Page 52 of Volunteer 4711

“Shouldn’t we get up?”

“No.”

“This is the time you usually get up,” I say, just in case he has forgotten.

“I know,” he says lazily, caressing my hand, “but we have just married. People would think it was strange if I was quick to get to work.” Then he adds, “Yesterday was an emergency.”

“Oh,” I say, wondering if we will have sex now. I look at him expectantly, but I actually think he is going back to sleep. When his breathing becomes even, I know he’s asleep again. I think that I might as well enjoy this time too. His bed is much more comfortable than mine, and these pajamas feel like silk against my skin. I’m not tired, but I close my eyes and enjoy not having to work or do anything for a while. I’ve not had a day to myself since I left Earth.

I must have fallen asleep because I wake to my Commander saying, “Wife, wife, it is time to get up and eat something. You must be hungry.”

He’s right. I’m very hungry as I didn’t have lunch yesterday and nothing for dinner.

I get out of bed, and he has slippers for my feet and a dressing gown to keep me warm, although I’m not cold. Then he escorts me to the table and chairs in another area of his quarters where he always has breakfast. There are two places set now.

He sits across from me. “I know you usually eat oatmeal, but I thought you might like to try eggs for a change.”

I don’t point out that I ate oatmeal because it was cheap, and the servants’ menu, as he well knows, doesn’t include eggs or meat more than once a day. “Thank you,” I reply instead, “I do like eggs a lot.” I’ve only had Silver eggs a few times before, and they are similar to chicken eggs on Earth but have a lot more texture to them, making them a bit weird. However, tasting the protein, my body has zero problem with the texture.

My Commander drinks some tea and watches me eat.

“Aren’t you hungry?” I ask.

“It’s a tradition that on the morning after a marriage, the female eats first, then I eat.”

I smile. “Should I go slowly to torture you?”

He simply smiles back.

“What other cultural traditions should be observed today?”

“I must pay a ransom for you, but since you have no parents to pay, I will pay you with money and jewelry.”

“What do you mean ‘pay a ransom?’” I ask.

“It’s an old tradition when females used to be stolen for wives, but do not worry, we are much more civilized now, but if you had parents on the Home Planet, I would have gone to their house and given them a lot of money to marry you. And given you jewelry.”

“Do you have jewelry to give me?” I ask curiously.

“I actually do have jewelry to give you,” he says as if I’ve asked him if he has completed his homework assignment.

“When did you have time to buy jewelry?”

He doesn’t answer me.

I put down my fork. “I’m not finishing until you tell me.”

“Some jewelry I have had for a long time. I inherited it from my mother. Other pieces I bought recently.”

“With me in mind or some other female?” I ask.

“With you in mind.”

I look at him expectantly as I thought this whole marriage thing came about suddenly.

“I never knew what our relationship would be, but when I saw you with your necklace from the Water Planet, I thought it would only be fair for you to have a small piece of jewelry from the Home Planet as well. I was planning on giving it to you when you completed the language program, as that seemed reasonable.”

“That is very thoughtful,” I say, putting a hand on my chest. I don’t tell him that no one has ever given me a piece of jewelry before. My grandmother’s necklace I inherited after my mother died. There wasn’t much else to have, just bills that had to be paid, which I barely managed by selling almost everything.

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