Read Online Kris Longknife 13 - Unrelenting by Mike Shepherd - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mike Shepherd
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went on, filling the silence until Kris chose to let him in on what was actually coming down here.
“I’ve ordered dinner from the wardroom. May I serve you?”
“Please.”
Jack hadn’t noticed the serving cart from the wardroom, now it moved out of the shadow of Kris’s wooden desk and came to the table. Nelly magic, no doubt.
Kris uncovered two plates, deliciously smelling of steak, potatoes, and sautéed vegetables, all likely from the larder of the newly arrived Earth fleet. The next crop wasn’t due until after they got back.
Kris returned to her seat, and they cut into their steaks. Jack saw red as he cut. “Perfect,” he said.
“I’m glad you like it. Nelly oversaw its cooking.”
“Thank you, Nelly.” Now just what is a wizard of a computer doing in the kitchen?
Down boy, this is her show. I have a real strong suspicion that the best thing a husband can do is let the lady play this exactly how she wants to.
I just hope she’s not about to announce she wants me to move out. Or add some third to the bedroom. Jack made sure his internal turmoil didn’t show on his face.
Two bites later, Kris paused with a fork just short of her mouth. “We never talked about children back when we were thinking of tying the knot. How many kids would you like? Someday, I mean.”
While one part of Jack’s brain did a quick threat analysis of where this conversation was going, the simpler part of him answered her. “I come from one of those large Catholic families. There were four of us, a brother and two sisters. I know you grew up with just your brother.”
“There was Eddy for all too brief a time,” Kris pointed out, still chewing that bite she’d used to cover her question.
“I figured two, maybe three kids.”
“Two point five. That .5 kid would need real love,” Kris said, with an imp of a smile that he loved.
“No doubt my wife will find all the love in her heart that any of our kids needed,” Jack said, smiling his love back.
They took another bite. As Jack chewed, he took in his wife. She was lovely. Lovely as she always was. She was also troubled. Taking extra care not to narrow his eyes into an inquisition, he studied her not as a loving husband but as a fellow soldier.
His eyes came to rest on her upper arm. There was a small bandage there. He knew every square centimeter of her. His hands had often roved that arm.
There should have been the three small ridges of her birth-control implant there.
What had been there since the first time he saw her bare arm was missing.
Jack took the information in and held it, NO ACTION TAKEN.
Kris finished chewing her latest bite and swallowed. She looked at her plate for a long moment, then said, “Jack, what would you say if I told you I was pregnant?”
Jack was up out of his chair in a heartbeat. A moment later, he was pulling her from her seat, lifting her up off the deck, and swinging her around, the two of them sharing a laugh of pure joy.
Jack measured the swing as a three-quarter circle and had his wife back down on the deck before he banged her knees against her chair.
“Pregnant? As in baby on board?” he asked.
“As pregnant as a girl can be,” she assured him, then buried her head in his chest.
He hugged her and felt her tremble in his arms.
And then the second string of thoughts caught up with him.
How could she be pregnant? How will the fleet take to a pregnant admiral? Oh hell!
He held her close and waited for his wife, his admiral, to say whatever she wanted to say.
“Jack,” she said to his chest, “I’ve so looked forward to that moment when we could start a new life between us. That choice that this moment a child begins. I’m sorry this got taken away from us. My new birth-control implants were sabotaged.”
“Sabotaged?” he whispered back.
“Yeah. Dr. Meade, the fleet surgeon, will be looking intoit as soon as we get back to Alwa. I’m the fifth gal having this conversation with a guy.”
Jack
“I’ve ordered dinner from the wardroom. May I serve you?”
“Please.”
Jack hadn’t noticed the serving cart from the wardroom, now it moved out of the shadow of Kris’s wooden desk and came to the table. Nelly magic, no doubt.
Kris uncovered two plates, deliciously smelling of steak, potatoes, and sautéed vegetables, all likely from the larder of the newly arrived Earth fleet. The next crop wasn’t due until after they got back.
Kris returned to her seat, and they cut into their steaks. Jack saw red as he cut. “Perfect,” he said.
“I’m glad you like it. Nelly oversaw its cooking.”
“Thank you, Nelly.” Now just what is a wizard of a computer doing in the kitchen?
Down boy, this is her show. I have a real strong suspicion that the best thing a husband can do is let the lady play this exactly how she wants to.
I just hope she’s not about to announce she wants me to move out. Or add some third to the bedroom. Jack made sure his internal turmoil didn’t show on his face.
Two bites later, Kris paused with a fork just short of her mouth. “We never talked about children back when we were thinking of tying the knot. How many kids would you like? Someday, I mean.”
While one part of Jack’s brain did a quick threat analysis of where this conversation was going, the simpler part of him answered her. “I come from one of those large Catholic families. There were four of us, a brother and two sisters. I know you grew up with just your brother.”
“There was Eddy for all too brief a time,” Kris pointed out, still chewing that bite she’d used to cover her question.
“I figured two, maybe three kids.”
“Two point five. That .5 kid would need real love,” Kris said, with an imp of a smile that he loved.
“No doubt my wife will find all the love in her heart that any of our kids needed,” Jack said, smiling his love back.
They took another bite. As Jack chewed, he took in his wife. She was lovely. Lovely as she always was. She was also troubled. Taking extra care not to narrow his eyes into an inquisition, he studied her not as a loving husband but as a fellow soldier.
His eyes came to rest on her upper arm. There was a small bandage there. He knew every square centimeter of her. His hands had often roved that arm.
There should have been the three small ridges of her birth-control implant there.
What had been there since the first time he saw her bare arm was missing.
Jack took the information in and held it, NO ACTION TAKEN.
Kris finished chewing her latest bite and swallowed. She looked at her plate for a long moment, then said, “Jack, what would you say if I told you I was pregnant?”
Jack was up out of his chair in a heartbeat. A moment later, he was pulling her from her seat, lifting her up off the deck, and swinging her around, the two of them sharing a laugh of pure joy.
Jack measured the swing as a three-quarter circle and had his wife back down on the deck before he banged her knees against her chair.
“Pregnant? As in baby on board?” he asked.
“As pregnant as a girl can be,” she assured him, then buried her head in his chest.
He hugged her and felt her tremble in his arms.
And then the second string of thoughts caught up with him.
How could she be pregnant? How will the fleet take to a pregnant admiral? Oh hell!
He held her close and waited for his wife, his admiral, to say whatever she wanted to say.
“Jack,” she said to his chest, “I’ve so looked forward to that moment when we could start a new life between us. That choice that this moment a child begins. I’m sorry this got taken away from us. My new birth-control implants were sabotaged.”
“Sabotaged?” he whispered back.
“Yeah. Dr. Meade, the fleet surgeon, will be looking intoit as soon as we get back to Alwa. I’m the fifth gal having this conversation with a guy.”
Jack
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