CHAPTER 176: PROMISES KEPT

Kevin and Stephen didn’t hardly touch their breakfast—they were too busy getting to know each other. Kevin unlocked the first two pages of photos for Stephen. The first page was of him through the years holding the babies and everything. The next pages were of Kevin and Walt together throughout the years, special photos of Walt pregnant with every one of the children, delivery time, Kevin holding the babies for the first time. It was a very well put together album of their family.

Kevin wanted to know all about his upbringing—who took care of him, where he was raised, how he was raised—but Stephen couldn’t offer him much. He recounted what he knew from the breeding program and when he escaped, and then this nice kind human known to him as Uncle Zach made him feel at home by giving him this cottage to live in as long as he helped out on the ranch. He told Kevin about the first time him and Donnie met each other, what kind of predicament Donnie was in, and what it was like to welcome Donnie’s oldest son and grandson into the fold. How he met the love of his life Clark, conceived the child and then converting the child when he wasn’t careful enough and passion took over, but he wouldn’t change anything—he loves his husband and son.

Kevin told everyone the story of the outpost station that was attacked while he was gone on a delivery route. When he returned, he found that Stephen had been kidnapped, placed in a stasis container by the attackers. Christian was dead, two of his sons were dead, also two of Walter’s sons and his mate had died in the clash defending Walt and him. It was too much for Walt to take and he passed away of a broken heart because his baby was gone, knowing he would never see him again.

"I promised all of my sons that they would never spend another day on that station without me." Kevin’s voice grew heavy with emotion. "Now this is where it gets tricky—I put them all in stasis and they’re still asleep, and I wouldn’t wake them up until we’re all together as a family. That was the agreement, and on a safe planet. Thirty-five additional humans from the station asked me for sanctuary, and if I spare their lives from starvation, they would help my family survive when they were removed from stasis."

"I commissioned a cargo container with stasis pods for everyone, and unbeknownst to the Earth alliance or my captain, with the help of one of the other engineers who I will not name, we cloaked the cargo container after we attached it to the side of the ship in an alcove." Kevin paused, gathering his thoughts. "In case we were attacked, it would not be struck. It’s orbiting on the main ship right now. I can retrieve it from the coupling system and, with the government’s permission, bring my family down to the planet."

"Stephen is going to be a big shock for them to see, you all grown up. You gotta understand—you’re twenty-three now and you were only a month old when you were taken. It took us five months to get everything going, so they have been in stasis for one hundred and seven and a half years, roughly." His eyes brightened with hope. "But I’m ready to see my family once again."

"I don’t know who to talk to. I know I’ll need sponsors for them, plus we’ve got to have adequate housing, so I’ll have to build that. I can afford it—I’ve got funding set back. But the ship can’t stay here and wait for me to get everything ready for them, so in the meantime they’ll have to be put up in some kind of accommodations, and I don’t know where to go."

Zach cleared his throat. "We’ve got all the accommodations you need. We’ve got a couple of dormitories that have sleeping and common areas. They’re not luxury, but they’ll do for a family getting back on their feet. Now they belong to the Hawthorns next door, but since we’re sister ranches, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with Ed whatsoever. And then there’s other considerations for skills and everything else that has to be worked out." He looked meaningfully at Kevin. "And you, young man, might have a little explaining to do about the newest addition around here to your family."

"Yes, it might come as a shock to them, but they’re understanding, plus Walt already had the talk with all of the older children," Kevin nodded thoughtfully. "He told them not to be too hard on me if I took a new mate after he passed away. I think it will be fine, and if it’s not, they’ll just have to understand—I loved their dad, but life goes on and a new Chapter is starting."

Even though it was Sunday, it didn’t take long for word to get around that there was a new family waiting to come in. And Chas made sure it got around—the whole story about loss, the murders, and what the father had to do to keep his family together.

Zach was taking his tour of the ranch when he came upon a group of Genmen standing around talking. Zach, in his caring way, stepped out of his buggy and approached the group to make sure everything was okay. Charlie was the ringleader and he spoke up.

"Mr. Zach, it’s not right—they should not have to go in the dorms," Charlie declared firmly. "This family has been apart for too many years living in the stars. They need to live amongst their own. They need to be shown the Z1 hospitality that we take care of our own. We have all graciously volunteered to give up space in our own homes so that they can feel like they’re part of something."

"They don’t need to go to a dorm next door that was meant to temporarily house the young ones that were expecting," he continued passionately. "They need to be part of families here on the Z1. We can all cook, we can all help them, we can all feed them just like a family does. We don’t abandon our own kind."

Zach, for once, agreed with Charlie. The Hollis family needed to be with their own, they needed to be close to each other but yet each family should have their space, and being put up in other families’ homes seemed like the best thing for all. It would get them a chance to become acclimated to living on the planet and around other Genmen, hybrids, and the few humans that dared to love their unique bodies.

"Okay Charlie, it’s like this—I’ll talk to the father and tell him what you proposed," Zach decided. "He wasn’t too keen about segregating his family to a dormitory, but since there were so many of them, that’s what we initially felt would be the best thing. But I think your idea is better, plus they can visit each other at any time. I’ll let you know what he says, but in the meantime, gather me a list of the people that are willing to host and how many they can host."

"Now realize that some of these are complete families, some of these are individuals that have lost members of their family during the attack on their home," he continued seriously. "So there may be a few that are still suffering from their losses. They need all of our love and attention to get them back on the right track."

Zach headed around the ranch until he came back to Stephen’s place. He got out and knocked on the door. A very perky Donnie opened the door smiling and welcomed Mr. Z inside. Kevin was sitting on the sofa holding both little ones and enjoying himself.

"I want everybody to pay attention when I speak and give you a new proposal," Zach announced. "I have talked to people around here on the Z1, and they don’t feel that your family belongs in any cold, unfeeling dormitory. They would rather see your family be hosted by other families in their homes here on the Z1, not in the dormitory area. Several families have already spoken up, and they wish for you and your family to be part of the Z1 family."

Kevin was very surprised at what he heard from Zach. These were individuals that didn’t know them from anything, but yet their hospitality was unbelievable—just like Walt said Zorans were.

Kevin cleared his throat. "Walt always said that when it came to Zoran culture, they were very hospitable and didn’t mind undertaking a challenge. Here on this world you call them Genmen; on their home world they were originally known as Zorans. But that doesn’t matter—what matters is getting my family released, getting the cargo container here and reviving everyone, having everyone go through medical, then you can match up families. I would like to post each family unit with copies of the photos, all of their names, and a short brief summary of who they are and what they need."

"I can tell you one thing—if anybody can get it done, that’s Jake Traylor," Zach was agreeable. "He owns the port where everything docks in orbit, he owns the landing pads, he owns all the heavy equipment that you will need to break it loose and get it down to the surface safely. He’s already said that he doesn’t mind—he has qualified pilots, he has everything needed to get it done. You’ll be there when we unbuckle everything and go to move the pod from the freighter so that you can see that everything is done just the way it should be done."

Stephen was teary-eyed. "I want my family here to meet my other family. I don’t know them, and I’m going to need all the help I can get."

Everyone agreed—Stephen had all the backup he needed. They would be beside him one hundred percent of the way.