Just before dawn, Manning and Wayne drove in with their symbionts and Theodora.
She got out of the Hummer and looked around at the houses. All of them were still lit from within in the early-morning darkness. There were people moving around both inside and out, and although she could not know it, there were people watching. I had been asleep, but I awoke at the sound of the car coming in. I looked out, saw her climb out of the car and look. Quickly, I put on jeans, pulled a T-shirt over my head, and ran out shoeless to meet her. She didn’t see me until I reached her and took her hand.
She jumped, turned, saw me, and to my surprise, grabbed me, lifted me off the ground, and hugged me hard against her.
I found myself laughing with joy and hugging her back. When my feet were on the ground again, I took her into the guest house. “Have you eaten?” I asked. “Brook and Celia went shopping yesterday so we have plenty of food.” Joel had taken them to a distant mall where they could get groceries, some more clothes, and whatever else they might need. Wright and I had each provided them with a list so we were all taken care of for a while.
“I had a late dinner,” Theodora said. “The other people, the symbionts—is that what they’re called?”
“It is, yes. It’s what you’ll be called, too, if you stay with me.”
She gave me a shy smile and looked downward. “They said I should have a hearty meal before I reached you.”
I laughed again, hungry for her, suddenly eager. “Come on upstairs. How are you? Is everything all right with your family?”
She got ahead of me and stopped me, hands on my shoulders. “I’m going to have to phone my daughter in a few hours. She’s worried about me. She tried to stop me from leaving. Sometime soon, she’s going to want to visit.”
“Phone her whenever you like,” I said. “I have to tell you more of what’s going on here so you’ll understand why she won’t be able to visit you for a while. But you can go see her.”
“Sounds like bad news.”
“Difficult, I think, but not bad. This is a time to be careful. We’ve found out who has been attacking us, and we’re going to have something called a Council of Judgment to deal with them.”
She looked at me as though she were trying to read my expression. “Is there danger right now?”
In the early-morning darkness with all the Gordon men awake and alert? With the Council of Judgment already being organized? “No, not now.”
“Good,” she said. “Then tell me about it in the morning.”
I smiled. “It is morning. But you’re right. First things first.”
I took her to the spare room. I had changed the bedding myself and made certain that the room was clean and ready for her. “I know I promised you more than this,” I said as she looked around. “I will keep my promise. It’s just going to take longer than I thought.”
“I want to be with you,” she said. “It’s all I’ve wanted since you first came to me. I don’t truly understand my feelings for you, but they’re stronger than anything I’ve ever felt, stronger than anything I ever expected to feel. We’ll find a way.”
I shut the door, went to her, and began to undo her blouse. “We will,” I said.
The next night I met with Wayne and Manning to find out what I could about my families’ land and business affairs.
“Your mothers and father understood how to live by human rules,” Manning said. “Their affairs are very much in order. You will have to work through the lawyers, but everything your families owned will be yours, and there’s cash enough for you to be able to pay your taxes without selling anything you don’t want to sell.”
“I don’t know what I want to do, really,” I said. “I mean, I don’t know anything.” I looked at Manning—one of the fathers of Daniel, Wayne, William and Philip. He was a quiet, kindly man, and there was something about his expression that looked uncomfortably close to pity.
“Tell me about the lawyers,” I said quickly. “Are there one or two who would make good symbionts?”
Manning shrugged. “I’m not sure what a good symbiont might be for you. Your Theodora is too old, but she loves you absolutely. She’s exactly the kind of person I would expect to be able to resist one of us—older, educated, well-off—but she couldn’t wait to get to you.”
“She was lonely,” I said. “Tell me about the lawyers.”