All of it leading to the one place he wanted her to accept.
A place that sent a shiver up her spine when it passed her lips on an unsettled whisper. “You’re taking me to Level 9.”
Though he was spent, he thrust again. As if she felt like bliss and he’d never get enough. “And locking you in for the day.”
Enough compliments already. Heart sinking, she frowned. “Playing pretend for the last few weeks has been fun. What a shame real life always ruins things.”
“Oh, honey.” Turning her in his arms, Aaron pressed a kiss to her pouting mouth. “I know you’re scared, and I’m swearing to you it’s going to be okay.”
He hadn’t lied to her yet, but the gauge of what was and wasn’t okay was a largely gray area. “Don’t think you can keep me there if I don’t want to stay.”
Stern, he kissed her hard. “And you don’t think I won’t come after you no matter where you might wander off to. You belong here with me.”
***
He’d walked her to the entrance of Level 9, kissed her on the mouth as if dropping the little woman off at slavery camp was the normal way to start a day. Whistling to himself, he left her there. Where she could have turned tail and ran.
She was tempted to.
Very tempted.
Instead, Eugenia mustered up the courage to enter, ready to face what he’d built with her own eyes.
Joan was waiting on the other side. “You’re late.”
In more ways than one. Which, if the captain was keeping his calendar, he knew. “Let’s get this over with.”
That earned her a smirk. Like mother like son. “Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine this afternoon.”
That was her—nauseous ray of sunshine, Eugenia ready for her tour.
“As you can see, the promenade’s interior balconies have been converted into hanging edible gardens, of a sort. All refuse is mulched on ship. Level 6, same place chickens are kept to turn the mulch and fertilize it. Solar panels on the roof, though when spring storms come, they will be removed and stored.” Joan continued, clearly proud of all she displayed. “That’s always a fun month of cold showers and dark.”
Which deserved an epic eye roll. “You really have no idea what it’s like out there, do you, Joan?”
Halting so fast her bob swung, Joan turned, raising a finger. “Listen, young lady, you’re Mrs. Kingston now. How many times do I have to tell you it’s appropriate to call me Mother?”
“My last name is York.”
“Oh God.” As if the idea were truly appalling, Joan groaned. “Of course you’d be one of those women who insists on keeping their last name.”
Chuckling, because she had missed the banter, the petty squabbles, the normalcy, Eugenia said, “Just because he forces me to wear a ring and tells everyone we’re married doesn’t make it so.”
“I already told you the same thing I told him. There are no pastors on board!” Irritated and a bit flappish, Joan added, “Just… adapt… and pay attention.”
It really was too much fun to wind Joan up. “You know I’m an atheist, right?”
Closing her eyes and drawing in a deep, shoulder-rising breath, Joan bit her tongue.
“Aaron is too.” Smirk in full effect, Eugenia asked, “Has he ever told you that?”
Visibly grinding her teeth, Joan said, “It’s a phase.”
“Mother, he’s forty-one. It’s not a phase.”
“The Kingstons are Baptists. Period.”
Tossing red curls behind her shoulder, Eugenia countered, “I’m a York.”
“You are a Kingston! Now, shut up and focus. Gretchen is in the early stages of labor, and I don’t have all day to pamper your whims like he does. You’re one of many on this ship, and all of them are counting on you to do your part.” Annoyance went to full-blown motherly threat. “And don’t you dare ruin her birth by being difficult. You’ll smile with the rest of the women and deliver the baby.”
Was that why she’d been manipulated into conceding today? “I don’t know how to deliver babies! My interest was in pediatrics. I don’t give a fuck about adults. I’m not a doctor.”
“Men are not allowed in here, making you the only doctor they can count on. Unless you want to tell Gretchen she has to waddle down to the medical bay and deliver away from her family and friends. Considering how much she’s been looking forward to a female doctor, it would be extremely selfish of you to let her down.”
But Eugenia wasn’t a doctor, not by a longshot. “It would be safer. I have no practical experience. And at no point in academia did I study obstetrics.”
Softening, Joan put a hand on her daughter-in-law’s shoulder. “I’ve delivered dozens of babies, found my calling after the war. And I’ll teach you. The rest, Dr. Herbert will pass down while you intern with him from nine to five, Monday to Friday.”
The perfect bribe to buy her attention and even keep her tied to the boat. “Was it your idea or his?”
Muttering under her breath, Joan lost her patience. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. I’m only supporting this, because it’s practical and unlikely to cause a stir.”
“You pimp women on Level 15. Don’t get all self-righteous with me, Madame.”
“Your anger issues are incredibly unrefined. Do you think I snapped at the First Lady when she threatened to have my family killed should my dear, departed George vote against the president’s agenda? No. I smiled, and I carried my weight.”
“Senator Kingston would have voted for the potato’s war anyway.”
“Just like you will catch Gretchen’s baby anyway… and also why I found the First Lady’s behavior to be ridiculous in the extreme.” As if Miss America herself, Joan added, “Did you know that dead bitch claimed I had her horrible dog hit by a car? It was all over the tabloids.”
It was Eugenia’s turn to grind her teeth. “I like dogs.”
“You wouldn’t have liked that dog… snappy, biting rat that it was. Real dogs don’t fit in purses.”
The older woman’s logic was always interesting. “Which justifies what you did?”
Bickering evaporated, Joan utterly compelling. “Just wait until someone threatens your children. There is no length you won’t go to keep them safe. And I mean that. There is nothing you won’t do for your baby.”
And Eugenia was two weeks late…
The honeymoon was over, the likelihood of implantation high. Especially considering how many times she’d let him fuck her.
How many times they’d made love.
Even worse, Eugenia was in love.
Lord, she was going to be sick.
As if the older woman could read the terror in Eugenia’s eyes, she softened. “It’s too early to know for certain, but if it doesn’t happen this month, it will happen soon. Everyone is nervous with their first. What you feel right now is normal.”
“The circumstances are not normal.” Had her lip just shaken? She was never going to live it down.
Hooking Eugenia’s arm, Joan passed down wisdom the way a mother had to a daughter since the dawn of humankind. “The new normal then. A healthy baby, born here. A child who will thrive in all this.”