Mama and the Alien Warrior (Treasured By The Alien #1) - Honey Phillips Page 0,41
since, as TeShawna put it, “They didn’t need no man staring at them before they had their coffee.”
While they didn’t actually have coffee in space, there was a pale beverage with a slightly salty taste that had the same effect. Abby almost choked on hers when Lucie repeated her earlier comment.
“Nice that someone’s getting some,” TeShawna muttered.
Abby gave her a worried look. The girl looked tired and annoyed, her usual good-natured bravado absent.
“She had a fight with that doctor last night,” Cassie murmured quietly, but TeShawna overheard.
“Damn right I did. I don’t need another jealous asshole in my life. ‘Specially when most of ‘em have a girl in every port and a wife at home anyway.”
“Damn right, damn right,” Lucie sang.
“Lucie, those are big girl words,” Abby told her. “You mustn’t repeat them.”
Her little chest puffed out. “Leonardo says I’m a big girl.”
“You’re not that big yet,” she said firmly. “Now, why don’t you go with Miss Cassie and let her make you some new pants?”
“I don’t want pants. I wants a dress.”
“Come on, little bit. I bet there’s enough material for both.” Cassie drew Lucie to the other end of the room.
“It’s not like that with these men, TeShawna,” Abby said quietly. “Their women died.”
“What?” A look of unwilling sympathy crossed TeShawna’s face. “You mean he lost his wife?”
“No. I don’t think he was ever married. There was an illness and they lost all of their women. As far as they know, Tiana is the only one.”
“Is that why they’re giving us the bum’s rush?” TeShawna’s words may have been cynical, but Abby saw the sadness in her eyes.
“Poor Jedan.” Elaina’s eyes filled with tears. “He’s so good with Ginger. He’d make a wonderful daddy.” She smiled ruefully, and Abby noticed that she, too, looked pale and tired. “I coulda used his help last night. Two babies are a lot to handle.”
“Two? Molly didn’t help you?” Abby looked around and saw the girl slumped against the back wall, staring out at the stars.
Elaina shrugged her shoulders. “I went to find her, but she was gone.”
“Damn. She must have snuck out while I was putting that ass—doctor in his place.” TeShawna sounded more sad than angry.
“She wasn’t gone that long,” Amber volunteered. “I tried to tell her that Elaina needed some help, but she wouldn’t even look at me. Just crawled into bed and put her face to the wall.”
Abby hoped that meant that Ribel had told the girl that there was no future between them, but looking at her, her heart still ached for the young girl’s obvious pain.
“Just like Romeo and Juliet,” Amber sighed.
TeShawna clicked her teeth in disgust, but a new worry intruded into Abby’s thoughts. Surely the girl wasn’t so far gone that she would try and kill herself? Looking at the despondent little figure, she couldn’t entirely be sure.
Biting her lip, she turned back to the other girls. “Let’s have breakfast. Then we can do some more sewing.”
The morning continued quietly enough and Abby eventually managed to coax Molly into eating a few bites.
“Is there anything you want to talk about, Molly?” she asked, but the girl glared at her with furious resentment.
Abby suspected that Ribel had told her why he wasn’t going to see her again. She sighed, deciding to drop it for the time being. It was best to give Molly a chance to cool off before she tried to press the issue again.
Turning to Lucie instead, she made sure that her daughter had fruit and some kind of cereal-like dish for breakfast instead of more pastries. After the meal, they resumed their sewing. It wasn’t until she saw Elaina pick up a shirt, wrinkle her nose, and put it back down that she thought about the previous night’s conversation.
“Elaina, was there something wrong with that shirt?”
“Nah. It just didn’t seem right.”
The girl shrugged, but a few minutes later, Abby saw her pick up another identical shirt. This time, she smiled and kept it. Curious, Abby picked up one of the garments from the communal pile. Even before she raised it to her face, she knew she didn’t like it. There was nothing specific, just an overall feeling of rejection.
As the morning passed, she realized that TeShawna had the same reaction, going through several shirts before she picked one. Abby was willing to bet it belonged to Mekoi. Neither Amber nor Cassie seemed bothered by any of the garments, but Molly picked one up and immediately discarded it. She picked up a second