“It is?” I’m bewildered. Her belly is so fat with her baby that it’s adorable. Just a big rounded ball and I’m itching to feel it. Babies are supposed to rattle around inside bellies, right? I want to see what that feels like. “But he said we were welcome to anything?”
“Stomachs are off limits,” Ruth tells me. “How would you like it if someone asked to touch yours?”
“Is it Matty? Because I’d let him. He’s touched everything. He’s licked everything, too—”
Mathiras clears his throat. “Helen doesn’t mean to offend. She’s been a little sheltered.”
I’m horrified. Oh no. Have I offended Milly? She seems so nice and sweet. “Oh, I didn’t mean to be rude. I didn’t know it was a bad thing.”
But Lady va’Rin only smiles at me and gestures me over. “I actually don’t mind. You can come and feel the baby.” She pushes her chair back and turns slightly, running her hand over the bulge of her stomach. “He’s been kicking a lot today.”
Oh, now I really want to experience that. I bounce to my feet and practically race over to her side. Dropping to my knees next to the small woman, I put my ear to her belly. I can’t hear anything but…digestion. That’s disappointing. “Does he talk to you? What does it say?”
“He says, ‘let me out, Mom!’” Milly replies chuckling. She takes my hand and puts it on the other side of her stomach. “He says he’s tired of being in there. Or maybe that’s just me.”
I’m about to ask how she manages to hear all that when the baby kicks, right against my ear, and I gasp with delight. “He’s moving!”
“Oh no,” Ruth says. “Now you’ve done it, Lady va’Rin. I’m going to have Helen permanently glued to my stomach the moment I start showing.”
Milly just smiles.
Ruth’s not wrong. I already want to put an ear against her belly (and then Jade’s, and then Alice’s) to see if I can hear their babies talking.
CHAPTER 122
MATHIRAS
We stay at Lord va’Rin’s estate for a little over a week. During that time, I lounge in bed with Helen, spend far too much time wandering around in the lord’s gardens, and then more time in bed with Helen. Jade and Adiron stay at the estate with us, while Kas and Alice remain on the ship with Sterre. It’s quiet and gives us a taste of what life on the station might be like.
After several late nights in bed with Helen and sleeping late? Long showers in which Helen rides my cock before we ever consider touching the soap? I decide that it might be a rather relaxing lifestyle and one I should have no trouble getting used to.
Because Lord va’Rin is a busy male, it takes a little time for things to get rolling. After a day or two, he receives reports from his corporations of mining stations that are no longer in use and can be sold, and from there, we pick through the selections to find the perfect one. It’s a mid-sized station on the far end of the Risda solar system, slightly off the beaten path and a fair distance from both Risda III, the nearest station, and another farm planet in the next system over, Cassa II. Our location ensures we should have access to supplies and fresh veg whenever we like, which is handy. The mining station we ended up choosing actually has a large domed rock-polishing station that can be reworked into a terrarium, which I’m eager to put in for Helen.
Myself, too. Lots of fond memories involving gardens on my side.
We put in orders for supplies that our new home will need, which we’ll pick up at a neighboring station soon enough. There’s foodstuffs and noodles, basic supplies for a homestead, and a vast amount of repair equipment, since our station’s been non-functional for at least twenty years. It’s going to need quite a bit, but Lord va’Rin sold it to us for a single credit, so we can focus our funds on making the place pleasant and livable.
To that end, Adi and Kas are heading off with the Little Sister for a few days so they can set up the environmentals and get the station working and safe before we move our mates in. Jade and Alice will be going with them, but I’m keeping Helen with me on Risda III for a bit longer. They won’t need us for basic repairs, and Lord va’Rin and his teams are separating out the first few groups of clones to be sent out to their new “colonies.” Each grouping has been carefully chosen, with no duplicate clones and no clones of people with excessively violent pasts. There’re a few gladiators that had to be weeded from the groups, cloned splices of dangerous men, and a few other splices have been held until the violence-inducing chemicals have been purged out of their systems.