Laura
Isobel folded her hands in front of her. “As I’ve mentioned before, letting Nmen with a criminal past take part in the matching program would be unwise. We should exclude those individuals.”
Pearl’s hands were folded on the table in front of her. “Mother, I understand and appreciate your concern. Khan and Magni, however, have made a strong point that any man who has served his sentence shall not be further punished by his past. I tend to agree with them.”
Isobel’s cheeks were growing redder as the two women battled in what Motlanders would consider a fierce argument. They even resembled each other in body posture.
“This is something I’d need to discuss with the Council. Allowing such matches would be upsetting to many of the members.” Isobel lifted her hands to massage her temples. “As it is, this matchmaking program is causing great distress for many of us. To include men with violent pasts would increase our concerns further. If something were to happen to any of these women, it would be on us. We allowed it.”
I leaned forward. “With all due respect, Chairwoman, there is such a thing as a free choice. These women aren’t children and they understand they’re taking a risk. If something happens to them it’s on them, not you.”
“But our role is to keep our people safe.”
“I get that. Councilwomen are like overprotective moms, but you’re suffocating your people with your love. The applicants aren’t children and they don’t need you to limit their options by excluding men who might be their perfect match. Let them make that decision for themselves.” My speech was more to the point than Isobel was used to, and her eyes darted to Pearl, as well as to Christina and Erika, who were both in the room too.
All morning we’d been working on finalizing the matching process. Khan hadn’t been able to join us since he was with Magni dealing with urgent matters.
Pearl was looking over the deadlines for the project. “We’ll need your approval before tomorrow night, Mother. Every woman will receive her top ten matches tomorrow night and she’ll have two days to decide which five candidates she wishes to meet in person.”
“Erika made an excellent suggestion that Khan agreed to.” Pearl smiled at our mother-in-law. “Why don’t you tell it yourself?”
Erika gave a small smile and looked at Isobel when she spoke. “As you might have heard, some of the most wealthy and influential men in the Northlands were charged with conspiracy to overthrow my son. As a result, their assets were confiscated, and Khan has approved some of that wealth being used to fund new experimental schools and initiatives to support the Motlander women’s integration into our society.”
“That’s wonderful.” Isobel smiled.
Erika nodded and angled her head. “Yes, and fitting if you think about it. Those men held a very low opinion of women. They considered us intellectually impaired. This money can support women getting to work here and keep them safe from men who might feel threatened by them.” Erika paused and looked around at Christina, Pearl, and Isobel. “I have to say that being part of this project has been nothing short of amazing.”
I rubbed Erika’s back. “It’s empowering to see women make decisions, isn’t it? I used to think you were the strongest woman I knew because I saw you stand up to both Khan and Magni at times. Now I know that we can give the men a run for their money. We are going to bring the Northlands up to a new standard that will benefit everyone living here.”
“On that note,” Pearl said and pulled up some images of drones. “I’ve visited some of the mining towns and it was disturbing to see how poor some of the Nmen are. I believe that one of the reasons is the lack of mobility. There’s no public transportation in this country. Either you’re rich enough to have a drone or you have no money and you’re stuck. Many of the drones that fly around are a safety concern. They fly too fast like Magni’s or they’re too old and should be scrapped.”
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“We need to establish a public transportation system.”
“But it’s possible to hire a drone already,” Erika pointed out.
“Yes, but we need to give the people a more affordable option. One that will allow people to commute to a job. Right now, they are geographically bound and that’s not serving the people.”
I whistled. “Sounds ambitious, Pearl.”
Pearl gave me a confident smile. “Oh, we’re just getting started. I’m planning to improve the health care system, establish more food banks, and provide free education.”
“Education is free.”
“Yes, but I’m talking about adults. Too long the Northlands have been the rich man’s dream and the poor man’s nightmare. I want to help everyone live at their full potential. Education is a key part of that.”
“You have a good heart, Pearl.” I meant every word. “I’m sorry that Magni doesn’t like you much. I wish I could do something to change it.”
Pearl and Isobel exchanged a glance and then Pearl spoke in a serious tone. “There is something you can do.”
I sighed and gave an apologetic smile. “I already tried talking sense with him, but Magni is skeptical by nature.”
“Mila asked Magni to adopt her.” This time it was Isobel who spoke. “God knows why, but the child loves him.”
I frowned. “So do I, and if you knew him better, you’d understand.”
“That’s right,” Erika chimed in.
“Mila wrote me and Pearl a letter asking for the Council to approve Magni’s becoming her official father. It was decorated with nice drawings of her in the middle and you and Magni on each side.”
“I didn’t know that,” I whispered and swallowed the lump in my throat when Isobel handed me the letter. “What are those?” I pointed to some smaller creatures next to the three of us in the picture.
“Those are all the pets Mila is wishing for.”
“There’s at least fifteen.”
“Yes, I believe they are mostly dogs, cats, and a pet pig. The seven small ones I think are rabbits and guinea pigs.”
“You spoke to her about the drawings?” I asked.
“I did,” Pearl said in a soft voice. “I explained to her why Magni can’t adopt her. Only Motlanders can do that, which is when she asked if you could adopt her.”
“Me? When was this?” I could feel my heart race with the possibilities opening up to me.
“Last week,” Pearl responded. “With you being an official Motlander, Isobel is willing to approve the adoption since it’s Mila’s highest wish.”
I gaped. “You’ll let me adopt Mila?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “When Christina adopted Raven we allowed Boulder to become her adopted father. It made sense since he was the spouse of Christina and would function as Raven’s father. He signed some conditions about her rights, one of them being that she can’t be auctioned off in a tournament unless she chooses so herself.”
“Okay.” I nodded my head with excitement pressing inside my chest.
Pearl handed me some documents. “These are the adoption papers. What do you think, Laura? Will Magni like me better when he learns that I helped fulfill Mila’s biggest wish?”
I got up to hug her. “I can’t speak for him, but I love you for it.”
We sat for a while, talking about ways to break the news to Magni and Mila. After settling on a simple plan, we walked down the hallway to Khan’s office.
“It’s an invasion of women,” Khan joked when the five of us entered at the same time.
Boulder came over to kiss Christina and his hand stroked her belly. “Did you ladies get some work done?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes, we did.”
“So did we,” Khan said and looked at Pearl and Isobel. “You’ll be happy to hear that I pardoned the Huntsmen.”
When Isobel frowned, Pearl explained. “The soldiers who held us against our will thinking that we were hiding Magni.”
“Oh, I see.”
Pearl elaborated, “Khan and I have been in a disagreement about what consequences they should face for their actions.”
“I didn’t spare them because of our arguments,” Khan emphasized. “It was Magni’s condition for getting back to work.”
Magni shrugged. “I trained those men to be the best warriors in the Northlands and they’re loyal to me. I can’t do my job without them and since you’re asking me to return to my job, it’s a package deal.”
“Thank you Magni, for making Khan do the right thing.” Pearl spoke the words in a soft and melodic voice and her smile was genuine when she walked over and snaked her arm around Khan’s waist, leaning against him. “We are going to the school and would like you to come and help us send off Isobel, Shelly, and the others.”
“Would you mind if I stayed here? I’m drowning in work,” Khan excused himself.
Pearl blinked, and I could tell her mind was spinning to come up with a plausible excuse that wouldn’t make Magni suspicious or reveal the surprise about the adoption.
“It’s just that you said you’re announcing my pregnancy to the country in your speech tonight. I’d like the children at the school to hear it from us first.”
Khan lowered his head and thought about it. “You think it would mean a lot to them?”
“Yes, I do. Please, Khan, it means a lot to me too.”
“All right, then I’ll come.” He shuffled some papers around on his desk and gave a short order to Magni. “Go talk to your men. They’ll be glad to get out of the prison cell they’re in.”
“No,” I shrieked.
Boulder, Khan, and Magni all looked at me with concern. “What’s wrong, Laura?”
I’d never been good at coming up with lies on the spot. “It’s just that Mila called me before and one of the boys has been teasing her. She was asking for you.”
“Who teased her?” Magni took a step closer to me. “Is she okay?”
“She wouldn’t say who, but she asked for you.”
As expected, Mila’s needing him did the trick and Magni left with the rest of us. Pearl’s eyes bulged at me when Magni muttered about all the ways he’d teach the boys not to mess with Mila.
I was biting my lip, worried that he’d storm into the school and cause havoc in his quest to protect Mila from all harm. Pearl saw me sweating and came to my rescue.
“Magni, I know I’m asking a lot, but would you allow me and Khan to make our announcement before you interrogate Mila about who teased her?”
Magni nodded in agreement. “Sure.”
He kept his promise and didn’t say a word when Khan and Pearl gathered everyone in the schoolroom and told the good news.
The children were congratulating Pearl and Khan. Mila, Rochelle, Paysey, Nicki, and some of the others offered to play with the baby and babysit if ever needed.
Magni’s eyes roamed the room, shooting silent questions at the boys to see if any of them would crack just from his scowling at them.
I walked over and pulled him to a corner. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yes. I know.” He angled his head. “You don’t need to worry, I’m not going to throw a tantrum. I’ve decided I’m going to stay in control when I learn who did it.”
“About that…” I called Mila over. “Sweetie, would you please go to Pearl. She has something for Magni to see.”
Mila hurried and was given a folder that she brought back to us. “Here you go.” She handed it to Magni. “What is it?”
Magni opened the folder and read the title, before his eyes flew to me. “What is this?”
My face softened and I couldn’t hold back the tears in my eyes. “Mila, why don’t you help Magni read it?”
Mila moved closer to him and looked down at the folder. “I can’t read that first word.”
Magni caressed her hair. “It says certificate.”
Mila read slowly. “Certificate of adop...” Her eyes grew wide.
“Certificate of adoption,” I finished for her.
Both Mila’s hands flew to her mouth and she kept looking from me to Magni and back again as if waiting for us to confirm that it was true.
“If Magni signs this paper, you’ll officially be our daughter,” I said and lowered my forehead to Mila’s temple. “See, I already signed.”
The folder in Magni’s hands was shaking and his Adam’s apple jumped as he kept blinking his moist eyes while looking into Mila’s.
“Do you want him to sign?”
Mila’s head nodded up and down and the heels of her palms dried tears from her eyes. “Yes,” she cried.
I handed Magni a pen, and using his thigh as support under the folder, he signed the papers with his hand trembling with emotion. As soon as it was done, he picked up Mila and held her with one arm while pulling me into his other arm. Mila and I were crying happy tears and Magni was laughing and planting kisses on our faces and hair. “My girls,” he kept saying.
“What’s going on?” Raven asked and I looked up to see that we’d attracted an audience.
Khan took the initiative. “I’m happy to announce that I’m not the only one who’s growing his family. My brother and his wife Laura have adopted Mila as their daughter.”
The joy was like waves of happiness running through the crowd, and everyone wanted to congratulate us.
“I showed Magni the letter that Mila had sent to Pearl and told him it had been Mila’s idea for me to adopt her.”
Magni laughed. “Who would have known that you being a Motlander would end up being a good thing?”
“You need to thank Pearl. She was the one who argued our case with the Council and without her none of this would have been possible.”
I watched as Magni pulled Pearl to the side and thanked her. They spoke for a while and ended up smiling.
“What did you say to her?” I asked with curiosity.
“That I was grateful for her help.”
“And?”
“And I apologized for the times I’ve given her shit.”
“No way. You apologized to Pearl?”
Magni met my eyes. “Do you think less of me for apologizing to her?”
“No, why would I? I’m impressed with you.” I leaned in and kissed him just as Kya stood up on a chair.
“Can I have your attention?”
“Look, Kya looks like a grown-up now,” one of the boys teased. Compared to the women in the Motherlands, Kya was average in height, but with the Nmen being way above six feet, she looked petite next to them.
“We can’t all be tall as you Nmen,” Kya retorted and pointed to the boys. “It’s like with everything in nature. We all grow until we’re perfect. I just reached perfection a lot sooner than the rest of you.”
“That’s right, you have the perfect height for Archer to lean his arm on your head when he’s tired,” Plato joked.
“And you have the perfect height to keep quiet while I give my speech.” Kya lifted her finger to underline that she wanted him to listen. “Today we’re saying goodbye to our beloved Shelly, who is leaving to go to college. Shelly, step forward dear.”
The teenager took a small step forward, and pulled her sleeves over her hands, like she always did.
“Shelly, you’ve been an amazing help to all of us and we’re going to miss you so much. The children have made you a farewell present to remember us by.” Rochelle and Nicki both carried a box to Shelly. “You’ll find letters and drawings from the children in the box, and some artwork that they made for you.”
“Hey, I made one of the presents for you too,” Marco piped up. “It’s in the box.”
“What is it?” Solomon asked. “A poem?”
Marco scoffed. “As if. No. The children were painting on stones, so I decided to paint a portrait of you.”
“I wanna see it,” Raven said and grinned.
Shelly opened the box and took out a stone that fit inside her palm.
Raven frowned after studying the stone. “It doesn’t look like Shelly at all, it looks like you painted popcorn or something.”
“That’s because the stone was too small to paint all of Shelly. There was only room for her gigantic brain.”
“Ahh.” Raven nodded. “You painted a brain on the stone. Now I see it.”
“Thank you very much for your thoughtful gifts. I’ve loved being here at the school and I hope to get the chance to come back and visit some time,” Shelly announced.
I watched the quirky girl get hugged by the Motlander children as she moved around the room. From the first time I met Shelly, I’d always felt the need to give her a makeover. My hands were tingling to see what kind of swan hid inside the ugly duckling. I would love to help her get rid of her severe acne and trim those bushy eyebrows.
“I have a gift for you as well,” Shelly said to Marco when she reached him. “Yesterday, the children told me you had painted a stone for me, and I thought I’d give you something too.” She held out her hand. “I didn’t have time to wrap it, and it’s not as fancy as your fine portrait of me. But of course you set the bar impossibly high with that gift.”
Marco laughed. “I know.”
“It’s just a small reminder for you of the time we’ve had together.”
Marco looked down at Shelly’s palm as she opened it. “A seashell,” he said and picked it up. “Thank you.”
“I picked this up on the beach we went to, do you remember?”
“The one in the Motherlands, sure.”
“A seashell is symbolic in a way,” Shelly said and with the box from the children still in her hand, she crossed her free arm over her chest to scratch her neck, which had changed to a crimson color.
Marco brushed back his shoulder-length curly brown hair and looked closer at the seashell. “Symbolic of what?”
“Of you. The animal who lived inside that shell was soft and vulnerable on the inside and needed a hard shell too.”
Marco laughed in his untroubled charming way. “Very funny, but I’m as tough as they come, and you know it.”
Shelly shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I’ll treasure this shell. If people ask me I’ll tell them it’s a wonderful reminder of a genius girl who was wicked smart but needed to learn to shut up once in a while. You know, like a clam or an oyster.”
Shelly leaned her head to one side and furrowed her bushy eyebrows. “And I’ll show people your gift and say it’s a reminder of a young man who had stones for brains.”
“You do that.” Marco looked down at the seashell again. “I hope you’ll come back to visit us.”
I didn’t tell Marco at that moment that soon Pearl and I were going to offer him a position as a mentor at one of the new experimental schools. Even if Shelly came back to visit, Marco wouldn’t be here. The chance of the two of them ever meeting again was slim.
“Can I give you a farewell hug?” Shelly asked and Marco leaned back, his eyes widening. Men didn’t touch females. Here at the school there were exceptions to that rule since they massaged each other as part of Kya’s curriculum. But a back or foot rub was one thing. A hug, however, was a very intimate thing and Magni shifted his balance next to me.
“Can’t you just shake Marco’s hand?” he asked Shelly.
A ghost of insecurity flashed on her face before she steeled herself. “No, I would like to give Marco a hug. He’s been my friend and I’ll miss him.”
“Okay,” Magni said and pinned the young man with his gaze. “But keep your hands where I can see them.”
I elbowed Magni. “You’re making it awkward. Stop.”
But the damage was already done and Marco was stiff when Shelly rose up on her toes to hug him. The hug lasted less than three seconds and the whole time Marco was looking at Magni to make sure my husband wasn’t going to jump him.
“What’s going on?” Khan called out across the room.
Magni held up a hand. “Marco touched her with my permission.”
Khan came over with a serious expression on his face. “Since when do you approve of young men touching females? You almost killed Solo for the same thing.”
“I caught Solo kissing Willow. Not the same thing.”
“Who would have known you two were lovebirds?” Khan clapped a hand on Marco’s shoulder.
“We’re not love birds,” Marco insisted. “She’s just a kid.”
The men were so preoccupied that they missed the way Shelly’s face fell. I had been fifteen once and knew what it was like to have a crush on someone older who didn’t see me as anything but a child.
“Besides, Shelly is a Motlander and I’m going to win my bride in a tournament,” Marco stated. “I want the million dollars.”
“You sound like the money is more important than the woman,” I said in a disapproving tone.
“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I want a really nice hybrid like Magni has and they’re expensive.”
“Maybe I’ll let you fly mine someday,” Magni said.
Marco looked like Christmas had come early. “That would be amazing. How fast can it go?”
The men began a boring conversation about drones and with a kiss to Magni’s cheek, I moved away with Shelly.
“I feel so clueless when they talk about engine power and all that shit,” I told her. “I’d much rather talk about beauty products.”
“Beauty products?” Shelly wrinkled her nose. “I prefer talk about engines over beauty products any day.”
I chuckled. “Someday that might change; you never know.”
Shelly gave a sideways glance in Marco’s direction. “Maybe.”
“There are products that would help clean your skin, and if you trimmed your eyebrows, and treated your hair with some silk oil, I’ll bet you’d be the prettiest girl in the room.”
Shelly bit her lip. “Beauty is superficial. I’m not a vain person.”
“Okay.”
She stood for a second, shooting glances in Marco’s direction. “You really think I’d be the prettiest girl in the room.”
“I’m not saying it to be polite. You should know by now that’s not the Northlander way. All I’m saying is that you have a secret weapon, if you ever decide you want a man’s attention.”
Shelly gave a quirky giggle that reminded me the girl was truly just a teenager.
We all gathered outside the school to send off Isobel, Shelly, and the Motlander children who were going home for Christmas.
Mila stood between Magni and me when we waved to the drone. “I would like to sleep at the school tonight,” she said and looked up at me.
“Sure.”
“It’s just that Nicki is sad about everyone leaving and I promised I’d sleep with her.”
“You’re a good friend, Mila, and you don’t have to go home with us every night. You can do like Raven does and go home on the weekends,” I explained.
“We’ll come by the school all the time,” Magni added and bent down to her height. “And if any of the boys messes with you, I want you to tell me, okay?”
Mila gave him a small smile. “I think a lot of them are jealous of me.”
“Why?”
“Because I have the coolest parents.”
Magni looked over to the group of Nboys. “You think so?”
“I heard Storm say it’s unfair that only the girls get adopted, and that Solo is lucky he might get to train with you. They don’t have families to go home to on the weekends or for Christmas.”
Magni straightened up to his full height and stood for a second, looking thoughtful. “Maybe we should do something about that.”