The Days of the Golden Moons (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 5)

by J. Naomi Ay

  I rolled my eyes. It was nice to be adored.

  Chapter 15

  Jerry

  I saw on Galaxy Net Daily that Katie had met with the President of the Alliance and the Governor of Rozari. I was sitting in the coffee shop drinking an Iced Green Tea Frappe sweetened with stevia and eating an 18 grain raisin roll for breakfast. The news service had a short vid clip of Katie standing with the other guys and Lord Taner, the guy I once gave a bypass to, hovered right behind her.

  Actually, Taner didn’t look too well in the clip. I did a mental calculation and wondered if he needed a follow up procedure. Katie looked awesome though. She looked beautiful while she was here playing Ninja sandwich maker, but she looked absolutely gorgeous dressed up like a queen. The funny thing was as I studied this clip, as I watched her face over and over on my tablet, I realized, I didn’t need her anymore. I was a whole person now without her. Sure, I still loved her in that brother-sister kind of way, and I would miss her, but I didn’t want her anymore.

  It was right about then that someone sat down beside me and set down a venti cup of something hot and filled with whipped cream.

  “She gave them the house,” that person said, and I glanced up from my tablet to see Janet there. “It was like the Taj Mahal, he built it for her, and she let them have it.”

  “She did that for him,” I replied. “So he could go there and do whatever he needed to do in the Temple.”

  Janet nodded and sipped her drink. “Do you think he’ll still invade?”

  “Who knows?” I shrugged. “If he wants the planet he’ll take it. He always gets what he wants. It’s the rest of us who have to learn to accept less.”

  “Am I less?” Janet said and her eyes filled with tears.

  “Not at all,” I replied and shut off my tablet, deleting Katie’s face from screen. “In fact, in some ways, you are a whole lot more.”

  She smiled. “Are you going eat that roll? I didn’t have breakfast.”

  “Here.” I broke it in two.

  “It could use some butter,” Janet said, her mouth full of roll.

  “I’ll get you some spread made with plant sterols and stanols unless you’d rather have olive oil. It opens up your arteries rather than closing them like animal fats.”

  Janet nodded and swallowed. “I was thinking,” she said. “About acupuncture.”

  “Are you hurting somewhere?”

  “No. I was thinking I could learn acupuncture. Maybe the Holistic Health Center could use a Nurse-Acupuncturist?”

  I pretended to consider it. “It could. It really could.”

  We sat there in silence for a few moments while Janet nervously twirled our engagement ring around her finger.

  “You know,” I said, finishing my tea. “If I take on an acupuncturist, my office space will be too small. I’ll have to convert my living space into a treatment room.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “Actually, no. Come on.” I took her hand and led her out of the shop and headed across the farmer’s market and down toward the beach. “I was thinking about getting a new place to live anyway. I heard there’s a little cottage that suddenly became vacant. It’s right on the beach just south of town. The lady who lived there was really flaky. She just took off in a spaceplane one day and never even bothered to give notice. It’s already got a couple of Adirondack chairs out on the porch.”

  “That’ll work,” Janet nodded, “We only need two chairs.”

  Chapter 16

  Katie

  “Hello Mother,” I said, walking in through the front door. I assumed this tiny little gray-haired woman was my mother since I hadn’t seen her for nearly fifteen years.

  “Hello Katie Anne,” she replied, looking up from the courtroom show projecting on the vid. “Are you staying for dinner?”

  “Yes Mom, I'm staying for a while. Do you mind?” I sat down on the sofa across from her.

  “No, that would be very nice. I am having spaghetti tonight. Would you make it please?”

  “Now?”

  “Yes dear. I always eat after Judge Julie. A green salad would be nice too. It's all in the fridge. Just put the spaghetti in the micro. There should be enough for you too.”

  I put my bags down in my childhood bedroom and noted the mobile command center was now parked directly outside my window. Reporters were already gathering on the street. My guards, Kisko and Looie were blocking the entrance to the driveway, prohibiting them from getting any further.

  Returning to the kitchen, I made spaghetti and salad. Then, I set the table and the two of us sit down and watched the 5pm news which was broadcasting live from outside.

  “That looks like our house,” my mother commented, tucking a napkin into her collar.

  “It is our house,” I replied.

  “What are they saying? Turn it up louder, I can't quite hear.”

  I raised the volume, and we ate quietly while they flashed pictures of the mobile command center, the house and the lake. They gave a brief bio of me ending with my official portrait.

  “That's a lovely dress,” my mother remarked. “Is that you?”

  “Yes, that was me right before Dad died. I tried to come you know.”

  “Did you?”

  “My spaceplane crashed. Then I was taken into custody by the Alliance and hidden in a mental hospital for eight years.”

  My mother looked at me with blurry eyes. She may have even had cataracts. “Did you need to be in a mental hospital?”

  I thought I needed to be in a mental hospital now. Whatever possessed me to come here?

  “No Mom.” I kissed her soft, papery cheek. “It was all politics.”

  She nodded, perfectly satisfied with the explanation.

  “That fellow looks like that strange alien man you brought home that time,” she said pointing back at the vid.

  “Oh, you mean the one I married? The father of my son? It is him,” I sighed. It was a file picture taken easily ten years ago. How my heart still raced when I saw him. Now they were showing Rozari and the picture was taken from outside the security dome. All we could see were two tall men fully cloaked and walking toward the Temple.

  “Good,” I mumbled.

  “What's good, dear?”

  I considered trying to explain but decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

  “This spaghetti,” I replied.

  “It's from ShopMart. I like their lasagna too. If you are staying tomorrow night, perhaps we will have that.”

  “I'll be here for a while, Mom. Maybe quite a while.”

  We finished eating and watching the vid in silence as it moved on to other local news and the weather. My father's absence was conspicuous. His passing was still fresh to me as I had slept through most of the time since. I heard a noise in the house, and I turned, expecting to see him. My eyes started to leak.

  “What are you doing, Katie Anne?” My mother asked, her eyes now surprisingly clear.

  “Cleaning the dishes,” I choked, getting up from the table.

  “Death is part of life,” she said. “If we all lived forever, this world would be too crowded.”

  “You're right.” I rinsed the plates and put them in the dishwasher.

  “Why are you wearing those dreadful bracelets?” They banged against the dishes and the counter tops as I tried to work.

  “Because I can't take them off. I'm under house arrest.”

  “Well that's because you deserve to be, Katie Anne.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “You're a bad daughter,” she said.

  “What?”

  “You're a worse mother and terrible wife.” She got up from the table and turned on the dishwasher herself.

  “How can you say that?”

  “You put your career and your own satisfaction above everyone.”

  “I tried to come. I did. Don't you remember I had Zem contact you because I couldn't!”

  “Are you trying to raise your son?”

&n
bsp; “He's an adult.”

  “He's sixteen. Now is the time he really needs a mother to step on him. And your husband? What about him? Grabbing every planet in this galaxy making himself wealthier and more and more powerful. He doesn't listen to you so what do you do? Run away. I thought I taught you better than that.”

  I was stunned.

  “Mother, he's the Emperor…”

  “I know who he is, and I don't give a whit about it. I have never liked him. You would have been much better off marrying that nice Dr. Waldman. But you went ahead anyway, and now you are stuck in it.”

  “Mother, I am the Empress…”

  “No, you're not,” she replied, heading across the room to her bedroom. “If you were, you wouldn't be here.”

  Just then to my relief, the front door opened. Telix came down the hall.

  “Who is the fellow?” Mother demanded.

  “This is Cmdr. Telix. He’s chief of my security,” I replied haughtily.

  “Well tell him to keep his dirty boots off my carpet.” Mother went into her bedroom. “Goodnight dear. It’s lovely to see you again.”

  “Are you alright, Madame?” Telix asked.

  I shook my head. “I can't believe this. What did I do to deserve this? Why did I come here?”

  Telix smiled a little. “A man who claims to be your brother is outside and wishes to come in. His name is Allen Golden. Shall we let him?”

  “Sure,” I sighed and collapsed on the couch.

  “Katie?” Allen came running down the hall a moment later. “What the hell is going on?”

  “Hey, Allen. How's it going? How are the kids?”

  “Jesus Katie, have you seen what's going on outside?”

  “Ignore them, Allen. Gosh you look old. What's with mom? One minute she's in la la land and the next she's sharper than a blade.” I was flat out on the couch too worn to sit up.

  “You don't belong here, Katie. Not after twenty years. You can stay for a few nights, but I want you out of here by the weekend, you and all of your people.”

  “Great,” I sighed yet again. “Where exactly am I supposed to go? I just gave away my house not that the Allied government would let me go back to it anyway.”

  “I don't care. Don't you own like half the galaxy now?”

  “Not me. The Evil Emperor, my estranged and strange husband.”

  “Just go away, Katie,” my brother replied, knocking on mom’s bedroom door. “Do you want me to change that broken light bulb now, Mom?”

  The door open and he disappeared inside. I dragged myself upstairs to my room and collapsed on my twin bed with the daisy covered comforter. I shut the blinds and turned on the pink flamingo bedside lamp. Then I turned it off again. There was nothing to see.

  Despite my brother's threats, I was at my mother's house for nearly a week. I couldn’t go out. The press was everywhere. All the guys were working full time just to keep them off the property. My brother came daily and asked me when I am leaving.

  “She can stay as long as she wants.” My mother defended me. We were both watching back to back episodes of Judge Julie. I wondered what life would be like if my biggest worries were the noises coming from the flat above mine or the dent in my speeder from the neighbor kid's bicycle.

  After the show, when the local news came on, I got up and made chicken. I set the table for five. Looie and Petre were eating with us tonight. They spoke English and my mother had taken a shine to them. They called her Ma'am and bowed to her. Mom blushed furiously and covered her mouth with her hand when they did this. They also climbed up on the roof the other day and cleaned off leaves and other branches from a recent storm. Tomorrow they were going to clean up her yard.

  “Would you like a piece of chicken, Ma'am?” Looie asked, standing behind her with the platter.

  “Yes, please, Looie,” she said and batted her eyes at him as he served her like the grandest of waiters. Petre offered to pour some wine.

  Now, when the guards came in the house, they put on their Dress Blacks. At dinner, they wore white gloves, as well. My mother started to dress up too. I only had the few pairs of jeans I brought from Derius and the one suit I wore to my meeting with the President of the Alliance, so I was the cook and the maid.

  “This is ridiculous,” Allen said, sitting down at the table.

  “I like it, Allen,” Mother snapped. “You can go home and eat with your wife if you prefer.”

  A few more days passed, and I had not left the house other than to visit the mobile command center. The press was still camped out at the end of our driveway. Groceries were purchased by Reggie and Lanaka who complained about how much more expensive everything was here than in Mishnah or anywhere in the Empire.

  My mother placed orders for the things she wanted. She was enjoying herself with truffles, expensive cheese, lobsters and caviar. A chef was en route from Mishnah as my mother's requests were now beyond my ability to prepare. Some of my clothes and jewelry were coming too. Luci was bringing them. She would stay in my brother's old bedroom, and a chef would move into the command center.

  It was a week later. Two limos from Mishnah adorned with the Imperial Crest arrived with Luci and the chef and were now parked in the drive. Mother saw them and decided she must go to the mall. Kisko was our driver. Telix and Looie came along in our car. Petre and Reggie followed in the other. My mother dressed up to the nines and borrowed a necklace from my emerald collection. I dressed up too because the press would be all over us and Luci insisted. My mother bought whatever she wanted, and Luci paid for it with a pay card that Taner had given her. We had lunch in a café. My mother adored Luci. When we got home, she hugged and kissed me.

  “Oh Katie dear, it is such fun having you home,” she said and then went to her room to take a nap.

  That night for dinner, the chef prepared a meal comparable to anything we might have had in Mishnah.

  “Do you like it, Madame?” he asked.

  “Excellent, Master Chef,” I said. “It was delicious.”

  “It's our honor to have you here,” Mother fluttered.

  “You do not realize how happy I am to have you enjoy my food. I fear that HIM does not like anything I prepare.”

  “Oh, Master Chef,” I laughed. “HIM doesn't like anything, regardless of who prepares it. He would be perfectly happy eating only raw eggs or raw fish every day forever.”

  “Aye, Madame,” the chef agreed. “He was this way even as a child. He would come to my pantry and steal eggs at night.”

  “Aye, that he would,” Reggie added. “The little street rat had a tough time at first. He kept eggs in his pockets in case he was kicked back out to the street on a moment’s notice.”

  “Who are you talking about?” Mother asked.

  “HIM,” Luci replied.

  “Him who?”

  “Him HIM,” Luci said.

  “Who him?”

  “Oh this is ridiculous!” I snapped. “Ron, Mother. They are referring to my husband.”

  “Oh,” she cried, obviously disappointed. “I don't like that alien man.”

  I felt a headache coming on.

  “We are all Rehnorian like HIM,” Luci told Mother gently. “Didn't you know that? That would make us all alien."

  “Oh Luci dear, you're not alien,” Mom replied. “You're a little fatty but you're not an alien.”

  “Mother!”

  “It's quite all right, Madame,” Luci said and patted Mom’s hand. “It's only because I get to eat delicious food like this every day in the Palace.”

  “I was born in Old Mishnah right by the streets where Senya lived,” Reggie announced proudly.

  “Well tell him, I can't understand a word he says either,” Mother replied. “You can all go back there. It doesn't matter to me. Just leave me the chef and one of those fancy limos.”

  “Katie, this is ridiculous,” my brother declared later that evening. “How many people do you have living here? A dozen?”

  “Only Luci live
s in the house,” I said. “Everyone else is in the command center. What's it to you anyway?”

  “Mom cannot handle the constant chaos and mess!”

  I looked around. The place was spotless. Not only were the Imperial Guards maintaining the yard, they were keeping the house up far better than my mother or her cleaning service ever did.

  “What's really bugging you, Allen?” I asked. I was sitting on a chaise out on the deck. Luci had been here too, but when Allen arrived, he sent her back into the house. Now she was watching Judge Julie and yelling at the defendants to the great amusement of my mother.

  “How can you be here squatting in Mom’s house when you have so many other places you could go?”

  “I told you,” I repeated slowly. “I gave up the Takira-hahr house. I don't have anywhere else to go.”

  “Come on, Katie, I'm not stupid. I see what’s going on with Alliance and the Empire. Half the planets that used to be in the Alliance now belong to the Empire. Don’t tell me, you don’t have a few dozen palaces on every one of them.”

  I sat up and looked at him squarely. His grey hair was falling in front of his eyes, and he needed a shave. He looked like my father, but not as good looking.

  “Is everything okay at home, Allen? How's Stella? How come she hasn't come down to say hello?”

  He snorted. “To put it bluntly Katie, she hates you. She thinks it's not fair that you have so much, and all we have is a dinky house up the street with half a mortgage still to pay off.”

  “Do you need money, Allen?”

  “No. No! I'm not asking you for money. I'm just asking you to go away and let us go back to our lives and pretend you and your Emperor don't exist.”

  “Ok.” I looked at my hands. “I love you too.”

  “That's not what I mean,” he said, throwing his hands in the air.

  “Allen.” I reached for his hand. “I want you to be happy. If Stella wants a castle on Talas or wherever we have one, I'm sure I can give it to you. Hell, you could even come to Mishnah and live with us there. When I go back, that is. If I go back.”

  “Mom won't go.”

  “Well, maybe Luci and the chef will convince her otherwise.”