“Thank you,” I mouthed to her.
Her responding smile made it clear that she understood how much that moment meant to me.
I don’t know how long our kids and I were stood there hugging. They were all clinging to me just as much as I was clinging to them. I do know that I didn’t want to let go of them, and I don’t think our kids wanted to let go of me either.
It took James suggesting that we all sit down to talk for us to finally let go of each other; the kids and I reluctantly releasing our hold.
Before the kids all sat at the meeting room table, they all gave me a kiss and a final squeeze. It was the best feeling in the world, and my heart felt so full of love for them.
We all began to take our seats, all sitting at one end of the table, so we could all still see each other clearly. Hulaz arrived with a large black stone tray of food, juice and coffee.
“Welcome children, we are very pleased to have you back with your parents. I am Hulaz,” she told them with a lovely warm smile on her beautiful face.
The kids all responded to Hulaz with warm smiles of their own, all thanking her for the refreshments and dipping their heads in respect.
“Thank you for bringing us here; we’ve all missed our mom probably more than she realizes,” Anthony replied in a very deep voice that shocked me.
He turned to look at me and gave me his dad’s lovely smile. His words went straight to my heart, and it suddenly struck me just how much the kids had grown up. They weren’t kids anymore; they were young adults.
Hulaz dipped her head in respect to all the kids, and then her gaze turned to James and me.
“We have added more beds for your children in your room for you. We have also extended your room by opening the adjoining room. We thought you would all like to stay together,” she explained.
“Thank you so much Hulaz, we really appreciate that and everything you’ve done for us,” I replied, hoping she could feel my utter gratitude.
She dipped her head again but this time to all of us and went to leave. As I watched her glide out of the glass doors, I thought again how lucky we all were to not only have the angels there but also lucky to have them as friends.
The moment she left, James and the kids began to tuck into the food from the tray. There was a selection of various salad leaves, vegetables and fruits. ‘Some things don’t change!’ I thought to myself; kids love to eat and are generally always hungry. It all looked delicious, but I was still feeling far too nervous to eat anything.
“Your dad has told me how well you’ve all been doing while I was sleeping,” I told them.
I kept looking from one face to another, trying to take in every detail such as Anthony's height and his long curly hair. Holly’s womanly figure and her long, brunette hair like James’ and the maturity that showed in her green-blue eyes. Harrison and Abigail had changed greatly too.
Harrison had become a man mountain full of muscle, and Abigail was now a proper young lady. Her figure was more athletic, and both of them had darker hair, which was now a dark blond instead of the white blonde from my dreams. My heart was aching to hold them close to me again.
“I am so proud of you all. You have really shown just how resilient and strong you all are and determined, from what your dads told me,” I told them, with pride swelling in my chest.
“I’m so amazed at how well you’ve coped with everything that’s happened. Not only what was happening to our planet, but also with the angels coming and then settling into the holding structure with your dad. I’m so grateful that you didn't let things get to you and that you all took the chance to learn new things as well as supporting each other,” I added.
I could tell how much my words meant to them as I could see it in their faces. Anthony leaned forward and put his hand on mine.
“Are you really okay Mom?” he asked, concern appearing in his green eyes which were so much like his dads.
“I’m more than okay darling!” I replied, reaching out to take his hand in mine.
I made eye contact with all our children, trying to give them a reassuring smile, and I began to explain everything to them.
I told them about waking up in the sleeping room, stressing to them that I wasn’t in any discomfort while asleep. Then I told them about giving birth to the baby tiger cub, explaining the whole process from beginning to end. I felt that I needed them to understand that the lies they were told were just that, lies!
James helped me to explain about the fallen angels too. Also, what happened when they caused the explosion on the rig craft and about the Marilians coming to conquer Earth.
Even though they’d been through so much already, we needed them to understand the serious threat the Marilians posed. Their sweet faces mirrored each other’s, a mixture of emotions showing as they absorbed each bit of new information.
I was saddened, and it made my heart ache in my chest to be having to put so much on their young shoulders, especially when our reunion was supposed to be a happy time. However, I was so impressed with their questions because it showed just how mature they’d become.
Our children had lost so much of their childhood; they’d had to grow up so quickly over the last seven years. Coping with the end of our planet and all the trauma that came with that and then the surprising arrival of the angels. Our children were truly amazing people and suddenly the pride I felt was all consuming. I felt as if I was going to explode.
I didn’t realize that I’d started swaying in my seat until Holly stood up suddenly.
“Mom are you alright?” she asked, her voice full of concern.
James took one look at me and stood quickly, grabbing me by my shoulders to stop me falling to the floor.
“Baby what’s wrong?” he asked, worry prominent in his husky voice.
“I’m okay. Just a little light-headed; too much excitement from seeing the kids probably,” I replied, smiling at my beautiful children.
“I know what it is,” James said, to our now worried kids. “We’ve got something to tell you.”
Chapter 13
James looked at our kids with his happiness shining through his bright eyes.
“Your mom and I are having a new baby!” James told them a ridiculous grin on his face showing how thrilled he was.
The kids went from shocked to ecstatic in a matter of seconds.
“Good grief Dad, you two have only just got back together; you didn’t waste any time!” Harrison said, laughing and grinning from ear to ear.
He obviously had his dad’s wicked sense of humor! Holly and Abigail giggled at James who was wiggling his eyebrows at them all.
“It’s meant to be!” James told them. “Your new baby sister is going to be the first of her kind for the human race.”
When the kids’ faces turned to confusion, James explained what the angels had told us about nature’s way of surviving and evolution accelerating to help our race survive.
“So, our new baby sister is going to be born with wings, like real wings?” Abigail asked her dad, in absolute awe.
“Yep, she sure is, and she may have special gifts too, although we don’t have any idea of what they could be,” James replied.
“She’s going to be amazing just like you all are!” I told them with pride ringing through my words.
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Abigail said as she bounced up and down in her seat. “I can’t wait to see her fly too; she's going to be awesome!”
When I looked at my kids, I was again staggered by how grown up they were; they really were a sight to behold. I could see Holly’s mind ticking over as she processed the news.
“Hang on a minute Mom, you’ve only just given birth to a tiger cub, so you couldn’t have possibly had a period already. So, how have you managed to get pregnant so quickly?” she asked.
I could tell she was probably going over the timeline in her head, ‘My girl was so sharp!’, I thought. James sat back down next to me, sliding his arm around my waist. I thi
nk for emotional support, or maybe he was just worried I was going to keel over. I couldn't help but smile at Holly.
“Do you remember when the angels found you all, took you to their hospital room and healed you?” I asked.
They all nodded their heads.
“Well, part of their birthing process is resetting our bodies straight after delivery using their power. That way, we stay ultra-healthy and are ready to conceive straight away,” I explained.
“Ahh,” Holly said softly.
Anthony, Harrison and Abigail were all nodding with her, obviously understanding everything I’d said.
“So, getting back to these Marilians; they are vicious monsters who will kill us by changing us into one of them,” Anthony clarified.
All their demeanors changed again rapidly. Anthony was obviously wanting to get to the really serious issue at hand. James held Anthony’s gaze.
“Yes, I’m afraid so son, James replied. “It seems that because of what happened to their planet and the way they live, their population numbers are down drastically, so to continue their way of life...”
“You mean killing each other, Holly interrupted.
James looked at her warmly.
“Yes, and because they want to carry on killing each other, they have to replace those they’ve lost. To do that, they’ll try to conquer other planets and races and change them into more Marilians,” he explained.
I could tell the kids were totally mortified at the idea.
“They’re no better than a disease, spreading and changing other cells, destroying and infecting everything else!” Anthony stated almost shouting.
We could all tell how disgusted he was, and we all felt the same way. James stroked his head in sympathy, ruffling his dark, curly hair.
“We’ve spoken with the angels, and we do have a plan,” James told them. “While our planet is being healed, we’ll find out who among us are skilled in combat, air, land and sea. We must have service men and woman among us survivors with different skill sets. We just need to find them and ask them if they’re willing to help train the others in everything they know. We also need to find volunteer delegates from every holding structure around the world, so we can plan, organize and execute our defense.
Everyone old enough will be needed I think, including you guys. I’m afraid there aren’t enough of us to be able to not include you all,” James declared.
When James said that they would all be needed, subconsciously, our kids abruptly sat up straight pulling their shoulders back, lifting their heads higher as if they were ready for anything. While I sat there admiring our children, I thought to myself, ‘Yes they really are ready for what we’re all about to face.’
“We’re all meeting with the angels tomorrow to start putting things in motion, I said, grabbing a juice from the tray. “So, let's talk about you kids while we finish our meal,” I added, placing the juice in front of Holly and grabbing the next one to hand out.
While we ate our meal, the kids told me all about life at the holding structure. They even had a nickname for it, calling it the cruiser. I wondered if they’d got that idea from their Dad; he’d already told me that it was similar to a cruise ship inside.
I found this funny, considering the only cruise ship we’d been on was a Disney cruise liner after a decent win on a scratch card.
They were full of enthusiasm as they described the different shops and which ones were their favorites. Holly’s favorite apparently was the craft shop.
She explained that there were many people of all ages who had craft hobbies. They would make their arts and crafts such as jewelry, paintings and decor, give them to the shop caretaker and anyone could select what they wanted for their cabin.
She also explained that people thought differently now because of what they’d been through and that because money wasn’t used anymore, people just took joy in the fact that others loved their work. It seemed from what she said that everyone was settled into their new home and were making the place their own.
Holly also told me all about a social group she’d set up for everyone, where they could discuss any topic and plan community events. She was so proud of what she’d accomplished and how many people had started to attend. I wasn't surprised that Holly wanted to be involved in rebuilding society; she really did have the skills for it.
Thomas and Harrison told me all about the engineering work they’d been learning and doing, both clearly very proud of themselves. Not only were they learning from the angels and their technology, but also from the surviving human engineers too.
One of the communities had set up a workshop where they were learning to convert human machinery, technology and devices to clean, green energies.
They were already preparing for when the angels would leave. From what they both told me, I didn't think we would need any fossil fuels ever again, and that was a wonderful piece of news.
As for Abigail, she was so full of enthusiasm while telling me about the amazing artists she’d been working with. I remembered what James had said about it, but I didn't realize that she was learning so many different art forms. I was surprised she found time to sleep with all the classes and activities she was doing.
She was apparently learning dance routines and being taught various painting styles. Abigail was thrilled to tell me that quite a few people had taken her art for their cabins from the shop.
I was beyond thrilled that the kids had been doing so well and doing so much while I was sleeping. I couldn't wait until I could go to the cruiser myself and see what it was like, but I had a feeling it was going to be a while before that was going to happen.
“I am so very proud of you all,” I told them.
My heart was so full of love for them.
“Come on, let's go to our room and get some sleep because we’ve got a big day tomorrow,” I added.
After putting everything back on the stone tray, we made our way out of the meeting room. We walked through the bustling control room and headed for the corridor.
As we passed all the angels busily working at their consoles, we were greeted with lots of dipped heads and many more smiles. The kids were so used to being around the angels that they automatically did the same in return.
We were soon in the long corridor and making our leisurely way to our room. The kids being curious were looking everywhere. Abigail reached out, and as we walked, she ran her fingers against the wall just like I had.
“This isn’t made of the same material as the cruiser,” she said, her eyes wide with awe.
I was intrigued.
“What’s the cruiser made of?” I asked.
She looked thrilled to be able to tell me more, her sweet face full of smiles.
“It’s made of a white kind of stone, similar to the stone tray that Hulaz brought the food on,” she explained. “We have archways like these though,” she added as we passed one.
“But the Hieroglyphs aren’t the same color as these or quite as big. Did Dad tell you that we also have a natural pool for swimming at the cruiser, Mom?” she asked.
“No,” I replied, shaking my head.
“It’s amazing, Mom, and it’s one of my favorite places. It's like a mini tropical paradise with different water lilies, fish and birds,” she said with so much happiness. “We love swimming with the fish and the birds, and they don’t mind us doing it. Lots of the birds will eat from our hands now, she added.
Listening to her made me realize that our kids had a great and wondrous appreciation for nature. It was heartwarming, and I couldn't wait to see it all for myself.
We all talked quietly among ourselves as we walked down the corridor. The kids telling me about all the things I’d missed while I was asleep. I was enjoying our conversations with our kids so much that we were back at our room in no time.
When we entered our room, I was amazed at what the angels had done for us, especially in such a short space of time. They’d somehow removed the side wall of the room,
replacing it with an archway and making the two rooms into one. So, the kids had one side, and we had the other.
The other side had four beds with added decorative partitions for privacy and a table with comfortable chairs in the center. When I got closer to the archway, I noticed a symbol on the side of the frame. I touched it gently with my finger and instantly a silver barrier appeared.
“Told you, baby, these angels are like a well-oiled machine, and they think of everything,” James said, flashing his cheeky dimples.
‘That man always makes me giggle,’ I thought to myself, chuckling.
In less than an hour, we were all showered and in our beds. The excitement of the day was making us all tired. The kids had each given me a massive cuddle before closing the archway and climbing into their beds.
Once the barrier was up between our rooms, James and I couldn't hear a thing.
“You’ve done an amazing job with the kids; I told him as I laid in his arms all warm and sleepy in our bed.
“They’re amazing kids Mel, he replied, nuzzling his face into the back of my neck. “They’ve really missed you, and they seem really excited about the new baby too,” he added.
His hand slid down to my pregnant stomach, and slowly he started to stroke my bare skin, making goosebumps appear all over my body. I could feel his arousal pressing against me as he gently pulled me closer.
A couple of hours later, after repeatedly reminding each other of our love for one another again, we both fell asleep. As I drifted off into my slumber, it was as if the floodgates had opened up on my memories.
Dream after dream was full of my memories coming back to me. Memories of James and I, the kids and our house. Remembering the kids’ first steps, all of our Christmases together and the kids, birthdays, as well as holidays we’d shared. Then I dreamt about what had happened just before the angels came.
Snippets appeared in my dream of the news alerts, Earth’s animals dying and the oceans dying. James and I stocking up on food and water, stashing it all in the house. The noises outside from the people fighting and killing each other.
Earth's Angels: The Earth's Angels Trilogy Page 15