Chapter Sixteen
Tommy and Jobe ran for the barn. Jobe yelled his car and Tommy veered. Jobe's car held three, as long as they didn't mind being very close. He completely trusted his judgment that it was the right one to take. Boer rode in it with them with one arm on the seat behind each of them. It was the only way the three of them actually fit. He liked it, for short trips. Jobe vaulted over the door and landed in the driver's seat and hit lift and thrust as soon as Tommy hit the seat beside him. He hadn't opened the door to the open car to get in either.
Eddy was about to land a "whole, impossible, half-day early." She'd been waiting on the orbital docking station when the yacht contacted traffic control. It had taken thirty Imperial Marines seven minutes to load her things onto it and stock the galley after the hatch cycled open.
She'd been homesick and working not to show how bad it was from the time the others had left Boniface. She'd been so good at hiding it, even Via and Misty hadn't seen it. When she'd hugged her farewell, Misty had whispered they understood she hadn't wanted them to hurt for her while they were so happily anticipating their marriages. Via had given her a letter from Tam.
It had been Boer's father, Bernnis, who had seen the terrible longing in her eyes when she laughed at a baby story about Boer. He'd told him to "Damn it. Do something." Mira had commed Via and Misty, told them what they were asking for as a wedding present and to come up with a way they could give it to them.
She'd come up with a way to get them out of the cam focus completely because she was looking for a way to send her home to Valer for the right reason, and he'd just been looking for an imperial one. He noted Bernnis had told him he really liked his new cousin.
Boer's mother Fainlee had understood they wouldn't be going to Valer to see babies born. Boer wouldn't be there and they'd take the cam focus with them. Eddy had understood the letter was to make sure they all knew that was the only reason they wouldn't be there, and that Tam and Mira both wished they could be as well.
The shuttle pad was used for the first time before Jobe and Tommy got to the port. Nora yelled they were planting and Ven and Anverd ran for the greenhouse. The barn at the end of it was barely started, but the greenhouse had been finished that morning. It had been "simple assembly" and the builder had started with it because it would be useful while the barn was being built. The end where it would be had a temporary covering, but they didn't mind, at all. Boer ducked the rolled up cover and pushed another cart of plants into the middle of them. It was a shorter push with every cart load.
"Gloves and trowels over there. Find a plant sitting on the ground and put it in it the same place."
"It's beautiful, Nora."
"Not yet, Ven. That'll take growing, but it gets closer all the time. We were planning on having this done by the picnic, but Boer said by the time Jobe and Tommy get back with Eddy. I'm sure you brought them, but I'm going to ask anyway."
"I brought them. What am I digging a hole for?"
"A pettibell bush. It has pretty bell-shaped blue berries, four to a stem. Rather small, but a bush has a lot of them and they're very tasty. In here, it'll have berries most of the year. See the lights?"
"Every day is sunny."
"The climate here is mild, but there are still a lot of cold wet days in winter and a lot more it's just cloudy. Boer! It's all planted to here! Lay the sod! A bright place to run and play for a whole batch of little kids will cheer up a gloomy day even for those who don't come into it. When they get older, the barn and riding ring will do the same."
"Hello! We're early and it looks like just in time."
"Welcome, Glonda. Jobe and Tommy went after Eddy at the port. We're trying to get done before they get back."
"I don't blame you, Boer. Chelse! Mirim! Put the food in the kitchen! Mallin, bring our gloves from the car! Toss a pair in every car. Around here, you never know when you might need them. Of course, I stop and uproot non-native plants when I see them places they don't belong. Some of the plants we like too well not to take with us to worlds are very hardy and would move right into the wild, taking some other plant's place in it. Strawberries do not belong on roadsides."
"Birds?"
"More like too ripe tossed out of a car on the way home from the farm market. The people who do it think 'bio-degradable' not 'seeds.' Thank you, Mallin."
"Welcome. This sod is going?"
"To the other end and work this way until we catch up with them. Glonda told me to watch for strawberries."
"She digs up five or six a year along this stretch of road, Boer, and she's not the only one who does it. If it wasn't a terrific place to grow them, there wouldn't be big fields of them here. You're in a hurry for a reason."
"Eddy will be here in a few minutes. It will be the first time we've all been together. You're invited to the ring ceremony. We're copying a custom that originated among married techs, who wore gloves, on a busy space station and got tired of explaining they were married to thousands of people off ships looking for a pleasant guide for a day or two. Ven's here to put little wedding rings in our left earlobes. We just want something that states we're married, even if it's only to us. Lola read about the custom in an old liner travel guide she found in who knows what library. Tori said we wouldn't be the first to adopt it by more than a century. When she said an ethnic group who practiced multiple marriage used it, Anverd looked up the description of the rings."
"It was hard to imagine as more than a political arrangement until you moved in, Boer, maybe until I came by and you were sitting in the kitchen having breakfast. Never had a doubt it was a marriage since."
"I suppose that's why we need a symbol of it, to tell people it's more than a compromise in a treaty to us, that each and every one of us knows we're married and we're very happy to be."
"I don't wear it working on the farm, but I always put my wedding ring on when I go places. What ethnic group?"
"The Shadill, nice people if you read past 'They do what?!' and get to why they do it, how well it works and anyone can get a divorce by just walking out and not taking anything. Tori said it happens very seldom and nearly always because two people who are in different marriages fall in love. She said they're more often groups of pairs than a marriage like ours, but we decided the rings said married and that's what we wanted."
"My family will be proud to witness. Some things just go right. You may not always be able to tell if you're doing the best thing by whether or not they do, but you can always tell if you're doing the wrong one. That's not a contradiction. Most decisions aren't between right or wrong. They're just decisions. Those... people running that world were due for real big to go wrong and it did. The other worlds were working hard to do the right thing, help build the team to help people. When a whole world wants to find the right person for a job for the right reason, it's not all that surprising the right one is found. The most interesting thing is two knew they had the right ones for the job, but two others were right for the family."
"That was actually Via and Misty. They knew they were the right ones for the team I was building, but not the marriage. I consider them still in the family. Misty has been in love with my cousin since she was about twelve. I knew it when O'Dona presented her. Via has been in love with politics since she toddled and a politician was the man of her dreams. Misty was sure Tommy was the right one, but I wasn't really ready for the idea either until she told me to read what the treaty didn't say, just like she had them."
"Seeing it that way is a good statement they did pick the right one for the job at hand."
"True. What Nunture's constitution doesn't say was very carefully chosen. Rinder's choice for our marriage wasn't on Rinder, but she's sure she couldn't have built it as well as Via. Tommy is sure he couldn't have done as well as Misty. When you think about it, that's the most important piece of the whole thing. It's the one that will prevent what happened from ever happening again and has a
n effect on the life of every person who is, and will be born, on Nunture. In other words, I completely agree. I told Jobe I didn't believe in destiny and I was rather sure it was laughing at me. He said with me because it likes me. I've decided he's right. I'm sure something likes me."
"Most happily married people are. Here. This knife will cut through the sod fairly easily and I can fit that piece in over here with just a bit more."
"I like it. I like it better than the sonic cutter I left on the sod cart."
"Been carrying that in my pocket close to twenty-five years. Give it a few strokes across a whet stone after I use it heavy and it's good and sharp the next time I need it. Loosen soil around a stubborn weed, scrape out a clogged harvester blower, cut a flower for my wife. A folding knife with a steel blade is just plain handy in a way a laser knife or a sonic cutter isn't. You about desperately needed Eddy home before you left to go where people will know the rings mean married without being told."
"Uh... "
"Destiny doesn't put together a team like this one for a one-season job, Boer. All of us around here know it. Anybody who actually knows you does. We don't need to talk about it. Like that knife, you're a honed blade the emperor has in his pocket, a very versatile tool that's going to get used on his farm. I keep the whet stone beside my favorite chair. That's where yours is too. You need to come home and get a few strokes to be sharp for the next job."
Boer burst into laughter and nodded. The Harvens were a 'bit' early and so were the N'gangto family. Boer watched Mallin speak quietly to one member of each as they worked to help them get ready and smiled. He'd spread the story of the rings exactly as he'd told it to him. So would they. Lola had found the custom, Tori had added what she knew and Anverd had found the description for them, always in that order and very obviously for the stated reason.
The only single farmers in the community arrived and decided to work in the kitchen, not the greenhouse. Glonda told the two brothers why they were hurrying to get it done. They looked around and said it had about as many in it as it would hold and they'd set out therms of beverages and snacks for other somewhat early arrivals to keep it from getting packed. Holman said they'd worked too long to earn their reputation of not being interested in marriage to admit they were disappointed there was already a crowd. Glonda told them Chelse had them on her someday invitation list and Miram thought they were good examples, but she had a feeling she'd grow out of it.
Jobe ran for Eddy and she didn't wait for him to get to her. Tommy dove for the case she just let go when she threw both arms around him. Jobe caught it when he let go when she threw them around him. The two marines watching from the hatch 'saved' the story for Boer, but they'd share it with a lot of others who would be very happy Eddy was home.
Eddy began to cry on the way to the house and Tommy kissed her and told her he'd needed her home and Jobe had wished it for him. Jobe noted he'd wished it for himself and everyone else, too. She laughed when he told her about the expression on Tommy's face when they found out it had been granted right after he made it. She gave him another kiss.
"I missed you too, Tommy. I knew when you got home. Six days ago."
"Six. It's hard to pack all that's happened into that short a time, let alone the love."
"Boer's moving fast. How soon are you leaving?"
"Day after tomorrow."
"Ow. Oh, there it is. I've dreamed of that house, of turning into that drive. That very full drive."
"We saved tomorrow for the family, but today we planned for neighbors. We're having a pot luck picnic."
"I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or pleased, Jobe. It says a lot about our neighbors and how they feel about us."
"You'll like them all. Nora is about bubbling with pleasure that there will be children running all over the yard this evening. They've all been working very hard to finish what she designed for ours before we got here. Well, the part we can get done. The stock barn with indoor riding ring for horses will take awhile."
"It's a greenhouse!"
"With a lot of grass between the plants. Hello, Holman!"
"We left you space to get into the barn to park! They're all in the greenhouse! We've got it out here until they're ready to give tours!"
"Thanks! Holman and Gerro are brothers and our only single neighbors. They've both been divorced over thirty years, and both still sure marriage isn't right for them."
"Faiths, Harvens and N'gangtos, Jobe."
"I didn't recognize the blue car, Tommy, but I think I'd have guessed. The Faiths and N'gantos both have teenage children who I think are anticipating baby-sitting jobs. The Harvens just retired from farming, but aren't moving. They don't have any children and are anticipating making sure ours are spoiled properly, even though their grandparents aren't close. With the Borscham brothers, our four nearest neighbors, in more than just proximity."
"They all know we're leaving, Eddy. No one had to tell them. Mallin Faith basically told us they'd be watching over you a few minutes after we met him."
"Tommy was a bit worried he wasn't worried. Welcome home. The one with the bow on it is yours."
"It's beautiful! And a nice size."
"It's one of three five-passenger cars. There are two six, that transport for thirty and this one. Boer dropped Jobe in it and said we'd take it. There's room for a couple more if someone falls in love with one or decides another is needed. Basically, because Mallin Faith told Boer that Merne Harven had saved a piece of land for a much-needed community flyer port. The contractor who did the shuttle pad built it in two-and-a-half days, using a material no one else had thought to use for one before."
"Which she didn't tell him until he landed our big flyer on it a half-day later. She'd seen it as a solution to the same problem for a lot of communities like this, at a price they could afford."
"Eddy!"
Jobe and Tommy grinned and followed Boer. He had Eddy in his arms and was carrying her to the greenhouse. There was a 'crowd' at the side door at the place where it widened to a grassy place to play. Nora had planned places for bigger kids and adults in places sheltered from the cold winter rains too. The cover on the end, where the stable and riding ring would be, was down. They'd gotten it done with the help of their neighbors.
Boer grinned and carried Eddy right through the rest of the excited family to the middle of the area of fresh-laid sod. Ven and Anverd were waiting there and their neighbors were behind them. He set her on her feet and she collected hugs, then looked at him.
"We found a way to say our marriage is more than just a compromise in a treaty to us. Our friends are here to witness it, except Ven. She's going to give us our rings. Our friends, good neighbors, I accepted each of the members of my family when they were presented by their worlds, but there were no vows and no symbol it was true marriage. The Treaty of Relatross was written with great wisdom. Those who wrote it knew a document could create 'a political arrangement,' as Mallin called it, but not a marriage. Only the people within it could do that. Each one of us is very sure we're married and it's right for us. This is how we've chosen to say it. I choose to be married in the true definition of the word. I pledge fidelity and lifelong love. I ask for the symbol of my choice and my vow."
"Lean down, Boer. This is supposed to go in a certain place. Your choice of metal for it was white gold, not platinum, which is also used. Why?"
"Because I think of gold when I think of wedding rings, Ven. The fact it's supposed to be silver in color was a bit disappointing at first, but I realized I didn't want to change it because people could find what the little silvery ring meant if they saw it and got curious."
"It's 'silvery,' but it's obviously not silver. Anyone who looks closely will know it's white gold. Hand me the fusing unit, Anverd. He designed this specifically for this purpose. It pulls the ends together in the correct arc and welds them seamlessly. The heat sinks are built in."
> "Thank you, Anverd."
"You're welcome, Boer. I'd feel smug, but design was tell Kargerri what I wanted it to do, hold my hand out for it when she was done and smile widely when I handed it to my wife. I was well-rewarded for having the idea."
"Boer introduced us almost twelve years ago. He grabbed Anverd from behind his desk on Boniface and brought him to meet me on Grainland. He finally found a way to get us together so marriage made sense and brought him to ask me. He also brought a magistrate to perform the marriage. The rest will be faster, Boer. I'm learning how to do it as I do it. We're doing this in the order you accepted them. I decided."
"Yes, Ven. Thank you."
"Had to be some kind of order. You turning around and saying, 'Uh... ' after each would definitely slow things down. Done."
"Jobe, by custom, the first accepted is the governor's bride. I shall always think of you as mine, Prince Jobim Thiretess-Relatross."
"I love you. I choose to be married in the true definition of the word. I pledge fidelity and lifelong love. I ask for the symbol of my choice and my vow. I remembered it!"
"Yes, Jobe, you did. Hand me the unit."
"A lot faster."
"I've been a surgeon over twenty years. I only need to go slow on a simple technique the first time. Done."
"Dirda, First Lady Relatross, the one I hoped was waiting for me."
"There just wasn't anyone else, Boer. When you found a way for us to get married without me ending up a princess, I remembered to pack after I put on the gown you'd liked so much. I choose to be married in the true definition of the word. I pledge fidelity and lifelong love. I ask for the symbol of my choice and my vow."
Mim, Lou, Aura, Barri, Dona, Lola, Cal, Li and Nora made their vows and got their rings. Boer gave Eddy's title before she made hers. She smiled through happy tears while Ven put in her ring. Tori 'bumped' her into Boer's arms with her hip and gave her vows. Ven told her it was a good thing her hands didn't get giggles and shake like the rest of her did. Then it was Tommy's turn. He looked at all of them and began to cry.
"I was so alone. I was sure I always would be. I couldn't imagine being happy. It hurt and I... pulled myself in tighter and tighter. I might have said no if Misty hadn't had Anverd send me a message before I was asked. I didn't know anyone knew me that well. I still didn't expect to be happy, but I began to be able to imagine it. The love waiting for me could not be imagined. I love you and it shall always amaze me that I have no doubt you love and understand me. I choose to be married in the true definition of the word. I pledge fidelity and lifelong love. I ask for the symbol of my choice and my vow."
"Tommy, I watched this marriage be built, grow, person by person. I never had any doubt Misty chose you for it. She loves you and knew you were the right one for it because she knew you had the capacity for the kind of love within it and nothing less would ever be enough. The others in this marriage never doubted she was right. I watched them wait for you. They were all busy, but every so often one, then another, would turn and gaze the direction from which you were coming for a few seconds. I checked. No matter what direction we were traveling, they turned toward you. I could have plotted the course of the ship you were on by it and exactly where it was along it. You completed this marriage and it's very fitting that this completes the placement of the symbols of it you chose. Done. Go get your hugs."
"Millan, let's go out and see how the picnic set-up is going. Chelse, Miram, door."
"We're coming too, Glonda. I've been anticipating them all being together awhile, but I don't think standing here with a silly grin on my face is really necessary as a statement of it."
"Tow me, Anverd, it's a wonderful temptation."
"I like the way you put that, Sweetheart."
"I wish my car wasn't at the apartments."
"You want to go somewhere?"
"No, I just want to sit in it and admire it."
"We'll get a ride to it and go for a long drive. We'll find a pretty inn and spend the night, or not stop until the sun comes up and then drive all the way back to the apartments."
"I've heard Boer wish your house was finished a half-dozen times, Anverd, and I've got an alternative suggestion for you."
"I'm listening, Mallin."
"Pick up the car and come back to your house. We'll put you together a supper and a pad and bundle of blankets. Park your car where the drive will be, have supper in your kitchen and spend the night in your bedroom. Leave your car here and let them put it in your garage for you when it's done."
"Ven?"
"Mallin, you can advise me any time. It's perfect, Anverd. Let's borrow a reader and a copy of the book we've been sharing."
"Merne, we're going to get tired early this evening."
"I'm already thinking about yawning, Barb."
"I have a date. To do something with someone. I'll come up with what and who before sunset."
"How about you and Miram with me and Garid to hit the midnight madness sale at Gurnsy's, Chelse? Garid needs shoes and we might talk our moms out of a bit more than usual to shop with."
"Oh, what a good idea, Dali. They'll start putting the sale prices up about twenty-thirty. Waiting for official start at twenty-three only makes sense if you're more interested in the free food than a good selection of bargains and I'd like to have the car home by then."
"I think they've got us, Glonda."
"I think they have too, Ardith."
"I want Thorass Stalkers, Mom."
"Are those the orange and purple things, Garid?"
"All the guys are wearing them. They've got great traction and... a good insole."
"Mom, they are good shoes and they will be on sale. They won't be marked down as much as some others, but everything in the store is everything in the store."
"Dali, they're orange and purple."
"Look at it this way, Mom. Nothing goes with them so he won't be hunting things to go with them, like he did those yellow-green things he's wearing."
"I think you're being overly optimistic, Dali, but he definitely needs shoes and might as well have the ones he wants."
"Thanks, Mom! Massy! Mom said I can have a pair of Stalkers! My sister convinced her!"
"Anverd, remind me to send a message to Marver. I want to tell him the word 'about' was unnecessary in his statement the neighbors were the nicest that could be found anywhere."
"Have you heard how he's doing, Ven?"
"I got a message from Bertille Scholarship House, Glonda. That's a co-op housing unit for med tech students, with excellent marks, across the street from the condo I leased him. They said they'd adopted him. He's now unpacked, there are socks several places at the hospital and the laundry checks to see which need a restock before they call them to take the rest of his clothes home and bring a fresh load."
"He's happy. He's too busy to ask himself if he is."
"He was the one I was sure belonged in the position and I was ready to leave it. I wasn't excited about an eager new group of students to teach any longer. Didn't dread it, at all, but wasn't looking forward to it and eager to get started before the ten-day break between classes was over, but I'd probably still be there if I hadn't been sure."
"He was very surprised when the largest medical school in the empire begged him, and that's the word they used, to take the position of... "
"Chief surgery instructor, Mallin. The title says the same, but seven words looks more impressive on a fund-raising banquet program. Oh, my, look at all those cars."
"They'll pull past the drive and park on the side of the road, Ven. That's about everybody coming. Closest usually come early to help put together. The rest come right close to when told and there's a reason if any lag by more than about ten minutes. These things don't have an end time, but they always have a start."
"Look at the kids!"
"Most have three or four, Anverd. Right along here was a bit low on av
erage for the area."
"It definitely won't be in a year, Merne. All but three of the girls want a baby now. Boer keeps hitting the number nine and blinking, but he'll be disappointed if any of them are. I expect to have four ask me if I have my scanner with me today so I didn't bring it. I'm scheduling full scans for them all early morning day-after-tomorrow."
The family joined the picnic, or some of them did. Boer was among them. Jobe and Tommy were not. Neither were Cal and Barri. It wasn't long before they joined the others though. Jobe and Tommy had 'gotten' rather excited about them all being home.