Page 34 of Paradise

Hammer voice … that was an interesting concept, actually, a sonic hammer that you could level against people who needed to be put down mercifully; although honestly, who really merited that? Someone had certainly invented a nonlethal sonic hammer at some point; Garrett could look those specs up and make one for himself, he was good at that. Then he could hammer the shit out of people who bothered his family, and they’d back off without having to be dead or disfigured. It was another good plan; he was really on fire right now.

Words happened, they passed through the air from mouth to ear, reverberated for a while and then came out again all rearranged. Garrett tried to be attentive, but honestly, who could really listen when you had the shapes of all those words to consider?Trade, it was built like an old-style ladder, climbing across nothingness until the next person swallowed it down. Ha, food for thought. Or thought as food. Or something … what?

Kilroy looked dumbfounded. That was a great word, heavy and rubbery. Garrett keyed into what he was saying for a moment. “Why in the sky would you offer us all of that?”

“Because you need it, and we need you,” Miles said simply. “Paradise is in a very brittle state. A third party would help to defuse those tensions and give the populace another choice, and at the same time your people would have the option of a home base and a way to expand your livelihoods without having to worry about being displaced. As long as you didn’t directly aid in any terrorist activities, of course,” he added, and now his voice was hard again, the hammer voice. It kind of hurt to hear it, it was too much like anger. “This offer is contingent on you behaving like law-abiding citizens and being willing to let us perform sweeps of your ships to prove it.”

“It’s a good deal, Kilroy,” Jonah said, and his voice was soft and persuasive, and Garrett just wanted to wrap it around his aching head and let it muffle all the harsh light and loud noises. Jonah had the best voice, drawling and affectionate and delicious. It was warm and insulating, and in his mind, Garrett stuck his hands into that honey-warm voice and let it ease their chills because they were so cold that his fingers were practically numb. In reality, his hands twitched a little but didn’t move from his lap.

There were more words that followed, debate, but it wasn’t trading blow for blow like Garrett had thought it might be. It was more like grav-ball, with players getting mowed down every so often but generally moving closer and closer to the enemy’s goal until they scored. That was good; Garrett could get behind that. He watched his father and Kilroy gain a few meters, get struck back, gain a few more, and then suddenly, the goal was there, and something was being signed. When had that happened? Garrett hoped that he had at least managed tolooklike he was paying attention because. Not. Happening.

Kilroy looked over at Jonah once the deal was gone, and his voice was oddly sympathetic. “Jack’s going to come at you hard for this.”

“He already knows we’re not playing his game,” Jonah said, and when hadthathappened? “He and his lawyer are on their way here.”

“Good luck with him. He’s worse than a feral snipe over your boy.”

What the hell was a feral snipe? Garrett immediately pictured a skinny, patchy little creature with oversized claws and fangs, hissing at him. Then he pictured himself blowing it away into a snipe-shaped cloud of bloody particles, and he felt better.

Kilroy and his daughter left, and the room seemed to take a breath as everyone sighed at once. “Good. That’s the hard part done,” Miles said. “I’ll get Gunny in here; he can go over what he’s prepared as far as a defense of your sole right to Cody. You’ve only got an hour before Jack arrives with his lawyer, who is unfortunately rather biased against me as a representative of the Alliance, so use your time wisely. This could get ugly.” He stood up and left the room.

Jonah lay back in his chair and kicked his legs out. “I can’t wait for this to be over.”

“Me neither,” Garrett agreed. “I was supposed to be tasting cakes with Claudia today.”

“Oh, hell. I’ve been so wrapped up in Jack and Kilroy that I almost forgot about the wedding.” Jonah smiled apologetically at Garrett and didn’t seem to notice when his words took root in Garrett’s lungs and turned them to ice.

The wedding was the whole reason they were here, wasn’t it? Really? They had come to get married, and everything else had just sort of gone to shit after that, but getting married was still the big goal. Not brokering living deals between two cultures—although Garrett supposed that was kind of, maybe, marginallyimportant. But that sort of thing happened every day, while Garrett had never ever been married before. It waskindof momentous if he said so himself.

“You did divorce Jack, didn’t you?” he forced out through chilly lips. His lungs felt so icy it was amazing his breath didn’t steam in the air.

Jonah smiled crookedly. “We were never officially married. Couldn’t get my mama’s approval. I didn’t think it mattered, when things were good. And then it was too late to matter in the end.”

“Oh.” Too late to matter. Not good words. Not applicable to them but still not good. Garrett wanted nothing more than to drag Jonah to the nearest official and get their marriage license, then wrap his fingers around Jonah’s hand as he signed the paper so he could feel the reality of the words.

Jonah sat up a little. “You look so tired, darlin’. Why don’t you go catch a nap? I can handle things with the lawyer. Then you’ll be fresh for when we’ve gotta deal with Jack.”

Are you getting rid of me too?Why was he trying to get rid of Garrett? Had Jonah tired of him already? “You don’t want me here?” Garrett asked, trying not to tremble.

“’Course I want you here, but you look like you need sleep more.”

Ah. A polite excuse. Jonah didn’t want him here for this. Garrett wasn’t being useful, he was distracting, he was stupid, he was useless. “I’ll go.” He stood up to leave. Jonah stood up too.

“Wait,” he said. He took Garrett’s shoulders in his hands and pulled him in close for a kiss. Garrett inhaled and felt the ice in his chest melt with the warmth of Jonah’s breath. He could still breathe. His heart could still beat. It wasn’t too late. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” Garrett told him honestly. “I’ll try to sleep.”

“I’ll come and get you before things get started.”

“Okay.” Garrett left the room, passing Gunnery Sergeant Fred Bowman in the hall. The gunny raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not staying for the briefing?” He sounded displeased. It was like a smothering blanket had been thrown over the tiny, happy flame that had just sprung up in Garrett’s mind.

Well, Garrett didn’t care about his displeasure. He shrugged the blanket off. “I’ve been told I need to sleep if I’m going to be useful this afternoon.”

Gunny eyed him. “You do look like you need it. But try to plan more responsibly in the future, won’t you? This isn’t the sort of thing that one half of a couple should go through alone.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind,”you arrogant son of a bitch.Garrett kind of wanted to smash his arrogant face into the wall, but this was their lawyer, they needed him. He just left and walked down the hall toward the kitchen because he was tired, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep, not now. He stopped a little way outside of it when he heard the noise coming from the room. He could hear Cody in there, and Wyl, and Claudia and the baby. They sounded, well, happy. Not at all worried like everyone else seemed to be. Garrett peeked around the corner and took a look inside.

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