Chapter 12

I tried to imagine how overpowered tiny Rosa Winters must have felt as she stepped through the front door into a crowd of relative giants, where all the women were at least a foot taller than she was. But she wasn’t intimidated, just excited. She hugged me and gasped, “My god, Jesse, they’re real! I knew it! I just knew it!”

I did the introductions. “Rosa, may I present Jakoby, the elder of this Ennahai clan, Ninnith, Arrena, Jellico, and my sort-of betrothed, Gilleena. The rest are around doing their thing, but you’ll meet them at dinner. By the way, Ellana, who is the culinary genius of this household wants your lasagna recipe.”

Elegant Ninnith stepped forward and took Rosa’s hand. “Welcome, child! And it’s lovely to see you again Steve. Please come through and get comfortable while Ellana finishes preparing dinner.”

Rosa already knew from the blog that Ninnith was well into her nineties, and looked at her in awestruck wonder as she followed her into the living room. The clan members were all very patient and accommodating as they entertained her seemingly nonstop questions. Gilleena provided some relief when she said, “Rosa, I have an idea. After dinner, why don’t I show you around the entire common house and answer your questions. You’ll probably find it’s all too much to take in with one visit. Now that we’re acquainted, we hope you’ll have many opportunities to visit.”

Rosa took the hint and blushed. “I’m sorry, I’m being a pest, aren’t I. It’s just that I’m so excited to be sitting here among you. Thank you Gilleena, I’d like that very much.”

Ellana announced over the intercom that dinner was ready. The sound of footsteps could be heard heading toward the dining room from every direction.

Conversation at the dinner table was spirited, to say the least. Steve and Rosa could hardly contain their curiosity about all these tall, elegant, black-haired people, all dressed in identical black jumpsuits. But Rosa, being a fairly accomplished pianist in her own right, centered on Katia and her music, and Steve, in awe the excellent craftsmanship behind the furnishings, gravitated toward conversation with Errol.

As dinner and the chatter wound down, Jakoby stood and raised his glass. “I’d like to propose a toast to our new friends and welcome them into our home. And into our circle.”

We all raised our glasses in welcome. Jakoby added, “Rosa, Steve, Jesse, if you would all accompany Ninnith and me into the living room, there are things we must discuss.”

As we settled into comfortable chairs, Ninnith took the lead. Looking directly into Rosa’s eyes she began, “We know you appreciate how important it is to keep any knowledge of us to yourselves. I want to emphasize that again in the strongest possible terms. You must take my word that there is much more to our living in isolation than concern for our health. As you must have surmised from what you’ve read on Jesse’s blog, our very survival as a species is tenuous, at best. At this point, we can’t divulge specifics, but we need your absolute assurance that word of our presence in this household will never pass your lips. Will you make that promise now?”

Steve and Rosa both answered at the same moment and without hesitation. “Of course, we promise!”

Steve went on, “Ninnith, Jakoby, if there is anything we can do to help you in any way, please ask! I’d give anything to undo what’s happened to you and your people, if I could, and I’ll sure as hell do what I can to keep it from getting any worse. From now on, I’ll be watching this property like a hawk when I’m on patrol.”

Rosa added, “And we can supply you with all the organic vegetables you can use. Aside from our commercial crops in the fields, we have a separate garden where we raise all kinds of stuff, far more than we can use ourselves.”

Jakoby smiled at her offer and said, “That’s very kind of you. As you know, Chiam raises most of our vegetables in his hydroponics garden, but a little more variety would certainly be welcome. Of course, we’ll pay a fair market price for what you offer.”

“Oh, no!” Steve protested, “It’ll be our gift. We insist!”

Gilleena entered the room and asked, “Grandfather, can Rosa begin her tour of the common house?”

“Of course.”

At Gilleena’s appearance, Rosa remembered her invitation for me to have dinner and meet her sister. She turned to me and assured, “Jesse, when we asked you to dinner, we didn’t know about you and Gilleena. Please don’t feel obligated to come.”

I was about to accept her offer to decline the invite when Gilleena stopped me. “Jesse, I think you should go. You have virtually no social life outside this house and we all feel a bit guilty about that. You should meet other people.”

I didn’t really want to, but I bowed to her suggestion and agreed to show up for the dinner.

“It’s settled then,” Gilleena said as she took Rosa’s hand and headed toward the stairs and the caves.

But Rosa stopped short and turned to ask, “It’s none of my business, but would you tell me why you all wear black jumpsuits?” It was a question I’d often wondered about but never got around to asking.

Ninnith answered, “Of course, my dear. We wear jumpsuits because they’re practical and we have no reason to be concerned with fashion. We wear black because we mourn the loss of our people.”

Later that night as Gilleena and I lay in bed recovering from an hour of wrestling in the sheets, I turned to her and said, “You know, I really didn’t want to go to that dinner to start with. I mean, I like spending time with Steve and Rosa, but the whole dinner was set up to introduce me to her sister, probably in hopes we’ll hit it off and get involved. You’re the only woman I want to be involved with like that.”

She lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I know that, Jesse, but I think it might be a good idea for you to at least seem to live a normal human life. Anybody who pays even the least bit of attention has to be wondering what you do with your time living in this big house and presumably all alone. Steve may be only the first to guess that something isn’t quite right. Besides, what if you did get involved with Rosa’s sister sexually? Would that be such a bad thing?”

I wasn’t expecting that!

“You’re saying you want me to have sex with other women?”

“Well you still have sex with Ellana and Mallya, don’t you? Why would having sex with Rosa’s sister be different?”

I raised up on my elbow and said, “It would be different because her expectations would be different. The society I grew up in isn’t nearly as, um, relaxed about sexual things as the Ennahai. For one thing, if we got a thing going and she fell in love with me, she’d expect to be spending a lot of time with me, some of it right here in this house. We can’t have that, can we?”

She giggled and said, “That depends on whether she meets your criteria for the trip to the new world. If she does, she might be your first official recruit.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Gilleena! I don’t want a harem, I just want you! Besides, what’s she supposed to do for the next three and a half years; drop out of the world and live here in the common house with us?”

Gilleena turned serious. “She might! Look, I’m not saying you should go after her with the intention of bringing her home, but like Ninnith said earlier, you need to find your people one at a time. Well, here’s an opportunity to meet someone and decide if she’s a likely prospect.”

She sat up and laid her hand on my face. “And there’s something else you may not be seeing, Jesse. After we arrive at our new home, population building and expansion of territory are going to be priority issues. The family units you grew up believing in are going to be impractical. It’s unlikely were going to be set down on the new planet in equal numbers of males and females. Monogamy is going to have to be set aside as a luxury we can’t afford for some time. Women might have two or more men, or men might have two or more women. And that’s not just for procreation purposes; it’s also for sexual appeasement. You give it some thought, and I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that young men in particular can get pretty darned irrational and aggressive when they have no mate and no likely prospects of finding one. Domestic tranquility will be a high priority among both populations, don’t you think?”

I flopped back and stared at the dimly-lit ceiling. “I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I suppose there’s something in what you say. But at this moment Gilleena, you’re the only woman I’m madly in love with. I can’t even imagine another woman sharing equal billing with you!”

She leaned over and kissed me. “And I’m madly in love with you, Jesse. I’m just saying you shouldn’t close yourself off to opportunities because of your feeling of loyalty and love for me. Go meet Rosa’s sister and decide then if she does anything for you. You might be surprised, and I’m not going to be jealous.”

Anna Belle Gaetano was in the kitchen helping Rosa with dinner when I arrived at the Winters’ front door. On the way over, I was hoping for a repeat of the lasagna, but that’s not what I was smelling as I stepped inside.

“Hi, Steve! I don’t know what’s cooking, but it sure smells good. What’s for dinner?”

“You’re gonna love it. We’re having Chicken and Pasta Alfredo and some veggies grilled with olive oil and fresh basil. Better loosen your belt.”

“Mmmm! I’m ready! Bring it on!”

“How about we do some introductions first.” He steered me toward the kitchen where I was met by an absolute stunning beauty dressed in designer jeans and top that looked they’d been painted on. “Jesse, please say Hi to Anna Belle. Anna Belle, this is Jesse, our neighbor.”

She held out her hand and I took it, trying my best not to ruin the moment with a drooling, slack-jawed ogle of her boobs. “Anna Belle, it’s a pleasure.”

She hit me with a brilliant smile and said, “Same here. Nice to meet you, Jesse. I’ve been hearing nice things about you.”

“Likewise about you. I see Steve didn’t exaggerate about the beautiful part.”

She laughed, “Maybe my brother-in-law is inclined to overstate things a bit.”

“Not this time, he didn’t.” Nodding toward Rosa, I added, “Obviously, gorgeous women run in the family.”

Steve clapped me on the back and laughed, “Ever consider a career in politics?”

The family resemblance between the two sisters was striking. They both had that rosy-cheeked olive skin, black hair and figures worth much more than a passing glance. The most obvious difference was height, Anna Belle being at least seven or eight inches taller than her older sib. And like I said, what she was wearing was designed to catch and hold your attention. The Ennahai women’s jumpsuits didn’t do anything to complement their figures. Granted, they weren’t designed for that, and besides, I knew very well what beauty was hidden inside those suits. With Anna Belle, it was all out there on display!

Rosa saw the look of appreciation in my eye and turned to hide her grin, saying over her shoulder, “Hope you brought a big appetite tonight, Jessy, because we made enough to feed an army. Why don’t you guys get settled at the table and Annie and I will bring it right in.”

“Beer?” Steve asked.

“Uh, no thanks. I see some wine on the table. That’ll be plenty for me.”

I was already having feelings of guilt about the lust weaving in and out of my thoughts. I knew Gilleena would be laughing at me and making guesses about how long it would take me to make a move on Anna Belle, that is, if she seemed at all receptive, but I had every intention of not doing that. I was too indoctrinated with a sense of intransigent loyalty to my first love, and I couldn’t wrap my mind around cheating on her, whether Gilleena believed it was cheating or not. But if Anna Belle gave me any encouragement, it was going to be damned hard to resist!

The dinner was excellent, of course. Between bites of the amazing food and sips of what was probably a pretty good wine (I’m hardly an expert), I consciously divided my attention and remarks evenly between the three. Anna Belle was as bright as she was beautiful. Her conversation made it apparent she was well educated, and it turned out she had a BS in nursing. In fact, she was head nurse at one of the trauma centers in the city, which was pretty impressive, considering how young she appeared to be.