Page 42 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

Chapter 14

Maya

“Hi Walter,

Guess what happened yesterday? I got invited to a gala taking place in four weeks. It’s a fancy event by the sound of it. Professor Thormus promised to take me if things continued to go well. No idea what I should wear. What will I even look like by then?”

I put my tablet down on my lap, staring at the garlands of flowers suspended from the ceiling. I designed this planter fixture myself and seeded it with the plants that Kear, or Professor Thormus, had ordered for me.

The delicate golden buds of the flowers hadn’t opened yet, but the frilly edges of the petals had curled out already, signaling that the flowers would be in full bloom soon. The sight of the healthy, purple garlands with golden-yellow buds filled me with pride since I’ve been doting on these plants for weeks.

I returned my attention to the letter I was writing.

Until our unfortunate but thankfully brief break-up, Walter had never mentioned my pregnancy. I got a feeling he either didn’t know what to say to me about it or just didn’t want to talk about it. Which was fine, it wasn’t about us starting a family anyway. What I was going through this time didn’t need to be our mutual experience.

Walter hadn’t even seen me pregnant. When I first came to Voran, I sent him lots of pictures of the spaceport, of the city I saw from the aircraft on my way to the hospital, and of the hospital itself. But I’d hardly sent him any pictures of myself, other than a few selfies.

Direct video communication wasn’t allowed in my contract. The reasons for that, I’d been told, included the technical limitations of video transmissions between Earth and Neron, time delays, and security concerns. Though, we were allowed to exchange pre-recorded videos that could be scanned by AI before delivery to the recipient.

He had sent me a few sexy videos of himself shortly after my coming to Neron. So that I didn’t forget how good he looked naked, he’d said. Until the past few months, he’d asked me repeatedly to send one of me, too. This would be the closest we could get to having “phone sex” during our long-distance relationship.

With my hormones kicking into overdrive as of late, I’d considered making a video for him. However, as my belly grew, I felt less and less confident about my appearance. I feared he just wouldn’t find me sexy.

“By the time of the gala, I’ll probably be the size of a whale. I won’t need a dress but a parachute. Or a tent.”

Humor was the way to go about the situation. If I couldn’t let a man swoon, hopefully, I could still make him smile.

Chapter 15

Kear

“Oh my dearest Maya,

You really have no idea how beautiful you are. It must be my fault. Clearly, I haven’t told you enough how attractive I find you.

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