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He glanced down at her as if just remembering that she existed.
Suddenly, his face went blank.
“Gage?” she asked. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing,” he told her. “To be completely honest, I had some doubts about this. But it sounds like the Center assumed I would come anyway.”
Her horrified reaction must have shown on her face.
“I want a baby,” he told her immediately. “That’s not a question. I’ve always wanted a family, please don’t be afraid that a child we conceived wouldn’t be loved and wanted.”
“I wasn’t,” she lied.
While the men of Terra-58 were all desperate for marriage and family, she had heard that men on other worlds were more cavalier.
For the gender with less power, an allegiance with a family unit might offer safety and security. And for the other, a responsibility and a loss of freedoms.
Was Gage such a man?
And if he was, why would he pay a fortune to come here and have a child?
“Friends of mine helped me arrange this,” he told her. “I wasn’t sure about the timing with my work, that’s all. But when the Center let them know you were a match, they must have said yes before confirming with me. They thought you were quite a genetic catch.”
“Uh, thanks,” she said. “So, your work is demanding?”
“It won’t be after this,” he said, smiling warmly at her. “I expect to have my hands full with home responsibilities.”
She tried to picture him with a tiny baby, and somehow it was the easiest thing in the world, in spite of the fancy suit and his massive size. She could just picture the little one, held snug to his wide chest, reaching for the slender golden chains that hung from his horns.
As if to make it easier for her, he chose that moment to shrug off his jacket and hold it over his shoulder. His wide frame tested the tensile strength of the white algodon of his button-down shirt.
With superhuman resolve, she tore her eyes from his big body and focused on the path ahead.
“Oh no,” she breathed, seeing what was coming.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
But she was so overcome that she couldn’t find any words.
Just ahead, the trail opened onto a narrow bridge, suspended over the forest below. Nearly invisible wires held up a floor made of a thin, metal grate.
As she studied it in horror, the wind picked up slightly and the whole thing moved.
“Is it the bridge?” he asked her gently.
“I… I can’t,” she murmured.
“You’re afraid of heights?” he guessed.
She nodded.
“We’ll just turn around and ask Dr. Oppyx if there’s another way to get where we’re going,” he told her.
She smiled up at him gratefully, but he was looking over her shoulder with a horrified expression.
She turned to see what he was looking at and her heart sank.
The forest had closed up behind them, leaving no open path, and nothing to indicate how to get back to the farmhouse.
