Cecilia's Mate (5 page)

Chapter
Five

Draven
looked up when she wandered out of the bedroom, but held a hand up to stall
her. “Anything else?” he asked. He nodded a couple of times, then sighed. “Keep
us updated. No, it went smoothly. We’re not at three-quarters ready. There’s
another two deliveries coming out today. The perishables will be tomorrow and
then we’re set to leave. The crew will begin returning to the ship tomorrow
morning so that we can leave the following day on schedule. I will, you too.”
Pulling the device from his ear, he dropped it on the table before standing and
coming toward her. “Hey, you. Did you sleep well?” he asked softly, wrapping
her up in his arms to hug her close.

“Fabulously.”
She closed her eyes as she leaned into him. “I have never, ever slept so well
in all of my life. You utterly amaze me, you know.”

“I
didn’t do all that much,” he said. Laughing, he squeezed her close and she
could feel him rubbing his cheek to her hair. “Just held you while you slept. I
am sorry I wasn’t there when you woke, but I had promised your brother I’d report
in by the end of the day on things here. Plus I wanted to find out what was
going on planetside.”

“That’s
okay.” She rubbed her cheek to his and sighed. “And what is going on
planetside? What has my mother done now?” It was probably something horrendous.
She was so bad and that made her hurt that she came from that woman’s womb.

“She
tried to start a fight at the marshal’s office when she was told that you were
no longer her or your father’s concern. That all guardianship rights had been
suspended pending a full investigation into serious allegations of flesh
trafficking, prostitution, and a few other things I won’t even mention. They
tossed her out on her ass, so she headed off to find Bracken.” Draven stopped
there, just plain stopped. There was more, she knew there was, but he wasn’t
giving her anything.

“Okay,
what happened when she found Bracken? And don’t say
nothing
because I
see on your face already that there was something and whatever it was, it was
big. What did that woman do to him?”

“She
went off on Sadie, and Bracken popped her one on the nose. Broke it, from what
I heard, but considering the things she was screaming he was actually very
restrained. He then had the local authorities haul her away and had her tossed
in lockup for the night. She’s still in there until the bail hearing that,
given Bracken cut off all monies to the family, they can’t actually afford.” He
said it all in bursts, really fast and only pausing long enough to take a
couple of breaths.

“Oh
my. Well, I’m very glad she never knew that I made money too or she would be
into that. And I’m sorry but with the way they kept Sadie and Bracken apart,
they deserve everything that was heaped upon them and so much more.”

“Thank
the stars,” he muttered. “Bracken wasn’t so sure I should tell you. He was
worried you’d be upset by it all. Oh, and there is just one more little thing I
should likely mention. Your oldest sister got herself arrested, too. Unrelated
matter, but she’s going to be in a spot if your father decides to forgo his
guardianship over her. It then becomes a matter for the state to punish her
directly instead of him. And given the way your mother has apparently set
things in motion, at least according to what Bracken’s discovered on the
diaries, she’s in serious trouble. The same with your sister when they can’t
come up with the funds for bail for her. It appears your family is falling
apart at that end. I’m sorry, little one.”

“You
have no idea what I’ve suffered at their hands over the years. I hate to admit
it, but truthfully it couldn’t happen to a better group of people. My real
family is here, in my arms. Bracken and Sadie are my family. As long as they
are okay, I’m okay.”

He
stared at her for a long time before wrapping his arms around her again. “I’m
glad you don’t seem overly upset by the news. I’m also mildly terrified that
you aren’t overly upset at the same time. But as long as you’re okay with it,
then that’s all that matters. I wanted you to know, and now you can inform your
brother that he’s an idiot as I told him he was for even suggesting I don’t
tell you. Not that I told him why I was planning on sharing the news with you.
I only said you had the right to know that your family was finally getting
exactly as they deserved.”

“Thank
you for that. Please never keep secrets from me. No matter what the truth is,
always share it with me? I’d rather know and be prepared than not know and be
surprised. Bracken still sees me as his baby sister.”

“I
will always tell you everything, Cecilia. You are my other half. Bracken will
always see you as his baby sister, someone he must protect no matter how old
you get. Apparently it’s one of those eldest-child problems. He loves you,
though, little one. Never doubt that. He doesn’t want you to be hurt by any of
this. And I agree. I just happen to believe you’re strong enough to handle any
and all truths.”

“I
am. As I said, I’m happy they’re finally getting what they deserve. For far too
long they’ve gotten away with doing anything and everything. I’m relieved to
hear that finally someone is taking action against them.”

“I
agree. Now, enough of this. You need to eat. Luckily for you I have some basic
skills in the kitchen. Nowhere near as impressive as your brother, but I won’t
poison you. Promise.” He smiled down at her. “Take a seat and I’ll get your
meal.”

She
moved away from him and took the seat he offered. She settled down with a
napkin in her lap. “I am fairly good with cooking. I learned a lot watching
Bracken but I’m sure that you won’t make me ill.”

“Who
do you think taught me?” he asked. Winking, he went into the little kitchenette
and returned with a couple of plates. He put one before her and the other in
front of the chair next to hers. He disappeared into the kitchenette again
before returning with a couple of glasses. “If I remember correctly this is
your favorite juice,” he said, placing the glass before her plate.

She
was stunned. She looked up at him with wide eyes. “And my favorite first meal
of the day. How did you know?” she asked, pulling the plate closer. “I don’t
think even Bracken knows what my favorite first meal is.” She couldn’t believe
he’d watched her enough to realize what she liked.

“Bracken
is your brother. They don’t tend to notice such things. I’m your bond mate. We
do notice things like that. Now I’m guessing it’s acceptable for the start of
the day? I’ve practiced it more than a few times to make sure I got it just
right.”

“Yes,
this is more than acceptable.” She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Sit. Eat
with me? When you have to go off to do whatever it is you need to do I will
come with you while I
can.
Then I might have to send
off for supplies from my studio so that I can paint. In fact since I won’t be
living planetside I can have that packed up and shipped up here, right?” The
small studio was where she escaped to paint. She couldn’t live there, of
course, but she did spend many long hours there painting.

“We
can have Bracken go over to pick everything up. Between him and Sadie I’m sure
we can get you everything you’ll need.” He settled down into the chair and
moved his napkin to his knee. “Don’t wait on me, dig in. We don’t want it
getting cold after I went to all that work on it.”

That
had her laughing, something she’d done far too little of lately. Without a word
she was digging into the food and let out an appreciative sigh.

He
nodded finally and dug into his own plate of food. They enjoyed the meal
together in comforting quiet. When he was done Draven wiped his lips and looked
to her. “There’s more if you’d like some.”

“Oh
no. I’m completely full but thank you.” She rubbed her belly as she leaned back
and sighed. “That was so good. And made even better because of the company. It
was fabulous to be able to eat without having to worry about who was going to
say what next and make who angry.”

“Definitely
not something you need to worry about with me,” he said. “I’m glad you enjoyed
it, though. Finish up your juice, and then we should get cleaned up for the
day. I have a few things I need to attend to before the crew starts to return
tomorrow.”

She
took another drink of her juice and rose with her dishes in hand. “Let’s get
stuff cleaned up and then we’ll go and harass what little crew that you have on
board.”

He
laughed at her words and shook his head. “They have their own tasks to attend
to, little one. I only need to check in with them and make sure they have what
they need for the day. We, on the other hand, have a couple of shipments due in
of food supplies and all the other supplies that keep a ship this size running
when we’re out of port for any length of time. On the up side, the kitchen
staff will be coming back up today to start prep for tomorrow’s first official
meal when Bracken returns.”

“That
should be a very interesting meal,” she told him as she got herself ready to go
along with him. “All right, Draven, where are we off to now?” she asked with a
grin and waited for him to get them started.

Grabbing
up a data pad, he pressed his thumb to the screen and waited. “All right, first
up is a stop in engineering to find out if they need any more supplies given
the fix they had to do on the fly for us the last time out. Then we have a
shipment arriving in bay forty-two that I have to sign for. After that we need
to check the dining hall refrigeration to make sure the freezer was properly
cleaned, and then turn it back on before this afternoon’s delivery. Up to the
command deck after that so I can start up the mainframes and let them go
through their system’s checks so that Sadie can do our updates remotely. Some
paperwork after that, and it will be lunch time. After lunch more paperwork and
the afternoon shipment. Then we can do anything you want until dinner.”

“Sounds
like we have a full morning ahead of us. We should get our butts on the move,
then, shouldn’t we?” She linked her arm with his.

“Yes,
ma’am, we should.” He led her out of their rooms, through the ship, and down
into the very bowels of the beast. Inside what she guessed was engineering it
was quite noisy. Draven pulled a chair out from a desk and indicated she should
sit. “Stay right here. I won’t be too long but it’s too dangerous down here for
the untrained to be roaming around. I’d be very unhappy if you were hurt,
little one.”

Cecilia
sat and crossed her legs, careful all the while of how she was dressed because
of just how little the stupid dress covered. Draven’s gaze moved over her legs.
Shaking his head, suddenly he blinked. “Work, I have work,” he muttered.
Leaning in, he kissed her lightly, then disappeared down one of the rows.
Draven was gone for a time before he came wandering back toward her with
another man at his side. They were talking, and Draven appeared to making
notes. When the other man caught sight of her he shot her a smile but quickly
lost it and went a bit pale when Draven said something to him. Then the man
scurried off out of sight as Draven walked her direction. “Ready to go?”

“I’m
as ready as I’m going to get.” She reached out and put her hand into his and
hugged him when he pulled her close. “What did you say to that poor man that
had him looking like he was ready to pee himself?”

“Told
him to quit ogling my woman, who also happens to be the colonel’s sister.” When
she stared at him he shrugged. “What? It’s the truth,” he said with a smile.

That
had her grinning and she nodded. “This is true. I do happen to be the colonel’s
baby sister but more importantly I’m your woman. Besides, it’s the way that
these clothes are made. You know that as well as I do. We need to have a
fashion revolution for the women’s clothing.”

Stepping
back a little, he looked her up and down. “I have no idea what you’re talking
about,” he teased. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in
against his side while getting her moving. “Bracken is bringing you up a bunch
of items. Well, Sadie is. She went to her dressmaker and had the woman put
everything else aside until you had a wardrobe that befitted who you are as an
individual. The majority of the pieces will be ready before we depart, with a
few others ready for when we return to add to the collection.”

“Really?
That’s so sweet of her.” So many times Cece had tried to get Sadie alone so
that she could tell her to go after Bracken. So many times she’d tried to
intercede when her family tossed themselves in the way of the love that the
woman had for her brother.

“She’s
happy to do it from the sounds of things. Your brother reported that she was
having a great time seeing to it all. He’s a little terrified to see the bill,
once he pries it out of her hands of course, but he’s going with whatever his
wife says. She really does have him wrapped around her finger.”

“She
loves him just as much. I think that’s fabulous. I’m happy they are finally
together. Now then, where do we go next?” She was grinning, unable to help
herself. She was well aware of where they needed to go next, but she simply
loved hearing his voice.

“Shipment
coming in,” he said. He led her into a lift and got them moving. Then he backed
her into a corner, his arms sliding around her while he lowered his head. “You
have this look on your face, Cecilia. And it makes me wonder just what you
might be up to. Are you up to something, little one?”