30. Ozadus

“Can we pack these glasses?” I call out to my mate, holding a clear, clean cylinder in my hands.

“No, we need them for the party,” she says, handing me some packing material and a box. “But you can pack the extra bottles and baby dishes. We just need enough for tonight. We can hand wash the rest.”

“Or just leave what we don”t want. We can buy new stuff when we get there,” I offer, trying to take something off her plate. It’s a big day for our household. Life has a way of lining events on top of each other, and it did the same to us with moving day and Zhara’s second birthday fighting for competition.

“No, I couldn’t,” Lisa says, redrawing my attention to the mess before me. Hours to go, and we couldn’t be less prepared. “This was the first cup she drank from, and this was the first fork she held.”

“Okay, okay.” I pull back, wrapping each precious dish for her approval.

Amid our move, only one thing has surprised me. Lisa. A little unlike herself these days, she’s been moody, misty-eyed, and distracted. I’m sure it’s the move that’s responsible for her altered state. After all, we’re taking the whole family back to Kalei.

“Ozadus, I’m so excited,” she says, wrapping a dish in paper and setting it into the box. “She’s going to be so happy there. We all are.”

“My mother is certainly happy,” I confess, remembering the shrill scream from the comm pad the day we made the announcement.

A cautious smile comes over my wife’s face. In the few months we’ve been married, she and my mother have become fast friends. “Yes. It was her idea, but she made a great point. Beth and I can work out of any machine shed.”

“And I can operate on any planet.”

“Exactly.” She seems satisfied with the choice, putting things into boxes. Yet occasionally, I see her eyes flit around the room, a tiny splash of worry crossing her brows.

“I’ll miss this place, too,” I finally say to break the tension. She stops and looks at me.

“Thanks. I needed that. Now let’s make this party happen.”

A few hours later, the house is mostly ready to go, with boxes of housewares piled behind boxes of presents. Zhara plays and skips around the room, overjoyed with the ever-shifting scene. Boxes and packing materials seem to have her attention more than the gifts on the table.

She whizzes into and out of the rooms, looking forward to the new house. Every once in a while, I catch her tiny blue face peering out from behind a box, busily exploring the big changes coming our way.

As the sun sets in, we hear a knock on the door. Zhara pops out of a box at my feet, suddenly remembering today is her birthday and that the best part of the night has arrived.

“Cake! I want it now!” she screams, rushing towards Beth who has the box in her hands.

“Not yet, sweet pea. Let her get through the door.”

Zhara overwhelms Beth, but thankfully I step in and grab the cake, setting it on the table before it can fall.

“Whoa, good to see you, too!” Beth hugs Zhara, who then twirls in her birthday dress. “Somebody is very pretty today.”

“Me two,” Zhara says, trying to hold her fingers the way we showed her.

“That’s right. You’re a big girl, too.” Beth walks into the house, takes off her coat, and looks around the room. “Looks like you guys are getting somewhere.”

“How about you?” I ask her. “All packed?”

“I’m ready to go,” she says, removing a box that says Misc before sitting down. “Have been for ages. I’m excited. How about you, Zhara? Are you excited to move to the big green ball?”

Big green ball was my idea, a way to explain that we were leaving this place for somewhere full of life.

“I can see Grandma?” she asks, cocking her head to the side.

“Yes, we can see Grandma.”

“Okay, then,” she says, running away. She grabs her stuffed Oolyte and dives back into her box fort.

“Well, okay then,” Lisa says, handing Beth a glass of wine from one of our remaining bottles. “Dannet and Vin are on their way. Still waiting on Lace, but you know how she likes surprises.”

“I do,” Beth smirks, looking quickly away. “And I’m not saying anything.”

“Whatever it is, it better not be alive, that’s all I have to say,” I remark.

She smiles at her friend when another knock comes to the door. “Looks like it’s time.”

When everyone arrives, they seem to be impressed by our packing and decorating skills.

“You went to a lot of trouble, considering it all has to come down tomorrow,” Tryla says, looking around at the balloon display I erected over the ceiling.

“I know, but you know Ozadus. He wanted to do a big something, even if it”s just for one night and a few friends.”

Hearing her across the room, I love how well she understands me. I missed out on too much before. Now that I have them both fully in my life, I just want every moment to be as big as they make me feel.

Soon, guests from Zhara’s playschool start arriving, and I make for the patio with the other dads to make sure the zero-g grill can handle the cort-dogs and granthem steaks. Kids run around the small yard, all playing gleefully with Zhara.

“Are we ready?” Lisa asks when I check on her in the kitchen. She’s hovering over the cake with a large display of candles sticking out of the cake.

“Yeah.” I laugh, looking at her handiwork. “I think you overcounted. You know she’s turning two.”

Lisa smiles but doesn”t say anything, and I realize that I’m seeing it again. Worry. Frustration. Something.

“Hey, we can back out of the sale. We don”t have to go anywhere. I’ll brave my mother if I have to. You just say the word.”

“No.” She smiles, wrapping my arms around her. “It’s nothing, I swear.”

“Are you sure? You seem off lately.”

She doesn”t get to answer me when a chorus of voices can be heard at the door.

“I guess Lace is here, with her surprise,” Lisa says, pulling away. “Should we see what it is?”

“Should I be scared?” I ask, holding her hand as we make it to the doorway. Sure enough, Lace stands proud with the most enormous robotic horse I’ve ever seen. I hope it”s a rental.

“Oh, my stars! Lace.” Lisa’s hand claps over her mouth.

“What?” the woman asks defensively, smiling from ear to ear while Zhara jumps up and down, clapping her hands. “I can’t send her to the Kaleidian wilderness unprepared. Not for my favorite kid.”

“She’s only two!”

“She’ll grow into it,” Lace says, sitting her on top of the saddle.

The rest of the party kids take turns on the robotic horse until it’s time for cake. Zhara is the hardest to convince to leave the horse alone long enough to stuff her face with her favorite food. At long last, we wrangle the kids to blow out the candles.

“Happy Birthday to You,” sing the humans in the crowd.

“It’s a human thing,” Beth explains to our confused friends while pieces of the cake make their rounds.

Eventually, the night winds down into our circle of friends sitting in the only chairs left on the property. Zhara sleeps peacefully on the couch, totally unaware that movers will come to take everything away in the morning.

“So what are you most looking forward to on Kalei, Lisa?” Vin asks, swirling a glass of wine in one of the yet-to-be-packed goblets.

“The trees,” Lisa says, looking up at the stars. “I fell in love with how alive Kalei is. I’ve been obsessed with the color green since we got back.”

Kalei is too far away to see from here, yet I understand the closeness she feels with the place. She’s been this way since we got back from our honeymoon. Come to think of it, that’s when her moodiness began, too.

Dannet goes to pour another round of wine for the group, and Lisa surprises me by putting her hand over her glass.

Nonplussed, Dannet continues the conversation. “We’re gonna miss you guys, but we understand.”

“You better come visit.” Lisa smiles and looks at Lace. “And one of you better come take care of this horse.”

Everyone laughs, and Lace says, “Just keep him fully charged, and he’ll be happy.”

“He?” I pause, looking at the bright pink horse in the yard, glittering over with pink sequins and light-up stars.

“Zhara named him Rico,” Lace says matter-of-factly.

“Wow,” I say with a laugh. “Good thing the new house has plenty of space for, um, Rico.”

“Is it much bigger?” Vin asks, reaching for what’s left of the wine.

“Yes. It has an extra bedroom, too. Which is a good thing.” Lisa blushes suddenly as if to stop herself from saying more. That’s when it hits me. I don’t know how I didn”t see it before.

After everyone leaves us with hugs and wishes of good luck on our move, it’s just me and my mate, and the secret she’s been hiding so well.

As soon as the door is closed and quiet fills the space, I turn to her. “You should’ve told me.”

She looks as if she wants to fight it, but within seconds, I see emotion spilling out of her. “I didn’t want to say anything until we got there. Surprise!”

I can’t speak and don’t need to. I need to hold my mate in my arms and show her how happy she’s made me. My mind fills up with future memories and of the things I missed the first time around. This is a baby I get to be there for. It means more to me than anything.

“Is this why you want to move to Kalei?”

“Yes,” she says, taking my face with her hands. “I want him to be born where he was conceived.”

“He?”

“Ozadus,” she says. “We’re going to have a son.”

I lift her gently, twirling her in my arms. How could a man like me ever be so blessed? I made every mistake possible in life, and still, I was somehow given a chance to start again. To make everything right.

It seems like so much more than I deserve, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t eternally grateful.

The End