Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron) (11 page)

Zane moved behind her, looking over her shoulder.  “What are on the buttons?  Are they your letters?”

“Yes, letters, numbers and some symbols we use in our language.  Would you be interested in learning them?”

“That would be great.”  Sitting down next to her he listened as she pointed out each letter and what sound was associated with it.  She opened up her last story and began to see if he could read it based on what he just learned about the English alphabet and basic letter sounds.  Surprisingly, he read the words on the screen with a few pronunciation errors but she understood what he was reading aloud.

“How did you do that?”  She asked stunned at his ability to grasp the written language so quickly.

“I have a photographic memory.  I can remember everything I have ever encountered.  My father was the same way but I am the only one of my siblings that inherited the gift.  I even can vaguely remember being born.  This ability makes it really easy to be a ship’s doctor.  That reminds me, I have to report to the clinic for a bit.  After I get back, we can go see Brylon to look at your power problem and then go to the shops and get you a hair dryer and whatever else you may need. ”

“That sounds good. How do I
find you, if I need you?”

He walked around the bar to a panel on the wall and when he pressed it the door popped open.  Inside she saw a speaker and a bunch of buttons with strange symbols on them.  One of the symbols looked like the one she saw on the door to his quarters.  He pointed at that button and said, “If you press this button, you will be instantly connected to the transmitter I always carry for emergencies.  Why don’t you give it a try?”

Grace walked around the bar, joining Zane in the kitchen.   She pressed the button he indicated and a beeping sound came from where he stood.  He pulled out a communication device and spoke into it.  His voice was amplified through the speaker. 

“I shouldn’t be long.  All of the warriors that bought a mate at the auction have been given special allowances for their time in order to help all the females adjust to life on the ship.  You know how to contact me?”  He looked to her for affirmation.

She nodded and forced a smile.  She didn’t know how she felt about being locked in a room for a few hours.  She figured she would just use the time to write in her journal.  It was her journal that helped her the most when her family died.  There she could get control of her thoughts and realize the questions she needed to ask.  She was absolutely positive she would have many, many more.

Just after Zane left and locked the door behind him, she powered down her computer in order to save what battery she had left just in case they would not be able to come up with a way for her to charge it in the near future.  As it was shutting down she went to her carry-on bag to get her journal along with the Montblanc pen that Michael gave her when she graduated college.  She kept it in the silver case he had inscribed, “May this pen bring you on many an inspired adventure, Love Michael”.  Reading the inscription on the case made her feel instantly sad.  She had been holding it together so well and now the tears were starting to fall.  The façade she had carefully been building of this possibly being the greatest story of her life started to crumble and she collapsed on the floor, letting the grief and the uncertainty of her current situation out of the cage she locked it into.  She was finally realizing she was no longer on her beloved planet earth.

Zane went to the clinic and checked in.  He reviewed and signed all the reports and checked in with some of the patients.  He had a great staff in his department and they were handling his absence in the clinic well.  It seemed that some of the other earth females were having a tough time adjusting as well.  Last night, he saw to Avery himself as a favor to Zeb, so he assumed that some of them would not accept the situation of their abduction very well.  He expected that maybe a few would have to be given a sedative.  He counted his lucky stars.  Grace seemed to be adjusting well.  So far he had not seen any of the behavior from her similar to the reports he reviewed this morning.  Hopefully, it would remain that way. 

After spending a couple hours and being shooed away by Jeeka, he made his way back to his quarters.  He was looking forward to taking her out on the ship.  He was resolved to make her as comfortable with him as possible and let her make all the first moves.  She would come to him when she was ready.  He had plenty of time for her to become accustomed with the idea of being his mate.  He just hoped he would not have to wait too long.

When the doors of his quarters slid open he did not see Grace.  He stepped in and from down the hallway he heard a most distressing sound coming from down the hallway.  He ran in the direction of the bedroom to see what was wrong.  There on the floor was Grace, holding a small metal case in her arms and crying inconsolably.  The sight broke his heart.  He thought things were going so well.  He did not know what to do, he had no idea what she needed and did not want to do anything that would push her away.

She must have spent several hours there on the floor.
  Her chest hurt from the heart wrenching sobs and her eyes burned from the tears.  She was brought out of her trance when Zane came in and kneeled before her asking if she was alright.  The events of the last, maybe two days was starting to catch up with her.  She wasn’t certain as to how much time had elapsed since she arrived here.  Was she losing track of time?  It looked like he was having a hard time figuring out what to do.

“Grace, are you all right?” He reached out to touch her but thought twice.  Maybe she would not want that.  “What can I do, Grace.  I don’t know what to do?”

He asked her what was wrong and she did not answer.  In a panic he asked
her what he could do. Grace looked into his aqua eyes that were showing strong emotional confusion.  That wasn’t right he was a doctor. Doctors almost always knew what to do.  She surprised him and placed her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.  It took him a few seconds to figure that maybe she wanted him to hold her.  He slowly made his move to put his arms around her.  It seemed he wanted to be sure this is what she wanted, just in case that was not what she had in mind for him to do.  She moved closer to him as she tightened her grasp around his body and cried taking deep gasping breaths.  He carefully hugged her in return and gently rubbed her back as she let out all her tears.

“Grace, are you alright?  Do you need something, anything?  I can go back to the clinic and get you a sedative if you need one?”

“No, I never did like sedatives.  My mom gave me half of one of her valiums once when I went to my first cotillion.  Let’s just say it was a disaster.  Could you just hold me for a little while?  I am feeling bit better with you here.  I think the being alone and the sight of a special gift from my cousin Michael set me off.  I am going to miss him and Em and the children so much.”  She answered as another wave of sobs hit her hard.

He rocked her gently in his arms as he would a baby.   This seemed to do the trick.  She was crying noticeably less and lay like putty in his arms. 

“I am sorry.  I was trying to be so strong.  It just all caught up to me somehow and I couldn’t stop it.  It’s just really hard to adjust to the fact that I am never going home again.”  She said looking up to him.  “Will I be able to say goodbye to my family?”

“Frankly, we had not thought of that.  We did not think of many things.  Your group was the first we took and we thought it would be easy.  We never thought about how our actions would affect each of you personally.  It actually feels a bit shameful on our part if you ask me.  Maybe we could propose something to the council for the women of your race.  Would you have any ideas on what would make this an easier transition for you?”  Zane asked earnestly.

“Zane, I am chock full of ideas and many more questions.”  She answered trying to smile.  He looked miserable and sad.  Regret of his actions showing in his very readable face. 

With this revelation, Zane started to smile and then laughed when he heard her say questions.  His mate was full of questions.  It was something that he was starting to admire about her.  She joined in his laughter. She sat up and said to him in realization, “I must look a mess.  Let me go and freshen up and we can talk.  Will you be leaving anymore today?”  Her mascara was smeared under her eyes and she did look pretty bad with the uneven dark circles just under her lower eye lid.

“I will be staying with you for the rest of the day, unless there is an emergency that my staff cannot handle.  If you still want to, we can go and visit Brylon and maybe go down to the shops to get you a hair dryer.  It is completely up to you.”  Zane was glad she seemed to be happier.

“Can we go out tomorrow?  I would rather stay here and talk.  Maybe ask some of my questions if you are game.  Questions are just a part of my profession like being a doctor is yours.  My Grandmamma would be so proud that I am with a doctor and that we are basically married.  Maybe, she would finally approve of me.”  She giggled at her own joke and made her way to the bathroom.

Zane was puzzled at her last statement, but decided to make his way back to the kitchen.  He was going to prepare a snack and make each of them another mug of tolka.  It was bound to be a long day filled with insightful questions from his mate.  He had a few of his own as well.  She was better than he ever imagined and her personality was so complementary to his.  Never in his life had he met a woman that he could talk to like this and he wanted to do it for hours.

She came out of the bathroom with her face washed.  The way her hair was gathered away from her face was beautiful.  In her hands she held a black hard bound book and the sliver metal case she clutched to her chest as she was crying earlier this day.  Her eyes were still red from all the tears but he could see that she was in better spirits and ready to begin her line of questioning.

“Oh, you made me some tolka.  Wonderful!  What are those?”  She pointed to the small appetizers placed neatly on the plate.

“These are pizo gana.  The pizo is an animal we get meat from.  It is sliced thin and served in a gana, or a wrap.  Would you like to try it?”  Zane said offering her one of the pinwheel looking items.

“Sure, why not?”  She placed it in her mouth and started to chew it, tasting all the flavors.  “It tastes like ham and what did you use on the wrap?”

“I spread some of the Larta, the Ona butter, we had with breakfast.  Do you like it?”  Zane said exited that her facial expression showed that she liked it.

“It is really good.  Thanks!  Now, can I ask you some questions?”  She fired right back at him.

“I was waiting for you to start.  Will I be able to ask some of you as well?” 

“Of course, I am not a woman to deny a man answers,” she giggled then became serious. “How did you find and travel to my planet?”  She was in reporter mode now.  He saw her become serious as all the emotion was swept from her face like she applied some kind of mask.  It was fascinating to see this transformation.  What happened just minutes ago was gone and now replaced with a totally different state of mind.  You would have never guessed that she had cried as much as she did earlier but for the small red capillaries visible in her eyes.

“We encountered your planet after entering a worm hole that is located behind your moon.  I will show it to you when we have the opportunity.  We travel through worm holes, as I mentioned before, using a material called cavementon that enables the ship to travel through them intact.  We gave some of this to your government as well as technical plans and instructions on its use in exchange for some of the females that reside on your planet.”