“No no no…they didn’t do anything,” Poppy said, her wordsmuffled into his leather shirt.
“Please explain,” Behyr requested, handing her a tissue.
“The boys were explaining to me how you were raised in thewarrior houses. I can’t imagine it, Behyr. You didn’t have anyone to kiss yourboo-boos, or sing you songs when you were sad…or give you hugs when you neededthem.” Poppy’s voice still sounded teary but she had stopped crying enough thatBehyr felt comfortable stepping back.
“And?” he prompted, perplexed as to why she was upset still.
“Don’t you guys get it?” By this time, she was becomingupset with them for not understanding how fucked-up their childhoods had been.
“Children need love and attention,” she said, pointing atthe men. “Not barracks and classes to train them to be warriors when they’reonly kids.”
“But, Poppy, this is our way,” Tamin explained with hiseyebrow raised in confusion.
“No. No! I will not let Wheaton Jr. be raised like that.This shit needs to be figured out before my baby gets here.” Cuddling herbelly, she was in such a tizzy she didn’t realize what she’d blurted out.Behyr’s mouth dropped open. He turned to Rodin and Tamin in disbelief.
“She is carrying a child?” he yelled.
Tamin and Rodin both held their hands up to calm him down.As the men argued about her pregnancy being a secret, she sat down while hermind whirled.
How was this baby going to be raised? Her apartment on theship was small and could only accommodate a couple. Were there biggerapartments on the ship that could house a family? She would never turn herdefenseless baby over to be raised in an orphanage. Was that what the Councilexpected? Did Wheaton just expect them to hand over their baby when the timecame for it to be raised, and then start on another one? So many questionsfilled her head. So few answers seemed available.
The men stopped their chatter and stared at her.
“Poppy? Are you okay?” Behyr asked, concern evident in hisvoice.
“Guys, what’s going to happen once I have my baby? Will theyexpect me to just turn him over to your warrior houses?” Seeing the men glanceat each other, she realized they had no clue what step two of the plan waseither. Fuck. That didn’t help her at all. Propping her hands on her hips, shestared them down until they at least faked an answer for her.
“Honestly, Poppy, we are unsure what the plan is for the newgeneration of children,” Tamin said with a grimace.
“The ship would not be ideal for raising a small warrioreither,” Rodin agreed, shooting a glance at Behyr as if hoping he might havesomething to add.
“We know no other way, little one,” he admitted.
“Well, guys, we need to get on the ball because we are on adeadline now and they are not taking my baby away to raise it to be acold warrior,” she said in a voice that invited no argument and then continued,“I can tell you right now, the other brides are going to be on my side onthis.”
As they all sat down to try to figure out possiblesolutions, they came to a conclusion. The men explained that most warriorstraveled on ships a majority of their lives, so the ships would have to beretrofitted to allow for family quarters instead of couples’ quarters. Anotherthing discussed was the extensive baby proofing of the ships that would beneeded. That issue would be a huge project by itself. Warriors on the homeplanet apparently resided in barracks, so family homes would need to beconstructed there when the babies started coming. According to the men, onlyhigh-ranking Council members had their own areas in the barracks but theyserved as office spaces as well as living quarters.
As the list of “things to do” kept getting longer andlonger, Poppy yawned widely. She had not realized how tired she was getting.
“Behyr, I am assuming the whole reason you arrived an hourago was to escort me back to the apartment.” At his nod she admitted, “I’mgetting tired and hungry. How about we all think on this tonight and we cantalk more tomorrow?”
The men realized they’d kept her well past her normal timeand jumped up to help her gather her things.
“Poppy, tomorrow we want to perform another scan and checkthe progress of the pregnancy. Can you arrive early so we can make sure noother warriors are present?” Tamin asked.
“Of course I can. I’ll let Dath know to come earlier forbreakfast so we can get here maybe twenty minutes earlier. Would that be enoughtime for you to run the tests you need?”
“That is more than enough time,” he agreed.
“And if you can bring those muffs again, we would appreciateit,” Rodin chimed in.
“You mean muffins, Rodin, and yes, I will bring moretomorrow,” she replied with a smile.
Walking back to her apartment, she noticed Behyr wasstanding even closer to her than normal. He acted as if he were on guard, likesomething was going to jump out and get her. Linking her arm through his, shesmiled up at the big man beside her.
“Behyr, are you okay? You seem more tense than usual,” sheasked.
He gave her an uncomfortable look. “I am nervous, Poppy.Before this afternoon, I was responsible for just you. Now I am responsible foryou and also the first of a new line for our entire race,” he admitted. “Whatif you fall? What if you do not get enough food to eat? What if you have aproblem in the middle of the night and no one is there for you?” he asked.
Reaching her door, she patted his hand and turned to facehim.
“I’m tougher than you think. And, yes, I might be a klutzbut unless it’s a really bad fall I should be okay. I have food at myfingertips whenever I’m hungry, and I can call for help whenever I need italmost immediately, thanks to my nifty bracelet.”
“But…” he continued, still concerned.
“Behyr, I’m scared enough for both of us, believe me. Ithink about it every day. I don’t have Wheaton here to talk to about it andthat makes it worse. He doesn’t even know there is a baby yet because Iwanted to tell
