Page 16 of Married to the Alien Mountain Man (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #5)

16

OAKEN

H olding Jaya while she slept so soundly in my arms brought me more pleasure than I ever could have anticipated. I felt that I carried something very special. Something sacred. I cradled her close, savouring the feel of her warm breaths beneath my throat, the slight weight of her against my body, her heady human fragrance.

Between Jaya no longer slowing me down, and the fact that I was enjoying myself so immensely, the way home went much more quickly than the first part of our trip had. In what felt like no time at all, I had reached my property, and was carefully bringing my sleeping wife through the door.

Now came the question of where I would put her.

But really, there was no question at all. Of course, I would put my sleeping wife in my bed.

The real question was, where would I sleep, once she was in my bed?

Grimacing, I decided I would tackle that issue later. Avoiding the floorboards I knew squeaked loudly, I brought Jaya into my bedroom.

Selfishly, I did not put her down right away. I lingered at the side of the bed for a moment, memorizing the way she felt in my arms. And memorizing the way she looked, with her lovely face resting so comfortably against my chest.

Eventually, though, and not without a significant amount of regret, I did put her down, easing her slender frame onto the mattress. I was not sure I could get her positioned beneath my quilt without waking her. So instead, I spread the leather bedroll blanket I’d already given her over the entirety of her body. Luckily, this blanket was sized for a Zabrian, and therefore there would be no part of her left out in the cold

I considered what to do about her boots. Taking off any other items of clothing while she slept seemed entirely out of the question. Even the mere thought of it made me feel like I had come down with some sort of fever.

But taking off her boots would be alright. Wouldn’t it?

I knew I certainly did not enjoy sleeping in my boots after a long day. I doubted Jaya would enjoy it, either. And as far as I could tell, humans did not hold any special modesty towards their feet. I’d seen Magnolia’s bare feet, both inside her home and mine, several times.

And I was her husband, wasn’t I? At least for the next fourteen days. Surely, a husband would be allowed to remove his tired wife’s boots for her.

I would do it, I decided. But I would be quick about it, so that Jaya didn’t wake up and think that I was doing something perverted to her in her sleep.

Using my tail, I held the blanket away from Jaya’s feet and undid the boots’ laces. I slipped off her right boot, but as I was just taking off her left, movement caught my eye, and I thought that maybe I had already failed, and that my wife was waking up.

But it was not Jaya. It was the strange little ship bot that seemed to live inside the pocket of Jaya’s trousers. Its shiny ball of a body was propelled on eight metal spindles, and it moved with surprising quickness down Jaya’s leg, coming to rest on the mattress by her ankle.

“Those are new boots.” The little machine’s voice sounded very much like a human woman’s. I began to think of her as female. I remembered that she had a name, much like the ship did. Lala.

“Thank you for that information,” I said, not entirely sure why Lala had told me such a thing. “Should I do something special with them?” Maybe they needed conditioning, like my leather boots did from time to time.

“New boots mean blisters for a human,” Lala explained. “You need to remove her socks and check her feet for broken skin, and then take the appropriate steps to prevent infection.”

I felt rather foolish, being instructed by a bot on what Jaya needed. But Lala had known Jaya much longer than I had. And I was not so proud that I was willing to forgo valuable instruction where my precious human wife was concerned.

I did not know that she had blisters. Apart from the more vulnerable skin on my ears, Zabrian hide was too tough for such a thing. It had not even crossed my mind. I’d noticed Jaya’s fatigue, and some possible soreness, but I’d assumed it was a more general muscle pain bothering her.

The idea that her skin could have become more and more damaged with every step we took skewered me, left me feeling rather sick. I was doubly glad I’d carried her home now.

I put the boots down. “Just tell me what to do.”

Lala activated a small light on her body and aimed it at Jaya’s feet. I groaned when I saw twin blood stains on the backs of her heels, the red human colour of it staining the grey fabric of her socks.

“Once you’ve removed the socks, you can use the knitter,” Lala said. “It’s still in her back pocket from earlier.”

I reached for her right foot, then paused.

“Should I not wake her?”

This was her body. These were her feet. Though I longed to take care of her, to let her sleep and do it all for her, I had a feeling my wife would want to examine her own injuries.

I can take care of myself , she’d said.

I could tell it was important to her.

And I wanted to honour what was important to her.

“Jaya is a heavy sleeper at the best of times,” Lala said. “Before she fell asleep, she’d been awake for more than twenty-six human hours. It is unlikely you will be able to rouse her for this.”

So it was up to me, then.

As carefully as if I handled the finest Zabrian blown glass, I peeled one tiny sock from Jaya’s left foot, then the sock from her right. I set them aside, vowing to soak them before I went to sleep for the night in the hopes that I might get some of the blood out.

I returned my attention to her feet, and something clenched inside me when I saw the torn skin on the backs of her heels.

“She didn’t tell me,” I growled under my breath.

“She never does,” Lala said. Despite the cheery, but otherwise blankly emotionless lilt of her voice, I could not help but think I sensed a weary sort of comradery in her reply. As if she knew what it was like to try to care for Jaya when Jaya did not want to let anyone else near enough to do it.

I decided that I liked this strange little bot.

“Now you can use the knitter,” Lala reminded me.

But she needn’t have bothered. I was already hunting for it, pulling it swiftly from Jaya’s back pocket before I could get too distracted by the fact that my knuckles had just brushed the taut curve of her backside. I also pulled her data tab out from another pocket, setting it on the bedside so that it did not get cracked or damaged.

“It’s a fairly intuitive design,” Lala said. “Merely aim the point of the knitter at the affected area, then activate the trigger with your finger. The resulting beam will both disinfect the tissue, stop any active bleeding, and encourage quicker healing.”

I did as Lala instructed. When I pressed my finger against the trigger, a pale blue beam shone against Jaya’s skin. I let it glow on each of her heels.

Once that was done. I put the knitter beside her data tab on the bedside table. But I still didn’t want to leave her feet open to the air like that. Just because her wounds were clean, did not mean that they would stay that way all night. I moved to my drawers, hunting for my smallest, cleanest pair of socks.

I found one, forgotten at the very back of the bottom drawer. A set from when I’d been a child.

They were the perfect size.

I brought them back to the bed. Just to be extra cautious, I used the knitter’s beam to disinfect the socks. Then, I gingerly put them on Jaya’s feet, taking care not to catch the old wool against the raw, broken skin.

Lala said nothing as I did this. But I got the sense that she was watching me the entire time. Supervising me, perhaps.

“Thank you for your assistance,” I said sincerely. Already, I felt better about everything, knowing Jaya’s feet were clean and cared-for.

“You are welcome. But I am merely fulfilling my core programming.”

“Which is?”

“To do everything in my power to ensure the health and happiness of the Lavariya’s pilot.”

“An excellent goal,” I replied warmly. “This is a goal we have in common.”

“I am aware.”

It should have been alarming, how perceptive this bizarre metal ball-on-legs was. But instead, I found it comforting. It was good to know that someone else recognized that I had Jaya’s best interests at heart. Even if Jaya herself didn’t recognize it yet.

“How do you know?” I asked her. “How can you tell?”

“I can tell,” she replied, “because I am constantly running millions of calculations about everything I encounter, each one with the primary purpose of ensuring Jaya’s wellness. Right now, you are one of the most significant new factors in her environment. As such, you can be either extremely beneficial or absolutely detrimental to my goal. Ceaselessly, I compare every facet of your behaviour against billions of data points, weighing precedents against possibilities, determining probabilities and patterns and risk. Everything I have observed thus far has led me to conclude that your desire to protect Jaya is closely aligned with my own.”

I thought she was finished, but after a pause, she abruptly added, “And I like that you gave her your socks.”

Without another word, she scuttled back up Jaya’s leg where it lay beneath the blanket, and disappeared.