Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Amelia
Water lapped on the sides of the boat. Sunlight sparkled over the surface of the lake where Amelia and Kimberly relaxed on Kimberly’s new boat. Each woman held a glass of champagne. It was a day of semi-celebration.
Jacob Brice, Amelia’s onetime “trainee” had been convicted the week previous of a multitude of crimes, including kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap, and a few new ones, including collusion with an alien entity to harm an Earthling.
He admitted to having taken a bribe to switch Amelia and Kimberly and force Kimberly onto a different shuttle that was waiting further away.
He was also aware of what would happen to the women, which made what he’d done especially egregious.
He hadn’t been sentenced yet, but he was looking at spending a long time in jail.
Amelia and Kimberly had become great friends since returning to Earth.
Amelia’s father and brothers had been relieved to learn that she lived, but after a year of being back on Earth, she still wasn’t feeling settled.
A restlessness stirred her. And a feeling troubled her, as if this planet she’d lived her whole life on no longer felt so much like home anymore.
Truth be told, she kind of thought Taron would have contacted her.
She had received a very odd message from the human queen of Tagja City, Jessa Braal, letting her know that Taron was alive and well.
Because of his actions, his citizenship was reinstated and his exile ended.
So, yeah. If Queen Jessa could send a message, so could Taron.
But she hadn’t heard a thing from him, and it wasn’t like she could reach out.
One did not simply call up Virilia to say “what’s up?
” to a sort-of ex-boyfriend. It had to go through fifteen government agencies and get a million approvals.
She took another sip of champagne and rubbed the center of her chest, where a little emptiness never quite went away. Looking back on her time with Taron, it all felt like an exhilarating dream. Sometimes, she wondered if it was even real.
“Want a shrimp?” Kimberly settled on the small deck of her boat with a shrimp cocktail ring.
Her Virilian match had been so relieved to hear that she had survived, he paid the entire five-million-dollar fee, even though she never made it to him.
It was very generous of him. Kimberly, who had no family to speak of, had chosen a remote spot in New England, bought a nicely appointed lakeside cabin, the boat, and made a pottery studio in her barn.
Amelia loved visiting her and did so often. She herself had spent the year traveling. She’d been given a sizable settlement from the match program and had left personal security. Her next steps were still unclear. “Thanks.” She dipped a shrimp in cocktail sauce and took a bite.
“Have you given any more thought to that book deal?” Kimberly asked. They’d both been invited to write about their experiences—together or separately.
Amelia snorted. “I have. I told them no.”
“Same here.” Kimberly nodded. “I don’t want to relive it. Besides, it really wasn’t that interesting. I spent a few weeks in a box, then you showed up.” She grinned. “Your story would be far more juicy.”
“Exactly why I’m keeping it to myself.” Over the past year, Amelia had confided in Kimberly the full nature of her relationship with Taron.
The only others who knew were the government medical team who examined her after they landed on Earth in the transport.
They’d needed to know if she could be pregnant.
Amelia had thought about the possibility only vaguely while she was with Taron.
At the time, she couldn’t say “no” for sure.
“Well, here’s to putting that bastard in jail and to us surviving the terrors of the galaxy.”
They clinked glasses, and Amelia grinned. “Who knew Virilians would bring us together.”
“Well, I…” Kimberly trailed off. Her gaze shifted upwards as something dark suddenly blocked out the sun. Amelia’s gaze followed and froze.
A massive black ship hovered silently above them. It was lowering toward them. Her first thought was that it was the Tulashi, coming to finish the job. Or Sulot had come with his team of assassins.
“Can you get us out of here, Kimberly?” Amelia asked, her heart pounding.
Kimberly dashed for the boat controls and turned the key. “It’s not starting. That ship must be jamming the electronics.”
“Is it going to crush us?” The ship kept lowering, lowering. She and Kimberly both ducked their heads, feeling overwhelmed by the metal mass directly above them.
Suddenly it stopped, only about ten feet above them. The silence of the ship was as ominous as it was unsettling.
Then, a small hatch opened, and a figure appeared. Thick arms braced on either side of the round opening.
“Taron?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It couldn’t possibly be real.
The horns, red veins, flaming eyes were all gone. He looked like her Taron again. He sported a new, white T-shirt and a familiar grin.
Her Taron. Just the sight of him made her heart squeeze so hard it ached. She couldn’t have torn her gaze from him if a meteor smashed into the lake next to them. “Is that really you up there?”
“Hello, Amelia. Kimberly.” Rather than sounding so very American, his voice had a distinct lilting accent. “Lovely to see you again.”
Amelia’s jaw dropped. “What… How are you…?”
“I’m sorry it took so long for me to come back for you,” he explained. “There were many, many permits.”
“Permits?” Amelia parroted back. Her head spun. Her throat went tight and dry.
“Yes. Your planet’s government doesn’t just let aliens come down and hang out with its citizens. Multiple sources had to vouch for me. It was extensive. I had to convince them I deserved to talk to you.”
Was this actually happening? “You came here to ‘talk’ to me?”
He nodded. “But I can’t stay long. They gave me one Earth hour to make my case, then I have to leave, with or without you. It took me forty minutes to find you.”
Case? Amelia shut her eyes and shook her head. She heard his words, but her head was struggling to catch up. “Could you please make sense?”
“Will you come with me?” he blurted out.
Her eyes boggled. “With you? Like, with you?”
“Yes.” He pointed up. “With me.”
“Ah, nice,” murmured Kimberly beside her. “Gotta love a man who’s direct.”
She sucked in a shaky breath. Her hands were shaking. Everything was shaking. “Right now?”
“Pretty much right now, yes.” Taron shrugged. “Sorry for the rush.”
“I—I… Holy shit.” She turned blindly away. Five minutes ago, she was sipping champagne. Now, literally out of the blue, the man of her dreams dropped from the sky, asking to take her away. A pair of firm hands gripped her shoulders and gave her a little shake.
“Amelia Ward, don’t be an idiot.”
Amelia’s gaze flew up to Kimberly, whose eyes glinted hard.
“Do you know how often I catch you staring up at the sky? And you think I don’t know that you still carry that little ‘I love you’ note around in your wallet?
” Kimberly raised one knowing eyebrow. “You’re in love with that guy and you’ll always be in love with him.
He turned primal for you, which means he’s more than in love with you—you’re already his mate.
If you don’t go with him, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. ”
“But…”
“I’ll help clean things up here,” said Kimberly. “I can pack your stuff up, and, I don’t know, send it to you.”
Amelia let out a gurgle of laughter. “Outer Space Postal Service?”
“Sure. Something like that.”
Amelia’s stomach clenched. She thought about all the unknowns and uncertainties out there. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“I missed out on my match, but yours is right there.” Kimberly brought her face close to Amelia’s. “I swear, Amelia. If you don’t get on that ship and fly off into the sunset with your true love, I will throw you overboard and make you swim to shore.”
Amelia’s eyes widened, but she knew what her decision would be. “We’re a mile out.”
“Exactly.”
A slow smile spread across her lips. “Well, I guess I’d better go with him, then.”
Kimberly pulled her into a tight hug. “Yeah, I guess you’d better.”
Amelia turned and slowly looked up. Taron gazed back down at her. His expressive green eyes were anxious.
“Well?” he asked. “You said you wanted to travel. What do you think?”
She gazed at him for a few long moments. “I think I’ll go with you.”
“You think?” He shook his head. “Uh-uh. I’m not turning around halfway to Virilia. Uses too much gas.”
“That thing does not use gas.” She craned her neck, taking in the whole expanse of it. “It’s huge, by the way. Is it yours?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember it? True, only a part of it was visible above the water.”
Her jaw just about fell off. “This is that ship from that planet? You got it out of that ocean?”
“Yes. It was love, you know. I had to have her.”
“How did you pull it—her—out?”
“It’s a really good story. I can tell you later.” He raised his eyebrows. “Also, we’re down to ten minutes. The Air Force is going to show up and start strafing me. Want to come aboard?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then tell me you love me,” he shot back. “And you have to mean it. No half-assed I love yous.”
She blinked up at him, wrinkling her nose. “Why do I have to do that?”
“Oh my God, Amelia,” groaned Kimberly.
“Because if you’re my partner on our ship, you’re my partner, period. For good.”
His words did all sorts of things to her heart.
She knew without a speck of doubt that her future was in the stars, with him.
They would chart their own path and find their own way, and they would do it together.
With a wide smile, she got down on one knee.
“Taron Bando, I love you. I want to go with you in this incredibly large spaceship and be your partner. For good.”