chapter 9

  Shelly

  Thad called and invited us to dinner.

  “An old friend of Katie’s is here,” he said. “Jerry Waldman.”

  “Dr. Jerry?” I gasped. “Of course, we’ll come. I’d love to meet him.” I was in Starbucks in the Fashion Mall in Takira-hahr. Janet was sitting next to me, sipping her iced mocha. She looked at me curiously.

  “Hey Thad, honey,” I said. “Is Jerry alone? Is it just five of us?”

  “Yeah,” Thad replied. “I haven’t told Gina yet but I know she has the night off. Why?”

  “I’d like to bring Janet. Make the reservation for six.”

  Janet rolled her eyes. “Who are you fixing me up with?” she moaned.

  “I’m not fixing you up at all,” I replied. “But Dr. Jerry Waldman is in town and this will be a kick to meet him. He was the one who Katie was going to marry before Ron showed up and stole her away.”

  Janet snorted. “You’re right, this could be fun.”

  Thad chose Teppanyaki and the six of us sat around the big grill watching a Rozarian guy pretend to be Japanese and madly chop at shrimp. Jerry was a little quiet at first. He seemed to be a nice enough guy with glasses that made his puppy dog brown eyes look enormous. He had curly brown hair shot with grey. Poor guy, he was never a match for Dr. Ron.

  “So what exactly are you doing here, Doctor?” Tim asked a little gruffly. Tim never liked Teppanyaki and frankly didn’t want to come. He didn’t like the mess that was going on in the Alliance with Rehnor and the fact that Thad still ran SdK. He didn’t like the fact that Rehnorian ships were light years ahead of Allied ships and that they all had some new weapon that could immobilize Spaceforce. Tim was an altogether unhappy person these days. I, on the other hand, would gladly have chucked it all in and gone to Rehnor if Tim would agree to it.

  Jerry seemed a little nervous and cleared his throat a few times before answering.

  “I want to go to Rehnor, Admiral,” he replied. “Katie told me that Thad could arrange a job for me with SdK there.”

  Tim harrumphed loudly.

  “Another Spaceforce officer turning traitor,” he remarked under his breath although we all heard it.

  “Excuse me?” Jerry asked, blushing beet red.

  “Chop chop chicken?” the Teppanyaki chef asked and tossed a bunch of chicken on our plates. “Yummy Yummy sauce for chop chop chicken. Yucky Yucky sauce for chop chop shrimp.”

  “You’re going to work for SdK there?” Janet asked. She was sitting across the table from Jerry and practically had to yell because of the grill in the middle. “Why would you want to?”

  “It’s a good company,” Jerry shrugged. “I’m getting tired of being in space all the time. I’ve been on the Discovery for more than twenty years. It’s not the same anymore.”

  “I suggested Jerry take a position here,” Thad said and flagged down the waitress for a fresh glass of sake. “But he is determined to go there.”

  “I figure if you’re friends with the Emperor and Empress, it could be beneficial.” Jerry smiled weakly.

  “It won’t be,” Thad said and transferred his beansprouts to Gina’s dish. “I don’t like stir-fried worms,” he announced. Gina rolled her eyes at him.

  “Are you good friends with them?” I asked politely.

  “You’ll never see them,” Janet smirked.

  “Ron and I got on pretty well. We were friendly,” Jerry said. “We were good for hanging around the pub with a beer or two after work. Katie of course…” He stared at the steam from the grill drifting up to the ceiling vents. It was obvious he still had it bad for her.

  “Get over it, Doc,” Janet snapped and pointed at her plate for more chicken. The chef gave her the last of it and thankfully turned off the grill so we didn’t have to shout any more.

  Jerry looked at Janet with surprise.

  “Oh come on, Doc,” Janet said. “It’s obvious you are still pining away for little Captain Perfect who was really the biggest bitch ever and probably relishes every minute of her role as the glorious Empress. She’s not chucking all that in for you any time soon so you might as well get on with your life.”

  “Janet!” I gasped. “What’s got into you?”

  “Excuse me?” Jerry cried. “Katie is not like that at all.”

  “Of course she is,” Janet continued. “Right, Thad? Everybody at SdK knew it was Katie who ruined everything. Katie nearly bankrupted the company when she paid off the Alliance for some Rehnorian problem thing.”

  “I didn’t know everything was ruined.” Thad frowned thoughtfully. “I was thinking the company is looking pretty good. Does the company look ruined to you, Mom?”

  “It’s the damn Alliance that is ruined,” Tim grumbled. “And yes, Katie is responsible for that.”

  “She is not!” I declared and slapped Tim’s arm.

  “She is a total bitch though,” Janet sniffed. “Admit it, Thad. Everyone at SdK agrees she was worse than Ron ever was. Ron was plenty weird but she was a bitch. She probably was a real witch aboard that ship too.”

  “Janet!” I cried. “She was not like that at all.”

  “She was,” Jerry agreed, nodding his head. “And yes, she could be a real bitch sometimes too, but she ran a tight, clean ship and she was always fair, to everyone. Frankly, she had a pretty damn good excuse for being a bitch with the way Ron was always having crises. Geez, the guy was half insane most of the time.”

  “This is the guy who is now stealing our planets and taking over the galaxy,” Tim mumbled. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up all insane most of the time because there isn’t a damn thing Spaceforce can do about it.”

  “And you obviously still have it bad for her, Dr. Waldman.” Janet crossed her arms and shook her head making a tsk tsk noise.

  “What is with you tonight, Janet?” Gina suddenly piped up after sitting quiet all evening. “You sound like you are jealous. Maybe you still have it bad for Ron, huh? You never quite got over Katie stealing him away from you, did you? Of course, he really wasn’t interested in you anyway, was he?”

  “It was always professional between us,” Janet replied haughtily. “I wasn’t the one hanging around the OR’s waiting for him with my tongue hanging out all the time, Gina.”

  “Are you saying I did?” Gina demanded.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact I am,” Janet replied.

  “Girls,” Thad rolled his eyes. “If you want to go there, I suggest we go outside, find some mud and let you both roll around in it.” Gina punched him in the arm.

  “Listen to me,” I snapped at all of them. “Ron had Katie picked out from practically childhood and there was nothing that any of you could have done on either side to influence it. Consider yourself lucky you’re here now and not there dealing with all the problems they both have to deal with.”

  “God, they made me sick though,” Janet sighed.

  “How so?” Jerry asked.

  “OMG,” Janet gasped. “She was such a slut. You know that’s why he lost his privileges at RSI. Sleeping with her in a hospital bed of all things and she was his patient beside.”

  “I seem to remember Katie being pretty innocent until Ron showed up.” Jerry coughed into this hand. “I should know, I was dating her. She was never for a minute anything that anyone would call a slut.”

  “Well, after she came here she was all over him all the time. Remember Shelly, how every lunch hour she would come and they’d lock his office door like any of us didn’t know what was going on in there. Jesus, you’d think they could wait until they got home.”

  “And you probably stood outside with your ear to the keyhole,” Gina smirked. “Thinking this isn’t fair, it’s sup
posed to be me!”

  “Gina!” Janet growled.

  “Girls!” Thad laughed.

  “Well, he is half Karupta,” I said. “They are kind of…well, their culture is sort of open and…kind of…”

  “Kind of what, Mom?” Thad raised his eyebrows innocently.

  “Horny?” Tim grumbled, to which I looked at him aghast. It did sound funny coming from that old fart Tim who hadn’t had a good horny day in the last thirty years, unfortunately.

  Thad started to laugh. Then the rest of us did too, even Janet.

  “So seriously, Jerry,” Thad said when everyone had quieted again and the waitress had given us all a cup of synthetic vanilla ice cream. “I can get you a job at any of the SdK hospitals but the chances of you seeing either of them is slim to none. You know I used to work directly with Ron. We had meetings all day long together and now I can’t even get an email through to him. I can still talk to Lord Berkan, who was my counterpart at SdK Rehnor, and is now the Lord Chief of Staff, but that’s as far as I get.”

  “What about Katie?” Jerry asked, swirling the ice cream around in his dish but not eating it.

  “I can give you her email,” I offered. “You can try and send her a note but most of them are not getting through. Lately, they’ve been just bouncing back to me.”

  “Maybe I should just go there and try to see her?”

  “You can’t.” Thad leaned over Gina and started eating her cup of ice cream too. She shoved it over in front of him and pursing her lips, she shot daggers at Janet with her eyes. “Even if you go there,” Thad continued. “You won’t be able to get in to see her. Every minute of her day is programmed and controlled.”

  “She must hate that.” Jerry looked at his melting ice cream. “Does she see Ron much?”

  “Hardly ever,” I replied. “He works around the clock and never leaves his office according to her. Last time I heard from her she was touring in Altaris. I got an email from a guy in Talas forwarding a letter she had written to me.”

  “Hmmph!” Tim grumbled. “Andorus, Altaris, Talas. When’s the guy going to stop?"

  “You really should give SdK Rozari a try first,” Janet said. We all looked over at her and strangely, she was no longer sneering but smiling. “The Kalika-hahr campus is fabulous. The grounds are incredible and you should see the gym and restaurants that we have for employees only.”

  “I told Jerry we lost so many staff physicians to Rehnor and the Empire in the last year that we really could use his help.” Thad looked in my ice cream dish to see if there was any left. There wasn’t. “His Spaceforce training would make him an ideal head of ER operations here. How about it, Jer?”

  “If you like, I can take you on a tour of the hospital and campus tomorrow,” Janet offered.

  Jerry looked stunned.

  “Okay,” he said to Janet. “Sure.”

  Chapter 10

  Katie

  I was asleep when he came in around four in the morning. His skin was cool and smelled like the ocean and the wind.

  “Hi stranger,” I said. “Long time no see.”

  He didn’t respond, just climbed in bed with me and made love to me slowly and gently. When he was finished, when we were still breathless and sweat soaked, he turned to leave.

  “Don’t go.” I tried to pull him back. “Stay with me.”

  “I have meetings in a few hours,” he replied, his feet on the floor.

  “No. Senya? Please? Just until morning?”

  “No,” he stood, shaking his head, already padding his way across the floor to his own apartment.

  “Why are you going?” I cried. “Don’t leave me.”

  “You will leave me.” He stopped but didn’t turn around. I could see his eyes flashing though, reflecting in the pre-dawn darkness of this room. “You will leave me, and it will kill me.”

  “Don't say that,” I cried, my blood running cold. “I'm not leaving you. I am going on tour because you are sending me but I’m coming back.”

  “No. You will leave. You will disobey me and you will leave. I saw…”

  “I don't care what you saw. Maybe your crystal ball is broken. You don't know everything.”

  “I do.”

  “No, you don't!” I was practically screaming. I jumped out of bed and ran across the room to him. “Is that why you are doing this? Is that why you are burying yourself in your work and ignoring me?” I grabbed his arm but he shrugged me off, knocking me off my feet.

  “Senya, don't do this,” I cried from floor. “Don't push me away.”

  “You will leave me no matter what I do. You will leave me and I will be alone again.”

  “Senya,” I said steadily, swallowing hard. “I promise you I won't go anywhere. I love you with all my heart and soul. You know that. I am always with you as you are always with me no matter how far apart we are.”

  He shook his head, and he left and never came back.

  Days and then weeks went by, and I was sent off to tour Altaris. I wore my pretty dresses and my elaborate jewelry, and I waved at the people. I made speeches at dinner parties and receptions. I toured hospitals, schools and police stations. I was given flowers and gifts by small children, and old women cried when they saw me.

  I wanted to scream. It was just me, plain old ordinary Katie Golden. I wasn’t worthy of their flowers and adoration and I didn’t want it. I was just playing dress up. I couldn’t heal them or fix them or get their kids into college. I wasn’t special. Only he was and now I couldn’t even deliver their messages and prayers to him. He didn’t talk to me anymore. He didn’t answer my emails or tweet me back. He was too busy even for me.

  I went on to Andorus. More garden parties, more tours, more gifts to give out and receive. I stayed in palaces, in grand rooms that I was told belonged to me now but had nothing of me in them and never would. I wanted to go back to Takira-hahr. I wanted to look in our closet and see his clothes there, clothes that I bought. I wanted to look at the clock and know he would be home tonight at six and I would need to make something for him to eat for dinner, something besides eggs.

  “It's so wonderful you are used to living space,” Luci said. “I still feel a little out of sorts. I can't wait to get home, to get back to Berkie and Mishnah.”

  “I know exactly how you feel,” Fern replied. “At least you've got your little ones here with you. I haven't seen my son in a year.”

  “But he's twenty-seven,” Luci laughed. “He doesn't want to see you anymore.”

  “That doesn't mean I don't want to see him,” Fern snipped.

  “You know who I would like to see?” Shika said. He was sitting at the table doing math with Petya. Marik was typing a report about Andorus III, the planet we were currently visiting. The boy's tutor Lady Cuel was chatting with Lady Kelli across the room.

  “Who?” I asked, turning back from the window and coming to check his work. “Daddy?”

  “No!” Shika laughed. “Uncle Jerry. I'd like to go on the Discovery and see Uncle Jerry and eat waffles with ice cream on them.”

  “Waffles with ice cream?” Petya shrieked. “That's weird!”

  “No, it's not,” Shika said. “It's good and Uncle Jerry always gets me Purpleberry ice cream.”

  “Purpleberry?!?” Petya cried again.

  “There's no such thing as Purpleberry, doofus,” Marik sneered.

  “Marik!” Luci snapped. “Do not call Prince Shika doofus!”

  “You're a doofus!” Shika screamed and climbed on the table to get to Marik.

  “Shika, don't fight!” I grabbed him and pushed him back down in his chair.

  “Boys! Boys!” Lady Cuel stormed across the room and rapped a ruler on the table. “Sit down and do your work. I'm terribly sorry, Madame. Perhaps it would be better if you and the ladies retired to another room?”

  “Yes, Madame,” Luci agreed. “Shall we go check the itinerary for tomorrow and layout your clothing?”

  “Sure,” I mumbled. “What fun.”r />
  While Luci and Fern poured over my schedule and determined my wardrobe requirements, I left. This spaceplane was part of the Imperial Fleet but looked identical to our SdK planes. I remembered how excited I was to first fly on one. I remembered the first time I took the controls. I went to the galley and got myself a soda stamped with the Imperial Crest. Then my feet took me to the bridge and for a moment I was able to stand unnoticed next to the door and watch the panorama of stars float across the huge picture windows as we headed toward our next destination, Andorus VI. The sounds of the bridge, the equipment noises, the murmuring of the pilot and copilot, the hum of the engines as we altered course and accelerated, these were the songs of my old life.

  The pilot and co-pilot stood and bowed to me.

  “It gets into your blood, doesn't it?” I murmured. “This need to fly across the stars.”

  “I don't think I could ever live on land again for very long, Madame,” the pilot replied. “I am transferring to the Imperial Starship, Queen of Altaris, as soon as she is launched.”

  I thought how lucky he was.

  Chapter 11

  Tilia

  I stood next to the Little Prince’s bed as my Katie wished him goodnight. She bent down to kiss his soft cheek and played a game wherein she tickled his ribs and made him laugh.

  “One more book,” he begged when she took his arms from around her neck and bid him goodbye.

  “No, Sweetie. You’ve had three already and you’ve got school in the morning. Go to sleep now and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Can Nana T read to me?” he cried as she walked to the door. “Just one more?”

  My Katie looked at me and I nodded. I would do whatever she wished.

  “Alright,” she winked, “One more, and then, sleep.”

  She left us there and I read the Little Prince’s favorite story about machines that had faces and spoke to each other. They had more machines which they would attach to themselves and always there was a challenge to pull these machines across mountains and bridges. The Little Prince sighed happily and wiggled in his bed when the goods were delivered, and the machines could go home to sleep in their sheds.