The Clone’s Mate by Susan Trombley
Forty-Three
I do not want to ever relive that childbirth! It wasn’t the pain of my contractions, or the complications caused by the distress my precious little monster felt during labor that caused his stingers to eject. Fortunately, his venom glands weren’t fully developed yet so no one got hurt, including his twin brother.
Yes, those things were stressful, as was the C-section I ended up having due to the difficulty giving birth to the two hybrids. But what caused the greatest problem was dealing with my three spastic mates, all of whom panicked almost the entire time I was in labor until I wanted to ban them from the room. Going into surgery for the C-section ended up being a relief since the three of them weren’t all allowed in there.
Instead, my mother sat beside me, holding my hand.
Yep. My mama.
If you had asked me before I was abducted whether my mother would be with me during the birth of her two alien hybrid grandbabies, I would have called you crazy, or asked if I could have some of what you were smoking.
Ten years after I disappeared from the face of the Earth, I reunited with my parents, who were getting on in years, but you could hardly tell since they had also undergone rejuv treatments. Their reaction to seeing me again, heavily pregnant, near bursting, and a little sheepish and uncertain as I met them at the arrival terminal, told me that I’d never been fair to them in my complicated feelings towards them, and it was time to make up for that.
We cried as we hugged, and they were remarkably unjudgmental when they met my mates, including Subject 34, who seemed more nervous about their reaction to him than I was. I should have realized that they would embrace the strangeness of my new life with enthusiasm. After all, they’d always believed that I was unique and special and had a destiny that would be far from ordinary and mundane.
I realized now that they’d never meant to put pressure on me to live up to that belief and that their words to me had always been intended to encourage me and guide me, not push me to be someone they could brag about.
Knowing how I felt about the lives growing inside me was what finally convinced me to contact them. They’d already been contacted by the liaison to inform them I was alive and safe, but I’d requested not to be connected to them until I could settle into my new home with my new family. At the time, a reunion with my parents seemed like too much to deal with after just arriving on Earth with ten years gone, after being through what we’d endured, and while trying to adjust to my new family life.
My decision had hurt them, but they didn’t bring up that pain or try to make me feel guilty for it when I finally saw them again.
My parents had lived through not only the mysterious abduction of their only child by a strange man at the hardware store, never to have closure during the ten years that passed, but also through a Menops invasion that had devastated our planet and decimated a good portion of the population, followed not long after by a terrible plague that had claimed more lives.
They had suffered greatly since I’d been taken, and I could see the roadmap of that suffering in the lines on their faces. Yet now they were all smiles to be reunited with me and discover that they had two unique and unusual grandbabies on the way.
The C-section went smoothly, and the first squalls from my sons were music to my ears. My mom cried tears of joy and relief as they sealed me back up, using tech far more advanced than I would have had ten years ago, so my healing time would be far less.
Which turned out to be good, because even with the help of three mates and my parents, my babies were a handful, even in their first few weeks of life!
Still, every once in a while, we all found the time to have a nice family dinner together while my sons slept peacefully in their nursery. Little Eshkar, who DNA tests revealed to be Ilyan’s biological child though he looked human save for the pointed ears, and Oro, who had four arms like Thrax’s sons and his own pair of stingers, didn’t share the same crib for safety reasons, but when they were awake, they always wanted to be together, seeming to find comfort in each other’s company. Their closeness was a relief for me, as I didn’t want to have to separate my sons too often. I wanted them to be close like the rest of our family.
“I saw Michael before we came here,” my mother said in a low voice to me after a well-deserved peaceful family meal. “Did you know that he visited us many times throughout the years, hoping that we’d learned something about your whereabouts?”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise, glancing at my mates in the kitchen, demonstrating the fancy food processor to my dad, who looked suitably impressed. Impressed enough that my mom would probably get one for him for Christmas, which was coming up in a few months.
Our new home, which was still under construction, would also have a top-of-the-line kitchen, just like this temporary housing.
Honestly, it had turned out to be a lot longer than temporary, but by now, we’d made many friends and the community we lived in would be a lot more comfortable with Subject 34 living among them unfettered since they’d had plenty of time to get to know him.
“I guess he did care about you, Ronnie,” my mom said, bringing my thoughts back to the conversation at hand, “though I honestly never forgave him for what he did to you. I hated him for hurting you, especially after you disappeared. I blamed him because I believed you never would have talked to that strange man if you hadn’t had your heart broken by Michael.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at my usually very calm and upbeat mother using an almost vitriolic tone. Then her expression softened as she also glanced at my mates, her gaze following Subject 34 as he made his way to the nursery to check on our sons.
“Michael was never good enough for you,” she said, returning her gaze to me. “He didn’t deserve you, but I didn’t want to chase you away by telling you that you could do so much better. Instead, I chased you away for a different reason. I’m so sorry you believed that all we cared about was appearances. We never wanted to squeeze you into a box. We tried too hard to keep that from happening to you because we thought we were being supportive. In the end, we only ended up putting pressure on you, and your father and I regret that more than anything. Then Michael came along and shoved you into a box to please him, and we couldn’t say anything about it, because it was your choice and we wanted to respect that.”
“I’m sorry too, Mom. I should have realized that you only wanted the best for me, instead of thinking I wasn’t living up to your expectations.”
My mother shook her head, lifting a hand to brush my hair away from my face, a gentle smile on hers. “Wisdom sometimes comes at a high price, Ronnie. Regrets, on the other hand, are free and still aren’t worth it. I don’t want to waste another moment of our lives wishing I could go back and fix the past. Your father and I have decided that we want to live for the future.” Her smile broadened into a grin. “And what an exciting future it is!”
I nodded, taking her hand and squeezing it with all the love and affection I was now freely able to feel for my parents. “I do too, Mom. I want to live for tomorrow. But I also won’t let today pass without appreciating every moment of it. I spent too much time waiting for something I could never quite define before. Now I’ve found it, and I’m going to cherish it for as long as I live!”
My gaze shifted from my mom’s face to Subject 34, who reentered the living room, carrying one of my sons in each set of arms, his facial plates open and an expression of awe on his face that I knew I would have to add to my many sketches of my mates. I grinned as my Iriduans stopped speaking to my father in mid-sentence to rush to 34’s side to coo over their sons.
My guys sometimes fought over who got to hold the boys, which meant I also had to put my foot down at times, just to cradle my babies in my own arms. Ilyan had told me in an aside that the solution to the problem was to make more babies, so we all had one to cuddle at the same time.
I’d threatened to slap him upside the head, much to his amusement, but then he’d cornered me in my room and preceded to work on making his suggestion a reality.
I was so happy that sometimes I wondered how I made it through each day before I was abducted and met my mates. I wondered how I could have ever believed I was content, when a part of me hadn’t even been awakened yet.
Now, I truly felt alive, surrounded by love and companionship that my introverted self never would have dared to imagine before.
I had my family, a career that fulfilled me, and friends both near and far, and all of it gave me the inspiration that made my art vivid and compelling, when it had always been lifeless before.
