Frustrating, but whatever. She had Jack to help her. That’s why she got to marry him.
They’d have to go elsewhere on the planet to retrieve the package and she wouldn’t know how far or exactly where it was until they got the locker key from the Archivist. Again, frustrating, but only because she felt like they were behind schedule because of the stolen fuel debacle.
She spent a few minutes cataloging all the people she’d met along the way who seemed to know a whole lot more than she did about what she was doing and what the ultimate goal was once she’d secured all of the packages.
She’d spent all those years away from Earth training for this very mission like a soldier about to take on the good fight for home and planet. Through it all, it was impressed upon her that she shouldn’t ask too many questions. Her job was to follow orders, not to question them. So, she did her best not to be too inquisitive, even though deep down she was wildly curious about many things.
Quell-don had trained her for this Paladin Courier undertaking, but he’d been more relentless than most about keeping her in the dark about specifics.
What was the life-or-death issue? She didn’t know.
On some level, she didn’twantto know or find out that she was basically on a fool’s errand. The reality had been more maddening than she realized in theory, not knowing the end game for this errand when it seemed like every stranger she met knew more than she did.
She worked her way back to exasperated.
Once she got back to Alpha-Prime, she didn’t expect anything to change. When this errand was over, she’d still have to let Jack go. That would be the hardest thing of all.
It hadn’t taken long—basically, seeing him at the bachelor auction through Seraphina’s violet-lensed spectacles—to fall hopelessly in love with him. Not that she’d ever fallenoutof love with him.
It was not lost upon her that she had been afforded the gift of time with the man she loved beyond all reason.
Jack Grey. Her husband.
If the Secret Keeper hadn’t been available to guide her through the first package instructions, she hoped she wouldn’thave opted to read the name in the envelope and chosen to marry Dirk Zandis.
She didn’t even know what he looked like, but disliked him solely based on what the Secret Keeper had told her about his high-handed attitude and woe-is-me insertion into a decision that was hers to make.
No. There had been little chance of her choosing Dirk Zandis over Jack, even if the Paladin Cabal got bent out of shape about it. Whatever punishment they had in store for her, she would bear it, because spending time with Jack on this extraordinary trip was valuable. It was time she would treasure for the rest of her days.
Madelaine stared at the trajectory monitor without really seeing it. Instead, she focused on the way Jack’s fingers felt laced with hers, resting on the console like they were a long-married couple.
When they’d been a couple in Alienn, they’d always held hands. It wasn’t even something she’d thought about, but when she was all alone training on Alpha-Prime, she’d missed holding hands with Jack. It had been the first thing she missed about him, but not the last thing. She’d missed all of it.
If they lived to be a hundred, she suspected they would have always held hands. Like now.
But a life with Jack was a dream she no longer got to anticipate. A stray thought wound its way to the forefront of her mind. A wonderful realization crept into her mind and waved a flag. The stray thought bloomed into a solid concept.
They were married. Jack was her husband.
When she’d asked him to marry her, he had not hesitated. In fact, he refused to consider any kind of annulment.
With several hours ahead of them before the wormhole, Madelaine started thinking about the reasonably sized fold-down bed they’d been sharing, mostly separately, so one of them could monitor their flight at all times.
However, autopilot was a very handy device that her ship was equipped with. That led her thoughts down a very different path than the trajectory monitor she no longer saw anyway.
“Jack,” she asked in a low tone. “What would you think about having a honeymoon with me before our next stop?”
His gaze, which had been focused out the front viewing screen of the ship on the endless stars, snapped toward her. His fingers tightened around hers, entwining them even more securely.
“A honeymoon with you? Is that a trick question?” he said.
Jack’s eyes popped open in the darkened room. He couldn’t remember where he was for a second. Not at home. Not in the basement of the Big Bang Truck Stop.
Then he registered that Madelaine was pressed against his side and his recent memories returned in all their splendid grandeur.
The honeymoon had beenawesome.
