Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3)

by J. Naomi Ay

  “Cute!” I cried.

  “What?” Katie tried to sit up but Jerry pushed her back down.

  “You want to see?” he teased her. “Stop crying then and get yourself together. Can you believe this is our Goldie, Caroline?”

  “Nuh uh,” I said. “Look at him wiggling around in there. Hi honey.” I waved.

  “Let me see!” Katie barked, swiping angrily at her eyes.

  Jerry laughed and turned the monitor around so she could see too.

  “Oh my God!” she gasped. “Oh my God, now what am I going to do?” She covered her mouth with her hand. “Sick!” I grabbed a barf tray.

  “That should be ending in another couple weeks or so,” Jerry said as I wiped up her face. “You're just about two and half months and by three, you ought to be feeling a whole lot better.” Jerry started rattling on about neonatal vitamins and avoiding the alcohol and restricting her duties but Katie was busy hyperventilating and not paying any attention to him.

  “What's the matter, honey?” I asked when Jerry finally shut his mouth.

  “Is it okay? Can you tell now? Is there anything weird about it?”

  “It…” Jerry raised his eyebrows again. “It?”

  Katie bit her lip and nodded.

  “He looks just fine,” Jerry smiled, “completely normal.”

  “He?” she sniffed. “What about his eyes?”

  “Well.” Jerry peered closely at the screen. “I can't tell what color they are, but he is genetically flagged for blue and they appear to be developing normally. Right now, Katie, this fancy, schmancy SdK analysis system is telling us there doesn't appear to be any mutations. It's also telling us his blood type is O positive. Ron's blood type wouldn't even register on his own machine. I think your chances are good that this is going to be an ordinary, healthy boy, not another Superman.”

  “Thank God,” Katie exhaled and then smiled at us. “Can I see the picture again?”

  Jerry turned the monitor again and like one big happy family, we all stared at the little guy wiggling around.

  “I can feel that,” Katie said.

  “No way. It's too early,” I cried.

  “I can!” she insisted. “All week I thought I had picked up a space worm!”

  “Well, Auntie Caroline says that boy ain’t never going to be a worm.” I gave her a big hug. “He’s going to be big and strong and as beautiful as his daddy; maybe even more so because he’s going to have his mama’s eyes.”

  Katie started crying all over again at this.

  “This is why I avoided obstetrics,” Jerry mumbled and went to hide in his office.

  Chapter 11

  Katie

  I was lying in bed and feeling ill. At least Jerry had taken my cast off. There were two more weeks left in this cruise and then I was off for two months. I didn’t know where I was going to go or what I was going to do. The little guy was fluttering around my abdomen reminding me he was there, just in case I dared to forget.

  Jerry knocked on the door. He came in and sat down next to me, a serious expression on his face.

  “What’s the mattter?” I asked fearfully. Maybe he was coming to tell me something was wrong with the baby that he didn't see last time.

  “Are you going back to him?”

  I exhaled loudly, relieved that I was not about to discover that I was carrying a bird-boy.

  “I don't know,” I replied, hugging my blanket. “I don't want this baby to be the deciding factor.”

  “Were you going to go back before you found out?”

  “I hadn’t made up my mind.”

  Jerry nodded. “When was the last time you spoke to him?”

  “Two months ago, when we had that fight.”

  “You haven't heard from him since?”

  “Stop it, Jerry,” I said, looking away from him.

  Jerry studied his fingernails.

  “I'm scared enough as it is.” I said. “I don’t need you to come in here with your recriminating looks.

  “I’m not accusing you of anything, Katie. I’m sorry if it looks that way.”

  “You think I made a mistake. I know you think that and now I’m stuck in it forever.”

  “Katie,” he said and reached for my hand. “I’m just trying to help. What are you scared of? Did he threaten you?”

  “He didn’t threaten me.” I took my hand away and crossed my arms.

  “Then what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that you are stuck in it forever?”

  “No!” I said quickly and sucked on my lip. “It’s not…”

  “Who is he, Kate?”

  I looked away. “It’s who he’s going to be, Jerry.”

  “I think he already is whatever he is going to be.”

  “Well, you have no clue,” I snapped a little too sharply.

  “Why don't you clue me in then?”

  “If I do, then you'll know what I know and someday when I'm being court-martialed you'll have to admit it and you'll be court-martialed too.” I laughed as if this were a joke.

  “Ok,” Jerry nodded sitting back and crossing his arms in front of his chest. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “You don't have to tell me and someday at your court-martial, I will act totally innocent and tell them that you never knew a thing.” He smiled. “Actually Katie, I came here because I wanted to tell you something. Well, a few things.”

  Involuntarily, I groaned.

  “No, hear me out,” Jerry insisted.

  “Ok,” I said and pulled the blanket up higher on my somewhat enlarged chest. Jerry's eyes followed my movements and remained there focused on my chest. Having an enlarged chest was a very new experience. I pulled my blanket up to my chin.

  Jerry cleared his throat. “First off, I want to say that whatever happens I want you to know…”

  I shook my head.

  “Hear me out!” he continued. “I want you to know that I am always here for you, for both of you. I will always take care of you, Katie. Just know that.”

  I wouldn’t look at him.

  “Say, thank you Jerry,” he said.

  “Thank you, Jerry,” I repeated. “I do know that.”

  “Now,” he said. “This is what I think you should do. I think you should go back home in two weeks to the palatial palace he has built for you in Rozari. You are both stubborn, arrogant and sometimes incredibly foolish. Swallow your pride, go home and act like nothing has happened. Enjoy the miracle of the next few months and the years to come.”

  “How can you say that after what you just told me?” I swiped at a tear again. Damn these hormones!

  “Katie, Katie, Katie,” Jerry cried. “Ron is a good guy. He may be arrogant, patronizing, weird, and whacked out sometimes, but let me tell you, he is a genuinely good guy.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I've spent a fair amount of time in sickbay with him. I've seen him with patients and regardless of how he treats the rest of us, he is wonderful with them. The patients love him and they trust him. I can see why he gets the big bucks. And…”

  “And?”

  “And, despite the fact that I really want to hate him, I like him. He's a good guy to grab a beer with and I consider him a friend. I hope he thinks the same of me.”

  “That's really sweet of you, Jerry.”

  “I'm a sweet guy in case you haven't noticed. Anyway, I don't believe he picked you out of the millions of women that were dying for his attention just to irritate me. He knew what he was doing and to tell you the truth, I don't think he makes too many mistakes. You may not think you're up to whatever job he's going to give you in the future but my gut tells me, you are and he knows it.”

  “I'm not Superwoman,” I protested. “In case you haven't noticed.”

  “Goldie,” Jerry smiled sadly. “Superman didn't pick Lois Lane because she could fly. He picked her because she could make him fly, metaphorically speaking.”

  “Ya think?” My face got very hot.

  “I think,” Jerry
nodded. “You know, honey, your chances of conceiving from a Rehnorian with type Z blood were about a billion to one. I think you've got yourself a little miracle baby because Someone Else wants you back together.”

  “Really?”

  “I'm no prophet,” Jerry snickered. “But sometimes you just have to wonder.”

  “I do love you, Jerry, but…”

  “I know,” he interrupted. “I’m your best friend and your brother.” He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. “Uncle Jerry is going to spoil this kid rotten. Okay, Sis?”

  “Okay,” I nodded and he brushed his lips against mine in an unbrotherly fashion before letting himself out.

  Two weeks later my waist was expanded and my feet were puffy but I wasn’t throwing up anymore. I decided to go back to Takira-hahr even though I still hadn’t heard a word from Senya. The alternative would have been to move back in with my parents, which would be horrific for all of us. I could imagine my mother introducing me to everyone as her divorced daughter and her alien baby. Even though just about everything made me weepy, that thought made me laugh.

  Caroline and I walked through the airlock. She was babbling on about a new resort she and her latest beau were going to go check out on Cascadia III.

  “Now don't bend,” she scolded as I reached down to pick up my bag.

  “You think I can bend anyway?” I asked. “Do I waddle yet? I feel like it.” She grabbed my bag and gently placed it over my shoulder.

  “You look fine,” she said. “Nobody would know unless you told them. Now when you come back in a few months, Lordy, everyone is going to see you coming and going.”

  “Great, I look forward to it.” I blew her a kiss. I headed out into the terminal toward the private docks where an SdK spaceplane should have been waiting for me. I had rung Thad a few days ago and asked him to send one.

  “I'm so glad you called, Kate,” he said. “I'll get a plane right off to you.”

  “How is everything?” I asked hesitantly.

  “Terrible,” he laughed. “Really rotten.” Thad looked away for a minute before he spoke again. “He's been incredibly busy. I'm not making excuses, I'm just telling you as I see it. Akan's gone and it's all in his lap now.”

  “But what about the King?” I protested.

  “The guy's in his nineties. He's not functioning on all cylinders. They desperately need Ron there and they're throwing everything at him because the planet's a mess. Plus, he's got all the stuff we are doing here and a few days ago, he had a seizure.”

  “Oh no," I moaned. “Was it bad?”

  Thad laughed again, sort of. “Nah. Nobody was killed by the tornadoes that crashed into the building and only five speeders were wrecked.”

  “Wow,” I gasped.

  “Bad would have been six or more speeders getting wrecked,” Thad added. “Listen Kate, just so you know, when he woke up, he was really out of it. He kept asking for you. He didn't remember where you were.”

  “He was asking for me?” I sniffed.

  “Yeah. So get over it. Don’t hold any grudges. The dude needs you even though he may be too stubborn to admit it.”

  So there I was in the terminal, heading down to meet my plane when I decided to stop at the Starbucks kiosk and pick up a decaf. I set my bag down, paid for my drink, turned to pick up my bag and it wasn’t there.

  “Oh, I remember this scene,” I said. “This is where the handsome prince picks up the maiden, drinks her coffee, sets her in the back of his white, no black spaceplane and flies off into the sunset for sometimes happily ever after interspersed with periods of pure hell.”

  He was staring at me, well blindly staring at me through his glasses as if I had just grown another nose.

  “Lady, are you still in line?” Someone nudged me, so I stepped away.

  In truth, I was thrilled he was here. If he wasn't looking so confused and distressed, I would have thrown myself at him.

  He was looking better than he had a few months ago but still unkempt. His hair was wild and long and he hadn’t shaved for at least a week. He was back to wearing torn jeans and sockless sneakers with holes in the toes. It occurred to me how comical it was that this guy was going to take over a whole planet and was now running a multi-billion dollar company.

  “Let's go home,” I said sharply when I realized he was stuck in an almost catatonic state. He dropped my bag and held his temples. I snatched my bag from the floor and pushed him toward the lift. “Come on now big guy, don't go doing anything weird on me here.”

  Even before the door to the lift swished shut, he sank down to the floor. After five years, I knew that when he sank down on the floor like that, he wasn’t talking to me. I stopped the lift and waited it out. After about twenty minutes, he finally sat back up on his heels and looked at me.

  “I did not know,” he said, which were the first words we exchanged in two months.

  “Surprise?”

  He shook his head. “I do not understand what he is.” He rose to his feet.

  “Um, Jerry said he’s a baby?" I started the lift again and in a moment, we were at the private docks boarding a SdK plane. “He's half Human, half Rehnorian. I thought they went over that kind of stuff when you were in med school."

  Senya didn’t even glare at me. He sat down in a seat by the window with his hands on his head. I stowed my bag and headed to the galley for a couple water bottles, waving away the flight attendant who had the sense to disappear and leave us alone. Then, I sat down next to Senya as the plane headed out toward Rozari.

  I offered him a water bottle. “Truce?”

  He took it and but didn’t open it, just rolled it around in his hands as if he were deep in thought.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  No response.

  “I’m okay, thanks for asking,” I said. “I've only gained ten pounds mostly in my boobs, I've finally stopped throwing up all day long and I've got a giant zit on my chin but otherwise, I'm great.”

  Senya studied me again, his brow furrowed.

  “So,” I continued. “Tell me about the project that SdK Rehnor was going to work on.” I tried to be cheerful. “You know, the one I totally messed up by giving away all your money. Did you fix it?”

  He stared at me.

  “What is it?” I cried. “Why are you acting so strange?”

  “You need to go back to space,” he said.

  I drew back in my seat. “Why?”

  He turned away.

  “Senya?” My heart froze. He didn’t want me anymore. Maybe during these last two months when I didn’t hear from him, he had found someone else. “What is going on?” I demanded.

  “We will talk more when we are at home. You may stay for a while but then you must go back to space.”

  I stood up. “Who is she?”

  He furrowed his brow again and looked confused.

  “You bastard!” I cried. “You dickhead! I’ve been sick as dog these last few months carrying your son and you’ve been screwing around on me! Is that how it’s going to be now? Akan’s dead and you’re The Man, so it’s back to doing whatever in the hell you want to do?”

  “I do not understand why you accuse me of this,” he said.

  “You just told me to go away!” I screamed and slapped him across the face. He didn’t stop me. He didn’t even try to stop me so obviously he was guilty. My hand hurt, his cheek was red where I hit him and still he just stared at me.

  “Why do you not trust me?” he asked quietly.

  I started to cry. “Because you didn’t call me for two months and now you are telling me to go away. Because after two months you haven’t even kissed me and you’re acting like you don’t even want our son. What am I supposed to think?”

  He took off his glasses and pressed his thumbs against his eyes. “I don’t know what day it is. I don’t know what time it is,” he said hoarsely. “I don’t know when it was that last I slept. Nearly three hundred thousand people work for me on four plane
ts. Nearly a billion people are depending on me to straighten out the disaster that Rehnor has become. I can’t think straight because my bloody beta protein levels are too high all the time and now I am a bastard because I am not overjoyed at the prospect of a son who will be forced to inherit this same fucking mess that I am in. Do you really think I would wish this on anyone especially my own son?”

  “I never thought of it that way,” I whispered.

  “You never thought because you never think! You just pretend that if we ignore it all, it will go away. It’s not going away, Katie. It’s front and center right now!” He bolted to his feet and began to pace the cabin, rubbing his temples as he did so. “Bloody fuck, I need to fly out of here.” His hands were shaking and his eyes were flashing erratically. “You want to be a Starship Captain, then you had better go back to space and be it soon because it’s all coming.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The Empire!” he practically screamed. “The bloody fucking Empire of Rehnor. Did you really think it would be just Rehnor and Andorus? You can’t fly around being Captain Katie for Alliance when half the Allied planets will fall on their knees before me.”

  “Senya? I don’t understand anything you are saying!”

  “Kari-fa, Katie!” he stopped before me and grabbed my arms as if to shake me. “I don’t understand why He did this. I don’t understand who he is. Is this my punishment because I am as my brothers claim?”

  “What brothers? You don’t have any brothers!” I shrieked, fearing that Senya was out of his mind. “He’s our baby. That’s who he is. This is what happens when you make love without contraception. You don’t need God’s help, Senya. It’s natural!”

  “You don’t understand,” he cried and fell to his knees, still holding my arms. He pulled me against him and laid his head upon my breasts. “You don’t understand.”

  Then, he wanted me. His hands grabbed at my tunic, tearing it off me, reaching for my large aching breasts and sucking hard on a nipple. He pulled me down to the floor beneath him and shoved up my skirt. Briefly, he touched my swollen belly, pushing my legs apart to taste what lie below. I wanted him too. I pulled at his hair and cried his name when all of a sudden a face appeared right in front of us.