Chapter 8
Kitty
Selia chanted, “Kitty cat.” Over and over. It was getting a little annoying, but they all knew she’d missed her youngest aunt.
“You miss her?” The emperor, Torr asked.
They’d not known his name before, it was rarely used and then only among family and close friends. It seemed a lot like Thor, but it might only be a coincidence. She didn’t believe much in those.
“Dori?” Garulto whispered to her. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, just making some plans.”
Now he looked worried and she had to smile. It was true she was known for her plans, but she also knew when to step back as she had when Erak had pursued Tomi. Any meddling would have messed them up. Tomi was too stubborn to allow anyone to help her along. Maybe she took after her the most, in that aspect anyway.
For the most part, she was happy. All her girls but one was settled and blissfully happy with their choice. Now she was working on that one and using the best means possible. She was feeding the emperor and she’d heard he liked spicy and unusual foods. That was no problem. Her recipe book had a section of Cajun foods and that should be right in line with what he loved.
Just in case spicy was too much, she had other foods that were a little watered down. They were for Selia and any of those that found her Cajun foods too much. She always had a backup plan. It seemed unnecessary because everyone but Selia loved her spicy chicken gumbo. The Jambalaya was wiped put completely. The Maque Choux was also gone. Now they were moving on to the Creole foods.
“This is amazing. It’s also not like anything I’ve had before.” Erak said.
“You pointed out that dragons like spicy foods. On Earth, our foods are different often based on regions or particular groups of people. These are Cajun and these others are Creole foods. Cajun foods are particularly spicy and many people can’t tolerate them when fixed as they are meant to be. I haven’t found anything local that matches these ingredients.”
“Maybe we’ll have to grow some.” Bree said. That girl always had her mind on her business.
“I would recommend it. What’s this?” Torr asked.
“Just some pictures of us girls. Today is mother’s day on Earth.” Betty explained as she went through the pictures on the screen they’d pulled down.”
“I recognize most. Who is that cute little girl?” Erak asked playing along.
“That’s Kitty.” Betty explained.
“What does she look like now?” Erak asked. That young man was a helper.
“This is a picture of all of us on the Mother’s day before we left. Kitty is on the end.” Bree said.
“You are all lovely ladies.” Erak commented.
Torr’s eyes were stuck on Kitty. They left the picture up as they passed out dessert. Today he had promised to give them his decision. It never hurt to continue to build your case. She was a mother and couldn’t be happy without all her little chicks nearby.
Who knew? Maybe something would develop between them but regardless, her Kitty would be home. Maybe she wouldn’t share that Kitty was the most stubborn of all her girls. Not until she was here and it mattered, that was.
“I suppose you’re all waiting for my decision?” Torr questioned looking around as they all ate dessert and tried to appear relaxed.
“Aren’t you being unnecessarily cruel?” Tomi asked.
“I felt like I was poleaxed with all the good food and the pictures. Even the little one tried to influence me.” Torr observed.
“So?” Tomi asked.
“My mind was already decided. We will try her on the new program and if it is successful, she will be in charge of it. That means she will be traveling back and forth between the two worlds and eventually settle here.” He explained.
Tears came to her eyes as she rushed over and hugged him. Garulto growled. She turned to look at him. “Get over it.” Her mate looked suitably chastised.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know how important this was to her and the rest of the family. Kitty was all that was missing to make their lives as near perfect as possible. Now that dessert was over, Garulto started cleaning up in an effort to get back in her good graces. It wasn’t really necessary, she understood how the males here were. It wasn’t hard to forgive such a sexy male.
All her girls would be on the same planet, at least for a while, once Kitty was home. The party slowly came to an end. Cretia and Toreen left first. Normally no one left before the emperor and then the king, but this was an informal gathering of family and friends. Davy and Jarel left next because they both had an early morning at work. Next the emperor went, but he acted as if he wished he could stay. Erak and Tomi left with Betty and Niku. The last to leave was Bree and Romo who stayed to help clean up and talk a bit.
“I don’t know if it’s true, but rumor has it that the first load of brides with Kitty along for the ride, will be leaving Earth in a week or so.” Romo admitted. “Torr not only had his mind made up, but the program has already been running for several weeks now. No one involved was allowed to discuss it.”
“God that would be amazing to get her here so fast. We’ve all missed her so much.” She admitted. “I’d be mad about being left in the dark if I wasn’t so happy she’ll be here sooner.”
“We won’t know for sure until they actually leave. Kitty hit the numbers from what I’ve seen, but we won’t know how things work out until the pairings begin. She did really well on the professionals and families Torr wanted. There will even be extra children. Torr was excited about that. He has a huge list of couples wanting to adopt. It’s hard to understand so many homeless children.” Romo admitted.
“It’s hard to explain, but they have a place to live, just not one that they would feel was home.” She defended.
Why did she even bother? The system was broken and the children, many of them, suffered for it. The government was probably thrilled to get rid of these kids. Filling the numbers of orphans each time would be no problem.
The hardest part would be the professional and especially science trained females. Earth would want those for themselves. How she’d gotten them, who knew? All that mattered was she had. Getting these women to fit into the system was someone else’s job. Knowing Kitty she’d want to follow up. Torr had said there would be a program everywhere the immigrants went to see to their needs and help them acclimate. That was Kitty’s idea and he’d liked it.
She was sure Torr would use the program to watch for any that caused problems too. “Where will Kitty stay when she arrives?” She asked.
“Torr wants her at his castle to help work through the program. She’ll also work with his personal healer to learn about our way of dealing with sickness and teach him about Earth’s ways.” Romo explained. “It’s getting late. I’d better get Bree and the dragonling home.”
“Of course. We’ll see you both soon.” She said. They all gathered weekly and saw each other through the week as well.