Mama and the Alien Warrior (Treasured By The Alien #1) - Honey Phillips Page 0,46

said, hastily removing the offending garment.

Once Tiana started working away at her bottle again, she draped Hrebec’s shirt over her arm. Tiana didn’t stop nursing but she definitely slowed down and her tail clung more tightly to Abby’s arm.

“What’s you doing?”

“I was trying to see if Tiana thought the shirts smelled bad. Since she’s just a baby, she can’t tell us.”

“I know. I have lots to teach her,” Lucie said importantly. “When’s she going to be big enough to play with me?”

“Not until after we go home, I’m afraid.”

“I don’t wants to go home. I wants to wait until Tiana can play with me.” Lucie pouted and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

Seeing Lucie so upset had Abby’s own heart aching.

“I know you do, sweetie.” So do I. “As soon as Tiana’s done, why don’t we go show Cassie your new game? I need to go talk to the doctor again.”

“I ‘spose,” Lucie said reluctantly.

Lucie kept pouting until they reached the girls’ quarters, where she forgot her troubles in her excited rush to show Cassie her new toy. Cassie was suitably admiring, but once Lucie was engrossed in another game, she came over to Abby.

“Do you think they could make a formula for Angel the way they did for Tiana?”

“I don’t see why not. They seemed to understand what a baby needs from a nutritional viewpoint. If it’s not being served cold from a tube, you could probably get her to take it. And I’m sure Dr. Mekoi would be willing to help us find the right combination.”

“What’s the matter?” TeShawna huffed. “My milk not good enough?”

“Oh, TeShawna, you know better.” Cassie’s eyes filled with tears. “You saved her life and I can never forget that. But I miss feeding her. At least with a bottle, I could still do that.”

“Yeah, I guess I can understand that.” TeShawna’s face softened, but Abby couldn’t help noticing that she still looked tired and drawn.

“I need to talk to the doctor anyway,” Abby said. “Why don’t you come with me, TeShawna? You can tell Dr. Mekoi about Angel’s eating habits.” She hoped it wasn’t a mistake to bring her along, but she couldn’t stand seeing her so miserable.

“I reckon I could.”

Cassie winked at Abby. “I’ll take care of the girls.”

All of the cabin doors were open. Abby could see Molly lying on her bed, staring at nothing, while Amber was walking Lily around, singing to her.

“Where’s Elaina?”

“She moved in with that Lieutenant Jedan,” TeShawna muttered, not even bothering to mask her resentment.

“She did what?” Oh, crap. Although after her little experiment with the shirts, why was she even surprised?

“Seems like she’s following in your footsteps,” the girl added.

“But that’s different,” Abby protested weakly. “Hrebec is just helping me with the girls.”

TeShawna raised her eyebrows. “And Jedan is just helping her with Mikie and Ginger. Alone. In his cabin.”

As TeShawna’s words sank in, Abby swore under her breath. Considering how hard it was for her to keep her hands off of Hrebec, could she expect Elaina to have the same restraint?

Abby sighed. “I definitely need to go see Mekoi now. Are you coming?”

“I said I would.”

Despite her apparent reluctance, TeShawna led the way down the corridor to the med lab. Abby watched as she stepped into the room. Even though anger still darkened her face, her body relaxed as soon as she entered.

“TeShawna. I am very glad to see you,” Mekoi said gravely as his tail flicked towards her. “You did not give me an opportunity to finish—”

“I heard enough,” she muttered. “I’m not here to see you, anyways. Miss Abby wants to talk to you.”

Mekoi bowed his head and his tail drooped. “I see.”

Abby decided that the time had come to intervene. “Hrebec told me that you’re making preparations in case one of the girls goes into labor before we reach Trevelor.”

“That is correct.” He gestured to an open door on the far side of the room. Inside, she saw Kwaret working on some type of machine. “Kwaret has been most helpful.”

TeShawna wandered over to the room and raised her eyebrows. “You’ve got enough equipment in here to choke a horse. My granny gave birth with nothing but a pot of hot water and some string.”

“Water? Why do we need water? Or string? Those were not on our list.” Mekoi’s face assumed a panicked expression.

“The hot water was to sterilize everything, and the string was used to tie off the umbilical cord,” Abby explained. “And TeShawna, you know that there was a lot