“If we ever have a good surprise on this journey, and I’m not holding out hope it will happen,” she said with a half-smile. “Because so far our only surprises have been challenge-filled, life-threatening, terribly bad news or all of the above.”
“Well, we’ll likely get used to all-of-the-above surprises, right as we finish the errand.”
“Maybe,” Madelaine said and turned to study the trajectory monitor.
Jack didn’t move a muscle. He liked sharing the close space with her even if they weren’t talking. His heart was perhaps foolishly in love with someone he might not get to keep, but hope lived within him that regardless of their future, she loved him. He knew she did. They loved each other and they were married. They might not be able to stay together but he’d worry about that later.
Once all of the packages were retrieved and Madelaine had finished this important errand, Jack knew that, as a couple, they would likely be over.
And even if their impromptu marriage wasn’t annulled, Madelaine would have to go back to Alpha-Prime because of the choices and sacrifices she’d made. Sacrifices that did not include him in her life. He stifled a long-suffering sigh.
Jack thought about his possible options once this journey was over. Would he try to go with her to their home planet? Maybe. Alpha-Prime wasn’t the worst place he could think of to live out the rest of his days, especially now that he had been to the garden spot delight of Malvoraxis Veil.
Of course, he would miss his family and his life on Earth, but if he got to have a life with Madelaine, it might be worth it. It was his most fervent consideration.
The ship settled into faster-than-light alignment. Stars stretched in long silver lines ahead of them.
Madelaine’s hand rested near the console, close enough that Jack could reach it if he wanted to. And he really wanted to. So he did. He covered her hand with his, squeezing her fingers gently.
She looked down at their joined fingers and did not pull away.
“We lost precious time,” she said softly, her focus back on the trajectory monitor. “Time that I feel like we are going to regret losing.”
“Maybe, but it isn’t your fault that thieves are everywhere in all the galaxies. Besides, in that lost time, we gained fuel and survived.”
“True. Then again, we also gained more questions.”
Jack squeezed her hand. “We’re good at questions.”
“Are we, though?”
“No. But we’re getting better at surviving long enough to ask them or think up better answers.”
That almost-smile returned, warmer. “Maybe we are at that. We do make a good team.”
“We do.”
Madelaine turned her hand beneath his and threaded her fingers through his. He squeezed her hand again.
Outside the ship, the wild edge of the galaxy fell behind them.
Ahead waited more Paladin Courier secrets, silent moons that would need his name and maybe a hooded stranger who disappeared into smoke, at the ready to help when they were in dire need.
But the fuel tank was full, the stars were wide open, they were back on track for the Paladin Courier’s important errand and, most importantly, Madelaine Archer Grey’s hand was in his.
Jack decided that counted as a win. A strange one after their recent adventures. Possibly a dangerous one as they went along.
But a win all the same.
Chapter Twenty
Madelaine pondered her life as she held Jack’s hand. She was getting too attached to him. How could she not? She loved Jack. Always had. Traveling with him these past days had been a dream come true in some ways, even as the dangers they encountered mounted day by day. Still, she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather spend this fraught time with than Jack.
She had always wanted a life with him, but once this dangerous adventure was over, she’d have to let him go.Remember what you had to do to get here…
Because they’d had to go so far out of their way to get fuel at Crooked Halo Station, they had several hours of travel to get back on track and into the wormhole she planned to use to get to Keirios and the next package.
The instructions from the farm planet said there would be a two-step process involved this time. She had to get a locker key from an Archivist who would not speak to her because women did not conduct business on their planet.
