newfrontiers

As dawn approached, Kathryn slipped out of Chakotay’s bed and wrapped herself in a newly replicated robe. She walked over to the window and was just in time to see the sun rise over the small hills of the area.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a hand, draped in a large robe, appeared holding a hot mug of black coffee.
“Morning, Love,” he whispered from behind her.
“Good morning,” she replied, taking the mug from him.
“It’s a beautiful sunrise, isn’t it?” Chakotay asked wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulling her against him.
“Yes it is. You know, I lied to my mother.”
“What do you mean?”
“I promised her I’d stay in a hotel in town. This doesn’t really qualify.”
“She doesn’t have to know that,” he grinned.
“What time is it?” she asked as she blew gently on her coffee.
“About five-thirty. Why?”
“I have to be back at my mother’s house at seven. My sister and her fiancée are coming over for breakfast and I have to help cook.”
“Well, your mother doesn’t know you very well,” he teased.
“I usually cut up the vegetables or something,” she said as she slapped him playfully on the arm.
“You don’t have any regrets, do you?” he asked.
“About last night? No,” she replied honestly.
“It was amazing, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was. Why don’t you come with me to meet my mother? You haven’t met her yet,” she said turning to face him.
“Alright. How are you going to introduce me?” he asked smiling.
“Hi, Mom this is my boyfriend???” she asked quietly.
“I don’t think that term really covers it.”
“I refuse to say lover to my mother.”
“What about a different term.”
“Like what?” she asked grinning.
“Like..... Fiancée,” he said, dropping to one knee.
She gasped as she realized what his intentions were. How could she say yes? Then again, how could she say no? “I know this is very sudden, but it’s like we have been dating for years. All the candlelight dinners, the dances, and the few goodnight kisses. I love you, and from how you acted last night, you love me.
I want to make this the real thing. I lost you once. I refuse to lose you again. Marry me?” he pleaded, baring his soul to this woman, hoping that she would finally complete him.
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Yes?” he replied in shock.
“Yes! Yes!” she screamed again, smiling.
He placed his hands on her hips and swung her into the air.
“I love you,” he whispered, letting her slide down his body.
“I love you, too,” she smiled, as she reached up to kiss him again.
~*~*~*~
At about six-thirty, Chakotay and Kathryn walked to the transport site, hand in hand.
“Where to?” the transporter chief asked tiredly.
“2104 Rennington Road, Bloomington, Indiana,” she replied firmly.
“Yes, Ma’am,” the chief replied as the couple stepped on the platform.
“Energizing.”
They materialized at the end of a gravel driveway that led up to an old home.
“That’s your house?” he asked in amazement.
“Yep. Oh look, Phoebe and Jack are already here,” she said as she pulled him up the drive.
“Goody!” he replied sarcastically.
“Oh shut up. Over there are the stables,” Kathryn said as she pointed to an old barn with a few black horses running around. “And there’s my ‘thinking tree’. It’s an old willow that has folded over so much that it hides a secret place inside. I’ve gone there since I was kid. And there’s the pond that my father went fishing in.”
“Did you ever go fishing,” he smiled.
“Yeah, but I would never bait a hook or get the fish off.”
“You took out half the fun!” he laughed.
“I’ll race ya to the front porch!” she yelled as she took off running.
She glanced back several times to see that he was gaining on her, and with a smile watched him trip on the hidden up-hill curve toward the porch. She reached a hand out to him as she walked back toward him.
“I knew that you wouldn’t see that,” she smiled.
‘You made me trip on purpose?” he asked, disbelievingly.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
They shared a small smile as Phoebe opened the front door.
“Kath?” a small blonde woman asked from the front door.
“Hi Phoebes! Hi Jack,” Kathryn replied hugging her sister and her future brother-in-law.
“Hi Kathryn. Nice to see you again,” Jack answered, wrapping his arm around Phoebe.
“Yeah, same here,” Kathryn replied honestly.
“Well, come in, come in. I’m sure Gretchen will want to meet your friend,” he replied.
They walked in the door as a group and were met by an older, gray-haired woman, directing them into the dinning room.
“Kathryn, thank god you’re here. I need help in the kitchen. Phoebe, show our guest to the dinning room please,” Gretchen asked Phoebe.
“Yes, Mum.”
~*~*~
“So,” Gretchen began as she mixed up the pancake batter. “Who’s your friend?”
“His name is Chakotay,” Kathryn replied.
“That’s an odd name. What is he, Indian?” she asked pouring the mixture into small circle on the griddle.
“Yes. He’s Native American.”
“What’s his home planet?”
“It was Dorvan V, but that was before the Cardassians wiped out the entire planet.”
“Was he a Maquis?” she asked flipping the hotcakes.
“Yes. Was, of course being the key word.”
“I don’t want you associating with rebels, Kathryn. They’re bad for your reputation. I’ll feed him because he’s here, but I don’t want you seeing him again,” she ordered.
“I’m not sixteen, Mother! You have no control who I will or will not see!” Kathryn countered.
“I’m your mother, and you better believe that I can control whom you associate with! You will not see him again! Is that clear?” she demanded.
“Well, too bad! I’ve got news for you mother! He’s saved my life a dozen times over, and if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here!” she yelled back, matching her mother’s anger.
“Oh, yeah! Tell him thanks for saving you, but he’s still not good enough!” Gretchen lashed out again at her daughter.
“He better be good enough, because I love him!” Kathryn screamed back, waving her hand in her mother’s face.
“What’s that?” Gretchen demanded.
“What?”
“That thing on your finger!” she snapped back grabbing Kathryn’s hand.
“Is that an engagement ring?!” Gretchen demanded.
“Yes! I love him, and I’m marrying him!”
“I forbid it!” Gretchen shot back.
“Then I’m leaving! And you won’t hear from me again!” Kathryn screamed as she stomped out of the room.
~*~*~
“So, Chakotay is it?” Phoebe asked with a smile.
“Yes, that’s me,” he smiled back.
“Where are you from?”
“I live in South Carolina right now. I grew up on Dorvan V though.”
“Wasn't that destroyed by the Cardassians?” she asked innocently.
“Sadly, yes. I lost my entire family down there when I was nineteen.”
“I’m so sorry,” Phoebe replied taking his hand.
“Thank you,” he smiled back.
Screaming from the hallway cut off all future conversation.
“Kathryn! Come back here this instant!” Gretchen demanded.
“No!” Kathryn responded, just as venomously.
“You heard me! I forbid it!”
Kathryn just ignored her and marched up to Chakotay.
“Come on, Chakotay. Let’s get out of here,” she said, taking his hand from her sister’s grasp.
“Alright. Where are we going?” he asked as he was pulled toward the door.
“Vulcan, Bajor, Qro’Nos, anywhere as long as it’s not here!” she replied, walking out the door.
“Kathryn! I’ll never forgive you!” Gretchen screamed after them. “Do you hear me?! Never!!”
Kathryn and Chakotay just marched on.
~*~*~*~
“What was that all about?” Chakotay asked as they reached Bloomington City limits.
“Oh, nothing,” Kathryn replied.
“If it was nothing, it wouldn’t have upset you like this. Tell me what’s wrong?” he asked, pulling her to a stop.
“She... she tried to forbid me from seeing you! She tried to tell me that I couldn’t marry you because of my reputation! I told her that I was going to marry you anyway, and that I wouldn’t speak to her again unless she accepts you,” Kathryn replied, letting the tears from her argument with her mother fall.
“Oh, Kathryn,” he sighed, pulling her into an embrace. “I’m so sorry. All this happened because of me.”
“No, No,” she said into his chest. “She’s been doing this for years. She only allows Phoebe to be with Jack because Jack is Admiral Richards’s son. He’s good enough. And mother thinks you’re not because you were in the Maquis.”
“What do you want to do?” he asked quietly, resting his cheek atop her head.
“I’m still going to marry you, if that’s what you mean. She’s not as important to me as you are. I love you,” she smiled as she pulled away.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she wrapped her arm around his waist, and together, they walked toward the transporter pad.
~*~*~*~*~
Later that afternoon, they arrived back at Chakotay’s small house in South Carolina. They had walked from the transport station all the way to the house in silence.
“I’m going to go for a walk, okay?” Kathryn asked as they reached his doorstep.
“Sure. That’s fine,” he replied quietly.
He turned and watched Kathryn walk into the woods on the worn path near his house. After she disappeared from his sight, he stepped into the cozy cottage and set out in search of his medicine bundle.
In his bedroom, he set out his blackbird’s wing, the stone from the river, the akuna, and the newly added bracelet from Kathryn’s barely touched jewelry box.
He circled his hands around the carved stone and began the sacred chant that would bring him into the spirit guide world.
“Akoochemoiya. We are far from the places of our grandfathers. We are far from the bones of our people. On this day of decisions, I ask to hear the voice of my father. Please, speak to me father.”
His surroundings changed to that of the forests on Doravn3 where he grew up. The birds sang their song of joy and love, and the small animals made the noises of everyday life.
“You are troubled, My Son,” Kolopak asked from his place on a fallen tree.
“Yes,” Chakotay replied simply as he sat beside his father.
“Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?” Kolopak asked, smiling.
“I’m sorry, Father. I have a lot on my mind.”
“I see.”
“It’s about Kathryn.”
“What about her?” Kolopak asked turning more to face his son.
“She has agreed to be my wife.”
“And this is troubling you?” Kolopak laughed. “What‘s wrong with you? The love of your life is going to marry you and you are upset? I thought you would dance and sing on the grounds of her precious Starfleet.”
Chakotay smiled gently at the thought, and then continued on with his story.
“We went to her mother’s house and Gretchen did not approve of me.”
“I see. So this is what is troubling you. Her mother’s refused acceptance of your past.”
“Not quite,” Chakotay frowned. “Gretchen’s not liking me, I can handle. But its repercussions on Kathryn are one thing I cannot deal with. This is upsetting her more than she will allow to show.”
“I see. Kathryn’s unhappiness at her mother’s reaction is what’s bothering you.”
“Yes. Maybe marrying her is not the right thing to do.”
“You know in your heart that that is not true. You’ve loved her for years and now that she is yours, you mustn't let her go. You share a very deep connection that is sacred and rare among our people.”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem to know each other’s thoughts with only a connection of the eyes from across the room. No speaking is required to understand each other. That is what made you such and excellent command team.”
“So I should marry her?” Chakotay asked one more time to clarify.
“I would,” he replied honestly.
“Thank you Father.”
As Chakotay reentered the land of the living, he felt the normal disorientation and dizziness that comes with deep meditation.
A quick glance at the chronometer showed that he had been locked in his vision quest for nearly four hours.
‘Kathryn should have been home by now,’ he thought to himself. Then he heard talking out on his patio.
After a quick look in the mirror to make sure he was presentable, Chakotay stepped through the sliding glass doors on to the back porch.
“Hi, Old Man!” B’Elanna’s cheerful voice rang out through the darkening sky.
“Hello, B’Elanna,” he replied, taking a seat next to Kathryn.
“What took you so long? You were in that quest for a long time,” Kathryn asked.
“I spent some quality time with my father,” he replied. “When did Tom and B’Elanna show up?”
“We ‘showed up’ about twenty minutes ago to see if you were coming to the party,” Tom answered. “Kathryn said that you’re not. But that’s okay.”
“Did you tell them yet?” Chakotay whispered to Kathryn.
“No, I wanted to wait until you were out here,” she replied.
“What haven’t you told us?” Tom asked quickly.
“Yeah? What had to wait until he got out here?” B’Elanna asked a second later.
“Well, we have a surprise,” Chakotay said.
Kathryn just held out her left and showed off her ring.
“Oh my god! You guys are getting married?! That’s great!” B’Elanna said as she jumped up to hug Kathryn.
“Now Kathryn, I had better be one of your bride’s maids!” B’Elanna demanded, striking Kathryn’s famous pose of hand-on-hips.
“Of course! I want you, my sister, and Sam.”
“You know what Naomi could be?” B’Elanna asked grinning.
“Flower Girl!” they both answered at the same time.
“What about me?” Tom asked.
“You wouldn’t look very good as a bride’s maid, Fly-boy,” B'Elanna smiled broadly.
“I don’t know, he might look pretty interesting in a blue dress!” The entire group shared their laughs and giggles over Tom’s obvious distress.
All of the sudden the small comm badge that they all still wore, chirped to life on Tom’s chest.
“Paris here,” he answered quietly.
“Tom! I need your help! Where are you?” A woman cried frantically over the link.
“Calm down, Mary. What’s wrong?” Tom asked concerned.
“He’s gone nuts! He wants to hurt us, Tom! I’m running for our lives! I don’t know where else to go!”
“Tom,” Chakotay whispered. “Tell her to come here.”
“Mary, are you anywhere near a transport station?”
“I’m at one right now!”
“Alright, transport to coordinates, 54.28.92.5.”
“54.28.92.5? Where’s that?” she asked.
“A place where you’ll be safe,” Tom replied.
The low whine of the transporter was heard, immediately followed by the cries of two frightened baby girls. Tom darted into the living room to Mary.
“Tell me , B’Elanna. Who did I just invite to my house?” Chakotay asked getting up to follow Tom into the house.
“Her name is Mary. She’s been having trouble with her husband and was thinking about taking their twin girls and leaving him. I guess I know what she did.”
They walked in the room together, and Kathryn was shocked at who ‘Mary’ turned out to be.
“Kathryn?” Mary asked stunned.
“Mary?” Kathryn asked moving toward her.
“Oh God,” she said, handing her twins off to Tom and Chakotay. “He’s become obsessed with you! He talks about you all the time!”
“Mary! Calm down. Let’s sit and you can tell me why you’re here,” Kathryn said soothingly as she lead her frightened friend to the sofa.
“Do you two know each other?” B’Elanna asked confused.
“Kathryn is my husband’s ex-fiancée.”
“What did Mark do, Mary?” Kathryn asked turning the focus of the room back on the frightened wife.
“He talks about you all the time. He tells me that he’s going to ‘get you’ someday. Sometimes he scares me so much that I feel like cringing in a corner and dying. He hasn’t tried to hurt you, has he?”
“No,” Kathryn replied hugging Mary tightly. “And he won’t. Chakotay?”
“Yes, Love?”
“We do have a spare room, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Can Mary stay here for awhile?” Kathryn asked, giving puppy-dog eyes to her fiancée.
“Of course. If she’s a friend of yours, she’s a friend of mine too,” he answered with a smile.
“Thank you so much,” Mary replied tearfully.
“Come on, let’s get you settled,” Kathryn said as she led her friend up the small set of stairs.
~*~*~*~ Three Weeks Later ~*~*~*~
Gretchen sat stirring her soup when a small beep sounded at her computer terminal. She walked over to it and pressed the accept button. A familiar face lit up he screen.
“Hi, Jack,” Gretchen said with a smile.
“Hi, Gretchen. Is Phoebe there?” he replied.
Just as she was about to say no, she saw her front door open and Phoebe Janeway stepped in, smiling at her mother.
“Phoebe! Jack’s on the terminal for you!” she yelled into the living room while she returned to her soup.
Phoebe came into the room and sat at the small desk in the kitchen.
“Hi, Honey,” Phoebe smiled at her fiancée.
“Hi, yourself. I called because right after you left you got a letter.”
“A letter? No one sends paper letters anymore.”
“Your sister does. Do you want me to forward the text?”
“Would you? Thanks, Love.”
A small indicator light lit up notifying her that her text message had been received.
“I got it. See you later honey.”
“Bye, Sweetheart,” Jack said as he cut the link.
Phoebe sighed as she began to read her sister’s letter. All the stress was beginning to get to her where her mother and her sister were concerned. They still weren’t talking and it had been a few weeks now. She knew a Janeway could be stubborn, but this was getting out of hand.
“Are you going to ask what Kathryn’s letter is about Mother?” Phoebe asked knowing that her mother was trying to read over her shoulder.
“Phoebe, please tell me what her letter says,” Gretchen sighed.
Phoebe took a deep breath and began to read.
“Dear Phoebe. How are you? Chakotay and I are great and the date of our big wedding is four weeks, six days, and nine hours away. I’m counting every minute.
“However, we are thinking of postponing it for a few weeks to be on the safe side.
“About three weeks ago, Mark’s wife Mary beamed into our home with her twin girls. She was talking very quickly about how he had gone crazy. She told me that Mark had said he was going to get me for my little display a few months ago at our homecoming.
“Chakotay is worried about my safety. And Frankly, I’m a little worried too. Mark was always very abusive, and very dangerous.
“Anyway, how is Mother? She still isn’t talking to me and I’m not going to talk to her until she can accept Chakotay as a member of our family. I love him, and he loves me.
“He also loves you, Phoebe. He asked me the other day who my bridesmaids were going to be. I want you to be my Maid Of Honor, Sis. Please? My other maids’ will be B’Elanna Torres and Samantha Wildman. Sam’s daughter Naomi will be my flower girl. It should be a wonderful wedding, except for one thing. Mom won’t be there.
“I know I should try to make the best out of it, but I always imagined that Mom would fall in love with my husband as fast as I did. Talk about wishful thinking.
“Well, I’ve written a lot. Please give Mother and Jack my love. We hope to have you visit. We are in South Carolina. Just tell the operations officer at the Transporter station to beam you to Cartersville. Then ask someone there to direct you to our house. Hope to see you soon! Love, Kathryn and Chakotay.”
Phoebe heard Gretchen’s sigh and decided to break the silence.
“You miss her, don’t you Mom?” Phoebe asked staring at her sister’s letter.
“Yes, I do. But I’m not sure if I can accept Chakotay into our family.”
“Let’s go to South Carolina and you can try to get to know him. He may not be perfect for you, but he’s perfect for her. Just give him a chance and try to get to know your daughter again. Please?” Phoebe asked, hoping that she was getting through to her pig-headed mother.
“I suppose I could give him a chance. Just to please Kathryn.”
“That’s all I ask!” Phoebe smiled as she jumped up to hug her mother.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gretchen had fretted about her second meeting with her daughter’s fiancée since she had left her home in Indiana. Now, standing at her daughter’s door, she was thinking about turning back.
“Come on, Mom. Push the bell.”
Gretchen gently unfurled her clenched finger and pressed it against the tiny button by the door.
~*~*~*~
Chakotay sat reading his book when his doorbell sounded. He gently placed the book face down on the coffee table to keep his place and moved to answer the door. The face on the other side was one that he thought he wouldn’t see for a long time.
“Hello Mrs. Janeway. Please come in. Come in, Phoebe,” he said gesturing for them to enter as he closed the door behind them.
“Thank you, Chakotay,” Phoebe said, smiling.
All three of them took seats in the living room around the coffee table.
“Pardon me but, why are you here? I know it’s a rude question but, I didn’t expect to see you.”
“Don’t apologize, it’s a perfectly reasonable question. I’m here because I think I may have jumped the gun when I first met you because you were once a Maquis.”
“I see,” Chakotay answered shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
“As Phoebe will tell you, I’m a perfectionist. I hate being one, but I am. I’m sure that you have your reasons for joining the Maquis, and I’m sure that they are good ones. I just wanted to try to get to know you a little better instead of trying to rely on your past history.”
“I understand your point, but I’m not sure what you want to know,” Chakotay said shifting again.
“Tell me about your family,” Phoebe spoke up.
“Well, my mother really reminds me of Kathryn. She has the same fiery spirit and sense of humor my mom did. My mother always told my brothers and my sisters about our people in ancient times as bedtime stories. And Taleetay always was fascinated with them. But not me. I was the contrary of our tribe. I was fascinated with the stars and the prospect of exploring them.
I wanted to join Starfleet, but my father strongly disapproved. He wanted me to follow the ways of our people and to take my place with the tribe as son of the chief. But that wasn’t what I wanted.
I struggled with my family guilt at not being what my father wanted me to be and with my own longing for the stars.
Then finally when I was fifteen, I asked Captain Sulu if she would sponsor me at Starfleet Academy. She wanted to speak to my father and mother about it, but I lied and told her that they were away on a spiritual thing and could not be disturbed.
She was still concerned about their approval, but then I lied again saying that I already had their approval. So she relented and sponsored me.
But the hardest part of all, was when I had to explain to my father how I had gotten a sponsorship without his consent. I had to admit that I had lied to a Starfleet Captain to get in to Starfleet.
My mother said that she would support my decision. My father said nothing. At my farewell, the entire tribe was there. My father was not. My last words to him were in anger before I left. That was the worst thing that I regretted when I left Dorvan V.”
Chakotay paused for a few moments to blink back unsuspected tears that were gathering in his eyes. Gretchen and Phoebe had seen those tears.
“You know, Chakotay, you don’t have to drudge up these painful memories if you don’t want to,” Gretchen said quietly.
“No,” Chakotay said and took a deep breath. “You wanted to know my reasons for becoming a Maquis. And I’m going to tell them to you. Right now.” He took another shuddering breath and began again.
“I moved through Starfleet with great friction. When I was there, I wanted to be home. When I was home, I wanted to be there. I couldn’t decide. Eventually my mother’s words found me saying that I am not a quitter and I finished my academy training.
I moved quickly up through the ranks to a lieutenant. I was living my dream. Then I received a notification of a Cardassian attack on Dorvan.
I immediately went to my home world, and found it in ruins. Huge cities crumbled to rubble. The sight of dead children in the streets. All because of the Cardassians.
When I got home, I wished I had never come. My house was nothing but shattered glass and hunks of rock. I dug through the debris, and found my mother and my sister. Both dead. My nieces and nephews were dead as well in the daycare center down the road. I couldn’t find my father.
The last place I searched was our Native American temple. There he was, lying broken on the ground. Literally every bone in his body had been shattered. There was nothing the doctors could do for him.
I held him in my arms and he told me the horrors of the Cardassian attack. They had bombed them from orbit. When the defensive measures were gone, ground forces arrived.
Cardassian men murdered women and children by the millions. The men who survived the aerial attack were forced to watch the invaders murder their families. Then the poor men were beaten to within an inch of their life and the Cardassians left the survivors to die of pain.
My father died in my arms, telling me that he wished that the colonists had listened to Starfleet and abandoned their world for a safe haven. I wanted nothing more than kill every Cardassian who had did these things to my people. Then the Maquis recruiter showed up.
I joined looking for revenge. And I found it. I’m not ashamed of my past. Starfleet might be, but I’m not. As far as I’m concerned, I was avenging my family’s pointless deaths.”
Gretchen and Phoebe sat stunned and slowly began to digest the story they had heard. Gretchen had been correct in her assumption that Chakotay’s reasons for joining the Maquis were good ones. Very good ones.
“I’m so sorry that I judged you so quickly, Mr. Chakotay,” Gretchen whispered quietly.
“I understand,” Chakotay replied. “You were protecting your daughter.”
“It seems that you have already done that for me. I was permitted to read her personal logs and I can’t count the number of times that you have protected my little baby.”
Gretchen took a deep breath and as if sensing what she was going to say, Phoebe gently took her hand and squeezed it tightly.
“And I wish you two the best of luck. I’m giving you her hand.”
Now it was Chakotay’s turn to be stunned. Two weeks ago, Kathryn had said that she hated her mother and that she would never accept him as a member of the Janeway family. Now she had just given the couple her blessing. Talk about a change of heart.
Just then the door opened and a very tired looking Kathryn Janeway walked in with her bags of clothes piled so high that she could not see the identity of her guests. She breezed by and placed them on the bed in the bedroom and came back into the living room to see her newest enemy.
“Kathryn,” Gretchen began but her angry daughter interrupted her.
“Don’t even start, Mother!” she hissed. “You came to bother us again, didn't you?!”
“Now Kathryn, calm down...”
“You sure-as-hell weren’t calm when you forbid me to ever see him again! Were you? What do you want?!” she screeched, pronounciing every word with infinate detail.
“Kit Kat,” Chakotay interrupted.
“What?” she yelled, turning her anger on him. Then, suddenly realizing who she was now talking to, she calmed down and moved to sit beside him.
“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to yell at you,” she explained, taking his hand.
“I know. But there is something that I think you should let your mother explain.”
Kathryn turned expectantly toward her mother and sister to hear what was to be said.
“Kathryn,” Gretchen began. “Chakotay and I have talked and I apologized for... Jumping to conclusions on him.”
“And?” Phoebe prompted.
“And I have given him you hand in marriage. I wish you two well.”
Kathryn sat stunned for several minutes, trying to ascertain what her mother had said to her.
“We can get married?” she asked quickly.
“Of course, who am I to try and stop the invincible Kathryn Janeway.”
“Thank you so much, Mum! I missed you!” Kathryn smiled as she moved to hug her mother.
“When is the ceremony?” Phoebe asked innocently.
“Oh my gosh! I really haven’t even thought about it since we decided on postponing it.”
“Why would you want to postpone such a thing?’ Gretchen asked.
“Because of my husband,” a voice replied at the other end of the room.
“Mary,” Kathryn sighed. “I told you not to think about it. He won’t bother us.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I hope so, too.”
~*~*~
Two weeks later, the couple said their ‘I Do’s’ in a small chapel outside Seattle. Everyone in the news was happy for them. But one person, in the heights of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was seething.

End of part three, New Frontiers.
May, 2003
Captain_Crystal

New Frontiers - Part Three of the 'Bravely a Coward' series. Author - Captain_ Crystal