“Man, this is so unfair! I thought you’d at least back me up on this, Cap.”
He kissed Ford. “Well, I am the one who ordered you not to tell.”
“Yeah,” Emi said, reaching between Aaron’s legs and grabbing his package. “About that. We need to have a little talk, mister.” She squeezed, a little, enough to gain his firm interest.
“Oh, really?”
“No more holding stuff back and hiding behind ‘because I’m the Captain, that’s why’ bullshit.” She squeezed harder.
He flinched. “All right, uncle.”
She kissed him. “That’s better.”
“And we joked about Rob and his grunts being pussywhipped?” Ford snarked.
When they returned to Mars and docked, this time at the Galileo base in Utopia Planitia, there were officials from both the ISNC and DSMC waiting to claim Eckhart’s body.
Including Admiral Bill Eckhart.
He looked on sadly as security guards removed the body case from the Tamora Bight’s cargo hull. “Captain Lucio, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am about all of this.” Emi felt a keen wave of grief and sadness wash from the older man. He truly had loved his nephew. “I thought once that bastard was dead and gone that maybe James would break the cycle. Make something of himself.”
Emi laid a gentle hand on the admiral’s arm. “You did all you could, Admiral. No one holds you accountable.”
The man’s eyes looked moist. “No, I am responsible for this. I should have paid attention. I’d signed off on him going on assignments before. I didn’t think anything of this. I should have looked into the details.” He shook his head. “To think of how many innocent people might have died…” His gaze dropped to the ground. “If you want to lodge a formal complaint against me, Captain, I won’t fight it.”
The twins stood behind Aaron, both of them remaining silent, their arms crossed. Emi felt their indecision. They would abide by whatever Aaron wanted to do.
Aaron looked at Emi and pulled her to him. “No, Admiral, it’s time this insanity finally dies for good. I’m sorry we couldn’t bring him back alive, but he attacked us. He nearly killed Dr. Hypatia. If it wasn’t for the fact that she’s an empath, she might not have realized he was there with her.”
Admiral Eckhart nodded. “I understand.” He offered his hand to Aaron, who shook. “Again, I’m truly sorry for everything you and your crew had to endure.”
When the four of them were alone again in the cargo bay, Emi, followed by Ford and Caph, put her arms around Aaron. “That was a good thing, Aar,” she said.
She felt him relax as they all held him. “I meant it. It’s time this is behind us for good.” He kissed the top of her head. “It doesn’t change the past, but I want to live for our future together and quit letting ghosts ruin my life.”
Chapter Eighteen
They were on Mars for three days before Emi found time to get away from the Tamora Bight. She knew her men would be busy with maintenance, cargo, and official duties that afternoon. She told Aaron she was going shopping and kissed them good-bye. Before she left, she stopped by the galley, found the thermal bag, carafe, and brewed a batch of mint tea.
It wasn’t hard to find her way back to the memorial dome. She found Kelsey’s name on the list and took a beacon from the front information booth. Emi easily made her way to the marker. The park setting hadn’t changed much since their last visit. As she approached, the crystal geode glowed as it had before.
Sitting next to it, she pulled out the carafe of mint tea and two cups she’d brought. She poured tea into both, set one on the ground next to the geode, and hoisted the other one.
“I worried for a little while there, Kels,” Emi said aloud. No one around to hear her, she might as well say it. “I was afraid I would lose him.” She studied the crystal marker. All that physically remained of a vibrant, loving woman who’d left a lifelong impression on her men. The only reason Emi was with them now, when she thought about it and condensed the history to its starting point, lay squarely in the lap of a vengeful, vindictive man who fathered an equally vengeful and vindictive son.
“I know you died loving them. You died because you loved them, but it wasn’t their fault or yours, and I know you knew that.”
Emi sipped her tea. “They still love you. I’ll never replace you in their hearts, and I know that, too. There will always be part of them that loves you. I’m okay with that. Because I’ll be honest with you, I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I get to love them and you only had a couple of years with—”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty.”
Emi nearly screamed at the sound of the woman’s voice. She turned and saw Delaney standing there. Emi laughed as her racing heart slowed to a more normal pace. “Jesus, you scared me!”
Delaney smiled and stepped forward. “Sorry about that. Mind if I join you?”
Emi scooted over a little. Delaney gave her a quick hug before settling on the ground next to her. After thinking about it, Emi handed the other cup to her.
“The boys do this. I thought I’d come by myself. A little decompression.”
Delaney smiled as she took a sip of the tea. “Ford would turn himself inside out trying to make sure he got her mint tea for her on every resupply stop. She loved it.”
“I believe it. He’s good like that.”
“I meant it. You shouldn’t feel guilty. You’re a doctor, you should know that.”
Emi took another sip of tea. “Physician, heal thyself. I can talk the talk, but walking the walk is a little different. Textbooks are fine, but they don’t really prepare you for stuff like this.”
“You’ve healed them more than you can ever imagine. I know you didn’t get to meet them in real life before your sim session. Trust me when I say Aaron carried around a thick black cloud before he met you. I don’t know how you felt when you met him in the sim, but the twins will tell you. He rarely smiled, even then only a little, just for show. He rarely laughed. Never the deep, rolling laugh we heard that night you had dinner with us.”
The older woman nudged Emi. “You guys weren’t going to leave Mars without dropping by and having dinner, were you?” she teased.
“No, Mom. Of course not. Aaron said he would call you tonight.”
“Good.” They sat there in silence for a while. “How bad was it? The mission. I heard some of the basics on the news.”
“Bad.”
Delaney studied her. “They’ve healed you a lot too, haven’t they? I know it had to be hard thinking you were alone in the world, especially at such a young age and still in school.”
“I was alone in the world.”
“No, you just hadn’t met your new family yet.” She looked up at the dome’s ceiling. “I never thought I would lose her so young. I wasn’t even ready to be a grandmother yet, much less bury my only child. I didn’t want to let go of the boys. They were all I had left of her. Thank the gods they’ve humored me all these years.”
“They love you and Dad. You’re their family. You’re all they have left of her. You all need each other.”
They sat in companionable silence for a while. “Please don’t ever let them go,” Delaney softly said. “I don’t think they can lose twice like that in one life and survive it. Maybe Ford. Caph would want to die, and Aaron would blame himself.” She looked at Emi. “And I don’t want to lose another daughter.”
Emi hugged her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The next evening, Emi and her men had dinner with Delaney and Markkus. The night after that, Emi and Donna abducted Sophie for a girls’ night out with Delaney.