Jamb: (10 page)

Zane, spinning an empty salt shaker at the table, adds, “
Oh, they definitely saw every inch of each other.”

Someone taps on the glass door and Milo turns to flip the latch for Carducci. 
Deeta notices for the first time that Milo’s not beside her and frowns.  She gets out of her seat and moves over beside Milo, leaning on the wall next to him.

Carducci is
a fridge of a guy with a head full of thick, wild curls and even though I’ve only seen him once, he’s not a guy anybody could forget.  I remember his newly-wed wife, Sasu, even more, because Zane called her a troll and I thought he was being mean until I met her.  Sasu was a tiny girl and her little face looked exactly like one of those little troll dolls with the stand-up hair.  But as Carducci ducks to come in through the sliding door, his wife isn’t with him.

“How’s it going,” he grumbles in way of a greeting.  His eyes flash over the room quickly.  “Sasu’s not here?”

“Nope,” Robin says.  Carducci groans.

“I’ve been chasing
her all over the place.  She thinks this is some big family reunion.”

“I hope she’s not out there telling everybody our business,” Robin says.  “But
since Sasu’s never been a big blabbermouth, I would guess she’s probably just running away from
you
.  I can’t blame her either.  You guys Bound months ago.  At some point, you gotta let the dang honeymoon be over and give the girl a break.”

“Thank you, Mama Robin,” Carducci
grumbles.

“It kind of
is
a family reunion,” Deeta giggles, twisting her hair around a finger.  But her bubbliness fades a little when she glances behind her and realizes Milo’s not there.  He closed the door for Carducci and ended up on that wall, closer to Zaneen.  Deeta’s eyes flit to him, still leaning at a distance, and then to Zaneen.  Deeta’s grin struggles a little.  “We get to meet everyone from all the different Curas and we are all family, in a way.”

Robin pauses from dragging her fingers through
the ends of her hair.  “No, Deets.  We’re not.”

“
Well, we’re all on the same team.”

“We can’t assume
that.”

“The Totus was fine.  Nobody did anything.”  Deeta
grumbles. 

“It’s a good point,” Zane says and Robin shoots him a glare that could melt metal.  “I’m just saying,
babe, there weren’t any warning signs.”

“
Frangere,” Robin says without even glancing at Milo.  “And where is your Cura these days?”

Milo frowns, but says nothing.
  Garrett clears his throat.

“I guess I need to be Sean’s usual voice of reason, since he’s not here,”
he says.  “Sooner or later, we’re going to have to band together, if we want to make it through this Cusp.”

“Well,
all I know is that I’ll do what I’m supposed to do,” Carducci says.  He reaches back and slides open the door to the courtyard. “And tell my wife I’m looking for her, if you see her, would ya?”

***

With Milo in the room, I can tell that there’s not going to be anything but small talk.  And from Robin, no talk at all.  She goes back to inspecting the tips of her hair.

“So,” Zane starts.  “
How’s Brando?”

Robin clears her throa
t, but Garrett answers anyway.

“It looks like he’s got a broken elbow, wrist
, and knee, and he had cuts and bruises all over, but I think we got it under control.  It’s just going to take him a little bit to get back on his feet.”

“What happened
to him?”  Milo asks.  Robin snorts, rolls her eyes.

“We don’t know yet,” I say.  “Brandon was unconscious.”

“Mark?” Zane asks.

“No sign of Mark,” Garrett shakes his head.  “Brandon came back on his own.”

“How did he get here?  And how did he get in?  He just walked up to the front doors and we let him in?” Milo asks.  The temperature in the room drops from cool to Antarctica.  I wince.  I can’t believe he even chanced asking that, considering who he is, where he came from, and that the entire floor that was supposed to be housing his Cura is a ghost town.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Robin s
naps.

“It wa
s just a question,” Deeta says.  “I was wondering about it too.”

“You’re Alo,” Robin says.  “
No offense, Deets, but I don’t ask you to give me the inside scoop on Memories and you shouldn’t be asking how I keep you safe.”

“Oh yeah, no offense,” Deeta says, but she’s totally offended. She leans back and looks at Milo, but he’s watching Zaneen.  Deeta’s
frown deepens like crumpled plastic wrap and I think she’s going to start to cry, but she only sniffs and looks out the glass door to the courtyard.

“We should get in some training,” I say
to change the subject, but the second it’s out of my mouth, my brain feels like it puckers, as if I just chewed up that bitter thought and spit it out by accident.  I should’ve come up with something else.  Anything else.  The absolute last thing I want to do is train.  What I really want to do right now is be alone.  With Garrett. 

But Zane bounces
on his couch cushion. “That’s the way to think, Nali Girl!  Let’s do it.  I could go for blowing off some steam.”

“Ugh,” Robin says to me.

“We could go back to your place,” Zaneen says.  Everyone turns at once to see who she’s talking to and Milo’s grinning at her.

“
We could,” he says and Zane hops up, waving his arms.

“
Ho no.  You definitely can’t,” he says.

“Oh, I definitely can,
” Zaneen fires back.

“Nope, nope, nope.”

“Like I’m going to listen to you, chicken bone.”

“
Then listen to me.  What do you think you are doing, Neen?” Robin asks.  Deeta interjects with a sticky smile.

“It sounds like fun,” she says, “but
Milo, we really should be getting back to our writing instead of all this visiting.  We need to try again, so the Addo can see you’re making an effort.”

“
Too bad.” Zaneen aims her words at Milo and her entire face, from the lowered lashes to the pouty lips, are a tractor beam.  He nods, entranced.

“I’ve been stuck,” he says.

“Stuck.” Robin snorts again.  “You mean, like the Memories aren’t even being presented to you.  As in, even the dead don’t trust you.”

Deeta gets to her feet, brushing out the wrinkles from the edge of her shirt.

“I thought you didn’t stick your nose into the Alo’s business,” Deeta says.  A massive surge of
holy crap
ness goes around the room.  Deeta, of all the people in the world, Went. There. 

“You know what?” Robin says, getting off the couch.  She brushes past Deeta and goes to the door.  “Do whatever you want, Deets.  I’ve told you he’s trouble.  And you should know better, Neeny.”

Robin opens the glass door and stomps out, knocking shoulders with Sean, who’s right hand is tied to Teagan, their finger interlaced.  Teagan’s baby, no, Sean and Teagan’s baby, is cradled against Teagan’s chest and held in place with her free arm.

“Didn’t mean to be your speed bump
!” Sean laughs over his shoulder to Robin, as she stalks off. 

Sean moves
carefully over the threshold, so Teagan isn’t dragged.  She smiles at him and he smiles back and it’s a little gross, how smiley they are.  I wonder if Garrett and I look like that.

“Thought you guys might want to meet our daughter,” Sean says.  Teagan’s smile goes tight and Sean lifts a questioning eyebrow, the same way Garrett does.  Teagan blushes.

“It’s nothing,” she says.  “I’m just so used to her being all mine.  It’s weird to hear you say
our daughter
. But I like it.”

Sean kisses Teagan’s nose as he takes the baby.  It’s an awkward trade,
even with the retractable cord on their rope.  The binding still gets in the way.  But the baby doesn’t seem to care.  In fact, once she’s on Sean’s chest, she snuggles in and lets out the sweetest little sigh of contentment that I’ve ever heard.  Sean beams and we all
awww
at once.

“Want to meet your first niece ever?”  Sean
asks as he looks at Garrett and then me.  I blush that he’s already lumping Garrett and I together like that. 
Our
niece. “You remember how to hold a baby, Garrett?”

“Like riding a bike,” Garrett says, taking the baby from his brother.  “
Oh, sweet.  This one’s not all wiggly, like Iris was.”

In Garrett’s arms, the baby does the same little snuggle and contented sigh.  And it’s even cuter the second time.  He turns toward me, adjusting her so I can see her and
the second I do, my heart drops a beat.

“Grace.”
The name comes out in a breath and Garrett blinks, his eyes instantly on mine.  He knows what that name means to me.

It can’t be.

Can it?

I search her little face, because usually all babies look the same—
like grumpy little old men—but this baby is not like that at all.  She’s beautiful.  She’s got a perfectly round head covered with wisps of delicate curls, a tiny pink mouth that sleeps in the relaxed shape of a soft bowtie, and when I whisper-breathed the name, her eyes fluttered open only a second to reveal her beautiful, green eyes.  Unmistakable eyes that feel more familiar than family to me.  My heart fills with the sight of her and my eyes well up.  I know this baby.  She is Grace, the little girl that was my first Connection, and I get to see her and be with her, again.

I meet Garrett’s gaze and the happiness leaks into his grin to
o.  I’d told him about Grace when she’d helped me through some of my first Impressioning…told him how much she liked him, how she said he was good and that I should trust him.

“What
was that you said?” Sean asks. 

“Grace,” Garret
t tells him.  “She looks like she is full of grace.”

“Grace,”
Sean repeats thoughtfully.  “I really like that.  What do you think of that for her name, Teagan?”

“It’s beautiful,” Teagan says, “but it’s kind of…I don’t know.  I was thinking Crystal or Ashley.  Or Taylor or Mikayla.  W
ith Mikayla, we could call her Miki for short.  Wouldn’t that be cute?”

All of Teagan’s names
cute, but in my gut, I know it’s not this baby’s name.  It’s their choice, but someplace inside me, this baby is always going to be Grace to me and it’s going to be really hard to call her anything else.  Garrett lifts the baby, her head in his palms, her feet resting on his forearms.

“It’s your baby,” he
tells Sean.  “You can call her whatever you want, but wow, she looks like a Grace to me too.”

“
I like it,” Sean says, but he pulls a smile from Teagan when he adds, “but I like the sound of Miki for a nickname.  It doesn’t get any cuter than that.”

“You going to
share?” Deeta asks, putting out her hands.  Garrett hands the baby to her and Deeta coos, “Oh, Sean, she’s beautiful!”

“Thank you,” Teagan bea
ms. Sean lifts her hand to his mouth and kisses it.  The baby gets passed around the room, but no matter how careful we all are, Teagan can’t hide her anxiety when Zane hands the baby to Milo and the two fumble a little with the hand-off.  Grace is perfectly fine and doesn’t even wake up, but Teagan’s hands jerk up once, bringing Sean’s right with her left, as if expects the two boys to drop her daughter.

“I’ve got her,” Milo assures Teagan, although
his arms are bent so stiffly that it looks like somebody just shoved a coat hanger through his shoulders.  He mumbles, “She’s very pretty…uh, good job.”

I giggle and Deeta joins me.

“Yeah, good job,” Deeta says.

“What
’s that like anyway?” Zaneen asks, waving a finger at the box and rope strung between Sean and Teagan.

“Weird,” Teagan says.  “I
went from being all alone to not being able to get rid of him.”

Sean just laughs.  “Instant family, just add rope.”

“How do you go to the bathroom and stuff?” Deeta asks and I think all of us kind of groan inside.  Except Zane, of course.  I know I wanted to ask, but there was no way I was going to.

“After having a baby, you’d think
nothing like that would matter, but it totally does,” Teagan giggles.  She drops Sean’s hand, showing the short length of retractable rope between them.  “It takes some gymnastics to get some privacy, but it’s do-able.  You’ve got to lean a little and keep your arm out, but thank God our toilet is close to the door.”

“I told her it was no big deal,” S
ean says and Deeta immediately scrunches up her nose.

“Ewww.
That’s gross.”

“
What’s the big deal?” Zane shrugs.  “They’re married. I use the bathroom when Robin’s in there all the time.”