A Promise Made Read online

  “Uh, right,” I said.

  “Great. So instead of a dark room, they can go directly to the bedroom. Not much fuss at all. I expect to see it happen in an hour.” And with that Garren headed off the bridge, leaving the four of us staring after him.

  I was the first to find my voice. “Is he always this ... uh ... enthusiastic?” I asked.

  Symon chortled while Bethan shook her head. “No, sometimes he’s worse,” she said brightly.

  “My quarters?” Jeffrey said with a note of panic. “He said we’d use my quarters for this?”

  “Well, where else would you expect to take your wife, Jeffrey?” Bethan said with a note of exasperation.

  He looked at the three of us and started sidling towards the exit. “Symon, why don’t you meet me there with the robes. I take a size large.” Pausing at the door, he turned to smile at me. “In an hour ... Karen.” Then he was gone.

  “I’m thinking that our bachelor Chief Medical Officer needs to clean his room,” Symon told us, and he too headed for the door.

  Bethan and I followed. We stopped at a storage room where she found a long white gown and hooded robe with a built-in veil to conceal my face, then she took me to her quarters and showed me how to put them on. I felt like I was shedding a layer of unwanted skin as I took off my Earthforce grey uniform for what I hoped would be the last time.

  When we were done we waited. I grew more and more nervous as time went on. Finally Garren came by, and he and Bethan took me down a corridor to Jeffrey’s quarters, Garren in the lead. When we got to the door, he indicated for Bethan and me to stay outside, then pushed the buttons on the doorpad, opened the door, and entered.

  There was the sound of someone moving quickly out of the room. Garren poked his head into the hallway and motioned us inside, closing the door after us. The room was a large sitting room and showed signs of a hasty straightening job. Symon sat there as well, trying hard not to laugh.

  “It was a tight squeeze, but we finally got most of this place put to order.”

  I sat on one of the chairs, still more than a little nervous about all this. It had been wonderful hearing Jeffrey talk about me that way on the bridge. No one had ever cared like that before. But suppose it didn’t work. “Suppose he doesn’t attach again?” I asked.

  Bethan patted my hand. “We’ll see. It isn’t a sure thing, but he still clearly cares about you, even with the initial attachment broken. That’s a very good sign for reattachment.

  Garren stood nearby and stared at me. I looked down at the gown and the robe that covered it. I still hadn’t pulled up the hood to hide my face as I decided not to do that until I went to meet Jeffrey. “What is it?” I asked. “Did I put it on backward or something?” I was fairly sure I had the outfit on right. There weren’t that many ways you could wear it.

  “No,” he said softly. “I just realized that you resembled my wife a bit. Her hair was like that, and in that gown....” There was suddenly a look of pain on his face, and he turned away.

  I was at a loss as to what to say so I tried to tease him a bit. “Don’t tell me you are going to attach to me, too.”

  He gave me a grim smile. “That would be ironic, wouldn’t it, if I attached to an Earth woman.” Then he shook his head. “No, I doubt that I will ever attach again. It hurt so much to lose my wife, I can’t imagine trying again.”

  “Time will help,” Bethan told him quietly. “And someday you will want to have someone--when the right someone comes along.”

  He sat down and put his head in his hands. I actually began to feel sorry for him, the great ‘General’ looking as lost as Jeffrey had earlier. He smiled sadly at Bethan. “Perhaps. We will see.” I could tell that he didn’t really believe it. He wasn’t going to attach again, I thought to myself. It would make him vulnerable, and he wouldn’t let himself ever get that exposed again.

  Meanwhile I wondered what Jeffrey was up to in the next room. For quite a while now, I had heard crashing noises, and it seemed to be taking a long time for him to get ready.

  I asked Bethan what was up, and she just smiled and shook her head. I looked over at Garren, wondering if he knew what was going on.

  “Don’t look at me. I made my bed this morning?”

  “He is cleaning the room?” I asked in disbelief, finally getting the idea. “That isn’t necessary! Garren, I’m not interested in the room.” Both of them found this very funny, and they burst out laughing. Garren went to the door and knocked on it. “Hey in there, she says she isn’t interested in how clean the room is.”

  There was a pause in the activity next door, and I heard Jeffrey’s voice clearly through the door, in spite of him talking softly. “Garren, you know I’ve worked extra shifts this week and haven’t had any free time. You are so going to be sorry for this, I swear it.”

  Garren looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders. There was one final crash that sounded like something being thrown into a cabinet and the door slammed. Then there was silence for a minute or so.

  Finally the door opened and I heard Jeffrey’s voice. “I’m ready, please come in.” His voice shook a little, and I realized that he was probably as nervous as I was. Cleaning the room had perhaps been his way of postponing what we both were afraid of--that he wouldn’t reattach and we wouldn’t be able to love each other.

  Bethan pointed to the hood, and I pulled it up to cover my head. I didn’t completely understand what the point of this was. I understood that usually the man and woman didn’t see each other during the attachment process, but Jeffrey and I were already quite familiar with each other’s features. In fact, I was pretty sure I’d be able to dream of him regardless of whether we actually married. But I had promised to abide by the rules, so when I went to the door, my face was deep inside the hood.

  When I went into the room, it was dark. I couldn’t see where Jeffrey was, or where to go, so I stood in the doorway. Then I felt Bethan’s hand push me forward, and the door closed behind me. It was now very dark in the room, and I could barely see anything. “Jeffrey, where are you?” I whispered.

  “I’m here,” he said, and I turned to the sound. I could barely make out the tall figure standing along the wall several feet away. “Just stay there and I’ll come to you.” He then started moving toward me, slowly. It seemed to take forever, and I could hardly stand the suspense. Then, when he was only a couple of feet away, he stopped and cried out a little, then started to breathe unevenly, just as he had before, the unmistakable signs of attachment.

  My fear that this was all going to be in vain vanished, and I felt my eyes fill with tears. I started to move towards him, and he motioned me to stay there. “Wait, I’ll come to you soon,” he said, almost laughing. “Let me catch my breath first.”

  “I could help you with that,” I said, thinking of how I’d tried rescue breathing on him before. That made him laugh, and he took even longer for his breathing to settle down.

  A minute or so passed, and he moved to my side, his breathing more normal now. He reached for my hands, took them in his own, and raised them to his lips to kiss them as he had before. Again I felt the thrill that Bethan had called an attachment reaction. Such a cold name for something as glorious as what I was feeling. I stepped closer to him and put my forehead on his shoulder. He dropped my hands and put his arms around me and held me close to him.

  “You’re here with me,” he whispered softly in my ear. “I could hardly believe it when Garren told them you were dead. I’m not sure that I believe it still.”

  I laughed softly and raised my lips to his, and we kissed each other, my lips on his, warm and inviting. I had never kissed anyone like that before. I wasn’t inexperienced, but kissing Jeffrey was unlike any other kissing. Never before had being with someone felt so right.

  By now my eyes had adjusted to the dim light in the bedroom, and I could make out the forms of a bed and a side area with chairs and some cushions on the floor. He led me there and we sat down facing each other. Agai
n, he raised my hands to his lips and I felt him kiss them. Then he ran my hands down his shoulders to his chest, then waist, then to where his erection filled the front of his loose trousers. As I touched him there, I thought to myself that it was a good thing that the clothes that Gaian men wear for this are so loose, otherwise they would be very uncomfortable.

  That thought made me giggle, and he let my hands go. Then he moved closer, until he could put one arm around my back across my shoulders, letting the other hand slide down my back to my waist, then back up across my breasts, then to the back of my head where it stayed.

  I thrilled at his touch, both gentle and insistent at the same time, that wonderful feeling I had had before. But this time, instead of being uncertain, I felt right. I knew it was correct that he should hold me, and I should touch him. We belonged together--he was attached to me, and I’d responded. We were matched to each other.

  I felt him place a small thin band around my wrist and tighten it to fit me. Then he pulled me close, put both his hands on the side of my face, and kissed me on the lips. “Will you be my wife?” he whispered.

  I leaned back and pulled from my pocket the band I had made for him. It had a small image of the earth engraved on it, the image I had picked to identify myself to him, so that he should always remember where I came from. I fastened it on his wrist.

  “Yes, I will,” I told him, although the words were unneeded. He knew he was my husband before I said anything, the instant he felt the band slide into place.

  It was now a promise made. I was his wife and he was my husband, and to love each other was what we promised from this time forth. This was a promise that superseded all others.

  Jeffrey laughed softly, then rose and pulled me back to the other room. Symon, Bethan, and Garren were on their feet at once, as soon as we came through the door.

  “So?” Garren asked. I was surprised at how eager he was, given how reluctant he’d been to have me there in the first place. Bethan and Symon were smiling, and just looking expectant. They’d known all along that it would work and that Jeffrey and I would become a couple.

  Jeffrey just put his hand up to Garren. “Wait for it, Garren.”

  Then he turned to me, held my hand with the band at the wrist, and ran his finger over the band. I looked down and noticed it was a long-legged bird with skinny legs. It was comical looking and the resemblance to Jeffrey himself made me laugh. He looked at the band I had given him and fingered the round Earth symbol with a thoughtful look on his face.

  “Very appropriate” he whispered to me.

  Then he spoke his name and had me tell him mine, and we kissed in front of the others. That ended the public portion of the Gaian marriage ceremony. The three observers congratulated us.

  “We could have a last supper for you,” Garren said. “To celebrate.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Jeffrey said slowly, “I think Karen and I have our own kind of celebrating to do.”

  “Is there anything from Earth’s customs you feel we should add, Karen?” Bethan asked.

  I felt my cheeks heat. “Well, there is one custom,” I told them. “It is customary to carry the bride over the doorstep.”

  “You want me to carry you through the door into the bedroom?” Jeffrey asked, his voice enthusiastic. Before I could say another word, he swept me up in his arms and began to walk back to the bedroom, me clutching his shoulders and laughing.

  At the doorway he paused and turned back around. “Garren, Symon, Bethan, I’m sure you will understand if we don’t see you out. Good night!” And with that we reentered the bedroom and the door closed behind us.

  I was deposited gently on the bed and then he disappeared. The light came on next to the bed, and I could finally see the room I was in. The bed was large enough to sleep two comfortably and long enough for even Jeffrey’s legs. The rest of the room did show the signs of a hasty attempt to straighten it. A couple of cabinets were ajar, and there was one piece of clothing sticking out between the doors of another.

  Even so, it was warm and homey, a comfortable room that matched its owner. A bit disheveled, but everything that you needed was in the right place.

  He noticed me looking about and grimaced. “I wish I’d known this morning that you would be here tonight,” he told me. “I would have spent more time cleaning.”

  And that’s when it hit me. It had just been this morning that I’d been counting bandage rolls on the Hope, before the battle with the Gaians, before coming to the Promise and meeting Jeffrey. So much had happened and it had been less than twenty-four hours.

  Twenty-four hours that had completely changed my life.

  I just laughed and held my hand out to him. “Oh, come sit down with me. We must have better things to do than worry about housekeeping.”

  He needed no further invitation and promptly sat beside me on the bed. We just smiled at each other for a bit, then his smile changed and became something a little more intimate. He raised his hand and stroked my cheek.

  “It’s funny. I know what I want to do, but I am not quite sure how to go about it. Would you have any ideas?” he asked me. I think that this is when it finally occurred to me that Jeffrey was a virgin and this was the probably the first time he’d even been alone with a woman. How would he react when he discovered that I wasn’t? This thought kept me busy for quite awhile as I considered how to answer him.

  It wasn’t like I had bunked with a lot of men. Until I’d joined Earthforce there had only been John, the boyfriend I had in my last year of college. While we weren’t madly in love, I had been curious as to what sex was like. At the time it had just seemed prudent to get the waiting to find out over with. We had enjoyed it. Well, that is, he had enjoyed it the first time, and the second time was fine with me, if not the best experience of my life.

  When we’d split up, as friends, and I had not really felt the need to find anyone else. The occasional man I’d bunked with in the military didn’t hardly seem to count when it came to experience.

  I had never regretted going to bed with John or any of the others. After all, that’s what had been expected at the time. But now, there was a part of me that worried that perhaps this gentle and loving man would think less of me, knowing that he wasn’t my first lover. Some of this must have shown in my face.

  “What is it? Have I said something wrong?” he asked.

  “No,” I said quickly. I was not going to let anything spoil this night. If I had to act like it was my first time, then I would. Perhaps if he were inexperienced, then he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. If I could delay our lovemaking a little and seem reluctant, then he wouldn’t know.

  He frowned a little, like he could tell I wasn’t being honest with him. He pulled me to him and kissed me very hard. I opened my mouth and touched his lips with my tongue. He hadn’t expected that and pulled back, startled. I smiled a little. “Don’t you do that on Gaia?” I asked. He smiled back at me and leaned in for another kiss. This time, his tongue touched mine when our mouths opened. First mine was in his mouth, then his was in mine. We were both smiling when we pulled back for air.

  “Sweet Karen, that is fun, but I was really more interested in the parts of you I haven’t touched yet.” He pulled on my robe, and I helped him pull if off of me. Then he touched my gown, and started to pull it up.

  I stopped his hands when he was intent on making me naked so quickly. “I’m not wearing anything under this,” I told him.

  He grinned at me knowingly. “So? You think I didn’t know that? Come on, take it off. I want to see your body.”

  Still I resisted. “Why don’t you show me more of yours first?” I told him. At this he grinned at me and pulled off his robe, then quickly shed the shirt as well, only keeping his pants on. The fabric on the front of them was stretched tight, and when he noticed my looking at him there, his grin got wider. “All in good time. We can get to that later.”

  I admired his upper body. He was thin but had wide shoulders, a
nd while his arms didn’t have the muscle definition of a body builder, they had a wiry strength that I had felt before when he had held me. I reached out to touch him, and he let me slide my hands along his chest. When I stopped to play with his nipples, he groaned a little and grabbed my hands. His eyes were warm and dark, and he leaned in to kiss me again. Then he let me go, and pulled on the gown again. “Fair is fair. I showed you my chest, you show me yours.”

  I laughed and let him pull open the top of the gown so it slid off my shoulders and down to my waist. His eyes lit up as he saw my breasts, and I heard him give a little sigh of appreciation, just before I felt his hands reach over to cup them gently.

  “How lovely they are,” he said, rubbing his hands over them and fingering the nipples gently. “And soft.”

  His touch made me quiver, and I reached over to touch his chest as he was touching me. He leaned over and took one nipple in his mouth and sucked on it gently. My stomach contracted, and I felt a sensation like fire move through me and land in my own groin. I cried out and clutched at him, pulling him closer to me.

  He chuckled softly. “I guess you like that.”

  I grinned at him weakly, and forgetting my attempt to seem unsure of what to do, I reached down to stroke his hardened penis through the fabric of his pants. That made his eyes widen, and he stopped smiling. Instead he swallowed convulsively and grabbed my shoulders. “Oh yes, do that,” he told me.

  I unfastened his pants and slipped them down to uncover him. He sighed as I continued to stroke him gently. Lying back on the bed, he watched me for a moment, the look in his eyes so tender it made my heart skip beating for a moment.

  “You do that well,” he said. For a moment I became concerned that he would wonder about my experience, but he was enjoying this too much for me to stop.