He dressed in the clothes that were assigned for missions on the surface of planet Earth and made his way to the command center where Zeb’s office was located. He knocked gently on the door and heard his friend say, “Enter.” Zane sat in a chair in front of the desk.
“Gods Zane, you look like shit.” Zeb said as he looked his friend over. “What is going on with you?”
“Thank you for noticing. I have been on the planet’s surface scouting and gathering samples." He paused just a moment to put his thoughts in order. When Zeb looked at him to continue he said, "I think that I have found a female that interests me. Since I have seen her, I can’t get her out of my thoughts. I don’t know what is happening to me Zeb. I think that I may be going crazy. Everytime I close my eyes, I see her face or hear the sound of her laughter.” Zane put his face in his hands as if in shame.
“Well you are obviously are doing a lot of watching her. How many hours have you been down there? You look exhausted.” Waiting for a response that never came he asked, "Does she meet the requirements agreed to by NASA?”
“Yes she does. She is unattached and has no mate of her own, she is of childbearing years. I have been watching her for days. She is staying in a big house on the beach with people that appear to be her family. She mentioned to a man, I am assuming to be her brother due to the relationship she has with him that she is going to catch a flight from an airport named JFK on Monday night to take her to Florence, Italy. I am thinking that would be the best time to get her on the ship.”
“I agree. It looks like you have done your homework. Let me know if you need my assistance. I will be happy to help you with this.” Zeb smiled at his friend, noticing the confused look that seemed to overtake his face. Zeb knew Zane for a long time. They grew up together, both following in their father’s footsteps. Zeb became a commander of a great warrior ship of Theron and Zane was stationed on his ship as Chief Doctor. To see his friend this way excited him. If Zane could find his mate on the planet called earth, so could he. He was preparing to go down to the surface in several days time to scout the area of the United States called Louisiana as well as go on a mission to obtain the woman that Brylon was scouting.
“That would be great but I think that I can pull this off by myself. I don’t want to attract too much attention and I really don’t want to mess up my chance with her. Thanks for the offer.” He looked up and smiled at his friend. ”Have you had a chance to go down to the surface yet?”
“I have been down twice just to ensure of the safety of the mission. I have not been able to participate in any scouting missions as of yet but I will soon. I am really excited for you Zane. I sure hope that after you get her on the ship, you will win her at the auction.” Zeb knowing full well that his friend had both the money and the drive to win any woman he wanted.
“I am sure I will win her. I got to go now. I have to go check on the clinic before I return to the surface. Thanks for listening Zeb.” He stood up and made his way to the door.
Zeb was focusing on his work again and replied, “Anytime my friend. Remember, I am here if you need me.”
Zane walked to the clinic half dazed. He was really tired. He was tempted to take a sleeping remedy to help him fall asleep but he was afraid of how long it would put him out. On the day he would take the fiery haired woman, they would take several other females within hours of each other. They figured that this would be the best way to proceed. Each woman would be taken from areas that were a great distance from one another to avoid attracting attention. Once on the ship, Zane and his medical staff would do an exam on each one and make sure that they were healthy as well as verify that all requirements made with NASA were met. Once the female was cleared by the medical staff, she would be moved to a temporary holding room before each woman was auctioned off to the highest bidding warrior.
All was quiet in the clinic. Jeeka had the few existing patients under control. Zane decided it was time to resume his shadowing detail and get back to the planet called earth. He would make sure that his attempt to take her would go as planned. He was starting to believe that he could never forget her much less live without her. Her abduction had to proceed perfectly.
Grace was enjoying her time with the family. It was wonderful to see Aunt Marion and Uncle Howard so happy with the grandkids. The children were taking to Nanny Jillian so well that there was no question that she would be an asset to the family. They followed her around the beach like a baby duckling would. She kept them busy and entertained and made up some great games for the kids to play on the beach.
Aunt Marion sat on the beach chair next to Gracie, “So Grace, Michael tells me you are going to Italy on Monday. Is it business or pleasure?”
“It will be some business but mostly pleasure. When my mom purchased the vineyard, I don’t think she realized what a gem it was. Not only does it produce a wonderful Vin Santo, it makes one of the best Chianti varieties in the region. Last year we were awarded several prizes for our vintage,” Grace smiled at her Aunt. Aunt Marion was dear to her, especially after her family died. More affectionate than her mother ever was, she really helped her recover from the shock of the terrorist attacks.
“I did not know that. It should be a great trip then. Do you have a special man in your life? I happen to know a few that would like to meet you.” Aunt Marion swirled the wine in her glass with a presuming smile plastered on her face. Grace knew it was only a matter of time before she pried into her love life.
“I have not had the chance to meet any men lately, but as soon as I get back, I will be sure to call you and have you set up those blind dates you are so fond of.” She answered in this manner more to close the topic of Aunt Marion’s conversation as well as pretty much get her off her back. Hopefully now, Aunt Marion would spend the rest of her visit with Grace not mentioning another word on the subject of men and dating. Aunt Marion’s men weren’t all that bad. They certainly were so much better than Grandmamma Agatha’s. All Grace would have to do is enjoy a few meals on someone else’s tab. It really was not a hard sacrifice. Besides, she was really starting to feel that it was time she found someone to share her life with.
Zane was listening to the conversation between the two Earth females. He found out her name was Grace and confirmed she was alone and not in any other relationship. Just hearing this made him very happy. Now he was just watching her so that he could catch the sound of her voice and laughter. He loved the way her eyes seemed to twinkle when she smiled. He liked the way her hands moved while she talked and the way she would hold her cup when she was drinking a hot beverage, her thumb through the loop on the side and her palms under the cup as if it would keep her hands warm because they were cold.
He loved to watch her interact with the children and cause them to run to her laughing. She would pick them up and squeeze them in her arms sometimes giving them a tender kiss on the cheek. Yes, she would make an excellent mother to his children. Soon she would be his.
Grace was enjoying some of Jacob’s antics as he was again chasing the pigeons away. They were the only ones left on the beach. Everyone else had gone in to get ready for dinner and Jacob refused to leave without a fight. Grace volunteered to stay behind with him, making him very happy in the process. Not long after they left, Jake had to go potty. She just took him to the bushes to have a pee. He enjoyed it so much she hoped that she had not started a bad habit. Hopefully, Jacob would stay away from the potted plants in their New York apartment. She made a note to herself to warn Emily.
This was turning out to be the best vacation she had ever had. She did not want it to end, but tomorrow she was leaving for Florence. It was going to be hard to leave the children this time. They had so much fun together and she had enjoyed spending the time with Emily and Michael. They went out for drinks the night before and had a fabulous time recounting memories of childhood to present. They also spent some time ribbing Grace by trying to guess which eligible bachelors his mom would set her up with. They would bring
up various men her aunt knew that were about Grace’s age and pointed out their undesirable habits and created some scandalous innuendo for the ones she might actually favor. This proved to be a very amusing game as they laughed for hours.
Gathering Jacob up into her arms she decided it was time to go in and freshen up for dinner. Jake seemed ready to eat as well because he willingly allowed Grace to pick him up and gently laid his head on her shoulder as she walked up the steps to the front door. She kissed the top of his blond curly head. Yes, she was definitely going to miss this.
Chapter 5
Grace was packing as fast as she could. She waited until the last minute to get ready to leave not wanting to waste a minute of the time she had left with her family. William would be there within the hour to get her and bring her to the airport. She did not have much to pack as she had clothes in Italy to wear and it would be a perfect opportunity to pick out this year’s most desirable new Italian fashions. She was looking forward to shopping for handbags and shoes. In her opinion, all the best shoes in her closet were bought in Italy.
She finished with the large bag she would have to check and was now working on the carry-on. She always packed two outfits as well as her makeup in her carry-on, just in case her checked luggage was lost. She never wanted to experience the lack of essentials she felt after the airline misplaced her luggage once before and she would always be prepared for that scenario when she traveled now. With all her stuff packed and ready, she made her way down the marble staircase into the grand foyer of the Hamptons house, the butler following behind her with her suitcases, placing them near the front door.
The children, accompanied by Nanny Jillian, looked so sad to see their auntie go. Gianna was tearing up, and Chelsey refused to look at her as if she was mad that her aunt was actually going to leave. Jacob, it seemed, was the only one that did not realize exactly what was going on. Emily approached her in an embrace. She hugged her best friend tight and kissed her on the cheek. “Gracie, I hope we see you really soon. I had a fabulous weekend with you. Don’t stay away too long this time. ” She started to tear up and nudged her toward Michael, looking away so Grace would not see the tears starting to wellup in her eyes.
Michael stepped up to enclose her into his arms, “I agree with Em. Don’t be a stranger. We really had the most wonderful time this weekend. Let’s do it again real soon. ” He squeezed her tighter than he probably realized.
Grace started to feel confused by the attention she was receiving. “Really guys, it’s not like I will never see you again.” She smiled to lighten the mood of all those serious faces looking at her in the room.
Aunt Marion and Uncle Howard descended upon her at the same time wishing her a safe journey and making sure she knew just how much they enjoyed spending some time with her. Aunt Marion also reminded her of the promise she made to call her when she returned home so that she could set up those dates. She was sure there would be a winner among the long list of men she would have Grace go out with in the near future.
Finally William arrived and the time to tell the children goodbye arrived. She hugged all of them and kissed them making sure they all knew how much she loved them and that she would be back soon with a present for each of them. That seemed to get the kids’ mind off her departure and onto guessing what Auntie Grace was going to get them on her travels. After William put her suitcases in the trunk of the car, he opened the back passenger side door in preparation for Grace to enter. She quickly hugged and kissed everyone once more and got into the car. As they drove around the long driveway, she looked back and a single tear escaped her eyes. “Really Grace, you are being ridiculous. It is not like you will never see them again!” she said under her breath but loud enough for William to think she was addressing him.
“You said something, Miss Grace?” William asked.
“No William. I was just talking to myself. I think that I am in need of some privacy today.” Grace said as for once in a very long time she put up the privacy divider between them.
It was a Monday in New York and the traffic was not bad until they entered the city. Thank God she planned to be there two hours early because by the time she got to JFK, she was looking at only an hour and fifteen minutes to make it through security. Let’s face it booking first class had its advantages. William pulled up to the curb at in the drop off and loading zone of terminal 4. He retrieved the luggage from the trunk and opened the door for Grace.
“Do you need me to park the car and accompany you to the ticket desk with your luggage, Miss Grace?”
“No, I think I have got it William. Thank you. Be careful driving home,” she said as she organized her bags to make it easier for her to get them into the airport.
“Will do Miss.” William said as he gave her a hand with arranging her bags. After she was satisfied, he got into the car and drove away. She started to get a funny feeling that didn’t make sense. She traveled all the time and felt pretty safe in the airport. After 9/11, tons of security was put in place to ensure traveler safety. However, she was still having this uneasy feeling that someone was watching her. She had felt this uneasy feeling while on the beach this weekend but did not see anything out of the ordinary around her. She figured she must be overreacting. Nothing was going to happen and tomorrow she would be in Italy and all would be right with the world.
She proceeded to enter the airport, pulling her bags behind her. As she entered the terminal, she looked around for the ticket desk. There weren’t many people in line and even fewer in her relative vicinity. It had been a long drive and she realized that she needed to use the restroom so she made her way to closest women’s bathroom and entered. Maybe after she relieved herself this funny feeling would go away, she thought to herself. She washed her hands and started out the door when someone grabbed her arm. Before she could scream, she felt this tingling sensation throughout her body as the airport began to fade away and an unfamiliar room came into view.
Once Zane recognized Grace exiting her car with assistance from the driver, he stood stock straight and never took his eyes off her. He watched her as she entered the airport terminal. He had been waiting upwards of three hours for her to make her entrance and now he waited for the perfect opportunity to take her. He could see that she felt somewhat uneasy by the look on her face as she surveyed the terminal. The Gods were smiling on him though as she made her way to the bathroom. When she entered, he bent down as if he was tying his shoe, and when she exited he took her arm and immediately had Brylon beam them directly up to the ship’s clinic using electronportation. It all happened so fast that no one at the airport even noticed she disappeared.
“What the hell is going on?” Grace yelled as she started to come to her senses. She looked around her noticing that her bag and other belongings were right where they were supposed to be, with her. However, she was NOT where she was supposed to be. Then a sense of dread started to overtake her. She had not checked into her flight. Holy shit, her family would not be notified that she missed her flight because she never checked in. She was going to the vineyard as a surprise visit to check up on them, so even they weren’t expecting her and would not know she was missing. Nobody would know that she was missing for at least a month. All of these thoughts were traveling at the speed of light through her head and she was starting to realize that she was in serious trouble. She yelled out again, “Someone had better start telling me what the hell is going on!”
As soon as they were close enough to pick up transmissions from the Earth’s communication satellites, Zane started studying the languages of Earth. He generally had a good ear for languages and was able to learn them astonishingly fast. He discovered that there were many different languages spoken on Earth. As part of his job, he was sent to the surface to gather samples for testing the genetic compatibility of the dominant life forms on Earth. Of all the areas he was sent, English was the spoken language he heard most so he focused on learning that language first.
Zane was pre
paring to speak to the Earth female when she cut him off demanding to know what was going on. Grace was barraging him with questions so that he could hardly get a word in edgewise. He was very nervous and having enough trouble trying to talk to her. His attraction to her over the last few days had grown. He rarely left the Earth’s surface since he encountered her on the beach and now he was finding it hard to speak to her at all. It was as if his tongue was tied in knots. Every time he tried to speak, nothing would come out. It was really disappointing to him. He had imagined every waking moment since he first set his eyes upon her what he would say to her. But, now he found himself speechless.
He pointed to his chest and said, “Zane.” Then he pointed at her and waited for a response.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Grace said exasperated, rolling her eyes for emphasis. Seeing that he was looking at her, waiting for her to tell him her name, she said sharply, “Grace Abernathy”
He nodded in acknowledgement and began to scan her for injuries or other health problems, not saying a word to her about what he was doing. Jeeka, one of the few Theron women on board the ship, was surprised at his behavior. She worked with him in the clinic for many years and never did he treat a patient like this. He always showed a great bedside manner explaining to the patients all of his actions and why they were necessary. He certainly was not like this with any of the other earth females. What was the reason for his behavior with this one? He was one of the few Therons in the clinic that could speak the language and she was happy he was back. It would certainly help if he could actually talk to the women and put them at ease like he was known to do. She pulled him aside and asked him, in the Theron language, if he was alright. He shortly answered that he was fine so she thought she better keep her mouth shut. Hopefully, he would not be like this with any of the other Earth women they brought aboard.
Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron) Page 4