Chapter 12
"Where did you get this?" I asked with shaking hands as I stared at the picture of my parents on their wedding day. It had been with my things at my old apartment in New York. I had figured that all that was long gone.
Derrial ran a hand over his face. “Nothing with you has gone as planned. We got all your things from your apartment when we took you. But everything was so messed up, and so many things happened, we kind of forgot to give it to you."
My hands trembled as I held the portrait in my hands. I knew my father had been changed forever, and even if we found my mother, it was unlikely that she would bear any resemblance to the way that she used to be. Looking at this picture reminded me of who they had been when I was a child, so full of life and in love.
I looked up at Derrial. He was staring at the picture with a funny look on his face. "What is it?" I asked.
"Why do humans get married?" he asked, not taking his eyes from the picture.
I pondered his question. “Isn’t that similar to what you do on Veon? I mean, isn't being someone's mate considered the same thing as being husband and wife?"
He thought about it for a second and then shook his head. "They are similar. But I'm wondering why they exchange such elaborate vows. Mates on Veon are for forever. But there's no exchanging of vows or any other sort of ceremony," he explained.
My heart sank a little bit after hearing that. I'd still kind of hoped there was some kind of ceremony we were going to have to solidify our bond. I dreamed about my wedding day for as long as I could remember. Guess that wasn't going to happen. "Well if mates last forever, that’s quite a bit different than with human marriages," I said with an annoyed laugh. "Humans exchange vows to each other, promising each other the world, but a lot of the times those promises get broken. But I guess as humans we want to try and start our lives together as best we can.” I traced the image of my mom’s ecstatic face in the picture. “A lot of people say that the day they get married is the happiest day of their lives. I guess they just forget how happy they were.”
Derrial touched my face softly, looking into my eyes as if I was the answer he had spent his whole life searching for. "I won't break my promises to you," he said quietly.
"I don't think we've made many promises to each other yet," I whispered back, unable to take my eyes from his.
"Then I guess we should do that," he responded. We stared at each other for a minute more before he moved away from me. I missed his touch as soon as it was gone.
He walked out of the room without another word, leaving me with a million unanswered questions.
A few boxes on the side of the room caught my attention though. Walking towards them I lifted up one of the flaps and gasped in delighted shock as I saw that Derrial had been telling the truth. These were boxes filled with my possessions. I forgot all about my strange interaction with Derrial as I spent the rest of the afternoon going through everything. It felt like another life when these things belonged to me.
And as I looked at the pictures and some of my photo albums, I couldn't help but feel like I was looking at a stranger.
* * *
“It’s been two weeks,”Corran said as he strode into the room.
My stomach dropped. I turned to look outside the window. It was dark out, and I could barely see anything beneath the faint touch of moonlight peeking through the dense trees, but it was better than facing what he was reminding me of.
“I-I d-don’t think it’s been enough time, we don’t want a false positive,” I stuttered.
Corran came up behind me and pulled his arms around me, holding me tight. “You can do this,” he told me reassuringly, even as I could feel the tension in his hold.
“What if it is positive?” I whispered; my head buried in his chest.
“Then we’ll have a child,” he said matter of factly.
“And what if it isn’t yours?” I asked, not daring to look at him.
“There was always a chance it wasn’t going to be mine to begin with. This just expanded the pool a bit,” he said wryly. “Even if it’s someone else’s, it’s still yours. And how could we not love something that had a part of you.”
I melted at his words. I could feel the truth behind him. I could feel the love he had for this child.
“How do we do this?” I asked, wondering if the Vepar also peed on a stick to find out if they were pregnant.
“Just a tiny drop of blood from your finger is all I need,” said Corran, releasing me and pulling a small white device out of his pocket no bigger than my pinky.
“I’m surprised you didn’t do this while I was sleeping,” I teased him, even as my hands shook at my sides.
“I guess you’ve changed me,” he said with a wink. I laughed weakly but held out my finger.
“How long will it take to find out,” I asked, my voice fading to a whisper as he brought the machine closer to my hand.
“It’s instant,” he said, right before I felt a small pinprick.
“What does it say?” I asked. But it was obvious as Corran’s eyes started to fill up with awestruck emotion what the test had shown.
I was having a baby.