GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) (40 page)

"You are now fully dilated, Aster," Xerpa said. "It should only be a little longer."

"No! Not yet. Not until Cherry gets here. What's taking her so long?"

It was Rom's turn to laugh. "She and Gallant only arrived from the surface a half hour ago with their prisoner. You know she has to go through sanitizing before coming in here."

"Can't they turn up the damn beam or something? What good is all your damn technology if you can't even get my best friend here when I need her. Damn it! I promised her I'd wait."

Dr. Xerpa patted Aster's bent knees. "I'm sure she'll understand. Get ready. You're going to have to start pushing, and I'm afraid
this
is going to be a lot worse than a twinge."

Aster didn't want to disappoint Cherry but the urge to push was too strong to hold back. Simultaneously, she and Rom groaned and clutched the handrails as their daughter began making her way down the birth canal.

Cherry burst into the delivery room and screeched to a halt. "Holy stars, if that ain't a sight! I hadn't realized Rom would be in labor too."

"Your humor is not appreciated at the moment, Cherry," Rom grumbled through gritted teeth.

"Don't listen to him," Aster countered in a strained voice. "Doctor, you can deliver our daughter now."

And with another long push, a big, beautiful baby girl slipped peacefully into the doctor's waiting hands.

Rom, Aster and Cherry shared hugs and kisses while Dr. Xerpa finished her job with mother and baby. As quickly as possible, she had the infant cleaned, wrapped and snug in Aster's loving embrace.

"What did you finally decide to call her?" Cherry asked, unable to take her eyes off the little dark-haired angel.

Aster and Rom glanced at each other and smiled before giving their joint answer. "Shara."

"Well, how do you do, Miss Shara. I'm your Aunt Cherry." With a feathery stroke on the baby's soft cheek, she promised, "You're going to have a wonderful life, kid. I'm personally going to see to it."

Aster smiled at her obviously smitten friend. For the moment, she forced aside her worries about Shara's future as the first child born from the joining of a Noronian and a Terran. There would be time enough to worry in the years ahead.

Chapter 21

As soon as Romulus was able, he made arrangements for Bessima's mind to be fully reprogrammed and her appearance surgically altered. An adjustment to the retina in one of her eyes prevented her from ever accidentally creating images, even though she would have no memory of being an Illusian. She was then shipped off to another planet to begin a new, productive life.

The day after Shara's birth, giving Romulus a fabricated excuse, Gallant and Cherry returned to Washington, D.C. to perform the final act in Bessima's play. Mother Nature, or possibly the real Supreme Being, decided to help them along. The rain stopped shortly after sunrise and an incredible double rainbow stretched over the White House for over an hour. Taking that as a promise of miracles, the largest crowd yet turned out that morning.

All of the Innerworld emissaries and trackers had been recalled, so Gallant had no fear of one of them picking up the energy wave he was about to create. He knew Rom and Aster would be suspicious after they heard about the incident, but Gallant and Cherry had agreed that it was best if their friends not be burdened with the truth in advance.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, the spectators in front of the White House watched a spot of white light, similar to a star, separate itself from the sun. The spot moved across the sky then grew larger and larger until people began to realize it was coming closer.

Before panic could set in, a huge ball of sparkling light was hovering directly above them and a deep man's voice reverberated clearly over the noise of the crowd.

"Fear not, my children. I come in peace."

Within seconds, the only sounds on the street were the clicking and whirring of cameras.

"The images you have seen regarding the coming of the Supreme Being were false, created by someone whose only god was power. That person has been dealt with and will not be able to deceive again. I will leave you now with the same messages you have been told before. Treat all living beings as you wish to be treated yourself. Respect Mother Earth's gifts. And remember that every day of your lives is Judgment Day."

An instant later, the ball of light soared back to the sun. Long minutes passed before the people began to talk and move again.

When they did, Gallant and Cherry had already returned to Innerworld.

* * *

The following day, Cherry went back to work in Fantasy World at the Indulgence Center. Not having an immediate assignment elsewhere, Gallant rationalized that he should remain in Innerworld until Regent Esquinerra contacted him regarding Cherry's appointment with Theodophilus. Cherry had invited Mar-Dot to stay in the extra bedroom of her apartment, but the he-she preferred to reside on the ship. Gallant didn't need an invitation to share her home while he was there.

Compared to the last month of practically being glued to one another, their time alone together was drastically reduced. While she performed, he kept busy doing repairs and making modifications on his ship. Another chunk of each day was spent fussing over Shara with Rom and Aster. But during the times they were alone, the passion that had sparked aboard Gallant's ship flared anew and carried them over until their next private hours.

Cherry stopped questioning why she hadn't grown bored with Gallant and simply enjoyed having him around. What she
was
questioning was why she wasn't more anxious to hear from the Regent about Theodophilus. She knew she still wanted the audition. She just wasn't all that concerned anymore about how long it took to arrange.

A week later, Gallant caught up with her in between reenactments. He was smiling as he handed her a piece of paper but Cherry's personal antennae picked up an underlying tension.

Referring to what she was sensing rather than the paper, she asked, "What is it?"

"Read it," he answered with forced enthusiasm.

Cherry skimmed over the message quickly then reread it more slowly to be sure she hadn't imagined it. "He's coming here! Oh, Gallant, do you believe this? Theodophilus is coming back to Innerworld just to audition me!"

He laughed as she jumped up into his arms and almost knocked him over. "I don't know why you sound so shocked. I'm sure he is well aware of what a coup it would be to add you to his company."

She released her stranglehold on him and started pacing. "He'll be here the day after tomorrow. Holy stars! What'll I wear? Which piece should I perform? Should I invite him to my apartment for dinner or would he think that was too personal?"

Gallant grabbed her hand as she passed and brought it to his lips for a kiss. "I'm sure whatever you had planned to wear and perform the first time around were the right choices."

"Of course they were. How silly of me. Listen, I have a reenactment in about five minutes and I still have to change. Do you want to hang around and we can do something to celebrate after I'm finished?"

He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I'd rather celebrate someplace less public. Just come home when you're through. I'll be there."

But the celebration didn't have quite the tone Cherry expected. Gallant set the mood with soft background music and softer lighting. He touched her throughout their meal as he often did, but the contact was not the seductive stroking she was accustomed to from him. Instead, each touch, every look was an affectionate caress that silently spoke volumes about how he felt about her.

How he
loved
her.

They didn't talk. There didn't seem to be anything left to say between them. That night, when he took her into his arms, she denied him nothing. And began saying good-bye the only way she possibly could.

With her body, her mind, and her very soul, Cherry Cochran made love to Gallant Voyager.

* * *

The morning before Theodophilus was scheduled to arrive, Mar-Dot joined Gallant and Cherry for breakfast in her apartment. One glance at Dot's face made Cherry think that this was more than a simple social call and Gallant's somber mood throughout the meal confirmed it. When the plates were cleared away and less than a dozen words had been exchanged during the past hour, she demanded, "All right, what's going on?"

Gallant cleared his throat, took a sip of coffee and coughed lightly.

Cherry smirked at him. "It can't be
that
bad. Just spit it out."

Wiping his hands and mouth on a napkin, he stalled for another few seconds before confessing. "We're leaving this morning. I told Mar-Dot you probably wouldn't forgive them if they didn't say good-bye properly."

A chill swept over Cherry as his words registered. "You're leaving? This morning?"

"We have a new assignment," he said quietly, not meeting her gaze.

"But can't you leave tomorrow? Or at least wait until after my audition this evening?" Cherry could hear herself whining but her disappointment was too great. She had been mentally preparing herself for them to go their separate ways in a few days, maybe a week. Not in five minutes, with no warning whatsoever.

"I stayed too long as it is."

Cherry pouted and crossed her arms. "I don't understand. In fact, I don't understand anything about you."

Gallant raised his brow in disbelief. "Come now. There isn't a person in the galaxy who knows as much about me as you do... including Mar-Dot."

The he-she rose at the mention of their name. Dot faced Cherry first. "I believe there are things the two of you should discuss without company but not until we get our farewell hugs." She held her arms out and Cherry stepped into them with a sad smile.

"What can I say, Dot? I'm going to miss you. I'll never forget you."

"And we will never forget you, Cherry." Dot released her and turned around.

Mar placed his hands on Cherry's cheeks, tipped her head back and kissed her passionately before she had a chance to either brace herself or protest. When he ended the kiss, he said, "I've been wanting to do that since we met, but if I had, you would never have given the captain a second look, and it was past time for him to bring someone like you into his life."

Cherry laughed at him, then smiled at Gallant. "The captain is lucky to have the
both
of you."

It took several more rounds of flattery and teasing before Mar-Dot left Gallant and Cherry alone. The moment they were, Cherry let her frustration rule her tongue. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were leaving ahead of time."

"I almost didn't tell you at all," he murmured.

She was shocked that he would even consider such a cowardly route. "Why?"

Gallant almost smiled. "I love you."

She let out an exasperated breath and paced a few steps before asking, "Then how can you leave like this? How can you say you love me and not want to stay with me until the last possible minute?"

Placing his arm around her shoulders, he led her to a chair and sat her down on his lap. "I promised to be truthful with you. The truth is, I love you, but every hour we've been together since we heard from the Regent has been filled with farewells. I'm not a masochist, Cherry. I can't stick around to watch you go."

She fought down the emotion that his words caused and asked again, "Then how can you leave at all? If you really loved me—"

He quieted her with a kiss. "I once told you that my saying I love you wouldn't mean I wanted to enslave you. I respect the fact that you need your independence and that nothing and no one is as important to you as your acting career. But my understanding that doesn't stop me from caring deeply about you. My mother always said that true love is demonstrated best by giving the one you love their freedom. She proved that the day she let me go. I'd like to think I'm as good a person as she is."

Cherry hugged him close. "My sweet Gallant. If I was ever going to allow myself to fall in love with any man, it would be you."

He held her away from him and shook his head. "You still don't get it, do you? Love isn't something you give yourself permission to feel. You either love someone or you don't. And, unfortunately, you don't."