Abiogenesis (21 page)

It was almost more tempting to consider leaving the colony and taking her chances with the company. At least in that instance, she would have some peace.

They returned to the plantation in complete silence. Once they reached it, Dalia fled to her room and locked the door. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to simply ignore the issue altogether, but she thought it best to allow Reuel time to come to terms with the law itself before there was any discussion on a more personal level.

Remaining single wasn’t an option for the females. If they stayed, they were expected to play a pivotal role in establishing family units, not create more conflict by refusing to accept even one male. So, unless she wanted to leave, which she didn’t, she couldn’t avoid Reuel’s displeasure by simply refusing to commit at all.

For a week, everyone seemed determined to avoid everyone else as much as possible. Peace reigned in the household until the second week, when Pierce decided to court her since Reuel didn’t seem to be making a push in that direction.

Conflict erupted almost immediately, but it didn’t manifest itself in actual violence until the third week, at least as far as Dalia knew. Unfortunately, it appeared to be her effort to prevent that eventuality that provoked it.

They had taken up the practice of spending time in the informal living area in the evenings before bed and continued to even after the competition between Reuel and Pierce reached a point two weeks after the president’s announcement that made it uncomfortable.

"We have to establish some house rules," she said resolutely, standing up and addressing both Reuel and Pierce.

Reuel’s eyes narrowed. "It’s my house. It’s my plantation. I make the rules."

Dalia studied him for several moments in tight-lipped silence. Finally, she sighed. "You’re right." She glanced at Pierce. "I’m going down to the land office tomorrow to see what’s available. Would you mind coming along to help me with Claire?"

Pierce sent Reuel a wicked look and grinned at her. "Sure. I’ve been thinking about trying my hand at being a planter since I started helping Reuel around here. I think I could be good at it."

Dalia nodded and got up. She stopped on the way to her room and looked back at Reuel. "Actually, Claire’s yours, too. I’ll just leave her here with you."

She could see Reuel was already furious. Her parting shot pulled the rug out from under him. "I’m willing to hear you out," he said ungraciously.

"That’s so magnanimous of you!" she retorted tartly.

He ground his teeth. "Do you want to talk about it or not?" he ground out.

"Not if you don’t plan on being reasonable."

"He’s a ’borg, Dally. In case you haven’t noticed, they’re not very reasonable."

Dalia glared at Pierce. Before she could comment on such deliberate provocation, however, Reuel slugged him across the jaw so hard he flew backwards over the couch and skidded across the carpet almost to the wall. The moment he came to a halt, Pierce jumped to his feet with a roar of fury and launched himself toward Reuel, leaping over the couch. Reuel made no attempt to avoid him and Dalia was just thinking that he’d thought better of engaging in a full out battle in the house when, having waited until Pierce was within arm’s reach, he executed a lightening fast punch that knocked Pierce’s feet out from under him.

Pierce landed on the floor at his feet, flat of his back. He wasn’t stunned long, however. Swinging one arm, he clipped the back of Reuel’s knees hard enough that Reuel fell backwards.

The baby had merely gaped at the two men in stunned surprise when Reuel had thrown the first punch. When he slugged Pierce the second time, she let out a blood-curdling shriek and kept on screaming. Cuddling her close, Dalia went into their room and slammed the door. It took her nearly thirty minutes to quiet the baby and she discovered that thirty minutes of infant wails were more torturous than anyone unfamiliar with that particular noise could possibly comprehend. It would’ve been easier, she thought, if not for the grunts, growls, meaty thuds, crashes of furniture and the tinkling sound of breaking glass.

Finally, Reuel and Pierce either reached an understanding, exhausted themselves, or reached unconsciousness. Silence fell and she managed to quiet the baby and get her to sleep. When she did, Dalia went out to assess the damage. The room was a shambles. Pierce was sitting on the floor in the middle of the wreckage, massaging his jaw and grinning at Reuel, who gingerly examining a black eye using a piece of what had once been a three foot square wall mirror but was now in fragments, most of them less than two inches.

Plunking her hands on her hips, Dalia glared at both of them. "Claire is asleep. If either one of you makes a single sound that wakes her up and sets her off again, I swear, I’ll kill you myself! I’ve changed my mind! I don’t want either damn one of you!"

When she returned from the land office the following day, the room was spotless. The broken furniture had been removed and replaced or repaired. Reuel and Pierce were sitting in chairs on either side of the room, glaring at each other, but the moment she stopped in the doorway they assumed carefully neutral expressions.

Reuel cleared his throat. "I apologize for last night. This is--I’d like for this to be our home."

He seemed sincere enough, and the truth was Dalia didn’t want to have to choose anyone else, but she wasn’t about to contract with anyone who wasn’t willing to treat her as a full partner. "You have a real problem with ownership, Reuel," she said quietly. "That’s the main reason I didn’t agree to a contract between us before. I think I understand why. And I know it’s something you probably can’t change, but you’ll have to at least make an effort to restrain your possessiveness or find another partner because I will be a full partner in any contract I agree to."

He frowned, but thoughtfully, and finally nodded.

"We’d like to hear the house rules," Pierce said coolly.

Dalia glanced at him. "Good. Up until now I’m the only person here who has done any of the work in taking care of baby Claire. I love her and I don’t mind. What I do mind is not being treated as an equal around here. So, the new house rule is that everybody takes a turn tending to baby Claire for however long it takes until she can take care of herself. Before, I didn’t know any more about nurturing than either of you. If I can learn, both of you can learn. So, from now on, we rotate, bedtime to bedtime. She goes to sleep at seven."

Reuel flushed. "That’s the house rule?"

Dalia gave him a look. "That’s the house rule I intended to talk about last night. There’s another one tonight. No fighting in the house, period. If you two just have to slug it out, take it outside. It scares Claire."

Pierce and Reuel exchanged a sheepish glance. Pierce cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I hope you didn’t mean what you said--about the contract, I mean. I’d considered asking you about it after the president made the announcement, but you didn’t seem to want to talk about it."

Dalia blushed. "I made the assumption that you wanted to. I shouldn’t have, but I was angry. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I can’t when Claire’s been screaming in my ear for an hour."

"You weren’t wrong and I wasn’t criticizing. I’m just asking if you’ll reconsider."

Dalia turned to look at Reuel. He looked almost as angry as he had the night of the announcement, but he swallowed his spleen with an effort. "I’d just as soon not share you with Pierce or anyone, but the alternative doesn’t appeal to me. I suppose if the only choice is being one of two partners, I mean to be one of them--if you’ll have me," he added uncomfortably.

Relief flooded her. Dalia smiled tremulously. "I was afraid the two of you would behave so badly I’d have to contract with someone else."

Moving quickly across the room, she leaned over the baby’s head and kissed Reuel lightly on the lips. "Yes! I love you!" Before he could grab her, she plopped the baby down in his lap. "It’s your night."

He was still gaping at her in dismay when she cut off Pierce’s retreat by grabbing hold back of his tunic. "No you don’t!"

He turned to look at her, both hurt and anger in his eyes.

Dismay filled her. Ordinarily, even if he’d been hurt he would’ve tried to pass it off with a joke. "Sit on the porch with me?"

She thought for several moments that he would refuse. Finally, reluctantly, he nodded. She knew Reuel was probably no happier than Pierce, but she could only handle one problem at the time so she ignored the look she knew he’d bent upon. Unfortunately, possibly because she saw that Dalia was leaving without her and she’d become accustomed to being only with Dalia, Claire chose that moment to object, loudly.

"Dalia?" Reuel exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Sighing, Dalia glanced at Pierce. "I’ll meet you on the porch in a few minutes?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

When he’d left, she went back to Reuel, took the baby and then sat down in Reuel’s lap. "You’re going to have to learn to handle this," she said.

He knew she wasn’t referring only to the baby. "I don’t honestly know if I can."

She studied his face lovingly. "Nothing is going to change the way I feel about you. Not even you." Turning the baby, she settled her against Reuel’s shoulder. "She’s not used to you and it’ll take time. Walk her and pat her back. Sing to her if you know a song. If that doesn’t work, try bouncing her and if that doesn’t work try shaking something sparkly in front of her face. I have a bottle all ready for her, and when she’s eaten, she’ll go right to sleep. But you can’t give it to her while she’s upset. She’ll choke or she just won’t take it."

Reuel nodded. When she got up, he stood and started walking the baby. Dalia watched the two of them until she saw the baby had stopped crying and was staring at Reuel in blank-faced amazement and then slipped downstairs.

To her relief, Pierce was standing on the porch, leaning against one of the columns. When he saw her, he pushed away from the column and started pacing the porch. Sighing, she glanced around the porch and finally chose the rocking chair and sat down, rocking as she gazed out at the stars in the sky.

When Pierce finally stopped pacing and halted by her chair, she got up and gestured for him to take it. As soon as he’d settled himself, she climbed onto his lap. "I’m used to Reuel being quiet and not talkative when he’s angry. I don’t like it, but I’ve leaned how to deal with it. You’re not usually like this, though."

Pierce let out a gusty sigh, as if he’d been holding his breath. "It tears me up, Dally. I don’t know if I can handle this. I thought I could if you’d just give me a chance. Hell, I guess if it wasn’t for the law I wouldn’t have any chance at all. I knew there was something going on between the two of you from the first. I figured he’d probably fathered the baby, but I still, thought, maybe, there was a chance you felt something for me.

"I’ve been crazy in love with you, Dally, since the first time I saw you. First it was the damn company’s laws that kept me away from you, and now this."

Dalia laid her head on his shoulder. "You don’t think it’s possible to love more than one person?"

Pierce was silent so long she’d begun to wonder if he would say anything at all. "I don’t know."

"Humans do."

"No, they don’t. Some of them only love themselves, and some of them love someone, but none of them love more than one female or one male at the time."

"So ... what you’re saying is you think it’s possible, but only one at the time? If you love one person and then begin to love another person, you have to stop loving the first one in order to be able to love the second?"

"I guess. You don’t see humans taking on two partners, except when they’re cheating on each other."

Dalia sighed. "Maybe I feel this way because I’m not human, then."

Pierce swallowed audibly. "You just told Reuel you loved him. You’re saying, now, that you love me?"

Dalia sat up and looked at him. "Don’t do that."

"What?"

"Don’t compare. If you don’t believe me, or you don’t want to, or you just can’t, then I’ll try to understand, but I know what I feel. I sought you out when we were on the ship because I knew you would take care of me, unquestioningly."

He sighed. "I was that obvious."

"No. I thought you might like to be more than friends, but I wasn’t sure. I just knew you were my best friend and that I could count on you."

"I don’t want to be your friend," he said harshly.

She caressed his cheek. "It would hurt me indescribably if you stopped being my friend. I want you to be my partner, my lover, and my friend. If you chose someone else, I’d die every time I saw you with her."

He frowned. "Well maybe you understand a little better how I feel."

She shook her head. "You’re wrong if you think I don’t. I understand completely how you feel. What would you have me do?"

He slipped an arm around her shoulders. "We could leave."

"A year from now. I have to choose a partner within the next six months."

He swallowed. "Then choose me, Dally. We can leave before you have to choose another."

"I love Claire. I couldn’t leave her."

"We’ll take her."

She shook her head and scooted off his lap. "I love Reuel too much to do that to him. Anyway I look at it, I have to hurt somebody that means a lot to me. I’m beginning to wish Reuel had just killed me when he caught me ... or that I hadn’t woke up when the tech was about to.

"I’ll contract with both you and Reuel. Or I won’t contract with either of you."

Chapter Twenty-One

Dalia was absolutely petrified when she, Reuel and Pierce entered the records office and signed a family unit contract. She could well imagine what the clerk thought of it, for both Reuel and Pierce looked more like condemned men at an execution than happy partners.

It was some relief to discover that they were the fourth party to do so. Dalia didn’t think she could have handled it if they’d had to endure another ‘first’ ceremony.

The three of them had finally sat down together and worked up partnership rules they felt like they could live with. Dalia could display her affection for either partner, in any way she chose, at any time, and neither of the other partners could express or display anger either during or afterward. If they didn’t like it, they could walk it off, but they were not to deliberately provoke each other either by word or deed in regards to possessiveness or jealousy.