Chapter 28
Eva
I adjusted Jaylynn’s arms around little Hope so that Hope’s head was supported more securely. “She’s kind of green, Eva. Why is she green?” Amber asked as she patted the moss-colored down on Hope’s head.
I laughed, even as Laura hissed for her daughter to mind her manners. “Haven’t you noticed, Amber? Everyone here, except for the group of us, is either blue or green.”
“She’s beautiful,” Jaylynn murmured. “My very favorite shade of green.”
“Every green is your favorite shade of green,” Amber protested to her friend. “But why? Why is everyone blue or green?”
“I really don’t know, honey. Does it matter? They’re blue or green. You’re white. And I’m black. It’s just another color.”
“No, it doesn’t matter.” Amber continued stroking the velvet. “I’d just like to know why.”
“Eva,” Ivy’s daughter Josephine called from where she’d been talking with Linnea. “When is your baby due?”
“In the season the Juhlians call Kavat,” I replied. “We’d say early spring, I think.”
Amber walked up to me and tugged the edge of my shawl. “Hugs?”
I picked up Amber and twirled her around. I couldn’t believe my family was here with me—and staying. “I don’t understand how you got here!” I cried.
“On a spaceship,” Amber giggled as she was spun.
Laura rolled her eyes at that. “Yes, honey, that’s exactly what Eva’s asking.” Laura seemed restless; she kept wandering the room and touching the knickknacks and ornaments scattered throughout. “We didn’t really have all that much to stay on earth for. Ivy and the kids don’t have any other family. I’m on my own with Amber. We both had pretty meaningless jobs.”
Ivy nodded and spoke up. “Raevu sent a messenger packet and offered us free room and board, and education for the kids. How could we lose? Move somewhere exotic where you can live for free in a palace near your best friend, or stay in a tiny living cube and work a job you barely tolerate just to pay the bills. Not a difficult choice.” Her eyes twinkled.
“Besides, I’m now a certified nurse-midwife, and I can help you with your pregnancy.” Laura smiled. “And Ivy is a teacher and can teach all of our kids.”
“Mama,” Jaylynn called. “Can we have this baby when Eva has her own?”
I shook my head at that, though the kids’ immediate attachment to Hope made me smile. “No, Jaylynn, I’m not giving up Hope. She’s mine.”
Amber’s eyes grew round, “But she isn’t yours. Your baby is in your belly. Will you still want her when you have your own?”
“Of course I will,” I objected. “She’s a beautiful, innocent baby. I consider her my own now. She’ll be my oldest child just like Trevor is the oldest or, if your mommy ever has any more children, you’ll be the oldest. Ivy loves all her children, and your mommy will always love you. And I will always love Hope, no matter how many of my own kids I have.”
I was kind of glad that Baelon, Raevu, and T’ral had taken Trevor and Mark with them on a tour. Those two boys needed more male figures in their lives. “How are Gino and Val?” I asked.
Ivy answered, “Their restaurant is moving—as in, here. They will be one of the first Earth restaurants to open up here on Juhl. Some man named Willoughby asked them if they’d be interested. They said of course! And half the staff wants to come along as well.”
“I think Raevu has to propose it all to the Council, but, Eva, the plans you’ve proposed to him about immigration here make sense,” Laura concurred.
I arched a brow. “Raevu knows about all of my immigration proposals?”
“Of course he does,” Linnea laughed. “Raevu reads every message packet before it leaves. He’s seen the suggestions you’ve made in your ambassadorial capacity to your president, and he loves them. Willem has mentioned them a couple of times when he’s come home.”
Extra hormones must have been flooding through me, and I got teary-eyed for the third time today. Typically, I wasn’t even a crying type of chick.
Laura smiled at me. “Eva, it’s obvious that Raevu is as head over heels for you as you are for him. Just watching the chemistry between you two lets me know everything… You two are definitely in love with each other. And I couldn’t be happier for you. You deserve happiness.” She winked at me. “By the way, what is that wonderful smell?”
“What smell?” I asked, bewildered.
“She means the Sopu tree,” Linnea said. “Isn’t it marvelous? Relaxing and delightful at the same time. I’ve taken to simmering it in pots around our quarters as well. Makes Willem very affectionate.” She blushed lightly under her pale green skin.
“Is that included in the messenger packets?” I wondered. “I think this fragrance would sell marvelously well on Earth. I need to ask Brother Estijen about supply and demand. I doubt they would let any of their sentient trees be exported, but they probably shed plenty of foliage that isn’t being used.”
I paused and then winced slightly. “Speaking of supply, Linnea, did all the information get supplied to Geoffrey?” We weren’t getting anywhere in our historical search for answers going solely off Linnea’s memory of learned events from four hundred years earlier. We had been forced to utilize another resource, Geoffrey, my computer concierge, who could filter through data and information in a fraction of the time it might take a person. He could identify the patterns we might not be able to see.
“It should all be uploaded by tomorrow morning. I wish the two computer systems were a bit more compatible and could just dump data back and forth. Data entry is tedious,” Linnea complained, “but, as we have ten men working on it, almost all of our history books and files are in his system now.”
“Good! We can start feeding him search parameters tomorrow. Who knew research was so exciting?” I pulled Josephine in for a hug, so glad I had my family surrounding me once more.