Chapter 13

As midnight approached, the crowd at starlight Billiards and Dance started to thin out. After all, church was tomorrow. Back at the table, the friends agreed to get together the next weekend.

"Josh has a car, he said I can ride back to the field with him," Lew said to Matt.

"Sure?" Matt asked.

Lew glanced back to Rachel, who was talking to Josh about something from their snotty cruise. "I know you don't want to go back to the field just yet," he said.

"You're right about that," Matt replied.

Rachel finished her conversation with Josh and rejoined Matt.

"Josh is giving me a lift back to the field," Lew said.

—

Rachel directed Matt to use the parking garage adjacent the home. From the garage, there was a wide covered path that led to the front doors of the home, a second path that led to the east side doors of the home, and a winding path that led to the back grounds of the home. They took the side path that opened the doors to the bedroom wing, bypassing the rest of the home. Inside, an armsman in the office adjacent the front coat room popped his head out and nodded at the two down the hall. Three steps up and two doors to the left, she opened the door and gestured for him to come inside. She closed the door, kicked off her shoes, and the two came together in a passionate kiss. She unbuttoned his shirt, slowly to draw out the moment, knowing how it made him feel. She felt his growing erection against her stomach and grinned. She slid off his shirt and sauntered to an odd metallic panel on the wall by the closet. She pushed the panel open and dropped the shirt into the space behind the panel.

"Laundry chute," she said. "Your stuff will be cleaned and ready for wear in the morning."

He nodded and hurriedly took off his trousers, undershirt, and socks. From her seat on the bed, she watched him undress and removed her hose. In a move that made him shudder, slid her panties down her legs. She stood, turned around, and let her hair down.

"Unzip me?" she said of her dress.

He did so and placed a feather soft kiss on her neck, which elicited a shudder from her. She let her hand brush across his straining erection when she bent over and picked up the clothes. She winked at him and again sauntered to the laundry chute. She returned and sat on the edge of the bed, hooked her ankles around his legs, and pulled him closer. He ran gentle fingertips around her nipples, and then took her breasts in hand for a massage that had her sighing and squirming on the bed. It had been a while for them, but never in a million years would he forget what she liked.

"Like that, do you?" he murmured.

She bit her lip and nodded. His erection twitched when she cupped his straining erection. She drew down his underwear, he kicked it away, and she slowly, agonizingly, stroked him. He moaned and closed his eyes as his hips moved in tandem with her strokes. His eyes popped open when he heard her groan and felt her lips on his chest.

"I'm not going to last long," he whispered.

She looked up and gave his right nipple a swipe with her tongue. "Your point?"

"I want this to be good for you," he said and lay her on the bed.

"It will be, and we have all night," she replied.

—

He came to awareness that his pillow…vibrating? He opened his eyes and saw Hipper on the bed between them, kneading the mattress and purring. The dawn's light peeked through the curtains, and his bedmate softly snored into her pillow, her glorious hair spread out. She was on her side, her right leg slightly hiked up, a normal comfortable position for her – a sight that tantalized him to no end. When he scooted closer, Hipper hopped off the bed, pulled the door handle open, and left the bedroom. She wasn't a morning person, but she liked sex, so he opted to wake her gradually. He gently rubbed her back, loving the feel of her warm, soft skin. He deposited soft kisses on her shoulders and neck while massaging her breasts. She shifted, mumbled, and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

She squinted and saw the dawn coming through the drapes. She was next aware of his soft kisses on her neck, breast massage, and his erection pressing against her back. All in all, not a bad way to wake. Best of all, it wasn't in a tiny ship's berth with six other people on Navy issue bunkbeds. This was her best friend and lover, in a comfortable bed, ready to welcome the day in the best way possible.

"Top of the morning," he whispered and shifted behind her.

She pushed the pillows aside and lay on her stomach, signaling that she was sleepy but wanted sex. He knelt behind her, took himself in hand, and guided himself to his little bit of heaven in the morning.

—

Honor and the kids, in their church best, were at breakfast when Rachel strolled into the dining room. She placed her new Book of the New Way, purse, and head scarf on a sideboard. Matt followed a minute later and gave himself a once over to make sure he looked decent for church.

"Good morning!" Rachel said brightly.

Honor chuckled. "Good morning to you too."

Rachel sat, greeted little Andrew, and poured a cup of coffee. She slid one to Matt and drank her strong tea.

"Did you trip the light fantastic of Harrington City?" Honor asked.

Rachel thanked the server when she rolled a serving tray into the dining room.

"Beer, billiards, and dancing at that Starlight place," Rachel answered.

"We met up with some friends as well," Matt added.

Rachel made him a plate and gave it to him. She placed some pineapple and celery on a plate for Hipper. She then made her own plate and dug in heartily.

"Hmm. Must have worked up quite an appetite," Honor murmured and gave Nimitz a slice of celery.

Honor looked fondly at the young woman she loved like her own children and knew she would be the biggest hypocrite in the universe to question what the younger woman did. She was a grown woman, a Naval officer, engaged, and the two loved each other deeply. Honor didn't see the problem in the two express their love and experience the pleasure of lovemaking. Aside from that, it was beneficial for a couple to determine their intimate compatibility before the wedding. How many couples had discovered on their wedding night that they lacked that compatibility? There were no worries with these two, they had compatibility in spades.

Rachel patted his hand. "Theresa is leaving for the spaceport at three."

Her uni-link chimed cathedral bells (her mother's caller ID) and she answered. "Morning!"

She nodded at what her mother was saying. "All settled in…yes, we'll head that way after church. All right, see you then."

#

"That was a great service," Matt said as they left Harrington Steading, due north to Mayhew Steading.

"The acoustics are different, I really enjoyed the hymns," Rachel added.

"Didn't you once say that you wanted to be church organist?" Matt asked.

Rachel chuckled. "Yes, when I was young and learning the piano. To get a position as a church organist, it's something that you must fully dedicate yourself to, and it's difficult get into as a career. I had other hobbies, other activities I wanted to do."

"Why is it difficult?" Matt asked.

"Organs are larger than pianos, they feel and sound different as well. You must develop an ear for it; not all that play the piano have an ear for it. You also must audition at one of the universities with a music program to start with, playing both piano and organ. Many don't make the cut, and if they make it through the music program, they again have to audition at a cathedral."

"I had no idea," Matt said.

"Church musicians are the top musicians on the planet for a reason. They dedicate their life to it. I talked to some of them when I was younger, and they said it was a calling."

She shrugged. "It wasn't to me, and like I said, I had other things I liked to do. My parents would have fully supported me had I chose that path, but I know that I don't have the talent for it. I enjoy playing for people for fun, that's it."

When she arrived at the security gate for the palace, she was told that there was a situation in the home, and that the family was in the palace's old Armsman barracks.

"Bleek?"

"Thank you, captain," she said and accelerated up the drive a little faster than she normally would have.

She arrived at the home to see Palace maintenance vehicles, armsmen, and technicians milling about. The supervisor at the scene told them that the family was in no danger, but that the life support and climate control in the home had malfunctioned. When the sensor alarms sounded in the home, Ben got the family out and called for help.

"Thank you, sir," she said and hurried to the old barracks.

Inside, her parents were assuring Theresa that she would get to the spaceport in time for the shuttle. The kids were eating sandwiches and playing a board game. She gave them all relieved hugs and asked if they were all right.

"We're fine, but we were startled in the middle of lunch by the loud alarms," Katherine fussed.

"It took a while to calm Michael," Elaine added.

"Do you know what malfunctioned?" Rachel asked.

"The maintenance engineer said that the primary scrubbers had cracked, and that the primary sensor cabling was damaged. Thank tester the secondary sensors sounded the alarm," Ben said. "Everything has been replaced, now they're running a stress test on the system."

When they were given the okay to re-enter the home, Rachel went straight for the climate control panel and opened the access door.

"These are going to do just fine," she said and looked at the maintenance engineer. "These are the new ones, the 20-year, triple-wired scrubbers?"

"Yes miss. My team is going to do a survey of the entire palace LSU systems. I'm embarrassed that this happened at all," the man said and held up a length of old cabling.

She looked closer at the cabling and frowned. "All this because mice chewed on the cabling?" she asked.

At the word mice, Hipper hissed from her shoulder.

"We have a world-class pest control program here, but I don't see what would cause them to chew on this. There's nothing organic about it," he stated.

Her memories of seeing the pest droppings in the Essen station maintenance access space had her shaking her head. Some things were universal, it seemed.

Mayhew Steading Spaceport, Civilian Terminal

At the appointed time, the Mayhew family said their good-byes and gave their best wishes for Theresa's successful senior year at Queen's College.

"You're not going to be there, it's seems odd somehow," Theresa said and her hug for Rachel lingered.

"You'll be fine," Rachel replied. "Study hard and have fun?"

"That's what I do," Theresa said and picked up her valise when her shuttle called for embarkation.

"Ready, Issac?" she asked her armsman.

"Certainly, m'lady," he replied.

Theresa gave them one last wave before she walked up the shuttle's ramp. Katherine wiped her eyes and Elaine hugged her close.

"I'll miss our funny girl," Katherine sniffed. "It's so good when all the kids are here."

"She'll be home for the wedding," Rachel added.

"And our smart girl always knows what to say," Katherine said and hugged Rachel.

"Don't let Theresa hear you say that," Rachel teased and the family left the spaceport to return home.

On the way home, Rachel's uni-link rang a chord from the composer Hammerwell, Aunt Honor's caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Has Theresa already left? I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to see her off."

"Yes, she told me to tell you that she loves you and will see you when she returns for the wedding."

"I'm going back to Manticore in November, it's not like we'll never see each other again! Anyway, the reason I called is that your comm console has been signaling a priority message. Can I send it to a console there?"

"Sure, my comm code is 0914MIG. Send it to mom's console."

"Will do. Will you be back for dinner? I need to let the cook know."

"Yes, I'm going to turn in early. I want a good night's sleep before I report in the morning."

"Good plan, I'll see you then."

She ended the call and glanced at her chrono.

"Anything wrong?" Matt asked.

She shook her head and Matt followed the palace lorry through the palace gate. Inside, Rachel asked permission to use her mom's console. At the console in Katherine's office, she opened her mail program and saw a message and attached video from Angeladated four days prior. She opened the message and read:

Hello!

I got your last letter, and I'm glad you made it home safely. I saw your commissioning video, not all of us get to have our dads there! Why did Theresa look so nervous? Anyway, enjoy the enclosed video and let me know what you think. I'll be looking for your wedding invitation. See you in October!

Love,

Angela

She would have to go back and look at her commission video to see the extent of Theresa's nervousness. She started the attached video and gasped.

"Matt, come and see!" she called out.

"He's outside! I'll get him!" Honor called back.

A minute later Matt joined her at the console in the library. She started the video and there were Angela and Zack Mayfair, standing before a Queen's Magistrate, taking their marriage vows. Angela held a small bouquet of flowers and both wore their dress uniforms. Alice Truman and Zack's older brother were witnessing the event, and the parents of the happy couple beamed in the background.

"She's wearing a uniform skirt!" Rachel exclaimed.

Matt laughed. "Out of all this, that's what you notice?!"

Rachel wiped a tear that fell as Beverly Truman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief when Angela slid Zack's ring on his finger. The magistrate spoke again.

"…by the power invested in me, as a duly sworn representative of Her Majesty's Magistrate for the City of Landing, I pronounce you husband and wife."

Angela and Zack smiled at each other and shared a sweet kiss as the witnesses clapped. The happy couple left the hall together and the video ended.

#