20. Thalen
THALEN
The claiming only served to fuel my desire for him.
That first night in our bed, we only slept, but every night after, we made love frantically, Evan trying his best to muffle his voice so as to not alert Jason to our activities.
The days passed in a blur of domesticity, Evan trying new recipes from his cookbook and he and Jason collecting the eggs.
That first weekend, I showed him the greenhouse and how the controls worked on the agribot.
The berries were all fully ripe by then, and he looked incredibly adorable in his excitement when he got the machine to work harvesting the last of them.
“Hey, did you know coffee comes as berries?” he asked me as I showed him how to get them all washed and packed into stasis containers for easy shipping. “Do you think we can grow coffee? Though we’d need a roaster too.”
“I didn’t know that. I’ll add it to the list of things to request if they become allowed, but you need to remember, we only have so much space to grow things.”
He nodded. “You’re right. But fresh coffee would be such a treat.”
He spent the following week making freezer jam from some of the berries as well as repacking some of them into smaller stasis cubes in our pantry for our own use later. The following weekend we took the rest to the general store for Doran to buy from us.
“Heard we have several new colonists coming,” Doran told us as he added the credits to our account. “A teacher and a sheriff. They’ll be here in a week. The construction on the school starts tomorrow, as well as a large house.”
“Any idea who they’re mated to?”
He shook his head. “Don’t know if the sheriff is mated to anyone or not. But the teacher apparently is Rethan Kharchech's.”
“He has the next parcel to ours on our side of the road.”
Evan perked up. “So we’ll be neighbors with Jason's teacher?” he laughed. “Jason is so going to love that.”
“I’m gonna love what?” he asked, coming over with a toy flitter in his hands. “Do I have enough allowance for this?”
I took it from him. “Sure do,” I replied. "You've worked really hard at your lessons and chores, so anything you’re short, consider it a reward.”
His face became wreathed in a huge smile. “Thanks, Pata!”
“You’re spoiling him,” Evan said, but didn’t object. “And what we were talking about Jason, is that the school is being built and your teacher is going to be our neighbor.”
“I get to be with the other kids all day? And when it’s recess, there’s kids to play with?”
Evan and I laughed. Of course that would be what he latched onto.
“I’ve had an advance order for three single beds as well as a Dragonii double. He’s not bringing some of his furniture, and apparently, he has three kits already,” Doran revealed.
“Do you know how old they are?” Jason asked excitedly.
“No,” came the regretful reply.
My wrist comm flashed, the color letting me know it was urgent.
“Excuse me, I need to take this.”
“That’s okay, babe. Go find out what’s the matter. I’ll finish up here with our order.”
I stepped outside, standing off to the side of the general store to lessen the noise from the passersby.
I frowned as I accepted the comm, the name unfamiliar.
“Thalen Rukor?”
“Yes, you have the correct person,” I confirmed.
“Thank the stars! My name is Bevit Grix, and I’m with Child Unification Services.”
My hearts stilled in my chest. Child Unification Services was not anyone a person usually heard from. Their sole function in Dragonii society was placing orphaned kits with loving relatives, and if none, with a family who would cherish them as their own.
“Are you still there? Oh, I do hate long range comms. One never knows if the signal has gotten lost in space somewhere,” the male's fussy voice said.
“I’m still here. I was just surprised, was all.”
“Oh. Well, yes, of course. People usually are. I’m reaching out on behalf of Clovira Hrial.”
“I don't know anyone by that name.”
“She said that you’d say that,” he sighed.
“You probably knew her as your best childhood friend, Hrak Mathrus’s grandmother.
I’m sorry to say that Hrak and his mate died in a flitter accident shortly after their kit was born, along with his mother.
His mate’s parents still had kits at home, and they felt unable to take him in full time, so he’s been living with Clovira, with them helping out now and again.
Clovira recently heard from your aunt that you’d moved to New Haven a few years ago and have a successful farm, and decided she wanted to ask if you’d consider taking the kit in as your own. ”
“Would she be coming here with him?”
“I...I’m not sure if she thought about that. Is that something you’d agree to as a condition to adopting him?”
Evan and Jason came out of the store. “Can you please hold on a moment. My mate just arrived, and I need to catch him up.”
“Everything alright?” his eyes turned towards our farm. “I don’t see smoke anywhere,” he said, scanning the skies in that direction worriedly.
“It’s not the farm.” I quickly relayed what I’d just been told.
“His great grandmother has been raising him all on her own?” he exclaimed. “That had to have been tough.”
“With assistance on occasion from his other grandparents,” Grix reminded him.
“Yeah. That’s not the same as being there all the time. How old is he?”
“Eight years old in your years.”
“Dad, if he doesn’t come here to be my brother, will he go into a home like I was at?”
Evan shook his head. “I don’t know, but Thalen, he was your best friend’s son, and she reached all the way out to you. It was obviously meant to be.”
“I’m getting a brother!” Jason shouted excitedly.
“Ask if she’d like to move here too, to be near him. We have the room.”
“But you’ll take him?”
“Yes,” Evan spoke for me.
“I’ll make the arrangements and notify you if she wishes to join you as well.”
The comm call ended.
“Well, when I came to the store today, I certainly didn’t expect to be bringing home another kid.”
“He’s not here yet, Dad,” Jason reminded him.
“Let’s get these things loaded,” I said, looking at their purchases.
“We need to get his bedroom ready. The walls are bare. What sort of things does an eight year old Dragonii like?”
“Space ships,” Jason replied confidently. “All boys love space ships.”
“He’ll probably come with the things from his old room, so I won't decorate too much.”
“Right. Think his granny will come?”
I shrugged as I lifted the stasis boxes full of kilt-ha and hop-a-long meat into the back of the flitter.
“Don’t know. It’s a long way for someone her age.
She was already fairly old when I knew her as a kit, Hrak’s mother being a late in life surprise to her own mother.
” I hefted a large bag of Duke and Benny’s usual brand of dog food next.
It was replicated to order under license, one more convenience provided by our three way treaty with the Mylos and humans.
“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
As it turned out, we didn’t have to wait long.
By that evening, his grandmother had arranged for all of his belongings except for his furniture to accompany him, and by a stroke of luck, he was scheduled to arrive on the same ship as the sheriff and teacher, boarding at a space station rendezvous.
Being our local official law enforcement officer, the sheriff was the one accompanying him from there on out, allowing for Grix to return home from there.
As for his great grandmother, she had decided to sell up and move into a retirement community where a few of her friends lived.
We promised weekly vid comm chats, not wishing for Vrann to lose the connection he had with her and his other existing family members.
Jason was beside himself with anticipation, perhaps even more so than Evan and I were.
“I can’t believe that it was all arranged so fast.”
“I think she and Grix pretty much knew we’d take him in and had already made arrangements. If we’d refused, they could have cancelled them.”
“And then what would have become of him?”
“Probably adopted by a Dragonii family somewhere else.”
“Well, he’s ours, so they can’t have him. And you grew up with his dad. You’ll have stories about him to share.”
That I would, but that wasn’t the best thing about Vrann joining our small family. The generous hearts of Evan and Jason were.