Page 44 of Max
It was love at first sight for cyborg and horse. Falyn thought he was a bit pricy, but they had taken weeks to find draft horses for sale. They did find a litter of puppies at the one farm. The owner called them mutts, but the mother was a good stock dog. Falyn was taken by a multicolored male with long hair.
“I hadn’t had a dog since before my parents died,” Falyn told him. “I really like this one.” She held it up and rubbed its soft fur on her cheek.”
Of course, Max couldn’t resist the pleading look in her eyes. “Well, I never had a dog, but it could be interesting.”
The farmer didn’t want credits because they were worth nothing, so Max sourced a new battery for his solar collectors in exchange.
Two weeks later, the horse Max picked arrived. The custom saddle from the New Mexico territory arrived a few days after that. The horse came with the name Jarrod; since he answered to it, Max saw no need to change it.
Jarrod was easygoing, and the other horses accepted him into their herd. The gangers’ horses were returned to them, but they had found a couple of skinny strays wandering that they rescued. One was a pregnant mare.
Since they decided to live in Falyn’s house, Max claimed adjacent unoccupied. Part of it was wooded, and part was overgrown farmland where they could grow crops.
They made a trail through the woods to the additional fields and rode horseback a couple times a week to check on the crops. Other times, Max sent surveillance drones.
A year and a half after letting Colton Price go, they got a vid message from him with his wife and their new baby. That made Max glad he let them go because the female was clearly happy and loved. Even Colton seemed different, doting on his wife and child.
While Max yearned to have children of his own, he also realized he wasn’t ready to share Falyn even with his own offspring. He didn’t bring up the subject because they’d already agreed to discuss it when Falyn felt prepared. After all, she was the one who would carry the child in her own body.
It would be centuries before they used nurturing tanks like those used in manufacturing cyborgs to grow normal babies. Max never wanted Falyn to feel pressured to have a baby or babies.
A little over two years into their marriage, they were basking in the afterglow of lovemaking, still joined. Falyn was caressing him, and she said, “I think I’m ready now.”
“To go again?” he asked, thinking he could fuck her again.
She giggled up at him, and he frowned, not seeing why that was funny. It wasn’t unusual for them to do that.
“I’m sorry.” She stroked his cheek and brushed back his hair. “I should have said what I meant. I’m ready to have your baby. I want to have your baby… maybe a couple or three.”
The joy on Max’s face was beautiful to see. Falyn loved that she could be the source of that joy. She loved him.
Her first pregnancy brought them fraternal twins, a girl, and a boy. Two years later, they had a girl and a boy a year and a half after that.
As Max held their final boy for the first time, he didn’t regret fighting one day for the love he found with Falyn and their four beautiful children. It was so worth his sacrifice.
Bonus Epilogue
Colton got up from his seat on his front porch, drinking down the last swallow of coffee in his mug. The sunrise colors were fading as the sun rose above the mountains in the distance. Every day he thanked the Universe and whatever gods there might be that his ordeal was finally over.
His beautiful Tessa was sleeping in their bed blissfully exhausted from making love until the wee hours. She seemed almost unsatiable since she became pregnant, he was more than willing and able to satisfy her.
The cybernetic enhancements augmented his sexual prowess considerably. He didn’t hate those parts of him anymore. Those changes gave him the power and strength to keep going until he could find Tessa. Her love gave him the incentive.
Psychogenic therapy had wipe out most of Tessa’s memories of her time with Thrix. The medic thought her addiction toseronomecould have augmented the treatment to make her forget most of it. Fortunately, none of it came back after detox.
Colton heard as soon as she got up from their bed. She was moving stealthily through the house to sneak up behind him and surprise him. He set down his cup on the porch railing and waited, smiling. They’d played this little game since they we’re kids.
Back then, she could surprise him, but not since they made him a cyborg. Tessa was almost there when he pivoted and swept her into his arms, lifting her and twirling them in a circle.
Her laughter was a beautiful sound he feared he would never hear again. He set her on her feet still holding her, and she put her arms around his neck, looking up at him, and licking her full lips.
“I win,” she said with a smile.
“How do you figure that? I caught you.”
“I got what I wanted.” She grinned.
“What do you have in mind?
For her answer, she pressed her mouth to his for a sweet slow kiss.
Colton hadn’t noticed until the kiss ended that she was naked. At least not consciously. He was only wearing a pair of shorts on this warm, summer morning. It didn’t matter. Their cabin was so far away from any other homestead, there had never been a road to the property. She could be naked if she wanted to be.
“I love you, Colton Price. Always have, always will.” She said the words looking straight into his eyes.
“And I love you, always…. Forever.”
Colton could still remember the past, but he didn’t let it haunt him anymore because he could see the future in Tessa’s eyes.
The End
