The old anger stirred inside me, like it did every time I thought about their unnecessary deaths. The only good thing was that no one else got hurt. Dad had wanted to bring another couple on that trip to show off his new piloting skills. They canceled at the last minute, thank goodness.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” the captain said.
“Thank you.” I rubbed my chest. “I never was close with my parents, but their deaths affected me deeply. They didn’t need to go so soon. Both were healthy and too young to die. They could’ve lived for many years to come had my father been a little more cautious and slightly less self-assured.”
I couldn’t believe I’d just said it out loud. For the first time ever. And to a man I’d just met.
Maybe being not much of a talker made the captain an exceptionally good listener? Was that the reason I’d suddenly blurted out to him things I’d never said to anyone else before?
Either way, finally telling someone exactly how I felt about my parents’ deaths lifted some of the weight I’d carried ever since that plane crash.
I took another drink from my goblet which was almost empty now. Maybe it was the wine that had made me talk?
“My father died on the job,” the captain said unexpectedly. “He was a crozan captain, just like me. There was an accident. Four of his crew died. He was one of them.”
He clutched the goblet in one giant mitt of a hand. The other one rested on the counter between us. I got the sudden urge to hold it. Despite the wine, however, it felt like I’d poked and groped him enough already when he’d never given me any indication he liked being touched in the first place.
I kept my hands to myself this time.
He took another drink. “My mother had a sickness we didn’t know about until it was too late.”
And I couldn’t fight the urge to hold his hand anymore. Reaching over, I covered it with mine. “You’re an orphan then, just like me.”
He glanced my way as our hands touched.
“I’m sorry you lost both of your parents,” I answered his questioning stare.
He turned his hand so that my fingers slid into his palm. He then squeezed them gently.
“I do have eleven brothers and sisters, though. All of them are well and living,” he said in a lighter tone.
“Eleven? Wow!” I knew about the large families of Aldraians, but it still felt incredible.
“Yes. Six sisters, five brothers, forty-seven nieces and nephews. Though all of them live quite far from here, deeper into the terraformed territory. When we get together, we rent a town hall to fit us all in.”
“It must’ve been fun growing up?”
“It was,” he said, staring right in front of him. A faint smile played on his lips, softening his hard features. It made him look uncharacteristically vulnerable somehow.
Now, I felt like giving him a hug, or stroking his face, or...doing something equally inappropriate.
Ok, no more wine.
I shoved aside the empty goblet.
“Well...” I slid off my barstool. “I better go tell Mara dinner will be ready soon.”
He glanced at the grill. “Not for another thirty minutes yet.”
It appeared like he didn’t want me to leave.
Well, I also liked talking to him. So much so, I feared, I might forget he was my employer. I’d already told him much more than a boss needed to know about a nanny.
“Mara can take much more than thirty minutes to get ready.” I smoothed the skirt of my dress. It looked wrinkly after the flight here. “I should get changed too.”
He slid his gaze down my body, purposefully slow, then turned away quickly. “Well, go then. But come back soon.”
I found Mara’s room just past mine along the path. She was napping but woke up when I entered with a knock on her gate. “We’re having dinner soon. In half an hour.”
She sat up in bed, sliding her eye mask up to her forehead. “Dinnertime? Already?”
“Did you get some rest?” Her lavender-colored sheets with puffy pillows piled up high looked like heaven. I wouldn’t blame her if she wished to stay in bed.
“Not nearly enough.” She yawned. “I’m not even hungry yet.”
“Suit yourself, but you probably should meet the kids, at least.”
“Why?” She plopped back into the pillows.
“To make some effort to fit in?” I shrugged. “One way or another, we have to spend a year here. You’re like their stepmom, now.”
She tossed a pillow at me. “I swear if you call me that word again, I’ll smother you with one of these pillows!”
I jumped aside, evading it. “Hey! It’s just a polite thing to do, to meet the people you’re going to be living with under the same roof.”
“What roof?” She groaned, lifting her arms up to the open sky above. “They don’t even have roofs on this freaking planet. It feels like...camping.” She shuddered.
“How would you know what camping feels like? We’ve never been.” I picked up the pillow she’d tossed at me and threw it back to her. “I doubt people put huge beds like that in their camping tents.”
“The bed is nice,” she agreed. “The bath was decent too. Not sure that would make an entire year here bearable, though.” She sighed heavily, crawling from under the covers. “Fine. I’ll come to dinner, meet the little brats...”
“The kids are cute, actually, and seem well behaved. At least when their dad is around.”
She winced. “Their dad... Is he going to be there?”
“Well, he made the dinner. I expect him to eat some too.”
“As long as he keeps quiet, I guess,” she muttered, stumbling to the lattice in front of her closet section. “And keeps that smirk off his face.”
I felt the strong need to defend the man. “The captain is actually a nice person. You should take the time to get to know him a little.”
“What for? Why me? Just because I’m his wife on paper? He said he doesn’t want sex, anyway.”
“Okay, there is a long way from getting to know someone to having sex. I didn’t say you should sleep with him. But you could at least talk with him a little. We’re living in his house, after all.”
“What house?” she groaned again, disappearing behind the lattice to get changed. “I’m sleeping literally under a tree, like a homeless person or some forest creature!”
Giving up on having any cohesive conversation with her, I left her room and went to mine.
I got rid of the scarf on my head, brushed my hair, and pulled it back into a ponytail. Then, I changed into a wide, flower-print polyester skirt and a white, short-sleeved blouse with pearly buttons in the front. Even this outfit felt a bit too formal for this garden-home that called for flowy frocks, summer dresses, and shorts. Sadly, other than the work clothes, I only had a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants I wore back home. It’d always been too cold down in my basement apartment.
By the time I returned to the kitchen, the captain’s family had already gathered at the table. All five of them stared at me. I realized this was the first time they saw me without the scarf on my head.
“You have a ponytail, like me!” Illal exclaimed, flipping her hair back.
“Mine is not as long, though.” I touched my ponytail that reached only past my shoulder blades.
“It’ll grow,” she assured me. “Just don’t cut it short like Ene did.” She tipped her head at her sister, who glared at her, then at me.
“Long hair is stupid,” Ene snapped. “Who needs it, anyway?”
“Well, hello, everybody!” Mara’s voice rang from behind me.
My sister sauntered in, wearing a shimmering maxi dress and strappy stiletto sandals.
“That’s—” I was going to introduce her, but stopped myself, unsure what the captain had told his children about Mara. Did the kids know she was his wife and legally their stepmother? Were they supposed to call her “mom?” That seemed wrong.
“Mara,” the captain introduced her for me. “Meet Mara, children.”
Their gazes shifted to her, then to me again.
“How are you so alike?” Ivex asked.
“We’re twins,” Mara explained, tossing her unbound hair over her shoulder. “We were born on the same day.”
“So were we,” Ene commented. “But I’m nothing like my sister.”
True, despite sharing a birthday, the captain's children didn’t look identical. Their coloring was very different too. Ivex was the color of the golden-blond sand on a beach. Illal was a shade or two darker—light brown. Ene was light gray, like their father. And Xilvo was the darkest shade of walnut.
Both boys also had coal-black eyes, like their dad. Illal’s eyes were bright orange, and Ene’s were pearl-gray, just like her hair and skin.
“Susanna and I are not that much alike,” Mara protested. “We never wear the same clothes.”
“You’re even the same color,” Xilvo gushed excitedly. “Everywhere. You have the same eyes, the same hair.”
“That’s weird,” Ivex agreed.