Mail Order Mom, page 6
He turned his hand so that my fingers slid into his palm. He then squeezed them gently.
“I do have eleven brothers and sisters, though. All of them are well and living,” he said in a lighter tone.
“Eleven? Wow!” I knew about the large families of Aldraians, but it still felt incredible.
“Yes. Six sisters, five brothers, forty-seven nieces and nephews. Though all of them live quite far from here, deeper into the terraformed territory. When we get together, we rent a town hall to fit us all in.”
“It must’ve been fun growing up?”
“It was,” he said, staring right in front of him. A faint smile played on his lips, softening his hard features. It made him look uncharacteristically vulnerable somehow.
Now, I felt like giving him a hug, or stroking his face, or...doing something equally inappropriate.
Ok, no more wine.
I shoved aside the empty goblet.
“Well...” I slid off my barstool. “I better go tell Mara dinner will be ready soon.”
He glanced at the grill. “Not for another thirty minutes yet.”
It appeared like he didn’t want me to leave.
Well, I also liked talking to him. So much so, I feared, I might forget he was my employer. I’d already told him much more than a boss needed to know about a nanny.
“Mara can take much more than thirty minutes to get ready.” I smoothed the skirt of my dress. It looked wrinkly after the flight here. “I should get changed too.”
He slid his gaze down my body, purposefully slow, then turned away quickly. “Well, go then. But come back soon.”
I found Mara’s room just past mine along the path. She was napping but woke up when I entered with a knock on her gate. “We’re having dinner soon. In half an hour.”
She sat up in bed, sliding her eye mask up to her forehead. “Dinnertime? Already?”
“Did you get some rest?” Her lavender-colored sheets with puffy pillows piled up high looked like heaven. I wouldn’t blame her if she wished to stay in bed.
“Not nearly enough.” She yawned. “I’m not even hungry yet.”
“Suit yourself, but you probably should meet the kids, at least.”
“Why?” She plopped back into the pillows.
“To make some effort to fit in?” I shrugged. “One way or another, we have to spend a year here. You’re like their stepmom, now.”
She tossed a pillow at me. “I swear if you call me that word again, I’ll smother you with one of these pillows!”
I jumped aside, evading it. “Hey! It’s just a polite thing to do, to meet the people you’re going to be living with under the same roof.”
“What roof?” She groaned, lifting her arms up to the open sky above. “They don’t even have roofs on this freaking planet. It feels like...camping.” She shuddered.
“How would you know what camping feels like? We’ve never been.” I picked up the pillow she’d tossed at me and threw it back to her. “I doubt people put huge beds like that in their camping tents.”
“The bed is nice,” she agreed. “The bath was decent too. Not sure that would make an entire year here bearable, though.” She sighed heavily, crawling from under the covers. “Fine. I’ll come to dinner, meet the little brats...”
“The kids are cute, actually, and seem well behaved. At least when their dad is around.”
She winced. “Their dad... Is he going to be there?”
“Well, he made the dinner. I expect him to eat some too.”
“As long as he keeps quiet, I guess,” she muttered, stumbling to the lattice in front of her closet section. “And keeps that smirk off his face.”
I felt the strong need to defend the man. “The captain is actually a nice person. You should take the time to get to know him a little.”
“What for? Why me? Just because I’m his wife on paper? He said he doesn’t want sex, anyway.”
“Okay, there is a long way from getting to know someone to having sex. I didn’t say you should sleep with him. But you could at least talk with him a little. We’re living in his house, after all.”
“What house?” she groaned again, disappearing behind the lattice to get changed. “I’m sleeping literally under a tree, like a homeless person or some forest creature!”
Giving up on having any cohesive conversation with her, I left her room and went to mine.
I got rid of the scarf on my head, brushed my hair, and pulled it back into a ponytail. Then, I changed into a wide, flower-print polyester skirt and a white, short-sleeved blouse with pearly buttons in the front. Even this outfit felt a bit too formal for this garden-home that called for flowy frocks, summer dresses, and shorts. Sadly, other than the work clothes, I only had a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants I wore back home. It’d always been too cold down in my basement apartment.
By the time I returned to the kitchen, the captain’s family had already gathered at the table. All five of them stared at me. I realized this was the first time they saw me without the scarf on my head.
“You have a ponytail, like me!” Illal exclaimed, flipping her hair back.
“Mine is not as long, though.” I touched my ponytail that reached only past my shoulder blades.
“It’ll grow,” she assured me. “Just don’t cut it short like Ene did.” She tipped her head at her sister, who glared at her, then at me.
“Long hair is stupid,” Ene snapped. “Who needs it, anyway?”
“Well, hello, everybody!” Mara’s voice rang from behind me.
My sister sauntered in, wearing a shimmering maxi dress and strappy stiletto sandals.
“That’s—” I was going to introduce her, but stopped myself, unsure what the captain had told his children about Mara. Did the kids know she was his wife and legally their stepmother? Were they supposed to call her “mom?” That seemed wrong.
“Mara,” the captain introduced her for me. “Meet Mara, children.”
Their gazes shifted to her, then to me again.
“How are you so alike?” Ivex asked.
“We’re twins,” Mara explained, tossing her unbound hair over her shoulder. “We were born on the same day.”
“So were we,” Ene commented. “But I’m nothing like my sister.”
True, despite sharing a birthday, the captain's children didn’t look identical. Their coloring was very different too. Ivex was the color of the golden-blond sand on a beach. Illal was a shade or two darker—light brown. Ene was light gray, like their father. And Xilvo was the darkest shade of walnut.
Both boys also had coal-black eyes, like their dad. Illal’s eyes were bright orange, and Ene’s were pearl-gray, just like her hair and skin.
“Susanna and I are not that much alike,” Mara protested. “We never wear the same clothes.”
“You’re even the same color,” Xilvo gushed excitedly. “Everywhere. You have the same eyes, the same hair.”
“That’s weird,” Ivex agreed.
“And boring,” Ene said.
“Ene,” the captain reprimanded sternly.
“Sorry,” the girl apologized, but I caught her furtively roll her eyes the very next moment.
“We’re identical twins.” Mara pursed her lips, taking the seat at the head of the table, on the opposite end of the captain’s. “So, what’s for dinner?” she asked, clearly trying to change the subject.
The captain returned to the grill.
“We’re having cauldron dinner tonight!” Xilvo announced excitedly.
“Cauldron?” She curled her mouth, looking puzzled.
“Mara, this is Xilvo,” I introduced the boy, since no one else had. “And this is Ivex, Illal, and Ene.”
“Sure. Nice to meet you all.” She waved in their general direction.
The captain opened the grill, and I stepped to the counter.
“Do you need help setting the table?” I asked. There was nothing but a glossy tablecloth on the tabletop.
“No need.” He removed the lid from the kettle. An appetizing aroma wafted from the dish.
“Smells good,” I said.
Xilvo bounced in his seat impatiently. “I love Dad’s cauldron dinners!”
With a grunt, the captain heaved the huge kettle off the grill, then carried it to the table. Here, he turned it over and dumped its contents straight onto the tablecloth.
With a startled gasp, Mara shrank back. I just stood there, staring at various sized creatures spilling from the cauldron. Some looked like clams, or rocks, others had legs and tails, all slathered in a thick, creamy-red sauce that smelled...delicious.
“Yum!” Xilvo grabbed something that looked like a giant pill bug with a flat segmented body and several long, skinny legs.
“Xilvo, wait for everyone to join,” his father stopped him.
The boy dropped the bug back on the table and furtively licked the sauce off his fingers.
“Is this a joke?” Mara jumped to her feet. “This is just...”
Her face paled as she glanced at the pile of “food” on the table, then turned away, pressing a hand to her stomach. Clutching her throat with another hand, she ran out of the kitchen.
I felt like following her. The slimy pile on the table looked inedible, no matter how great it smelled.
The captain’s expression darkened. The children stared after my sister, confusion clear on their little faces.
It occurred to me, this might be the first time they ever had a human for dinner. Stefan never stayed long enough to have it with them.
The dish wasn’t a joke or a prank. This was what they ate. And they kindly invited us to share it with them.
The captain silently turned around and took the empty pot to the water feature to wash it. The kids just sat there, staring at the food but making no attempt to eat.
If they waited for Mara to return, they’d be sitting here for a very long time, growing hungrier. She wasn’t coming back.
It was awkward and gloomy, and I couldn’t leave them like that. The best I could do in this situation was to eat a damn bug myself.
At the very least, I could try.
“It smells so good.” I took the seat vacated by Mara. “Do we eat using our hands?”
“Yes.” Xilvo perked up. He grabbed again the bug he’d dropped. “I’ll show you.”
He folded the bug’s flat body lengthwise, cracking the outer skeleton, then pulled a slab of white flesh out. It looked flat like a pancake and flaky like fish. Xilvo tore off a piece.
“Then you dip it.” He dunked the piece into the sauce spreading in a puddle on the tablecloth. “And eat it.” He stuffed the meat into his mouth and chewed, closing his eyes. “Mmmm. The best!”
The captain finished washing the pot and now watched us from his spot by the sink.
“All right. Let’s see.” I picked a bug out of the pile.
Come to think of it, it didn’t look any more repulsive than a crab or a lobster. It was just gray outside, instead of red.
I crushed its shell, like Xilvo had done to get to the white meat inside. Once it was out of the exoskeleton with all those legs and antennae, it looked like an ordinary piece of fish, or a flat lobster tail. I tore a strip off and dipped it into the sauce.
It tasted even better than it smelled. The flavor must come from the sauce, not from the meat. Either way, it was good.
“Mmm.” I mimicked Xilvo’s expression, utterly surprised by how much I liked the taste of the dish. “It is good.”
“Your sister doesn’t know what she’s missing,” the boy observed pragmatically, tearing another piece from his “pancake.”
“Right, she doesn’t.” I smiled, dipping the next piece into the sauce. “Maybe I’ll take her some later.”
The captain returned to the table and took his seat. The other children started eating too, with crunching and munching sounds coming from every direction.
My hands were quickly covered in sauce up to my wrists, as I dug for more “bugs” in the pile and crushed them to get the tender white meat out.
“You have sauce on your nose.” Illal pointed at my face.
If I used my hand to wipe it off, I’d make it worse. I wiped my nose with my forearm instead, then licked the sauce off my arm.
My gaze crossed with the captain’s on the other end of the table. This was by far the least “classy” dinner I’d ever attended. But it was possibly the most fun. I giggled and shrugged, crushing another bug.
The captain watched me with an amused expression.
Xilvo picked up a round shell-rock from the pile. “Do you know how to eat this, Susanna?” The boy obviously had taken the role of my guide this evening.
“No. What are those?”
“Qualis mussels. You take them like this...” He gripped each half of the round shell with one hand. “Then wiggle them a little.” He rotated his hands in opposite directions. The halves of the shell fell open, revealing a gray core. Its wrinkly surface reminded me of the human brain. Or a walnut. Depending on how one looked at it. “Want to try it?” Xilvo offered the core to me.
I decided to think of it as a walnut not a brain. Dipping it in the sauce, I took a bite. The texture was denser with this one, but the sauce made it taste just as delicious.
“It’s good.” I smiled.
“I told you.” The boy nodded confidently. “Dad’s cauldron dinners are the best.”
The captain listened with one of his crooked half-smiles while effortlessly crushing the shells in his giant hands.
There wasn’t much to clean after dinner but our hands. The captain had already washed the pot. He just wrapped the empty shells into the dirty tablecloth and put the whole thing into the garbage shoot.
“Where does the garbage go?” I asked, watching him.
“In the composter below. It’s then used to enrich the soil for the plants to grow.”
“Oh, the tablecloth is biodegradable, then?”
He arched a brow ridge. “Isn’t everything?”
On Aldrai, it appeared it was.
As the captain was putting away a few leftover mussels and “bugs,” I asked if I could have one. I then cracked it, sliced the meat into thin strips, and put some sauce in a small dish before taking it to Mara’s room.
She sat on her bed, dressed in her silk pajamas, a cleansing mask smeared on her face.
“What’s this?” She eyed the plate suspiciously.
“Dinner.” I handed it to her.
As far as food went, Mara had the endurance of a monk and could go for weeks sustained by nothing but vitamin shakes or vegetable juice if she suspected she’d gained a pound. But this was a new planet. Our bodies had gone through a lot already, and I honestly didn’t remember the last time any food had passed her lips.
“You need to eat,” I insisted.
She wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t tell me it came from that pot.”
I didn’t say that. I knew my sister. She had the willpower to fast for days as part of the many diets she had done in her life, and now was not the time for that.
Instead, I brought the dish to my nose and smelled it with an expression of utter pleasure on my face.
“It’s really good,” I said. “Try it. It tastes very much like the lobster from that French restaurant where we had lunch with Petra, the German heiress, remember?”
She lifted a strip between her fingers, then took a tentative bite.
“Not bad. Fine, you can leave it here.”
Chapter 8
SUSANNA
Today had been overwhelming. Everything was new here—the smells, the tastes, the textures. All I’d done was eat and talk, but as night fell, I felt exhausted.
Alone in my room, I stripped off my clothes, then finally sank into the bathtub carved from a solid slab of rock. The warm water caressed my skin, reaching up to my neck when I lay down. The tub was long. Stretching out, I could barely touch the other end of it with my toes.
Something poked at my ankle. I shifted my leg. Another slight poke came to my thigh.
Alarm jolted me, and I sat up.
Slick, silvery bodies slithered in the water. Their reflective shapes stood out against the dark rock of the tub. Two of them, each about the length of my hand, tapped against my leg with their heads, two more propelled from the wall of the tub toward my other leg.
With a screech of panic, I leaped out of the tub, splashing water all over the place.
Heavy footsteps, muted by the rubber cobblestones, thudded outside of my room.
“Susanna?” The lattice gate flew open, and the captain barged in.
I dashed for the exit, running into him. “Snakes!”
He grabbed me.
“Snakes? Where?”
“In the tub!” I gripped his shirt, shaking out my legs. The sensation of the creatures slithering against my skin wouldn’t leave me. “Long, silver things...”
“Do you mean nals? The fish?”
“I don’t know what they’re called. Ugh!” I kept shaking my legs. “Gross! So, so gross. Fish?” The word finally registered with me. “Why are there fish in the bathtub?”
“To clean it,” he said, matter of fact. “Nals are harmless. Probably just curious, since that tub hasn’t been used for a while.”
“You have fish living in the bathtub?” I just couldn’t wrap my mind around that. “You don’t take them out before taking a bath?”
“No. Why would we? They mostly keep to the walls and eat soap suds.”
His calm tone had soothed my panic.
“Is that a common thing on Aldrai?”
“Yes,” he assured me.
“Okay, well... They scared me.” I exhaled slowly, the tension and stress receding. “Sorry. I’ve been too jumpy lately.”
Lately? When did it all start? When my cheating husband left me for his receptionist after stealing millions? When the mafia guys got me on their radar, scaring the shit out of me on quite a few occasions? Or when I got my husband’s head delivered to me, along with the threat of me being next?
I dropped my shoulders and pressed my forehead to the captain’s chest, feeling drained and exhausted. I clung to his side, my hands fisted into the soft material of his shirt, his clothes getting soaking wet from my naked body.
