Elisher laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes. “Please give me strength,” she whispered, thinking of a naked Kol again.
Chapter 16
Two days later Kol sat on the sofa in his quarters. It was early morning and far too early for anyone else to be awake, but Kol was. He found he just couldn’t sleep soundly. He’d lay awake for hours with thoughts of Ada Jane in his mind. He’d been warned not to call her too often, or push too hard, but he was tiring of the whole damned situation. He eyed the com sitting next to him on the sofa, then glanced away toward the opposite side of the room again. Slowly his eyes crept back to the com on the cushion beside him.
Kol snarled and grabbed the com. “Missy! Com Ada Jane!” he snapped.
“Of course, Ambassador Kol. And you’re welcome,” Missy answered in an over the top polite tone of voice.
“Thank you,” he added begrudgingly.
“You are welcome,” Missy responded.
Kol sat there impatiently waiting for Ada Jane to answer her com, then suddenly, there she was.
“Hello? Kol?” she asked sleepily.
“Ada Jane!” Kol said, his heart overflowing with want at just the sound of her voice.
“Is everything okay?” Ada asked, as she glanced toward her window and realized it was still dark outside.
“No!” he answered, tired of playing games. “I tire of the measured courtships required on Earth. I need you near. And you need me near!”
“What do you mean measured courtships?” Ada asked as she sat up in bed.
“I am told, ‘do not push her. Take your time, do not contact her every day. Do not demand that she agrees that she is yours. Do not force her to move into your quarters. Allow her to find her way.’ I am trying. I truly am. But it is a strain on my patience, Ada Jane.”
“Who told you that you can’t contact me every day?” she asked.
“Bart. And the other males that I have befriended here on base.”
“They’re wrong,” she said simply.
“I knew they were wrong!” Kol shouted, jumping to his feet.
“I do need to find my way. And I don’t want to be forced to anything that doesn’t feel right to me for now. But I don’t want you to be distant with me. I was so happy to see you, and to share my coming home with you, and then, I didn’t hear from you again. I was wondering why you hadn’t reached out to me,” Ada Jane admitted.
“Because I am a fool who listened to other males rather than ask you myself,” Kol answered. “I have not slept since I left you in your new home. I have not had a moment’s peace. No matter what I do, my thoughts are always with you, my Ehlealah.”
“Then let’s straighten all this out now. You contact me whenever you want to. There is no time limit or a plan to follow. If you want to speak to me, com me.”
Kol smiled. “I like that. I will.”
“Good,” Ada Jane answered, smiling at Kol on the communicator.
A door opened behind Kol but he didn’t turn around, he knew it was Elisher and it barely even registered on his radar that Elisher was entering the common rooms of their quarters from his bedroom.
Ada Jane focused on the person who opened a door behind Kol and walked out of the frame. “Who is that?” she asked.
“Who is who?” Kol asked, still smiling and soothed from Ada Jane telling him he could contact her whenever he wished.
“That woman that just walked out of what looks like a bedroom in your quarters,” Ada Jane answered.
Kol turned around and saw the open door to Elisher’s bedroom, then glanced over toward the kitchenette where Elisher was making himself a cup of coffee.
“That is Elisher. He is not a woman, he is my attache’. He is just waking and making himself a cup of coffee.”
Ada Jane’s eyes narrowed and she regarded Kol suspiciously. “Are you sure?” she asked.
Kol thought that was a ridiculous question. Of course he knew the person in his quarters was Elisher. “Of course I am sure, my Ada Jane. Elisher is my assistant. He is the only person that has access to my quarters as he lives here with me.”
“No, are you sure he’s a he?” Ada Jane said.
Kol looked over at Elisher who was staring back at him with his mouth open.
“I will introduce you,” Kol said, walking toward the kitchenette sure this would dispel all Ada Jane’s concerns.
Kol walked toward Elisher and Elisher stood frozen in place like a deer in the headlights. His eyes were huge and his mouth was still hanging open. “Elisher, I wish for you to meet my Ehlealah,” Kol said, stepping closer so that Elisher could see the screen Ada Jane was displayed on. “This is my Ada Jane. She holds my soul and my heart.”
Elisher looked at the pretty blonde woman still in bed looking back at her. “Hello,” Elisher said, trying to make her voice a little deeper. “I’m Elisher, I assist your, uh, your…” Elisher paused, not quite sure what Kol would be to Ada Jane.
“Her male. I am her male,” Kol supplied for Elisher. “Ada Jane, this is Elisher. He is assisting me with the Ambassador responsibilities that have been assigned to me. Because of the nature of the research, I have moved him into my extra bedroom. He performs his work on the table that sits in our common room.”
“It is very nice to meet you, Ada Jane. I hope that I can make your acquaintance in person some day soon,” Elisher said.
“Thank you,” Ada Jane answered, still not totally convinced this Elisher person was a man. She was suspicious of the whole situation. Not that she thought Kol would ever deceive her, he obviously thought this person was a man, but Ada wasn’t so sure.
“Kol, when can you have dinner with me?” Ada asked, knowing she couldn’t speak to Kol about her suspicions via the com connection since Elisher was right there.
Kol brightened. “You wish to share a meal with me?”
“Yes. I’d like to cook for you. Could you come to my place and let me make you dinner?” Ada Jane asked.
“Yes! I would very much like to eat your food. When would you like me to eat with you?” Kol asked, practically giddy at the fact that Ada Jane had invited him to her home where she’d prepare him a meal.
“Whenever it’s okay for you to be away,” Ada Jane answered.
Elisher walked out of the kitchen and over to the table. She picked up her personal tablet and swiped the screen to wake it up. “You have no afternoon or evening meetings all this week, sir. All your meetings are early morning.”
“Tomorrow evening?” Ada Jane asked, having heard Elisher speaking to Kol.
“Yes. I will be there tomorrow and we will share a meal,” Kol confirmed.
“If you want to come earlier than dinner time, that would be nice, too. We could spend a few hours together,” Ada Jane said, smiling softly at Kol.
“I will be there as early as I can.”
“I’ll see you then?” Ada Jane said.
“Yes. I will see you then, my Ada Jane. My heart thinks of you every moment. I will be counting the seconds until I am with you.”
Ada Jane kissed her fingers and pressed them to the communicator Kol had provided her with.
All Kol’s teeth were displayed as he smiled bigger than he had in a long time and brought the communicator to his face so he could press his lips to it.
“Bye,” Ada Jane said, just before she ended the com connection.
“Until then,” Kol said, closing the connection on his own com as well.
He looked over toward Elisher, with a silly grin still on his face.
“So,” Elisher said, “You have a mate.”
“She is much more than a mate. She is my Ehlealah. My heart and soul are with her always.”
“Yes, you said as much,” Elisher said, nodding.
“She is the most perfect female. In truth, I am here for her. She wished to return to her home world, and I followed. Only once I arrived was I made aware that I was needed here,” Kol confided.
“So we have your Ada Jane to thank f
or you being here, then,” Elisher said.
“Yes. I will see to my duties as I have always seen to all my duties. I will succeed in all the responsibilities Chairman Bartholomew has assigned to me. But I would not be here were it not for my Ehlealah.”
“I find that admirable,” Elisher said, heading back toward her bedroom.
“What is admirable?” Kol asked.
“That a male, any male, is so enamored and committed to a woman, or mate, or Ehlealah, whatever you might call them.”
“Are you and the males of Earth not fully committed to your females?” Kol asked curiously.
Elisher huffed a laugh. “Hardly. Most Earth males tend to remain faithful for only as long as no one better is around. The moment someone prettier or wealthier or even younger shows the slightest bit of interest, they leave their woman and go to the next one.”
Kol scowled. “Earth males have no integrity!”
“Tell me about it,” Elisher said, opening the door to her bedroom. “You should get ready. We have to be in the meeting room for a vidcom with all bases at 9:00A.M.”
“I will be ready,” Kol answered, watching Elisher disappear into his rooms and close the door behind himself.
He canted his head to the side slightly as he considered Elisher. He’d been surprised when Ada Jane had thought him a female. He was very feminine in his mannerisms, but several species had males that were slightly effeminate. Kol shrugged. Elisher was simply Elisher. He was a good and trusted assistant. Kol really didn’t think of the effeminate side of him any longer. He was just Elisher.
Kol went to his room to get dressed. All he had on his cruiser was battle garb, so battle uniforms it was. But that worked out well. It was somewhat intimidating to see a Cruestaci warrior in full battle regalia, and Kol had no problem using that to his advantage.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Ada Jane threw back the covers and got out of bed. She smiled when she thought of Kol’s frustration at taking advice from men he’d made friends with and then becoming frustrated with it because he missed her. She got dressed then went to the kitchen to make herself a pot of coffee.
Opening her refrigerator, she saw the eggs she’d collected from Pastor Douglas’s chicken coop. She reached for two of them and her butter, and set them on the counter while she got her coffee started and reached for a slice of bread. Ada melted the butter in a skillet and cracked the eggs into it, standing over them patiently while waiting to turn them over. She flipped them, counted to fifteen and flipped them back over before moving them to her plate with a spatula. Then she put another pat of butter in the skillet and swirled it around while it melted, then dropped the slice of bread into the skillet.
Her coffee had finished perking and she turned from the skillet to fill her cup, then waited for the bread to brown on one side before adding it to her plate as well. No better toast than that fried in a skillet with butter. Ada carried her breakfast over to the table and sat looking out over the small yard between her cottage and the Pastor’s. She smiled when she realized she’d come full circle. She was home. She was whole. And she was able to enjoy something as simple as breakfast in her own kitchen. Her smile grew when she realized she also had Kol.
Kol missed her, he loved her. Whenever she was around him, he never went more than a few minutes without calling her his Ada Jane, or his Ehlealah.
There was a knock at her door and she rose to answer it. Ada Jane paused near the window beside the front door to pull back the sheer curtains and peek outside. She unlocked the door and pulled it open. “Good morning, Pastor Douglas.”
“Good morning, Ada Jane. Thought I’d see if you wanted to take a ride into town this morning,” he said.
“I’d love to, but I just sat down to breakfast. Will you join me?” she asked.
“For company only. I’ve already eaten,” he replied.
“Well come on in, then,” she said, taking a step back to open her door and allow him to enter. “How about a cup of coffee?” Ada Jane offered.
“Now that, I’ll take you up on,” Pastor Douglas said happily.
Ada Jane got Pastor Douglas his coffee and sat down to her breakfast again.
“With you here we’re caught up on all the chores. I thought maybe we’d go into town and give you a tour,” Pastor Douglas said.
“I’d love that!” Ada Jane said. “I need to pick up some more groceries anyway if that’s possible. I invited Kol to dinner tomorrow. I need to get something to cook for him,” Ada Jane explained.
“We don’t have grocery stores like you remember from your time on Earth. Not everything is available at all times, but there are always alternatives to choose from.”
“I’m sure I’ll find something. And, I need to open an account to deposit my credits in also. Is there a bank in town?” she asked.
“No, there’s not. But, maybe when Kol is here tomorrow, you can ask him to take you to the closest city to open an account in your name.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll do that.”
“Now eat up, let’s get going before it gets too hot outside,” Pastor Douglas said, sipping his coffee.
Chapter 17
Kol smiled as he secured his cruiser turned transport in the same area quite a distance from the church and cemetery he and Ada Jane had first visited when searching for the graves of her parents. As he jumped to the ground, he spoke to Missy. “Please secure the ship as usual, Missy. I will be spending time with my Ehlealah.”
“Of course, Ambassador Kol. Please offer our greetings to Ehlealah Ada Jane Ra’ Don Tol.”
Kol smiled and shook his head at the changes in Missy since Vivi had become a part of all their lives. The name Missy was enough in itself, but the strides the computer had made in mimicking a sentient being made Kol seriously question the term, ‘artificial intelligence’. He wasn’t so sure there was anything particularly artificial about Missy.
Kol was only a few feet from his cruiser when he saw Ada Jane run out from between the church and Pastor Douglas’s parsonage headed in his direction. He was at first concerned, his hand going instinctively for the weapon at his hip, but he soon noticed the huge smile on her face and realized she was excited, running to meet him.
Kol gave his version of a smile with all his teeth exposed, which as with all Cruestaci looked as though he was actually planning on eating her. “Ehlealah!” he called to her and quickened his steps to get to her.
When they were finally little more than a few feet apart, Ada Jane launched herself at Kol and he caught her in the air, cradling her and holding her to his chest.
“I missed you,” Ada Jane said, tucking her face into his neck.
“I have missed you as well. I am greatly pleased that you are happy to see me,” Kol said, rubbing his cheek on the top of her head.
“How was your trip here?” she asked.
“Uneventful. Which, I am learning is a good thing.”
Kol placed her on her feet, and she slipped her hand in his as she led him back to her cottage. He glanced down at their attached hands as they walked before smiling at her again.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to make it,” Ada Jane said. “It was getting kind of late.”
“Unfortunately I was delayed due to a conference vidcom with all the senior members of Base 28, and the Consortium. There is much deceit in place there. I am tasked with uncovering it and am, therefore, questioned at every turn by Consul Diskastes. He has now begged his father and brother to intercede on his behalf because we are offending him.”
“Offending him?” Ada Jane asked.
“Yes. Offense is the least of my intentions toward him, yet he seems to not be aware of my true intentions yet,” Kol confided.
“What do you plan to do?” Ada Jane asked, leading him up onto her small porch.
“I plan to dispose of him. He is nothing but a power-hungry, miserable excuse for a male, and I believe that humans under his governs have suffered as a result.”
�
��Well, you can’t just kill him,” Ada Jane said chuckling.
“That is what Bart says. He says I must gather evidence, then have him prosecuted.”
“He’s right,” Ada Jane said, opening her door and leading the way into her home.
“I do not wish to waste time gathering and prosecuting. I wish to kill him, then send his hide back to his family,” Kol said simply, a bit growly due to the frustration of having to learn to do things another way.
Ada Jane’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that. You’re an ambassador now. You have to behave like one,” she said, gesturing toward the table she’d already set for dinner.
“I do not think I like diplomacy. I am far better as a warrior,” Kol confided, taking the seat she indicated.
“I know. But, just think of all the people you’ll be able to help if you find the proof to not only remove him, but all those that helped him. I’m sure he’s not working alone, very few of those in power ever are.”
Kol watched as she placed food on his plate and then her own. His nostrils flared as he inhaled and his forehead wrinkled as he lifted his plate to his nose and inhaled again. “I do not know what this is, but it has the most delightful scent.” Kol swallowed as he inhaled again. “My mouth is already preparing to indulge in your offering.”
Ada Jane smiled. She was familiar with dealing with the Cruestaci and the way they spoke English. All the thoughts were there, but sometimes the translation was almost comical.
“Thank you,” Ada Jane said. “It’s one of my favorites from before…” Ada Jane stopped speaking, leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid. She knew Kol knew what she meant. “It’s fried pork chops, mashed potatoes with way too much butter,” she said grinning happily, “and sweet green peas.”
Kol watched as Ada Jane used her fork and knife to cut up her pork chop. He awkwardly held his knife and tried to cut up his meat while holding it still with his fork. It looked more like he was trying to kill it, than cut it up to eat it.
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