by Julia Huni
A shiver runs down my spine. She’s right. He would have haunted me till his dying day. I guess he did.
“It’s over.” O’Neill appears beside me. “For real this time.”
“What about Ferrigi and Andron?” The medics are loading them into portable med pods.
“They’ll be okay. The lead medic says they were burned, but nothing the med pod can’t handle. They were lucky we had medics on call. Vanti will take Watson to the Peacekeepers.”
“What’s going to happen to her?” I ask as we walk back into the house.
“That’s up to them to decide. I suspect they’ll be lenient.”
We enter the courtyard. It’s a disaster of exploded cake, rioting children, and outraged guests. “Your sister is probably a little upset.”
O’Neill laughs. “She barely noticed the furor. She wasn’t thrilled about the cake, but we can get a new one. Mom has already decided to hold another party when they get back from their honeymoon.”
“Where are they going?”
“A Pleiades cruise to Sally Ride, of course.” He laughs at my expression. “They depart on the CSS Caledonia in the morning.”
“Is Joan still on that ship?” I pick up a cupcake that miraculously survived the dessert debacle. The delicate design is still perfect. I leave it on a table for someone else. I can’t stomach wedding cake right now.
“She is. If the newlyweds ever emerge from their cabin, you can be sure they’ll be dancing in the stars.” He grins.
Thirty-Eight
Two weeks later, Lili and Jie return from their cruise. Serena pulls out all the stops to plan another, better party. She convinces Chef Pierre to design a new cake, and the real Enzo arrives to set it up. He looks just like the Bobby Putin mod but says he was never in this house before.
“But what about the Winter Palace? I met you there when you were setting up.”
“Wasn’t me. My assistant, Seline, set up the cake.”
“Seline? Was she a new assistant?” Is there really a Seline or just Gwen pretending to be her?
“Fairly new.” He arranges the cake. This one is multi-colored and not floating. Plus, there’s a whole layer of chocolate, so it gets my vote for best post-wedding cake ever. “She disappeared that night. Never saw her again.” He gives me a “go away and let me get my work done” grimace, so I leave him in peace.
Seline disappeared because she didn’t really exist. She was a role played by Gwen, whose only purpose was to get access to the O’Neill family during the wedding. Gwen was tried for manslaughter and sentenced to a mental health clinic to work out her problems. She’ll never work as a peacekeeper again, but she won’t have a record after she completes her therapy. Kate argued on her behalf, and the fact that the only person she killed was Bobby helped.
Andron and Ferrigi are back on duty, but with Bobby out of the picture, it’s not much work. Vanti and O’Neill provide plenty of security here in the house. The avenger boys go along when we go out, but we’ve spent most of the time at home. Yesterday, Angie dragged them out dancing with her ancient girlfriends.
“Who would have thought they’d enjoy line dancing in the afternoon with a bunch of old ladies?” I laugh as we rest in the courtyard before the party.
This morning, we moved the lounge furniture to other rooms. Now, a team is setting up a dance floor, with chairs and tiny tables around the outside edge. A small band will arrive in an hour to take the stage in the corner.
The nets of tiny lights are up again, with more twining around the tall palm trees. Tables and chairs fill the cloister under the balconies. The small space where the wedding took place has been filled with new plants and small benches.
O’Neill tips back his drink. “I’m going to grab a shower and get dressed. I’ll see you in a bit.” He kisses my forehead and disappears up the stairs.
Vanti’s eyes narrow as she watches him climb. “He’s up to something.”
“Why do you think that?” I stand to take our glasses back to the AutoKich’n.
She follows me. “I don’t know. He just feels different today.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” I say. But now that she mentions it, maybe he is up to something. He’s been a bit distracted.
“Speaking of distracted, I’ve been meaning to ask you.” I stop at the top of the steps.
“What?”
“Why did Ty recover from that drug so fast? In the warehouse?”
Vanti raises her eyebrows. “Good question. Same reason Gwen recovered so fast when I tranqed her at the wedding, I suspect. She should have been out for hours. But apparently, some people here on Grissom are less susceptible to those drugs. It’s a weird mutation seen only in families that have lived here many generations. It’s not well-known, but once the docs at Gwen’s hospital told me about it, I started doing some research. Now I need to come up with another foolproof weapon.”
I shake my head. “New weapons, new disguises. You’re going to be busy. But I’m sure you’ll figure one out.”
Lili and Jie come downstairs just before the party starts, and the family has a quiet toast to their new marriage. Serena has the twins pour sparkling wine for each of us.
“I think I’ll get my own.” I hold up a hand when Ro offers me a glass.
He laughs. “It’s safe, I promise. We only do that the first time.”
I take a glass, and he hands the last one to Vanti. She’s stunning again in her green dress. She stands beside me, looking more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her. Ro puts his tray aside and slides an arm around her waist.
“When did that happen?” I ask O’Neill.
He looks at his brother and his former partner and shrugs. “They’ve been flirting since she got here.”
“Really? Vanti flirts?” I glance at the two of them making eyes at each other. I guess she does. How did I miss that?
Brad raises his glass. “To my beautiful daughter and our new son. May you live a long and happy life together.”
We all drink and applaud.
Then Serena steps forward. “Okay, O’Neill crew, I’m laying down the law this time.” She pins a look on Ro then Yuri. “No spiking the drinks.” Her gaze turns to Akiko and Blas. “No cake fights for the children.”
“Hey, that wasn’t my fault!” Akiko says, but Blas quiets her.
Serena looks at me and Ty and starts ticking things off on her fingers. “No exploding cakes, no serial killers dressed as bakers, no melting carriages.”
Ty holds up his hands, the wine glass sloshing with the movement. “No promises.”
The family laughs. Serena grins. The door chime interrupts her speech. “Fine. Just make sure everyone has fun.”
“This was lovely,” I say, resting my cheek against Ty’s shoulder. We sway in time to the music, putting all those dance lessons on the Morningstar to good use.
Sliding seamlessly into double time, he swings me around the edge of the floor and out into the courtyard. We dance through the flower-scented air, the moonlight making soft shadows through the trees. The stars glitter overhead, with the slash of the rings cutting across the corner of the sky. Other couples hide in the various alcoves—how did I not notice before that this courtyard is built for make-out sessions?
He stops behind the pavilion, tucked between the wall and a tree. “Maybe we can do that someday?”
“What, go on a cruise and have a party?”
“Well, I meant the part before that.” He smiles.
I stare up at him. “Did you just ask me to marry you?” I try for humor, but my voice cracks a little. “Aren’t you supposed to get down on one knee and hire a flash mob?”
“It’s too dark for skywriters, and I thought about fireworks, but we’ve had enough explosions lately. But I can do this.” He gets down on one knee and holds something out. Moonlight sparkles on the tiny diamonds surrounding a sapphire. “Triana Annabelle Morgan Moore, will you marry me?”
Even though I’m not too surprised, my breath catches in
my throat. Like all the ridiculous women in vids on Ancient Tēvē, tears come to my eyes, and my hand goes to my mouth. “Yes, of course I will!”
He slides the ring on my finger. Or at least, he tries. It gets stuck on the middle knuckle.
“Wait, let me do it.” I move his hand out of the way and try to jam the thing on my finger.
“That should fit perfectly,” he says as he gets to his feet. “I had Kara measure a ring in your jewelry box.”
I stop with the ring half-way on. “A gold ring with a green stone?” It has to be that one—it’s the only ring in there.
“I guess.” He waits, raising an eyebrow.
“That’s a ring my friend Jared and I found on the beach when we were seven or eight years old. When no one claimed it, Hy-Mi had it sized so I could wear it.”
We stare at my hand.
“How about this?” I pull it off my ring finger and slide it onto the pinky. “For now. We can get it sized later.”
“Deal.” He pulls me close and kisses me. The fireworks he didn’t buy explode behind my closed eyelids.
When we come up for air, I look at the beautiful ring. “I want to get you one, too.”
“I’ll take you to see the jeweler who made this one. He specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces. But I’m sure he can make us a matched set.”
“The rings of Grissom,” I say with a laugh.
“Exactly.” And he seals it with a kiss.
The End
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, and haven’t read the rest of the Space Janitor series, it’s waiting for you! If you have, check out my other other books.
Author’s note
December 2020
It’s New Year’s Eve eve as I write this. We don’t have big plans for tomorrow night, because no one does this year. Plus, we rarely even stay awake until midnight, much less party. How things change as we get older!
I want to thank everyone who made this book possible, starting with my amazing Kickstarter Backers. I launched a Kickstarter campaign in October to help fund the audiobooks of the Space Janitor series. Nearly a hundred backers chipped in, including:
Alex McGilvery, Alice Bell, Al Lee, Anne K., Annie Jenkins, Barb Collishaw, Brian Chee, Bridget Horn, C.A. Rowland, Carl Kerschner, Christian Meyer, Chrissy Chronert, Colin Jenkins, Craig A. Price Jr., Danny Shaw, David Kidd, Dean Wesley Smith, Deanna Stanley, Diana Rehfield, Duane Eisele, Eidolon, Emma Allen-Goss, Eron Wyngarde, Faith Hakimian, Gary Olsen, Goldeen Ogawa, Ian Bannon aka Joe Cool, Dr. Jim Caplan, James Gotaas, James Parks, Jane, “JustJeff” Omodt, Jennifer Heiden, Jennifer L., Jennifer Fah-Vayhinger, Joel Thorne, Johanna Rothman, John Lagerquist, John Lamar, John Jutoy, Joshua Dean Hackworth, Karl Hakimian, Katherine Gordon, Kelli King, Krystal Bohannan, Lawrence M. Schoen, Lydia T., Mai Miller, Marcel de Jong, Marcus Alexander Hart, Melissa Bernhard, Melissa Cheu, Michele Kinsey Roszell, Paul Hathcox, Paul Parker, Rob Crosby, Robert Battle, Robert Parker, Ross Bernheim, Royd Warren, S. Busby, Sam Backus, Sam Wright, SciFi Cadre, Shadowfall, Spanielhill, Stacy Shuda, Stephen Ballentine, Steve Huth, Steven Bolbot, Tami Veldura, Ted Young, Thomas Cook, Tricia Babinski, Valerie Fetsch, Vic Tapscott and several anonymous readers.
Without them, this book would literally not have been written.
Thanks to my sprint team: A.M. Scott, Hillary Avis, Paula Lester, Kate Pickford, Alison Kervin, and Tony James Slater. They keep me working when I really don’t want to.
Thanks to Paula at Polaris Editing for the editing. Any mistakes you find, I probably added after she was done! And thanks to Les at German Creative for the beautiful cover.
Thank you for reading and enjoying Triana’s story. I don’t know when she’ll be back, but she will be. She keeps popping up when I sit at the keyboard.
I hope you find all the things you’re looking for in 2021.
And of course, thanks to the Big Dude for making all things possible.
Also by Julia Huni
Colonial Explorer Corps Series:
The Earth Concurrence
The Grissom Contention (Spring 2021)
Recycled World Series:
Recycled World
Reduced World
Space Janitor Series:
The Vacuum of Space
The Dust of Kaku
The Trouble with Tinsel
Orbital Operations
Glitter in the Stars
Sweeping S’Ride
Triana Moore, Space Janitor (the complete series)
Tales of a Former Space Janitor
The Rings of Grissom
Krimson Empire (with Craig Martelle):
Krimson Run
Krimson Spark
Krimson Surge
Krimson Flare