Page 101 of Alien Haven

They were soon seated at a small table in what had to be the most technologically advanced kitchen Charity had ever seen. It made sense it would be, thanks to Utber being an honest-to-goodness chef. Because the farmhouse was so traditional from the outside, she’d expected a more rustic setting. She had to admit the modernity disappointed her a little.

Sara stirred real cream in her coffee from a nearby dairy farm. Charity sipped hers, enjoying the decadent richness as if she indulged in a particularly luscious dessert.

“I don’t mind answering most personal questions, especially considering your situation. You must worry about whom you cantrust these days,” Sara told her. “You were wondering why I have only human children after eight years of clanship.”

“I was, but it’s none of my business. Seriously, if the people who sent me trust you, then I do too.”

“Thanks, but as I said, I don’t mind. James came earlier than expected due to a major pregnancy complication. When I say he came early, I mean on the kitchen floor of my first house here. I nearly died.”

“Wow. I bet you were terrified.”

“That’s putting it lightly. Having him left internal damage, which couldn’t be corrected. The doctors warned me against having more children. They couldn’t guarantee they or I would survive future pregnancies.

“My first husband had died a few months before James was born. I’d never farmed before coming to Haven. With two small children already to care for, I wasn’t doing so well. Clan Amgar swooped to the rescue and helped us. Hell, they saved us, me particularly. It was considered scandalous how quickly we fell in love.”

“Probably especially where your fellow Earthers were concerned,” Charity guessed.

“Don’t get me wrong; I loved my husband Jesse. He was a good man. Unfortunately, we’d married for the wrong reasons…to be grown up and escape from our small Midwestern town on Earth.”

“It reminds me of a romance movie or a book.”

“Wewereromantics, including pie-in-the-sky dreams. We even accomplished a couple. We earned college degrees despite working full time and having Adam and Tori. We were saving for a home. Then Armageddon hit and tore our lives out from under us. We counted ourselves lucky to get a chance to start over on Haven.” Sara’s blue eyes gazed in the distance. Her sweet facewas sad, and Charity saw the faint lines of care a tough life had etched in her pretty features.

“What happened to Jesse? How did he die?”

“He got sick. At its beginning, Haven was a lot different from how it is now. The Kalquorian governor, a Dramok named Ospar, was eager to help the residents in any way he could. He was limited in that respect since Haven’s original charter meant we Earthers had to rely on our human governor. Governor Hoover was tightfisted when it came to aid. He acted as if the money came out of his own pocket. A real ‘pull yourself up by your own bootstraps’ type, and tough luck if you couldn’t afford boots in the first place.”

“Sounds similar to what they have on Mercy and New Bethlehem. He would have been an Earthtique,” Charity supposed.

“No doubt. When Jesse got sick, we’d just planted our first crop. There wasn’t money for him to see a doctor. So he didn’t and…” Sara’s hands splayed wide.

“Assholes,” Charity muttered. She blushed when she realized she’d said it out loud.

Sara grinned. “I had a few nasty names to call Hoover and his gang. Jesse should still be here. Hedeservesto be here. It’s funny to think so when I love Groteg and Utber, but it’s how it is.”

She gazed into her coffee. “They and Amgar showed up in my hour of need. They made sure me and the kids were taken care of. Knights in shining armor, pretty much. When I realized I was starting to feel more for them than gratitude, I was shocked. I’d recently buried my poor Jesse. I’d just had his baby. How could I fall in love again so fast?”

“It wasn’t the same love as what you and Jesse had.” Charity prompted when she paused, swept up by the tale.

Sara smiled at her, surprised. “You’re right. It wasn’t pie-in-the-sky. It wasn’t a couple of kids who were too dumb to think their future through. It was a mature love between people who’d seen the worst of what life could throw at us.” She thought, trying to put together the right words.

She must have found them because she added, “I saw Clan Amgar as they were. The fact they were stable and loyal and kind was a plus…but they had their shortcomings, as I do. Instead of wanting to mold them to fit my ideals, the way I had with Jesse, I was willing to take them as they were. I loved them for who they were, imperfections and all. I guess I’d grown up.”

“They weren’t unhappy you couldn’t give them kids of their own? It was a big deal to Kalquorians at one point.”

“Careful. Don’t suggest to Groteg and Utber those three fiends of mine aren’t theirs too. They’ll take it personally.”

“Really?”

“Right from the start, they and Amgar adored the children. When they asked me to clan, they asked Adam too. Tori and James were too young to understand what was going on, but Adam accepted them for fathers on his and his siblings’ behalf.”

“Wow. No jealousy?”

“Adam was scared and looking for security. He was lost without Jesse. He clung to my clanmates probably for all the wrong reasons at the beginning, but they’ve come to mean what they should to him.”

“That’s wonderful.” Charity couldn’t imagine being so accepting had her father remarried after her mother’s death, but she’d been older than Adam when she’d lost her parent.

“James never knew Jesse, of course. Tori took to Clan Amgar almost immediately. Especially Groteg. She’s a total daddy’s girl where he’s concerned.” Sara chuckled, her earlier sadness gone. “So my clanmates are their fathers, and they’re excellent ones. The biological question doesn’t come up.”

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