They all returned to the house tired but pleased with the outcome of the battle.

Abigail and Cherie ran out of the house to greet them.

“We were so worried,” Abigail said as she folded her daughter into her arms. Ruby let out a long breath. Then slowly, she inhaled the scent of her mother’s perfume. It always brought back memories of bedtime stories and warm hugs. Abigail was always ready to comfort and console Ruby when she was upset.

“I know I’m sorry.” Ruby returned the hug and then moved away from her mother’s embrace.

“Are you okay?” Cherie grabbed her hands and lifted them looking her over for injuries.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little bruised.” Cherie was the mother that worried a bit excessively. She always fed them herbs to keep them healthy and had a jar of salve within reach to soothe any ache.

“Moms, this is Sammie, Charles, and Mawri. I met them when we were taken, prisoner.”

“Hello, please come in. We’ll have some food,” Abigail said with a warm smile.

Ruby wanted to tell her family they were together, but she wasn’t sure how to bring it up. She just followed them into the house. Her brothers were playing a game in the living room and jumped up to run over and hug her.

She went to wash up after convincing Baston Jr. to play a game with Mawri. Charles followed her into the bathroom and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“You are really good with that gun.”

She turned into his arms and smiled up at him. “You have no idea.”

He bent his head, grazing his lips over her pouty mouth, kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes. A shiver of excitement surged up her spine. When combined with the adrenaline from the battle, her body was more than a little ready for release.

Charles’ hands roamed over her back and cupped her backside, dragging her against his body. His erection pressed against her stomach, more than ready to take her, right then, right there.

“Oh, sorry honey,” she turned to see Abigail standing in the doorway. Her mother’s cheeks flamed brightly. Ruby chuckled. One would think that with two husbands, seeing someone so intimate would be embarrassing. Then again, considering she was her daughter, things might be different. “You know, pregnant, have to pee every few minutes,” she offered as an explanation.

They moved out of the bathroom and Ruby giggled. Well, that was one way to tell her parents what was going on. After the bathroom door closed behind them, Ruby lifted herself onto her toes and pressed her mouth against her lover. When she pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers.

“Where did you come from?” he questioned.

She smiled. “That woman on the other side of that door.”

He chuckled and smacked her playfully on the butt.

“We better get down to dinner before someone comes looking for you,” Charles said as he lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss against the back of her knuckles.

When they were all seated at the table, the kids at a smaller table that had been brought out for the occasion, everyone finally felt at ease.

“That map must have been made by one of Ation’s people, but no one knows they would do that. No one knows why they would risk someone from the outside finding it. None of it really makes any sense.”

“I have something to tell you all,” Ruby started. It wasn’t going to be easy to tell her parents she wanted to change her plans. They had such hope for her future.

“What is it honey,” Abigail said.

“I want to take a year off school and stay here with Charles and Sammie. I love them. I want a family. I thought I didn’t, but now I do.” She said everything so fast. Charles and Sammie were more surprised than anyone because she hadn’t discussed it with them before she spilled the beans.

“What?” Sca said. “I thought you wanted to go to school. I thought you wanted to get off this planet?”

“I did daddy, but being kidnapped and almost killed more than once really put my life in perspective. I saved a little girl and reunited her with her family. I’ve done more in the past few days than I have in my entire life. I can’t wait to start a family. I need to be a mother. No, I want to be a mother. It’s part of who I am. I know that now.”

It was Sammie who spoke first, “We’ll still be here Ruby when you get done. Are you sure that’s what you want? You’re so young. You don’t have to be a mother right now. We don’t want you making any rash decisions because of us.”

“I know what I want.” Ruby had never been surer of something in her life. She was panicking that she wasn’t being taken seriously. She studied the faces of her parents and her siblings. None of them looked disappointed or disgusted. It gave her a little hope.

She turned and looked at Charles and Sammie. “I know I should have talked to you about this before opening my big mouth, but…I don’t know. I saw you guys before I met you. You were on the pier at Manta Ray. There was something about you that drew me in. I don’t know what it was or how because we hadn’t even talked.

“Then on the ship, you were there before we were attacked. Before we even met, we were thrown into each other’s paths. I feel like this is something that is supposed to be.”

Everyone was silent as she stared from Charles to Sammie and then back at her family. Her heart raced through her chest as she waited for them to say something. She sent up a silent prayer that everything that had happened between them hadn’t just been the result of some fling. She hoped that by stepping out on a limb she wasn’t going to fall.

However, the longer the pair stayed silent, the more she began to worry. Had she read the signs wrong? Was she just a casual fling to them? Did they mean more to her than she did to them?

Doubts swam in her head until she felt a dull ache begin behind her eyes. Finally, Charles took one of her hands and Sammie took the other. Each one placed a kiss on the back of her knuckles.

“The minute I saw you on the ship, I told Charles there was something different about you. I didn’t know what it was and I couldn’t explain it. Mawri noticed it, too, because she kept looking at you.”

Charles cleared his throat. “On the way back from the hospital our first night together, Sammie and I talked about you. You could have taken off on your own and left Rori behind, but you didn’t. You could have left us when you stole that ship. You could have let Sammie die, but you didn’t. We were drawn to you like you were to us.”

Tears filled Ruby’s eyes and cascaded down her cheeks, dripping off her chin and splashing onto the table. She sniffled.

“So, what does this mean exactly?”

Sammie scooted her chair closer and brushed Ruby’s hair over her shoulder. “It means, my love, that whatever you decide, you will have our full support. If you want to wait a year before you go to school, then that is fine. If you want to go to school, we will be right here waiting for you.”

“Or we could just go with her,” Charles offered.

Ruby’s eyes widened. “You’d do that? You’d live somewhere strange just to be near me in college?”

Both of them nodded. In that moment, Ruby knew without a doubt that Sammie and Charles were the only people she’d ever love in her life. They were the only ones she would need. College no longer mattered to her. The only thing that mattered to her was the love she felt expanding in her chest.

“I want to be with you,” she said with confidence.

From across the table, Abigail sniffled, dabbing her nose with a napkin. Ruby looked up at her and giggled.

“Oh, these silly pregnancy hormones. I cry at the drop of a hat.” She sniffled.

The three-year-old David hadn’t said much since they’d been home. He sat in his high chair thoughtfully eating his dinner.

“I’d be uncle,” he said. All eyes turned to the toddler who suddenly spoke up.

“What is that sweetheart?” Cherie asked leaning into him.

His chubby cheeks pulled back into a smile and his bright blue eyes twinkled. “If Ruby has baby, I’d be uncle. I want to be an uncle.”

Everyone started to laugh. It was true, but it was the cutest thing he could have said and the fact that this was what he got from the whole conversation made everyone burst into hysterics.

Baston wiped a tear from his eye and stood from the table. Ruby feared he was about to tell her the many reasons why she shouldn’t settle down or why she should go to college, but he just smiled.

“If you want to have a baby and take a year off, that’s fine. Whatever makes you happy, Ruby.”

Ruby let out a sigh of relief. While Charles and Sammie had been a big hurdle, her father’s opinions mattered the most. She didn’t know what she would have done if they hadn’t given her their blessings.

Leaning over, she kissed Sammie and then Charles. Next, she jumped to her feet and raced around the table to embrace her fathers.

“Thank you, daddy,” she said as Baston folded her into his arms.

“I love you baby girl,” he whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

When she moved away from his embrace, she noticed her other father’s face damp with tears. She gave him a cheeky grin.

“Are you crying, pop?” she teased as she moved closer.

He frowned playfully. “Must have gotten some dirt in my eyes.

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. We just want you happy.”

“I am happy. I am so very happy.”

After hugs were given out, she returned to Sammie and Charles’ side. Who would have thought that a terrifying time in her life would have given her something so wonderful? She looked around as her parents all embraced one another. She finally had what they had. Love. Happiness. And forever.

***

THE END