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(EARTH)
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NOAH WAS HOME ALONE; no sign of either parent, or Alice of course. He was sitting on the couch in the lounge and through the open door he could see the dining room table was set for two — plates, cutlery, glasses, candles, a lily in a vase. The latter told him everything. Kaia loved lilies and he always bought her one when she came for a meal. It made no sense because they had split up just before the ill-fated flight to Kainnan.
Before he could decide what to do the doorbell rang and Kaia herself breezed in. She was blonde with mischievous deep brown eyes, petite and clever. They had broken up because, from his perspective, she was becoming too controlling, too demanding and, from hers, he was not giving her enough attention. And, if he was brutally honest, he had been too selfish to keep trying.
“Hi babe,” she said, blowing a kiss in his direction. She breezed through to the kitchen, supermarket bags in hand. After a moment he heard her rustling around with drawers and pots and figured she must be cooking him dinner. This wasn’t good.
“So, how are things?” he asked casually, making his way to the kitchen.
“What do you mean? You know I’m feeling great about us getting back together, I just told you this morning.”
“Yeah, I meant...it was just, you know, an expression,” he shrugged, trying to hide his ignorance and his shock. When had they got back together?
“Did you get a suit sorted for tomorrow yet?” she changed the subject.
“For...?”
“My cousin’s wedding! You’re still coming as my date, right? You’re not bailing on me I hope,” she said it with humor in her voice but he could hear the tension behind her words.
“Of course,” he said, immediately wishing he could think of a way out.
“Good. Because if we’re going to make things work you’re going to have to step up your commitment level.” She was both earnest and tense. When he did not respond, she turned away and busied herself with the cooking instead.
The evening was painful for Noah. His mind was a million miles away, thinking about Kainnan, what he might have to do, his sister, Jacob — and, of course, Katerina. He wondered how she was doing, where she was, if she was alright. Every now and then he managed to re-focus on Kaia but he was not really interested in her chatter about friends, parties, drinking, enemies and clothes. In fact, he realized after a time that he was not really interested in her anymore at all. Katerina had changed that, and Kainnan had changed him.
{
Katerina came to at her friend Sophia’s place. She was on the window-seat in the sun. Several faces were watching her with amusement as she sat up sleepily: Sophia, Jacinda, Kirstin and Sadie. “Hey sleepyhead,” Jacinda teased. “We were wondering when you were going to wake up.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“A good hour. You sounded like you were having an interesting dream. Who’s Noah?”
It all came back in a flash — Kainnan, Noah, Aaron and Alice; what she had to do. She sat up quickly, panic upon her. But they were all looking at her strangely so she forced herself to relax. “Just a friend, someone I met recently.”
Sadie, always the most suspicious, kept studying her. The others shrugged and returned to what they had obviously been doing, looking at wedding accessories. Sophia’s wedding! “I can’t believe how close your wedding is now,” she put false excitement in her voice.
“I know! Tomorrow! I can hardly believe it either,” Sophia exclaimed. “Oh, your mother rang again by the way. She said it’s urgent you get hold of her. I put her off again. But you know,” she fixed her lovely blue eyes on Katerina seriously. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on but you can’t avoid her forever. She seems pretty determined to talk to you.”
“I just want to enjoy your wedding then I’ll deal with things at home,” Katerina deferred.
Sophia seemed satisfied by that and for the rest of the evening Katerina managed to avoid any further attention. They had a marvelous time doing face-masks, manicures and pedicures, watching Sophia’s favorite movie Ten Things I Hate About You and talking about what married life would be like. But through it all, Katerina’s mind was frantically busy trying to work out what exactly she was meant to be doing to get back to Kainnan.
{
Noah ended the night with Kaia early, pleading tiredness. The moment she was gone he looked up Katerina’s phone number and stared at it a while. But Aaron had warned them they should not meet. Although he was not sure what might happen, he had advised them not to risk it. Instead, Noah rang the police station to inquire about his father and discovered he had been remanded to prison, awaiting trial. He tried the hospital next, but they would not tell him anything about Jacob’s condition as he was not a relative. He was tempted to call Jacob’s parents but reluctantly concluded it was too late. Perhaps he would in the morning.
He went to bed after that but was too wide awake to sleep. Eventually he got up and read for a while; a Ted Dekker novel that turned his thoughts to their experiences on Kainnan. Sleep came mercifully an hour or so later.
{
Sophia got up early and woke everyone else with her excitement. The morning rushed by in a blur of hair, makeup and dresses.
To Katerina’s relief the bridesmaid dresses were stunning. They were mid-calf length, strapless, fitting over the bust like a corset, with a floating ethereal skirt. They each had a different color. Hers was a glowing red which highlighted her new blonde hair and fake brown eyes (which mercifully none of her friends had commented on) beautifully.
Her mother rang again just before they left the house to travel to the ceremony. This time she decided to take the call. She made her way out on to the back lawn for privacy.
“Kat, we need to talk,” Sarah got straight to the point.
“What about?” she asked, all innocence.
“You know exactly what. All those questions you’ve been asking — me, your father, my workmates...It’s got to stop! You know I can’t talk about my work, it’s highly classified.”
“I thought you just pushed paper,” Katerina said before she could stop herself.
“Classified paper. You’ll get me in a lot of trouble if you don’t stop. I can’t understand what’s got into you!”
Katerina chose her next words carefully. “I heard some rumors that you do more than paperwork, that you actually do some kind of dangerous field-work.”
There was a long silence. Then Sarah asked, “Where did you hear these rumors? Who’s been telling you these things?”
“A friend with connections. And if you have been lying to me about your job all these years, I want to know the truth now Mum.”
There was another long silence. Then, “Okay,” Sarah said. “I will tell you exactly what I do — leaving out the confidential details of course. We’ll talk it all out when you get home from Sophia’s wedding.”
It was a nice thing to offer, but Katerina was fairly certain her mother was lying. Although the bright sunlight made it difficult to see, her glowing ring seemed to confirm her suspicions. Clearly she would have to take other steps to arrive at the truth about her mother.
The church was huge, white and steepled. When the bridal party arrived all was quiet, with everyone already inside waiting for their entrance. Katerina was third down the aisle and she lined up at the doorway obediently, taking her allocated groomsman’s arm. He gave her a flirtatious smile and she recalled he had tried to hit on her at Sophia’s engagement party. Sighing, she fixed her eyes forward scanning the church idly. It was packed with Sophia and her groom Josh’s rich, upper-class relatives along with a large selection of their university and work friends.
The music started and then she was walking down the aisle, trying to look like a devoted bridesmaid. Because she was preoccupied, Noah recognized her before she did him. He was sitting uncomfortably beside Kaia wishing the day was over already. Then he looked up and there was Katerina walking towards him, beautiful in a scarlet red dress. Their eyes locked and she nearly stumbled with surprise. The man beside her gripped her arm tightly and she swept on past.
She avoided looking at him throughout the ceremony — not quite able to believe he was actually there — but Noah could not get his eyes off her. Seeing her there in the real world made everything feel so different. On Kainnan nothing, including their connection with each other, felt normal. But seeing Katerina in his social sphere on Earth made a relationship with her after Kainnan suddenly seem possible.
The thought, as it had been on Kainnan, was both appealing and terrifying and he spent the entire service asking himself why all over again. Surely, if he changed his mind, they could make a go of things? Why was he so afraid of liking her? Just because of his parents’ example? Because it could be something life-long and real? Or was it more than that? Why was he so afraid of making a commitment like that?
For Katerina, the ceremony passed in a blur. All she was aware of was Noah watching her. She smiled for the cameras and at Sophia, but the only audience she was really tuned into was him. All she wanted to do was go somewhere, away from everyone else, and talk to him.
Aaron had said they should have no contact with each other however, so after the ceremony she did her utmost to avoid him. But he seemed determined to talk. As soon as he could escape Kaia he approached her on the side-lawn where she was chatting with Kirstin. “Katerina...” he said softly, a world of emotion in the one word.
“Hi,” she returned, trying to sound casual, though her heart was beating unnervingly fast at the sight of him. Noah glanced at Kirstin, who got the message and excused herself immediately — though not without giving her friend an impressed grin first.
“I can’t believe it’s you!” he said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing okay. But I have no idea what I’m supposed to do,” she was glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.
“Neither — yet. What’s happened so far?”
“Apparently I’m avoiding my mother because I confronted her about her job at some point.” She sat down on the grass and pulled her heels off as she spoke. He joined her, sprawling beside her.
“You don’t remember doing it?”
“No, I don’t. It’s like there’s a small gap where I kept doing things here that I know nothing about.”
“Tell me about it,” Noah said grimly, his eyes on Kaia who was chatting to a group of people near the front of the church.
“Who’s that girl?”
“My ex-girlfriend. Apparently we got back together. So now I need to break up with her again.”
“Maybe you’re meant to work something out with her?” Katerina suggested.
He looked at her sharply but she would not return his gaze. “I don’t love her. I’m not even sure I like her anymore.”
“Oh. Yes, that is a problem.”
They sat in silence a while. Then Noah asked, “What’s your plan for the next few days?”
“I’m going to break into my mother’s workplace and see what I can find out about her,” Katerina said, so calmly Noah wasn’t sure he had heard correctly.
“You’re kidding, right? That’s far too dangerous! You know what Aaron said about her and where she works...”
“I have to do something. And really, what could happen? She is my mother. She may not have been around much, but she was always committed to me.”
“Was?”
“I mean is. She is on my side — I’m her daughter, right?”
“I don’t think it works like that. My father just hit Alice and shot her boyfriend. Where’s the parental loyalty there?”
She studied him a moment, unbearably handsome and yet so unobtainable, so not hers. “I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“All the same I think I’ll come with you.”
“You don’t need to...”
“But I want to,” he interrupted firmly. “Think of it this way; if you don’t succeed here, then I don’t get to leave Kainnan anytime soon,” he smiled to take the sting out of his comment. “It’s in my best interest to help you succeed.”
“If you put it like that...”
“The address and time?” he asked.
After she gave him the details, he stood and held a hand out to help her up too. “No,” she breathed, “we can’t touch here, remember?”
“That’s right,” he sighed. “I’ll have to wait.” He gave her a pointed smile and walked away.
