AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nope. I grew up in the suburbs, but my dad liked to garden and he taught me.” Her eyes grew misty. “I remember going to the nursery and landscaping center with him. Good times.”
“You miss your folks, don’t you?” Louella felt a twinge of guilt, because she had to admit to herself that, between gang involvement and baby mamma drama, she didn’t miss her family all that much.So much potential wasted!
“Yeah, I do. Mom and Dad died in a car accident a year after I graduated from college. I don’t have any siblings, so it was just me—the perfect target for Mr. Argosie’s human trafficking ambitions.”
Louella’s eyes widened. “Human trafficking. Huh. I never really thought of it that way.”
“Well, what else would you call it?” the other woman challenged her. “In Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Philippines, women are often lured into slavery via job advertisements. You know, get a modeling job and—bam!—they find themselves being sold into slavery. That’s how I was lured in. I responded to an advertisement for a horticultural job.”
Louella pursed her lips and thought back to her encounters with the Federal Agency for Foreign Relations. After a moment, she admitted, “I signed up to be a nurse-cum-mail order bride.”
Evangeline looked incredulous. “A mail order bride? They still do that?”
“Apparently so. It worked on me and Marisol.” Louella took a bite of something rich and savory with a texture resembling pork. After swallowing, she added, “We just thought we were going to another city, somewhere out west or maybe overseas to a military base, but certainly not to anotherplanet. We were told that we’d be entered into a list of unmarried women interested in meeting bachelor soldiers who wanted to get married.” She sighed, then admitted, “We just wanted that old-fashioned dream.”
Evangeline nodded. “Yeah, I know it’s terribly unprogressive to admit it, but I like not having to rely on myself for everything. Honestly, I was at my wit’s end and wondering how I was going to be able to feed my cat when I answered that advertisement for a job. It’s a relief to know that I’ve got a husband—well, two actually—who have my back.”
“Yeah,” Louella agreed. “I wanted that, too. My family said I was too ambitious, that I was gettin’ uppity, you know? For wanting something better than what I had growing up.”
Evangeline nodded and laughed. “Well, you’ve certainly gotten uppity! You’re married to anemperornow!”
Louella snorted. “Yeah, I guess I am.” She shook her head. “And it’s not been a fairy tale, that’s for sure. I mean, have you ever seen a Black Cinderella?”
“I did on TV once,” Evangeline replied.
“Ugh, TV. You know, I miss having TV.”
The women continued to chat and reminisce about what conveniences and entertainments on Earth they missed as they ate, but Louella had little acquaintance with Ahn’hudin’s culture to use for comparison. Eventually, the parade of servants returned to clear the table and tidy the room.
“I’m getting a little stir crazy,” Louella admitted, looking around the room. Although spacious and elegantly appointed, it was still a single room beyond which she was certain she was not allowed to venture.
Evangeline gave her mischievous smile and said, “Wanna go shopping?”
“Am I allowed? I don’t think I’m allowed.” Louella shrugged, resigning herself to luxurious captivity. “And it doesn’t matter anyway, because I don’t have any money.”
“I’ll call for an escort,” Evangeline said, eyes glinting. “And you won’t need money.”
“An escort?”
“Yeah, females being a bit uncommon and greatly desirable on Ahn’hudin, we’re closely kept and protected. I don’t go anywhere without an escort, usually Rosie.”
“That seems wrong.”
Evangeline shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“I hate that expression.”
Evangeline shrugged. “I’ve been grateful for my mates’ insistence on protection more than once. When I’m at home, I take Rosie. Nobody messes with Rosie. But Rosie’s not here, so we’ll have to find someone else.”
“I doubt Jax will let me go wandering off with any man … er … male.”
“Probably not, unless you’re in company with me.”
Evangeline’s confidence eased Louella’s doubt. “Do you think so?”
“We have to try,” Evangeline replied. “The worst they’ll do is say no.”
She rose from the chair and crossed the room to the door that connected to the adjacent meeting room where her mates and Yas’kihn held audience. They and their guests immediately ceased discussion when the door opened.
