Page 20 of Rescued by the Alien Bull Rider (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #6)

ZOHRO

I woke extra early the day of my wedding and blazed through my chores like my tail was on fire. I had a frazzled sort of fear inside me that if I took too long, Jolene might wake up and have too much time on her own to think.

And then, she would inevitably change her mind about me.

About all of it.

I had to get this all done quickly so that I could marry her before her wits returned. Then, I would have at least two human weeks with her. To woo her, as the warden had suggested.

In all honesty, the prospect was even more intimidating than the final exams at the Medical Academy of Zabria. I was good at studying. Good at surgery.

I was not good at… social things. Particularly with females. Back on Zabria, the women in my sphere had either been my competition at the Medical Academy, or my sister. And I’d been too young to want any of them the way I now so feverishly wanted my bride.

I’d barely slept last night with her heat behind me. I’d fantasized about her waking, turning to me, touching me.

I did not know if I was allowed to touch her in the bed.

I supposed that would have to come after the wooing.

Which I did not know how to do. Tasha, while explaining many facets of human culture, history, and biology in her book, had utterly failed to instruct me on how to make my wife want to remain my wife.

A rather unforgivable oversight.

I would have mentioned this to her, but I had more pressing things to speak with her about when I found her outside the warden’s tent.

“I will need literature,” I told her without preamble.

“Well, good morning to you, too, Zohro,” she said, shading her brown and white eyes. “What sort of literature?”

What an imbecilic question.

“Medical literature, of course. What other sort would I bother with?”

“People bother with all sorts, Zohro. Have you ever stopped to think that Jolene might like to read other kinds of things?”

The uncomfortable silence that followed clearly told her that I had not.

“Well,” I huffed, “I am sure that anything my bride deigns to read is worthwhile. But what I want is medical literature. Human medical literature. Everything you can get me relating to human pregnancy and childbirth.”

Tasha’s lips parted. Then, she gave me a knowing sort of smile.

“That’s very thoughtful of you.”

“Thoughtful?” I scoffed. “It is necessary! My bride is pregnant, and I refuse to be caught like some first-cycle student who hasn’t turned in his lab report!”

“This is bringing up a good point, though,” Tasha said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Jolene’s due date is around the end of the marriage trial. If she decides to stay, she’s going to give birth here. We’ll need to be prepared for that.”

“She will have Zohro,” Warden Tenn said, emerging from the tent and placing his hat atop his head, the Zabrian warden’s badge there glinting. “That should be enough.”

“Not necessarily,” Tasha cautioned. “No matter how far medicine has come, giving birth still has its risks. We obviously don’t have a hospital here.”

“Zohro has a surgical suite. He has spent cycles slowly converting a large shed.”

“For the animals!” I reminded him sharply. “I cannot inject Jolene with a sedative meant for a bracku ten times her size!”

“Definitely not,” Tasha agreed quickly. “We’re going to have to get some human-grade supplies right away. Medications, equipment…”

“How much will it cost?” Already, I was running the mental tallies. I’d told Jolene I would provide for her, and for her child. I had no problem paying for all of it.

But new medical equipment would not come cheaply, especially in the timeframe we would require delivery.

“We will pay for it.”

Tasha and I both looked at the warden.

“You will pay for it?”

“Not me specifically,” Warden Tenn said. “But I have access to some funds allotted by the empire to use as I see fit. Human medical equipment is an investment that will be useful for more people than just Jolene. Especially if…”

His voice trailed off. His wife said, “If?”

“If any of the other human women become pregnant.”

His gaze met Tasha’s and burned white. Something told me he was not thinking of the other human women. But one woman in particular.

“We’ll get right on it, Zohro,” Tasha said, finally breaking that taut connection. “I have access to all manner of human databases, so I can start sending you the literature right away.”

“I do not have a data tab with a working screen,” I grated.

“Oh. Shoot. I’ll send it to Jolene’s, then.

Her comms tablet will have translation software for you.

And then, once you’ve had a chance to look at some of that stuff, you just get Tenn and me a list of supplies you’ll need.

And then even if…” She suddenly paused, eyeing me, as if she did not want to say the next part to me.

I raised my chin in challenge. Her words could not scare me. They could not hurt me.

“And then, even if Jolene decides to leave after the trial period, we’ll still have some important supplies for whoever needs them later.”

It appeared that I was wrong about Tasha’s words not being able to hurt me. One mention of Jolene leaving me and I was suddenly twitchy with the need to protect myself without knowing how.

“Hello? Good morning!”

And strangely, it suddenly was.

I turned to find Jolene in her jamdildos, boots, and hat. She stepped slowly down the steps from the porch, one hand pressed against the round underside of her abdomen, the other groping in the air, and, finding nothing, giving up.

Why the blazes had I never built a porch rail there?

“Good morning, Jolene!” Tasha called over, waving. “Happy morning of your marriage!”

I watched Jolene closely for her reaction to Tasha’s words.

I prepared myself for her to flinch, or to somehow show displeasure at the mention of our marriage.

But all she did was smile that brilliant smile and say, “Thank youuuuu,” in a bright voice, drawing out the last syllable like she was singing.

I wondered if she ever actually sang.

I wondered if she’d ever sing to me.

“Be right back,” Jolene said. She reached the ground and hurried – as quickly as she was capable of, anyway – towards the outhouse.

“I’ll leave you two to get ready,” Tasha said. “And I’ll start sending over the medical stuff right away.”

“Tasha,” I said as she moved to re-enter the tent. She paused, expectant.

“Send me everything you can find about taking care of newborn human babies, too.”

She tipped her head towards me. I had no idea why, but she looked pleased.

“You got it, Zohro.”