A Desconian Marriage of Convenience (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

Baylen wanted to follow Katarnia’s suggestion, but it was obvious that Jenelle wouldn’t leave until she’d either spoken to everyone or collapsed from fatigue. It was at least another hour before he talked her into taking a break. He’d signaled Jax, waved to Tosh on the way past, and practically carried the woman out to the cafeteria and other food stalls just outside the spaceport. It wasn’t until he got into the fresh air that he noticed how badly his head ached.

Jenelle ate quickly, her extra-large human-style coffee disappearing at a rapid rate.

“Are you okay?” he asked, wanting to help but not entirely certain how to go about it.

“Yes and no,” she said with a brief smile. “They’re here, so I know they have a chance at a better life. I’m just worried how the people of Descon are going to react to the male passengers. As far as I know a human male has never applied to immigrate to Descon. Up until now all of the ships have been filled with women. How is the Desconian Fertility Council going to react to human couples? Especially the ones with children?”

“I don’t know,” Baylen said, sharing her fear. “What about you?”

“What about me?” she asked, seeming confused.

“Aren’t you worried how this might affect you? Tosh told me you’ve been here nearly a full Earth year and haven’t yet found suitable Desconian partners.”

“I’ll be okay,” she said convincingly. He might almost have believed her confidence if he hadn’t noticed the involuntary shiver.

“Why aren’t you married?” Even though he understood it was none of his business, he really wanted to know the answer. It was obvious that she was smart, caring, and protective of the people around her. She’d make a wonderful mother. Why hadn’t any of the Desconian couples she’d surely been introduced to wanted to keep her?

She gave him a sad smile, and for a moment he thought she was going to give him some sort of nonanswer. Instead, she took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and confessed, “I’m pretty sure I can’t have children.”

“Pretty sure?” he asked. “Have you spoken to Tosh about it?”

“Sort of,” she said with a lopsided half smile. “I was worried about what the Desconian Fertility Council might do if they found out, so I didn’t want any medical attention. Tosh told me that it would be okay, but”—she glanced around as if there might be someone listening in to their conversation—“with the new arrivals, I don’t think anyone can predict what might happen.”

“Marry us,” Baylen said impulsively. She blinked in surprise but didn’t say anything. “Seriously.” He reached for her hand. “Marry me and Tosh and Jax. That way if you are infertile you’ll already be bonded to a Desconian marriage and the authorities can’t do a thing about it.”

She smiled, her eyes filling with tears as she said, “I can’t ask you to do that. And besides, I reckon Tosh and Jax might want to have a say in that decision.”

“So we’ll talk to them. Explain the situation.”

“Bay,” she said, reaching over to touch his face with her warm hand, “what happens when you want to start a family? You’ll be lumped with a marriage of convenience to a barren woman.”

“We never planned to have children,” he said, wondering if that was still true. With the changes to the marriage laws on Descon, the thought of having a mubella and offspring had crossed his mind a time or two. They hadn’t really been serious thoughts, but it did make him wonder if Tosh and Jax had perhaps considered the same things.

She shook her head as if she could see the doubts in his eyes.

“What if you can have children?” he asked. “What if the problem is something easily fixed?”

She shook her head, silently dismissing his questions. “Baylen, you’re very sweet to offer, but I’ll be okay.”

He nodded and reluctantly dropped the subject.

Katarnia looked exhausted, but she wore a happy smile. The reason for that became rather obvious as Tosh stepped into her office and found one of her husbands, Luddeke, sitting on the sofa with their hugely pregnant wife, Deanna, asleep beside him.

Deanna was one of his favorite patients and rather unique. Not only was she the reason the kings had changed the marriage laws to include quad relationships, but she’d surprised her husbands, her wife, her doctors, and nearly everyone else on the planet when they’d discovered she was having triplets. On a planet where a single pregnancy was a major cause for celebration, someone who could have three babies at once was a celebrity.

“How’s she doing?” Tosh asked.

“She tires easily, but otherwise she’s doing well.” Luddeke touched her belly lightly, smoothing over a little lump at the side which was most likely one of the babies’ knees. “I’m not sure she’s going to be able to go another two months, though.”

Tosh nodded in agreement. He had Deanna coming in for a checkup every four days, but perhaps it was time for him to see her more often. Every pregnancy carried risks, but with triplets his concerns were magnified.

“I thought it might be a good idea for me to drop by each day.”

“A doctor who makes house calls?” Luddeke asked with a smart-ass grin. “I didn’t think those still existed.”

Tosh smiled and shrugged. “Wait till you get my bill.” Luddeke and Katarnia both grinned at his joke. In his position with the Desconian Fertility Council he was specifically hired to take care of the human women both before and after they became pregnant. He was paid a salary, so technically there weren’t any bills for the humans or their partners to pay.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked as he turned his attention to Katarnia and took the seat in front of her desk.

Katarnia’s smile faltered, and she glanced at her sleeping wife before getting up and closing the door to her office. “What I tell you stays in this room,” she said as she leaned against the front of her desk.

Tosh nodded, not liking the serious turn to their conversation.

“As you know, the kings are under pressure to start placing restrictions on the immigration of humans to Descon. The ships that arrived last week appear to be just the first wave of refugees. We’ve had reports of many more on the way.”

Tosh nodded. He’d seen the reports on the newsreels. Some of the concerns from average Desconians were very valid. Compared to the Desconian way of life, Earth was a horribly crowded, overly polluted, violent, dangerous mess. But how many humans could Descon take in before they started to face the same problems?

Yes, the majority of the Desconian population wanted human women to help them produce offspring, but that didn’t mean they wanted humans taking over the planet. The hysterical claims of “invasion” were wildly exaggerated but in some ways were also understandable. Desconians didn’t want large communities of humans living among them who refused to assimilate or accept the Desconian way of life. With the low birthrate of Desconians it was a valid concern. Tosh personally knew being overrun with humans was not yet an issue, but it could be only a matter of time.

Unfortunately, Katarnia seemed more concerned than just someone in her position reacting to the planetary news. She glanced at Deanna before continuing.

“I have it on good authority”—considering she was close friends with the prince and princesses, he didn’t doubt her sources—“that there are plans to restrict how long humans can stay on this planet without marrying into a Desconian family. Even the family groups that arrived on the last ships will be expected to find Desconian sponsors.”

Tosh nodded. In principle it sounded like a fairly solid idea. Expecting them to marry into and live a Desconian-style marriage wasn’t unreasonable under the circumstances. It would ensure that they understood and embraced their way of life. Putting a time limit on it would ensure that the humans who violently disapproved of the Desconian lifestyle wouldn’t be able to play the system indefinitely. Either they embraced the Desconian way of life or they went elsewhere.

But none of that explained Katarnia’s agitation. A certain amount of political posturing surrounded any event like this, but usually things got sorted out in a reasonable manner. He had faith in the laws of this planet.

“How well do you know Jenelle?” Katarnia asked in an almost whisper. It seemed clear that she didn’t want to wake Deanna.

Confused by the strange sideways step of the conversation, Tosh shrugged and answered just as quietly, “We’re friends.” He smiled slightly. She’d stayed with them for over a month when her nightmares had been bad and, despite the reason, it had been very satisfying to have her as a part of their everyday lives. They hadn’t been able to convince her to come home with them since the refugee ships had landed, but he, Jax, and Baylen still considered the woman a close friend.

“Has she said anything about why she hasn’t liked any of the couples the Desconian Fertility Council has introduced her to?”

And suddenly the real reason for this conversation reared up and slapped him in the face.

“They want to deport her?” he asked as anger burned his gut. Fuck. When it had been a nameless, faceless person he’d been all for rules and restrictions, but when it involved a person he cared about…

“No,” Katarnia said quickly. But she winced and added, “Not yet.” She glanced at Deanna again and sighed heavily. “The time limit they’re talking about is the equivalent of one Earth year. Jenelle has been here almost that long already. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Whether the laws get backdated or not is anyone’s guess, but I would hate for Jenelle to get caught up in it.”

“What can we do?” Tosh asked, even as a small voice whispered the answer in his mind.

“Convince her to marry someone. I know that several of the couples she was introduced to were quite disappointed when she turned them down. I know at least one of those couples is still hoping she’ll change her mind.”

Tosh glanced at Luddeke and realized that he and Katarnia were also concerned for their wife. Deanna and Jenelle had been expelled from Earth at the same time. They’d been friends ever since. It would be devastating for Deanna to lose her friend and in her last trimester of a high-risk pregnancy possibly even deadly.

“I’ll talk to her.” Tosh was already half out of his chair when Katarnia sighed a sound of relief.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Pack some stuff. You’re coming home with me.”

“Well hello to you, too, Mr. Bossy.” Jenelle smiled but didn’t move to do as Tosh demanded. He and Baylen, and even Jax, had all dropped by over the past week to offer her a night away from the compound. She’d politely refused each time. After Baylen’s suggestion that she join them in a marriage of convenience, she’d done her best to stay away. They were all great guys. The very least they deserved was a mubella, a wife, who could give them children. Even without the medical tests Tosh kept suggesting, she was certain that babies were not in her future.

“I’m serious,” he said as he pushed past her and started packing her clothes. “The paperwork is already done.”

“Tosh,” she said, feeling just a little bit worried, “I don’t want to go home with you.”

“I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Tosh, honey, I’m okay. You don’t have to take care of me. I’m fine here.”

“Wrong,” he said in a tone of voice that didn’t sound anything like his usual affable personality. He was still shoving clothes into her overnight bag when she finally realized he was shaking.

“Tosh?” She stepped closer, placing her hand on his bicep, feeling for herself the slight tremble that shook his muscles. “What’s wrong?”

He turned and pulled her into his embrace, practically squeezing the air from her lungs.

“Please just come home with me. I’ll explain everything.”

Unable to deny him anything when he was in such an upset state, Jenelle gave him the only answer she could. “Okay.”

* * * *

Baylen was surprised to hear the front door open so early in the afternoon. Neither Jax nor Tosh were due home for at least another hour, but when he discovered who was actually in his hallway, he couldn’t contain his delight.

“Jenelle,” he said with a bright smile as he stepped closer to give her a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I upset you the other day. Please forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said, hugging him back just as hard. “I wasn’t upset.”

“Then why did you stay away all week?”

She shrugged as she stepped out of his embrace. He really didn’t want to let her go, but Tosh was already giving him a look that demanded he explain himself right now.

“I was busy, Bay,” she said quickly. “It wasn’t your fault. Honestly.”

“What did you do, Bay?” Jax asked as he came in the front door.

Baylen turned sharply, far more surprised to find Jax home this time of day than everyone else in the hallway apparently. “Why are you home early?”

“What did you do, Bay?” Jax asked again. To an outsider it might have sounded like his husband was angry, but Baylen knew the man well enough to know his reaction to stress. Whatever was happening, whatever had brought both of his husbands home early was bigger than the poorly thought-out proposal he’d made to Jenelle just over a week ago.

“Nothing,” Jenelle answered for him. “Just a misunderstanding, but it was nothing.”