Page 36 of A Layperry's Heart
“Oh,” Ghenie says softly. “That’s lovely. I am so very happy for you, Gendry.”
“Thank you,Toralleh.”
“I say this as your friend, not yourToralleh. You deserve this.”
From this angle, I can see the baby that’s strapped to Ghenie’s back. As far as I can tell, she’s human with bright eyes and messy brown hair on top of her head. I don’t have a lot of experience with children but if I had to guess, I’d say she was a few months older than MJ.
Gendry is about to say something else but someone gently pushes him to the side. Christian steps out of the ship. He looks around until his eyes land on Ghenie. I suck in a sharp breath as Christian grabs him by the front of his shirt, tugs him down into a kiss right on the mouth, before shoving him away and heading deeper into the crowd.
Christian walks over to a human man, pulling him into a hug, pretending like he didn’t just kiss the leader of this planet square on the mouth. What the fuck was that?
Ghenie touches his lips before turning his face away, trying to compose himself. Then he turns towards the crowd, holding up his hands. Just like that, he’s back to being everyone’s leader, completely put together and in control.
“We welcome everyone here whether they’re returning or only just starting their stay here! Tonight, we celebrate!”
Then Ghenie carefully swings the harness on his back around so he can take the baby out and hold her against his chest. He walks away into the crowd, disappearing before I can see where he actually goes.
I raise my brow at Gendry. “What was that about?”
“An overdue kiss between people holding themselves back.”
“They got history?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“What an interesting introduction to this new planet,” Mama murmurs, looking around. “Is everyday like that? I’ll need to get my implant as soon as possible so I don’t miss any of the drama!”
“Mama!”
“What? I’m just saying!”
The three of us chuckle as we head deeper into the city. That night, we get ourselves comfortable in our new house. MJ sleeps in her bassinet beside our bed and Mama has her own suite connected to our home. I was worried she wouldn’t be able to sleep with how excited by everything she was.
I lean against Gendry’s side, looking down at MJ as she sleeps. She looks so much like me when I was a baby. My heart feels so content and full and warm. Gendry’s tail wraps around my middle, holding on tight.
I’m happy.
Gendry hums and my chest somehow manages to warm even further.
As am I. I am so thankful that I’ve met you. I’m so thankful that you agreed to come home with me.
I’m happy to see other people with hair like yours. I hope I can talk some people into letting me be their hairstylist.
Gendry runs his fingers down my spine.I’ll talk them into it if I need to.
If someone told me last year that my heart would lead me across the universe I would have laughed. As I stand beside my mate, staring down at my daughter, I’m overwhelmed by how glad I am to be here. I have everything I might need, everything I didn’t know I wanted.
I miss my extended family, the ache in my chest is bright and burning because everything is so new but Gendry promised we can go back to Earth to visit. He explained there will be more exchanges and during one of them, we can go back or if they’d like, they could come here. We might be a galaxy away but we have ways of seeing each other again. This wasn’t a goodbye, it was a see you later.
“Come,” Gendry whispers into my hair. “Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow we can start looking at buildings for your new business endeavor.”
“Thank you,” I say softly, letting Gendry lead me into our bed. Gendry wraps himself around my back, holding me.
“For what?”
“For loving me. For taking a chance on me. For following your heart even when I was ready to back off. I love you, Gendry.”
Gendry nuzzles the back of my head. “I love you. Thank you for doing the same for me. You are mine and I am yours until the Ancestors call us to their side.”
That sounds like a perfect plan to me.
The End