Page 43 of Bradi

Chapter Twenty

Bradi rushed through the compound gates and dismounted his horse quickly, tossing the reins to the first person he saw. The redheaded teenage boy who caught them looked so familiar that he almost stopped to question him, but was too worried about Marisa to bother.

He ran full force toward his house. “Doc?” he called out, as he burst through the door.

“She’s not here. I’ve been waiting for her myself.”

Bradi turned slowly, not believing his own ears. “Pete?”

There, in the center of his living room, stood Commander Peter Williams. Peter gave him an odd smile before taking a step toward him. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, Bradi.”

“I…we…thought you were dead.”

A faint laugh escaped Peter’s lips as he turned in a small circle. “No, I’m very much alive, and I’ve been worried sick about the two of you.” Peter rubbed his side, as if feeling phantom pain, and nodded his head.

The urge to embrace his friend was great, but Bradi held back, unsure of the welcome he’d get. “We’re fine.”

“They told me that Marisa’s been staying here,” Pete said, glancing around their home. “Hardly seems like the kind of place she’d like.”

Did he know that Marisa was his wife now? “How did you find us?”

Peter waved his hand dismissively. “I called in a lot of old favors and managed to find someone who could track the POD signal. It took us a bit of time, but we finally found you two.” Peter put his hands out, and walked toward him. “It’s good to see you. I was afraid that you were dead. I couldn’t believe the preliminary reports concerning the POD when I saw them. I hoped beyond hope that one of the life forces that registered on the POD was Marisa’s. I never dreamed you made it off the ship too. But who was the third person?”

“Third person?” Bradi asked.

Peter’s brows came together. “Yes, the POD registered three life forms on board right before its signal was terminated. Who was the third?”

There had been no one else aboard the POD except for him and Marisa.

It hit Bradi then—the baby.

The POD had sensed the moment of conception and had included it in its signal. Bradi stiffened and waited for Peter to probe more. He didn’t.

“Umm, I’m not sure. The damn thing malfunctioned and we shot right past the rendezvous point. It’s sitting at the bottom of the sea as we speak. We were lucky to land there. If we had hit solid ground, we would not have survived.”

A knock sounded at the door and Peter looked at Bradi. “You going to get that?”

“What? Oh yeah, hold on.” Bradi tried to regain his composure and opened his door. The redheaded boy who had taken the reins from him stood there looking at him. It hit him then, it was the boy from the POD.

Snatching the boy’s collar, he yanked him through the threshold. “Why, you little son of a bitch.”

A hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Before you tear his head off, you should know that he’s Dr. Graves’s grandson and he saved my life,” Peter said.

“I told the little bastard to give me five minutes. He took off the second I cleared the damn doorway!” Bradi ran his hand through his hair to avoid striking the kid. “I had to drag Doc further than I should have to get her out of there.”

“Ceelean, tell the Lieutenant Commander that you’re sorry before he decides to tear your heart out.”

The boy gulped and took a step backwards. “I’m s-sorry.”

“There, that’s better, now isn’t it?” Peter said with a chuckle. “Now, where’s my fiancée?”

“Umm, Pete, I don’t know how to tell you this, but—”

“Bradi, get the door. My arms are full and Christian is loaded up too!” The sound of Marisa calling out to him was both a relief and a worry. She was safe from Stegian, but about to walk into another hornet’s nest. “Janelle, the door, now! I see your horse out here. Don’t make me—”

He opened the door slowly and found a large mound of plants greeting him. Assuming that Marisa was behind them somewhere, he began to unload her arms. “You should not have carried all of this.”

“Pfft, please, these are light. You and Christian sound so much alike at times that it scares me. Oh,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “You should see the healing properties in some of these. That one with the blue tint is similar to aloe, except it heals burns instantly. Christian showed me and I’ve got to tell you, it blew my socks off. Bradi…what’s the matter?”

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