Page 14 of Paradise

“I’ll tell him when he gets here,” Wyl said cheekily.

“Wyl, stop monopolizing him,” a woman said. “Gare, welcome! And Jonah, Cody, don’t hang back!” Slender arms enveloped both of them, and then soft hands touched his face. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“The sun’s makin’ his eyes tear up,” Daddy explained for him.

“Oh, poor thing, of course. Here, give him to me, we’ll go to the terrace and get into the shade.” Daddy passed him over, and Cody found himself tucked against averydifferent body. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had held him, but it was nice. She smelled even better than Garrett. He heard his daddy explaining things to the others while she walked until the intensity of the light and heat suddenly vanished.

Cody blinked his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was Claudia’s face a few inches from his. She was wearing a long white dress and had her dark hair loose around her shoulders. It made her look younger than she usually did over the holoscreen.

“Hi,” she said with a smile. “Better now?”

“Yeah,” Cody replied, wiping his eyes on the palm of his hand. “Sorry.”

“Oh, you don’t have to be sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry I didn’t think ahead.” She kissed his cheek and set him down but kept one hand on his shoulder. Cody let her pull him close. “You’re even more handsome in person.”

“Thank you,” he said, still shy but starting to feel better. He looked at the table they were next to. There was a bassinet on top of it, rocking itself gently. “Is Renee in there?”

“Yes. She’s sleeping right now, but you can still take a look if you want.”

“Sure.” He stood on one of the chairs and leaned over to see into the bassinet. There was baby Renee, hair wild around her head and one foot stuck in her mouth. She was sucking on it as she slept. “She’s eating her foot,” Cody whispered.

“Maybe it tastes good,” Claudia whispered back. “Like chocolate. You could lick it and see.”

“Gross!”

“Or maybe she’d like yours better,” Claudia suggested. “You could let her use it for a while, see if she thinks it tastes good too.”

“Not these feet,” Garrett said, suddenly behind him. Cody used his hand to help jump down and looked around for his dad. He was heading toward them, still talking with Garrett’s dad, Miles. “They get spontaneously covered with dirt, it’s like magic. Even on the ship, I don’t know how he does it, but I find fresh grass stains on his clothes.”

“But not today,” Cody argued, “’cause I just took a shower!”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re dirty or not, Cody needs his feet,” Wyl cut in. He was a little shorter and skinnier than Garrett, with dark hair, dark eyes, and a wide grin. “Remember what I said we’d do when you got here?” he asked Cody.

“Go for a bike ride?” Cody said.

“Exactly! And you can’t ride a hoverbike with a baby attached to your foot.”

“You keep your bike away from my baby,” Claudia scolded him.

Cody finally began to relax. It was like talking to them over the holoscreen; they were just as funny and kind except it was better because they were really here now. He reached out and took Wyl’s hand. “When can we go?”

“Only after you put your things away in your bedroom,” Daddy said as he and Miles finally caught up.

Cody didn’t know Miles very well; he was working a lot of the time when Claudia called. He looked a lot like Garrett, except gray hair instead of blond, a little taller and a little less polished. He held out a hand to Cody, who shook it.

“Welcome to Paradise, Cody,” Miles said warmly.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Not sir. Just Miles. Ready to see your rooms?”

“I get more than one?” Cody gaped.

“Oh, son,” Miles said, turning him toward the mansion, “have you seen the size of this place? You could have ten rooms if youwanted them, but I thought we’d start with three. Want to take a look?”

“Yes,” Cody said, following him toward the door.

Three whole rooms all to himself, hoverbike rides, Claudia, and a huge house to play in …

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