Page 22 of Kailirex (Brides of the Mylos #6)
CHAPTER 22
STELLA
“What do you mean, you’re going to fly all the hell way up there, then fly all the way back down? And for something that for these super advanced aliens is apparently a simple procedure?” Pop said, crossing his arms.
“I want to make sure he’s okay,” I explained.
“And you think he won’t be?” he replied, mulishly. “He’s my son, and until now I never even met any of these aliens personally, but I trust the doctors here if they say it’s all true.”
“Well, everything comes with some risk-” I pointed out.
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“I did tell her I’d keep her in the loop,” Eric said, throwing me under the bus. “And Kai said if she needed to come back, it would only take an hour, tops, for them to reach the Fleet.”
I glared at him, the traitor!
“If it will make her feel better, I do not mind,” Kai broke in.
“Pop is right,” Dad said, looking up from his wheelchair. “You heard the doc. I’m fine. It was just a nasty surprise that shocked me, giving me a kinda mini panic attack. The only reason I’m even getting this done is because my angina is in its early stages and a super easy fix using those nanites. They want to fix it before it gets any worse, make me as good as new. I’ll have the ticker of a man twenty years younger.” He took my hand, holding it in his while he patted it with the other. “Go have fun. You can send me a picture of how nice it is and cheer me up while I’m sitting in a boring hospital room for a few hours.”
Mom sighed. “Your father’s right. If you fly up, wait around, and then go, you’ll be too worn out to enjoy your evening. And we’ll both feel bad about it.”
Ah, here we go - parental guilt trip. If I stayed, I’d make them feel bad, and Dad needed cheering up, which he claimed he would be if he saw a picture of me posing with a palm tree in Hawaii, or by a pool with a drink, whatever. I knew I wasn’t going to win this one, so despite my better judgment, I caved.
“Fine. But now we need to find a different shuttle so we’ll still be hanging around for an hour or more.”
A large, dark gray SUV pulled up, a seven seater.
“Oh, look, our Uber is here,” Mom said.
Kai helped Dad out of the chair and into the SUV, while Piloris helped Pop by holding Sookie’s leash for him, and then handing him the dog. Before I knew it, my family had piled in, closed the doors, and ridden off.
I turned to find Kai busy tapping away on his kunnarskyn. He glanced up, looking pleased.
“Our stars have aligned once more,” he said. “There is a shuttle departing JFK that will wait for us to arrive.”
“Really? So someone else is also going to Hawaii?”
He shook his head. “No, Guam, but they will drop us off along the way. It is only a short detour for one of our shuttles.”
“I best call us an Uber then.” I pulled out my phone. “Says it will be here in fifteen minutes,” I read out loud.
“Perfect.” He drew me into his arms, pressing a kiss upon the top of my head as I rested my face against his chest. “Dad will be fine. Such a treatment really is routine for most Mylos and other races with our level of technology. In fact, he would have had the treatment at the first sign of having any symptoms.”
I sighed, tightening my arms around his waist, enjoying the solid feel of him and taking comfort in his surety. “I know. I’m a worry wart. I promise to try to relax.”
“Mm, that’s all we can do. Try to relax and trust things will go as they should. He is in the most capable hands in the entire solar system, after all.”
Knowing that did make me feel much better, and besides, mild angina aside, Dad was a pretty healthy guy. He’d always looked after himself, never one to drink too much or eat too much junk food.
“So, do you want to get married on a beach?” I asked him, thinking back to what Mom had said about checking out package weddings similar to the one we were to attend.”
“I’d marry you anywhere.”
I giggled, looking up at him. “That’s right, Xero said we could choose just about any place, and he’d find a ready to go deal for us.”
“He can do it too. You heard about Space Santa, yes?”
“Who hasn’t? Why, did he get married to his mate someplace interesting?”
“At a Santa’s Village in Finland, by Santa himself.”
I laughed. “No way!”
“Yes, way.”
“That is pretty awesome, but I don’t think I want to do that.” A memory came to me then, of me as a child of maybe around five, watching Cinderella. “I think I’d like to get married at a castle and be a princess for a day.”
He lifted his arm and began tapping away.
“Are you telling Xero to find a castle deal for us?”
“Yes. He can forward them to Mom for her to look at while Dad is asleep letting the nanites do their work.”
“That’s a good idea. Ask him to not actually book anything though until I see what her favorites are. Just in case she gets carried away.”
I felt his arm move as he tapped out that instruction. “Done, and I believe this must be our ride.”
The car came to a stop and checking the app, I saw it was indeed our ride. The driver’s eyes widened a bit when he took in the hue of my alien hunk’s skin, but he said nothing.
“Would you like a water?” he asked instead, once we were in and all buckled up.
“No thanks,” I said and Kai shook his head. “Busy afternoon?” I asked.
He looked in the rearview mirror at us, his eyes moving from me to Kai. “Been alright. Just another day in New York.” He pulled out smoothly. “You? Visiting someone sick?”
“My dad, but they discharged him as he’s alright.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Yes, yes it was. I took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling most of my tension float away. Dad was okay and in a few short hours, would be even better. And that was more than good, that was great.