Part 30 (1/2)
”I can see you're serious. Maybe Maal will understand and forgive our impatience. I'm leaving immediately, so as soon as I finish with Jurad and Ca.s.s, there's no problem. I need three or four weeks at most. We need those weeks, Moonbeam, to fool everyone into thinking we resumed our relations.h.i.+p while we were working together. With Maal's change of heart, we-”
”We can't wait that long. I can't wait that long. I'll be showing soon.”
”Showing? Showing what?”
Just spit it out, J.G., and get his reaction. ”A continuously rounding belly that will soon tell the world I'm expecting a baby.”
Varian sat up straight, braced his palms on his parted knees, and gaped at her. ”A ... baby? But you ... and Ryker never...”
”The baby will favor Ryker. That is what's been troubling me.
Varian's heart almost stopped beating; it altered to a heavy thudding in his chest. He stared at her as he wondered if a tape had been missing from his brother's ... He calmed himself and smiled. In a gentle tone, he said, ”You must be mistaken, Moonbeam. It's just the tension you're under. You can't be pregnant.”
”The test was done twice. I am definitely pregnant.”
”You can't be, Jana. You've been with me for almost five months. You would be showing now if you were that far-or more-along. And you had your menses on the return voyage from Earth.”
”That's right; I did, my last one. I'm less than two months pregnant. The baby is why I couldn't let Tris do the Rendelar procedure on me.”
”You didn't have it? You and Tris never told me. I a.s.sumed ...”
”It seems, my fertile s.p.a.ce pirate, during all the commotion of your glorious mission, you forgot your last Liex treatment.”
”Me? Are you saying the baby is ...” Varian glanced at his wrist. His computer band with his schedule was missing. It was in his desk, had been in his desk for five months, when Liex was due every three! Astonishment flooded his body and gaze. ”It's mine!” He broke into a smile that kept broadening and softening and glowing more every second. He leapt to his feet, hurried to her, and embraced her. He cupped her face and covered it with kisses. ”It's my baby,” he said with joy and pride surging through him. ”That's wonderful news, Jana. Kahala, be thanks. A baby ...”
”Is it wonderful news?”
His happiness and pride increased by the minute, as did his relief. ”For me, it is, my love. My first child. Our first child ...”
Jana separated them. ”No, Varian, it's Ryker Triloni's child.”
His smile faded and he studied her. ”What do you mean, Jana? It's mine. Ours. You just admitted it.”
”In the eyes of the law and public, as of this moment, it's Ryker's. Are you forgetting your little charade? You've had me living as Ryker's wife for months. If we don't move fast and cover our tracks, the timing of the baby's birth will proclaim him as my husband's. Unless we get married soon, let me hide out on Altair toward the end, then withhold news of the baby's birth for two months, everyone will think your child is Ryker's. In two weeks, I'll be two months pregnant; that's all the leeway we can afford or his size and appearance won't dupe anyone.”
”He? Is it a boy? A son?”
”I don't know that much yet. I didn't do that test. I just don't want to call my baby 'it.' Do you see why I have to give you a deadline to make a commitment to us? If we want everyone to believe the baby is yours, it's vital, because he will favor Ryker, as well as you and Galen.”
”I see your point,” he admitted with reluctance.
”If you don't want your child's paternity questioned and gossiped about, finish up your duty fast and marry me. Do it no matter what anyone says, including Maal. If you don't do it in two weeks, I'll know you don't truly love me and that your duty is more important to you than me and our baby. Tris said it happened on Luz, where you gave me the truth as well as your seed.”
”Tris knows? Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you tell me sooner?”
She explained the shocking discovery and her motives for swearing her three friends to secrecy. ”That's why Tris gave Andrea Rendelar, He and Martella knew how upset I was and knew I needed to talk openly with my best friend after I learned how careless you had been. Tell me, Varian, was it another trick, one you carried out intentionally to tie me to you?”
He tried to pull her back into his arms, but she eluded his reach. ”Don't do that. I can't think when I'm that close to you. I need to keep a clear head to get this matter finally settled.”
”I swear I didn't do this on purpose, Moonbeam. But I admit your news makes me very happy. I promise I will return to you within two weeks and we'll get married.”
”You promised to marry me before and didn't. If you don't honor your vow this time, Ryker will have an heir, Maal a great-grandchild, and Androas a future ruler. If the baby is exposed and accepted as my husband's, he will be born and reared that way. We'll live-”
”You can't do that, Jana. It's my child, mine. He'll be a Saar.”
”How could you prove that was true without exposing that Ryker's been dead for months and you were not only impersonating him but the one sleeping with me? I daresay that stunning revelation would spark new feuds with Maal and the Tabrizes and would destroy all the good work you've done. You see, my cunning and reckless captor, you've entrapped yourself and our child along with me this time. It's up to you to make certain we escape.”
”Are you trying to punish me, Jana?”
”No, just open your eyes to the truth. I will not allow my child to become an intergalactic joke and have people wondering if he's Ryker's child or yours. My heavens, Varian, there isn't even a tiny fraction of a chance he'll favor his mother. By genetically favoring his father, he'll automatically favor Ryker. In any other case or at any other time, that wouldn't matter. In this one, it does very much matter. We can't wait long. I won't wait.”
”Are you angry because I got you pregnant by accident?”
”I believe it was an honest mistake.”
”Thanks, Moonbeam.” He eyed her abdomen where his child was living and growing. ”Are you all right, Jana? How do you feel? Is there anything you need or want? Shouldn't you sit down and rest? I'll have to study up on this condition.”
Jana laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt. ”I'm fine. I'm pregnant, not ill.”
”You should have told me sooner, Moonbeam. I wouldn't have let you go to Maal's or deal with Taemin alone. You could have gotten too upset or been injured. All of this tension can't be good for you and our child. I don't want you taking any more risks, woman.”
”You've been risking my life for months. But I guess it's different to imperil your child's well-being while I'm carrying him.”
”That isn't what I meant. I was always there to protect you. Kagan will guard you while I'm gone.”
”So I'm always safe with you? You're invincible?”
He grimaced. ”No, the two times Taemin snared me proves that isn't so. I could never connect him with that trap just before Ca.s.s kidnapped you, but I can with that last one. You're right; I've endangered us many times. I've been a fool, Jana. I thought I could save everything and everyone by myself, and believed it was my duty to try. That was stupid and vain and wrong. Is the baby why you've finally agreed to marry me?”
”That's a quick change of subject.”
”Is he the only reason you're coming back to me?”
”I was angry when Tris told me the big news. I thought you knew and that's why you had agreed to the Rendelar, because it couldn't be done with me pregnant. I suspected you'd impregnated me on purpose, and the timing couldn't be worse. Once I got over the initial shock, I felt I had misjudged you. But I don't want my child's paternity to come under a cloud. Can't you imagine what Maal will do when he finds out I'm expecting? He's already going to be angry over the fact that there will be no mourning period for his grandson. I wish we had time to fake a new romance or make up but we don't, so we'll deal with the repercussions as they arrive. If you can't solve our problem in two weeks because of me and the baby, then do it to protect all you've accomplished.”
”I'll do it for us, Jana; for you, for our child, not for my mission. If my work comes unraveled because we marry so soon, so be it. I'll deal with trouble later or let someone else do so for a change. The fate of Maffei doesn't rest solely in my hands. I thought that at one time, but no longer. I have you, the baby, and our future to think about; that's my first priority now. But you didn't answer me: Are you marrying me only because of the baby? Have I killed your love for me? Have I lost-”
Nigel interrupted on the communicator. ”Varian, we're orbiting Darkar and ready to shuttle down. We only have a few hours before we leave for Pyropea. Do you need to wait a while before heading down?”
”It seems Nigel is eager to see Andrea before departure,” Jana said. ”Why don't we help the lovers by hurrying?”
Varian went to his desk. ”Nigel, we'll be there in a minute.” He looked back at Jana. ”You're evading an answer, Moonbeam. Or is your refusal supposed to reveal your affirmative responses?”
Jana sent him a seductive smile. ”A long time ago, we made a fate-sealing bargain in this room. Let's make another one today. You return and marry me in two weeks and I'll tell you the whole truth. If you don't, my answer won't matter, will it?”
After Varian had a private talk with his grandfather to tell Kadim Tirol Trygue about the baby, he and Nigel left Darkar. Varian had told Jana how happy and pleased the ruler was about the exciting event. He had chuckled when he related that Tirol had ”ordered” him to make certain he was back with Jana in two weeks and that he was looking forward to having a new granddaughter-in-law very soon. Tirol sent his love, good wishes, and thanks for the excellent job she had done. He also promised to do ”anything and everything necessary” to make certain there were no problems to halt their marriage or to shadow their child's ident.i.ty.
The moment the men were gone, Andrea asked Jana how things had gone. ”Nigel is so excited for you two. We'll be his G.o.dparents, I hope. I'm so pleased for you two. Nigel even mentioned us having a child as soon as possible. People say babies are contagious, or infectious or something like that, to women. But there's nothing like a little one to also stir a man's thoughts in that direction.”
The two good friends shared laughter. ”The baby is settled and so is marriage, but what about a confession of love? Did you do it?”