Authors: Marla Monroe
Back in bed with fresh sheets that Jeff had managed to put on the bed while Caleb finished her bath, Beverly tried to arch her neck to see her ankle better. With the gauze wrapped around her leg like that though she wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway. She’d have to get one of the guys to talk to her about it, but she would get them to tell her later. Maybe tomorrow. She was really tired.
* * * *
The men finished up their simple dinner of soup and sandwiches while talking about Beverly waking up. Jeff was glad Caleb had checked in on her when he did. He was pretty sure she had been on the verge of going back to sleep since it took a lot for her to fully emerge again. He felt sure she was on the road to recovery now. It wouldn’t be long until she was up and around again. Even though she was shy and slightly reserved, her warm smiles and bubbly laughter brightened his life. He could feel her making a place in his heart for herself, and he was happy about it. Maybe one day she would feel secure enough with them to open up more.
He glanced over at Caleb as he dried the dishes and put them away. It had been a little bit of a shock to see how affected the other man had been by her condition. At first, he hadn’t seemed nearly as worried as he should have been to Jeff, but later, it was obvious just how much Caleb cared about their wife. His usual composed, almost-detached way of dealing with problems hadn’t lasted more than a few hours once they realized she wasn’t waking up and that something had happened to her. Caleb had been unflappable in all the long months he had known the man until this.
Now, despite the fact that Beverly was improving, he still hadn’t reverted all the way back to his usually constrained composure. It made him slightly more approachable to people like Beverly. He hoped he didn’t return to that again. Here on Alpha, there wasn’t any reason to appear to always be in control around those who would enjoy your loss of control. Here, the name of the game was survival on the most basic of levels. Maybe Caleb was finding that out.
“I’m going to let everyone know how Beverly is doing. Why don’t you go on up and keep her company if she’s awake,” Jeff suggested.
Caleb stretched and nodded. “Andrew and Danny have been real supportive. They knew exactly what was going on when we talked to them about her. If she keeps progressing like this, we should be able to divide the herd next Monday.”
“I’ll talk to them about it. Tell Beverly I’ll be up soon.”
He watched the other man climb the stairs before walking into the office and adjusting the radio to call up Sloan and his partner first. He’d get a report on what they had accomplished before calling Danny and Andrew. The other two men had started fencing in the area closest to them for the herd. Once they had everything under control with the cattle in their area, they would work on it as much as possible until they had the entire mapped out area enclosed. It would go a long way in keeping out predators and keeping the cows from wandering off.
After a few minutes, Sloan answered his call.
“Hey, Jeff. How is Beverly today?”
“She’s doing much better. She’s been awake off and on all day. She even managed to eat half a bowl of soup.”
“That’s good news. I know you and Caleb are relieved. Has she said anything about what happened?”
“Not yet. She’s still only saying a few words at a time. I’m hoping she’ll be able to talk more tomorrow. I’m anxious to find out what got her so we can do something about it. I don’t want it to happen again.” Jeff worried that she’d gone outside of the fenced-in area while they had been gone. Caleb would have a fit.
“Not to mention that it could still be around and attack one of you. Be careful and keep your eyes open.” Sloan’s worry carried over in his voice.
“We will. How are you doing with the fence?”
They talked for several more minutes about the fence and when they thought they would be able to get their cattle to their land. He could tell the other man was just as eager to get started as he was. He missed being in the saddle and out on the range. The sights and sounds might be different here, but basically it had to be the same.
When he called up Danny and Andrew, Jeff could tell they were stressed about something. He hoped the problem wasn’t because they were trying to handle too many cows.
“How’s Beverly, Jeff?” Danny asked.
“She’s doing a lot better.” Jeff filled him in on her progress before continuing to tell him how the others were doing with the fence project.
“Sounds like everything is working out fine now. I’m really glad your wife is doing so well. It will take some time, but she’ll be right as rain in no time.”
“Thanks, Danny. I’m really sorry we’ve stuck you with everything right now.”
“Hey. She comes first, and we had the same situation ourselves, so don’t let it worry you. The cows are fine. They’ve been strangely calm these last few days.”
Jeff still felt as if there was something bothering the other man. He didn’t know him that well. Not like he knew Sloan and Denton. Having spent most of the six months on the shuttle around them, they were fairly close friends now.
“Is something else going on, Danny? You sound stressed. If it’s not the cattle, what is it?” Jeff finally asked.
Silence echoed from the speakers except for a little static over the radio. He worried that he’d either lost contact with him or the other man was upset that he’d pried into their business. He wasn’t really trying to be nosey. He was concerned. Everyone had to stick together out there. It was too dangerous to remain isolated from everyone else in the area. They all had similar needs, and after the incident with Beverly, they obviously needed to share information on a regular basis.
Finally, Danny spoke again. “It’s kind of a long story, and…it’s complicated as well.”
Jeff started to tell him that he had plenty of time, but that if it was too personal, he understood. Danny started talking again before he could tell him.
“We’ve got a little girl who is eighteen months old. She wasn’t up when you and Caleb came to get the horses last week.”
“I knew you had a child, but I didn’t know how old she was. How is she doing?” Jeff was almost afraid to ask.
“Great! She’s a wonder.” Danny hesitated for a few seconds. “The thing is, she and all of the other children who have been born so far are…different.”
Jeff felt his blood turn to ice in his veins. “What do you mean, different?”
“They’re more, um, advanced. They seem to be growing at an accelerated rate compared to how the children grew and matured on Earth.”
“Is anyone looking into it?” Jeff had to work at keeping his voice steady.
Here was another piece of information that no one had bothered to fill them in on when they were on their way there. They had to have known about it. Just like they had to have known about the fucking acid some of the damn creatures had in their mouths and blood. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. It took all his concentration to remain calm over the radio. Danny needed to talk. He needed someone to confide in other than his partner.
“Yeah, Doc is working on it with a couple of scientists who are in the city. I’m not sure, but I think one of them is his and Scott’s wife. Anyway, they’re trying to figure out why and what it means in the long run. Right now, she’s healthy as a horse, but we just don’t know what to expect and it’s…” Danny trailed off.
“Scary. I can imagine. Is there anything else other than how fast she’s growing?”
“She has that damn cell or antigen or whatever in her bloodstream that we all have now. More than likely it’s coming from the food since most people haven’t been exposed to the creature’s blood or saliva. Doc thinks theirs is a little different than ours is though. And there’s more of it.”
Jeff leaned his head in his hands then keyed the mike again. “Well don’t go borrowing trouble. It sounds like she’s doing well and since they think the stuff in our blood helps fight illness, she should be healthier than we are. That’s a plus, right?”
“Right. You’re right. It’s just hard to watch the changes happen so fast. I can’t even enjoy how she is before she’s changing again.” Danny sighed over the mike. “Anyway. I’m real glad to hear that Beverly is doing so much better. Go take care of her and we’ll talk again later.”
“Danny. We’re here. If you need anything or just to talk, we’re here.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate that. Night. Out.”
Jeff cut off the mike and reset the radio to the emergency channel before sitting back in the chair and closing his eyes. He’d tell Caleb about it when they weren’t around Beverly, but she didn’t need to hear this right now. It would scare her to death. Hell, it was scaring him to death. What did it mean for them? Their children when they eventually had them.
“Fuck!” What if Beverly was already pregnant? It was possible.
What would her illness do to a baby if there was one? He rubbed the heel of his hands over his eyes then stood up. There was nothing he could do about any of it. Letting himself get anxious wasn’t helping him, and it wouldn’t help Beverly when she picked up on it. The best thing he could do right now was put it out of his mind. Somehow.
Beverly readjusted her pillow as she settled on the couch. She’d finally succeeded in convincing the two party poopers to let her sit up on the couch. She was tired of the bed and wanted to be doing something. They refused to believe her when she told them that she was as good as new now. Jeff had argued that she’d been unconscious for nearly three days and unable to talk for another twenty-four hours.
“Well, I can talk now, and I don’t like being treated like an invalid.”
“I can hear you!” Caleb yelled from the office where he was working.
Jeff was out tending to the horses and the garden. She wanted to see her garden. She’d been the one to plant it, and now it was growing without her. That fact alone was enough to rouse her temper, which was something she hadn’t really remembered having much trouble with before.
“I’m bored, Caleb. Let me cook something for dinner.”
“No. Sit still or I’ll move you back upstairs.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, glaring toward the office. She knew she was pouting, could feel her lips protruding like a child, but she couldn’t help it. They were babying her to the point of nausea. The first couple of days after she had woken up, it was nice to have so much attention and feel special to them, but now, she was ready to strangle them.
With a sigh, she pulled her leg up closer so she could see her ankle and the strange green and mostly yellow skin there. The area was raised, but not like the guys said it had been at first. Still, the discoloration was weird and a little scary since she’d never heard of anything like it before.
It didn’t hurt or burn anymore, and the stinging sensation she’d had when she first woke had mostly disappeared. She’d felt it more so when she was walking on it than at any other time. If she stayed off her feet, it didn’t bother her. The thing was, she was tired of staying off her feet. She wanted to do something other than flip through books and stare at the fireplace. Surely there was something she could do to pass the time.
When they had first asked her about the bumps, she hadn’t known what they were talking about. Then she realized they were talking about where she’d hit her ankle when she was exercising that morning. Once they’d gotten past the fact that she was working out when they thought she was already in great shape, Caleb had pointed out that if she had been exercising the way she’d told them, then the injury would have been on her left ankle and not her right.
She’d blown up at their insinuation that she’d lied to them. They covered their tracks pretty damn fast and assured her they hadn’t. They were just pointing out that there was a problem with what she’d told them. Yeah, she had to admit, they were right. There was no way she could have hit her outer ankle on the coffee table lying in the direction she had been. That meant something had bitten or scratched her at some point while she’d been waiting on them to return that day. She wished she could remember that day clearer.
“You’re awfully quiet out there.” Caleb’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She frowned.
“I’m thinking,” she called back.
“Now that scares me,” he shouted back.
She rolled her eyes and stretched out on the couch after moving her pillow from behind her back. She actually enjoyed the added attention she was getting from her guys. They spent more time with her both individually and together. Now if she could just get them to make love to her she would feel like everything was back to normal.
Beverly made a face. They didn’t think it was a good idea for her to get overexerted so soon after she’d been sick. She was fine. In fact, she’d never felt better. They were being overprotective. Plus, there was something that they were keeping from her. She narrowed her eyes. She was sure of it. They denied it, but sometimes she caught them looking at each other with
that
look.
“Whatever it is, I’m going to find out.”
“Did you say something, honey?” Caleb called out.
“No.” She grimaced.
The longer she lay on the couch, the sleepier she became. When her hand fell off the edge of the couch, she frowned but didn’t move it back to the cushion. Her mind drifted as she thought about the garden and wishing she could have watched it grow. Then she thought about how different Caleb seemed lately, or was it her? She wasn’t as uncomfortable around him as she had been at first. What was up with that?
It felt good to feel more relaxed with Caleb. Why had she been so uptight around him in the first place?
Because I doubted he could care about me. I’m not what he’s used to.
She snorted at that. No one could look as worried as he had that first time she’d woken up with him next to her and not care about her. He felt something. It might not be an all-consuming love, but it was special. She’d take that.
Her fingers brushed the floor, and she remembered that her arm had fallen. She needed to move it before something got it.