Keeper of the Flame

by Stephanie Burke

  Thoughts like that turned his attention again to the approaching death squad. His computer would alert them to when they entered the Earth’s atmosphere, but until then, he planned to live each day like it was his last.

  “I’ll drive the rest of the way, Flame.” Kendall had burped the baby while Flame was lost in thought and now was securing the sleepy baby into his seat. “Driving is hard when you are not used to doing it.”

  Flame nodded his agreement before raising his daughter to his shoulder. “I love you, My Kendall,” he stated with simple sincerity.

  His words, so unexpected, caused her heart to burst with joy. He had to be thinking about his sister, she thought, but the fact that he would take time out of his dark musings to reassure her left her feeling important. It was also important that he knew that she understood his feelings and returned them.

  “As I love you, My Flame.” She spoke clearly while looking directly into his eyes. “You are the only one for me.”

  Flame closed his eyes at her declaration, then looked up into her beautiful shining brown eyes. “You are my life, my air, the fire in my soul.”

  Kendall’s eyes filled with tears of happiness at his words. He was so different from all that she had come to know about men and she cherished him above all others. “Lets go home, big guy, so that I can show you just how much I need you.”

  Ember was placed into her car seat and they drove away, leaving the mountains behind. In the back seat, Ember and Spark exchanged looks of contentment before nodding off to sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  “What will you do at this job that you call work?”

  Kendall grunted as she tried to lift one of her suitcases from the floor of the minivan. She glared at Flame as he easily hefted her other case as well as shouldering his duffel bag. Why did the man have to be so strong? She glanced as his bottom as he straightened and turned to walk towards the house. Why did he have such a gorgeous tush?

  They had unstrapped the sleeping children and placed them in one of the two spare bedrooms that Kendall’s house possessed. She had thought to use them as an office and a guestroom, but now she saw them painting the identical rooms pink and blue, for her baby girl and her baby boy.

  As they unload the minivan, Kendall began to explain the concept of working for a living. The trip home from the small cabin seemed to fly by quicker than their trip to the mountains. Kendall still could not believe all that had changed in her life during the past five days.

  “At work, I help deliver babies.” Kendall said with a grin as she slammed the door to the van closed.

  “I usually don’t deliver them on my couch at home, but the principle is the same. At a hospital, the health care professionals get paid for caring for the sick, infirm, and...well...pregnant women. Men here on Earth don’t get in that condition. You’d better be glad that I found you, buddy. If someone else had found you, you’d be an episode on the X-Files by now.”

  “X-Files?” Flame cocked his head to the side as he tried to puzzle through the strange meaning of her words.

  Kendall rolled her eyes heavenward and grabbed his hand. “Come on, Flame. Let’s go inside and I will explain all about television.”

  Once inside, Kendall stopped and looked around her living room. How could everything look so much the same when she felt so changed?

  Flame seemed to understand a little of what she was feeling, because he dropped the bags at the entrance to the living room and pulled her close to snuggle into his chest. He brushed the top of her head with his chin as he surveyed the room where his new life and Kendall’s new adventures had begun.

  “You owe me a new couch,” she said at last. “I don’t care how you got the old one clean, I don’t want that couch to bring back memories of your first visit with me.” She grinned up at him, brushing a lock of his vibrant hair from her face.

  “I will provide anything that you desire, My Kendall.” Flame snuggled her closer to him by draping a possessive arm across her chest. His Kendall felt so good pressed close to him.

  “And, I don’t want to cook more than I have to.” If it were this easy to get things out of the man, she would be hard-pressed not to take advantage of him. Kendall turned a brilliant smile up to her man.

  Flame grinned down at his beautiful Tarcas-brown Kendall, his deep gray eyes showing his pleasure in her teasing. He would do whatever it to took to keep her safe and happy.

  “I know where your kitchen unit is, My Kendall. Why do you not take a rest and I will prepare your meal.”

  “No, thank you, Flame,” she replied as she pulled out of his arms, memories of his breakfast still imbedded within her mind and causing her stomach to do the samba. “I need to go shopping because we need to restock the kitchen. We have no fresh food in the house.”

  “I’ll go, My Kendall. You need to rest.”

  Kendall paused on her way to the front door to turn and look at him standing in her living room with the bulk of their luggage spread out about his feet.

  Suddenly, she couldn’t catch her breath. The room seemed to spin and she felt a little weak in the knees. This was happening all too fast!

  “I think I need a little time for myself, Flame.” Her voice was a bit shaky though she tried to hide it.

  “What is wrong, My Mistress?” Concerned, Flame began to walk towards her. Her sudden pallor worried him. If she was ill, he could find a way to help. Maybe this hospital of hers would be the place to take her.

  “Nothing, Flame,” she replied as she backed up to the door and fumbled with the knob. Unable to see what she was doing, she turned and tried to wrench the door open.

  Suddenly she had two children and a man to shop for, to worry about, and to care about. There would be changes in her life and in her in her house! Midnight feedings, diaper changes, toilet training, dating… it was all too much. She had to get away!

  And what about his sister and her squad of hired goons coming here to kill him? Would her life ever be normal again?

  The warm press of his hands against her shoulders helped calm her somewhat as she pressed her head to the cool surface of the wooden door.

  “I understand, Kendall,” came Flame’s gentle assurance. “I have invaded your life and taken a large part of it in such a short time.”

  He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “So many new things must be difficult to deal with.”

  “You are not difficult to deal with,” was her muffled reply. It was a bit hard talking when your face was plastered against a front door.

  “It is a difficult situation, My Mistress. We have overwhelmed you with our problems and I understand your desire to be alone. As a young man, I often felt the burden of my existence and sought the solitude of my own company to put my life into perspective. I begin to think that you need to do the same, my proud, brave Kendall.”

  “I don’t feel brave,” she responded in a shaky voice. “I feel...I don’t know what I feel. I know that I love you, but...I just don’t know.”

  “Then go and sort out your feelings, My Mistress. I will be here waiting for you and loving you. You are ever in my heart, My Kendall.”

  He pressed another kiss to the top of her head and stepped back, allowing her freedom.

  Kendall eased the door open and slowly stepped out into the early evening air. She had some thinking to do, just to put her new life into perspective and grocery shopping would give her the time she needed to do just that. Firm decisive action was what was needed. The old Kendall reasserted herself and combined with the new Kendall, the one without inner self-doubts....Watch out world!

  Holding her head high, she gamely strode to her minivan determined to put her thoughts in some semblance of order, or die trying.

  Flame mournfully watched as Kendall drove off in her vehicle. He had changed so many things in her life in such a short time, that he felt a little guilty, okay...a lot guilty.

  He realized that she never thought to ha
ve children or a family and suddenly over the time span of a few days, she had both. He knew that she loved him, but was love enough?

  The soft wail of his son drew his attention back to the present. He could tell Ember’s demanding cry from Spark’s quiet sobs of need almost as well as his Kendall could. Then Ember’s voice joined her brother’s and the solo became a duet. He put aside his musings for later. His children needed to be changed and fed. He turned and walked up the stairs to see to his son.

  Flame had Ember nodding off in her cube in one of Kendall’s spare bedrooms and Spark bouncing on his shoulder when there was a knock at the door. Expecting to see Kendall, he eagerly raced down the stairs and opened the door only to have a weepy-eyed female hurl herself at him.

  Instinctively stepping back to protect his child, he neatly avoided having the woman land on him. The loud thump of her hitting the floor caused him to look down to see who this woman was. Obviously she was not of Testrios with all the crying and sobbing that she was doing, but something about her seemed familiar.

  “Caressa?” he questioned with an arched eyebrow as the woman raised her tear- streaked face.

  “Oh, Flame!” she cried as she pulled herself to her knees. “I thought you were Kendall. I want my sister!” Fresh tears streamed down her swollen face.

  Flame was at a loss. Kendall crying nearly broke his heart and left him feeling like a helpless fool; this woman’s caterwauling merely made his head hurt.

  Still patting Spark on the back, he continued to look down at the woman, waiting for some inspiration to strike and tell him what to do about her. He knew that Kendall did not want to see this particular woman any time soon, but she was her sister. Did he have the right to make her leave the premises?

  “Aren’t you going to help me up? You’re the one who made me fall in the first place!” she sobbed pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes and pulling herself to her knees.

  When Kendall did that, his heart melted and he wanted to press her close to his heart to alleviate some of her pain. When this woman did it, it looked...well...childish.

  “I believe you threw yourself at the first object you saw, Mist...Caressa, and I removed Spark from the danger that you presented. My first duty is to my son. I will help you if you but allow me a moment to see to his needs.”

  Then Flame really began to like Earth. If this had happened on Testrios, he would have been severely reprimanded for not finding a way to see to Spark and to this woman at the same time. Here, she was wrong and he could point that fact out to her without fear of reprisal. Yes, he was really beginning to enjoy being an Earthling.

  “I can get up without your help!” came her petulant reply as Caressa pulled herself to her feet with an air of injured dignity. “You men are all alike anyway. When you get what you want, you all act like spoiled children.”

  Flame shook his head in confusion. Who said that he wanted something from her and that he wanted her to behave like this? Who was acting the spoiled child?

  “That is ironic, Caressa, since it is you who was lying on the floor in tears.”

  Flame felt that it was only right to point that fact out to her. He watched as the heat of embarrassment caused her face to redden and nicely match her bloodshot eyes.

  “If you would like to step inside, I will see to your comfort until Kendall returns home.”

  Gathering together the tatters of her pride, Caressa threw her head back and quietly strode into house as Flame stepped aside and waved her in with a sweeping motion of one broad palm.

  She strode over to the couch and with great drama, flung herself down upon it in a tangle of floral printed skirts, throwing arm over her face in a show of feminine helplessness.

  “Something troubles you, Caressa?”

  “Flame,” she asked in a soft voice, peering over her arm, “You understand men, right?”

  Feeling unease trickle down his spine, he slowly nodded.

  “Then can you please tell me why Richard is such an ass?” Her voice broke on his name and tears began to leak out of her eyes once more.

  He had many reasons why he thought that man to be an “ass”, but felt that her question was rhetorical. Wishing that he were anywhere else on this planet than with this particular woman, Flame looked down at his son, only to have his son stare back with sleepy eyes. His expression seemed to say, “You’re on your own with this one, Pop.”

  “What has he done to make you feel so, Mist...Caressa?” He had to get used to addressing women by their given names, he thought.

  That was the opening that Caressa was waiting for. In an instant she was sitting up, adjusting her long floral skirt around her legs, and patting the sofa cushion beside her. “Come sit here, you darling man, and I will tell you. I have never been so hurt in all my life!”

  Uneasily, Flame lowered himself onto the sofa beside this strange woman. Already his mind was on what Devo had said about women seeking the next best thing when they slacked their thirst on an unsuspecting man. This woman had proved herself unworthy of trust once by mating with her sister’s chosen man, but his earlier training demanded that he at least hear what her distress was all about.

  “Well,” she reached one hand towards his leg, only to suddenly have a startled‑looking baby blocking her path.

  Flame was unashamedly using his son like a human shield. The baby opened his eyes and eyed his father with annoyance before settling down into his new position and thrusting one chubby fist into his little rosebud mouth.

  Pulling her hand back and looking a bit confused, Caressa continued with her story.

  “That man said that I was nothing like Kendall, that I was next to worthless! Is it my fault that a career in modeling leaves little time for medical school?”

  The tears were starting to flow freely down her face now, and Flame was at a loss as to what to do. He sat there and stared at her wondering if he should hand her the box of disposable paper cloths called tissues, that Kendall kept on the “coffee” table.

  The table was not made from that wonderful elixir, so why was it named after the early morning beverage? He shook his head at yet another fascinating oddity that he’d discovered on Earth. But then his focus returned, to the weeping woman on the couch.

  “Were you trained in the healing arts?” he asked politely.

  “Nooo!” she wailed.

  “Then why would he say such a thing?” If she had no training in a skill, why would she possess knowledge of it? Richard was a lot more idiotic than he looked. Again Flame wondered what Kendall had ever seen in the half-man.

  “Because I didn’t know what a massive myo-cardio infarction was!” She dropped her face wailing as if she was mortally wounded by his words.

  Flame continued to stare, confused by the woman and Spark began to look as if he wanted to join her in a good sympathy cry.

  Slowly piecing together her words, he came up with the definition, a great cessation of the cardio muscle, the heart. In layman’s terms, a heart attack.

  “Why would he wish to speak with you of a heart attack?” His honest question unleashed a new wave of tears causing his eyes to widen with anxiety.

  “Even you know what that is!” she sobbed. “Maybe Richard was right! I am worthless!”

  Not knowing what else to do, Flame groped one-handed for the box of tissues and thrust them at her. All of this crying was sorely testing his patience and beginning to make him nervous. She ripped at least three of the small soft papers from the box and buried her face in the mass of white.

  Earth women, he decided after a moment of watching her blubber and wail, were a strange species. Spark looked up at him as if requesting that he put an end to this nonsense before all the noise gave him a headache too. Flame could easily understand his son’s problem. Already his temples had begun to pound at the horrendous racket she was making.

  “Caressa?” Then, “Caressa!”

  He had to almost yell to be heard over the sounds of her sniveling. Spark jumped
and gave his father an evil look, as evil as a newborn can achieve, and began sucking furiously on his fist.

  At the sound of her name being called at a near yell, Caressa quieted somewhat and looked at the man who had made no move to comfort her as another man would have. Most of her display was calculated to get some sympathy from this man, but it seemed he was immune to most of her feminine wiles.

  “What are your strong points. What do you have training in?”

  That shut her up. Richard had really hurt her with his thoughtless words, but the possibility that there was a grain of truth in them had scared her witless. His question was one she had pondered before leaving Richard’s apartment in a huff and heading for sanctuary in her sister’s home.

  “Training? What are you talking about? I’m a model! I’m trained to look good in every situation and present the people I represent and myself with decorum. I speak French and Italian and I know the difference between a fake diamond and the real thing. I can tell a Bob Mackie and a Donna Karen original from a cheap knock-off. So please tell me, what are my strong points are good for?”

  “Maybe teaching others what you know?” Flame’s logic was sound. If modeling required such skills, would not other models benefit from her experience?

  His words stunned Caressa into total silence. “But Richard said that I was a worthless clothes hanger and that anyone with half a brain could model.”

  His words had amazed her, but they’d planted a small seed of an idea and a glimmer of hope.

  “If anyone could model, would not the world be overrun by them? As I understand it, models are in great demand.” That was one of the bits of miscellaneous information his computer had picked up about this planet. Everyone seemed enamored of great beauty.

  Although Caressa could be considered most pleasing to the eye, he found that he preferred the honest beautiful face of his Kendall. Her beauty was natural, as lovely as the mountain sunsets that they had watched together, and as stimulating as the raw sounds of need that came from her throat as they expressed their love physically.