REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 40
Sounds of the Heart
 

Not for the first time, Sofiya thought that if she could have chosen a kangaroo for her furman type that it would have made it much easier to get work done as she shifted her son to the other arm and resumed logging in data to her PBJ. A pouch would have freed both hands and made her daily duties much easier to complete. Fortunately, the touch screens of the device worked as well with a claw tip as they did with the incorporated stylus that had decided to go missing a few weeks into their first day. She’d just made a notation on the addition of several calves and lambs along with a pair of foals when a soft knock on the frame of the operations dome door pulled her attention away.

“I’m sorry. I’m not bothering you, am I?”

Sofiya smiled and shook her head. “No. Please come in, Charity,” the blond vixen said with a warm smile. “I am thinking that it is being time to get something tasty from the kitchens anyway. I didn’t think that my appetite would have grown with Nikoli no longer leeching off of me! Although he is having his Poppa’s ability to eat!”

“He’s adorable!” Charity told the other vixen with a smile before her expression melted away. “Joel…. Joel and I had talked of having kids. Before…before he…”

“We all miss him,” Sofiya said, reaching out and pulling the other vixen further into the dome. “He was being a very good and brave Fur. And also the very best of friends to everyone here.”

Charity sighed as she let herself be guided to a camp chair. “He was. And I did care for him…”

When her kit started fussing, much like Suzette had when the Abeona colonists had first arrived, Sofiya opened her top to nurse her baby not thinking anything of what seemed so natural despite mixed company. “What is bothering you, Charity?” she asked in genuine concern.

The grey fox fidgeted slightly, dropping her gaze as her ears drooped. “I…I don’t really know how to begin this.”

“Just be honest and open,” the other vixen said as she adjusted the way she held the kit at her breast. “I will also be honest and open and this way there are no misunderstandings.”

Charity swallowed hard before sighing. “Well…you know I haven’t…um, been with anyone since…since Joel was killed. It’s been kinda lonely, being in a dome by myself and all.” She looked up for a moment before again dropping her gaze. “I…I know I can’t replace Mandy or Elena. And I wouldn’t want to because I know how special they were! That’s not what I want at all! But…well, when we were at the Institute, I…I sorta had feelings for Richard…”

When the grey fox looked up her yellow-brown eyes were miserable and the fur beneath was dark with tears.

“I can’t do this!” the vixen muttered and stood, though before she could flee Sofiya snagged her wrist.

“No, Charity. Honesty.” Sofiya told the young vixen with a friendly smile. “It is not wrong, this thing that you are feeling. I am knowing of the times that you and Richard were spending together when you first arrived at your Institute. And we women do not always have a choice in the man that we lose our hearts to, do we?”

“No,” the grey fox answered softly. “I guess we don’t…”

Despite her love for her mate, Sofiya had also been thinking that her and Richard’s relationship seemed a little empty without others in it, and she missed having other females as close as Elena and Amanda had been, having grown accustomed to sharing her life and herself with more than just the silver fox and the comfort of a skulk. “Are you here to ask to be joining in our family?”

Charity nodded, trembling silently at what she knew was going to be the response.

“To be very truthful, Richard and I have been wanting to have another to be sharing ourselves with. And I know that you are a very kind and caring woman,” Sofiya said while trying not to chuckle at the stunned look of disbelief on Charity’s face when the other vixen jerked her head up. “As long as you are not offended if we are both affectionate to you. We do not want another that would be angered by such. We are both being very free with showing our love and care with another…”

“Do…do you mean it?” the younger female asked in disbelief.

“I am meaning it,” Sofiya said. “Would you be liking to join us and being a part of our family?”

Charity slid from the chair to put both of her paw-like hands on the ends of the red fox’s knees, looking up at the other vixen’s yellow-green eyes with hope filling her own. “I would! I really, really would!”

Sofiya accepted the nuzzle the other vixen leaned forward to give, the two trading scents with Charity sighing in relief and joy. “Then here is what we shall be doing…”

***

Richard toweled off and shook vigorously before stepping into a pair of freshly laundered furman shorts, frowning slightly as he adjusted the notch for his tail. His leg still tingled slightly from where he’d brushed the wires for the electrified fencing when his work crew began to expand the paddock for the horses, the call over the radio warning that the power was still on coming a few seconds too late. He had only himself to blame and had laughed at his own folly. It had certainly helped to wake the fox up better than his morning coffee. Digging the holes for the new posts had felt good, a certain level of physical activity that had left him feeling invigorated with a sense of accomplishment at having added four more acres of grazing to the growing herd.

Going topless with the warm sun on his back, Richard looked forward to the supper that Sofiya had messaged him about making in their own kitchen, many of the other Vulps doing the same so that the kitchen staff only worked on providing lunches for the rest of the colony as the majority had houses of their own now and had taken to making more meals for themselves. There was also something that was far more satisfying about cooking food that they had raised or grown, that particular aspect filling Richard and his mate with a sense of accomplishment.

As he made his way past the gate and to the white block house he shared with Sofiya, he couldn’t help but smile at the other part of the message that had been sent to his PBJ that his mate had a surprise for him and that it was imperative that he shower before returning to their home. The few minutes that he’d seen her during a break from expanding the paddock fences had shown him that his red fox was feeling rather frolicsome, something that she hadn’t exhibited since well before giving birth to their son, and with the kit now a month old, he figured that enough time had passed for her body to repair itself of the trials of carrying a child and giving birth and she was feeling affectionate. As he’d also been feeling the strain of his own physical needs and it was with a little spring in his step resulting in anticipation that he entered the house.

The smell of seasoned and seared rab-zelle meat tickled Richard’s sensitive nose as he stepped through the door swiftly followed by the scent of green tomatoes and the cheese; that was a result of Neelu and Nan Pi-lei’s efforts roasting in one of the ceramic Dutch ovens that Petra Stauffen had been teaching other Furs to make and it caused the silver fox to close his eyes in pleasure. A small container of stewed greens and fresh baked flatbread completed the smells that wafted over the fox.

“So what’s happened that you feel I deserve such a feast?” Richard inquired as he paused at the basinet that his son slept happily in before stepping up behind the red fox to wrap his arms around her waist and snuffle the fur behind her ear.

“You will be seeing,” Sofiya answered enigmatically with a smile, leaning into the silver fox’s embrace for a moment before turning the meat that sizzled in her clay skillet. “Go sit down and relax. I am knowing that you worked hard today.”

With a final nuzzle, Richard did as instructed, smiling as the red fox vixen began to shuttle things the short distance to the low table. It wasn’t until all of the different dishes were on the table that he noticed a third place setting. “Um, are we expecting company?”

Sofiya smiled warmly. “We are,” she said before turning towards the door to the room that had gone unused since the loss of Amanda and Elena. “You may be coming out, now.”

Looking up, Charity was the last Fur that Richard expected to see. That she was dressed not in standard furman clothing, but a sort of sarong made out of the same fabric in cerulean was a sure sign that something more than her being a guest for supper was in play.

When Richard and Charity had first arrived at the Institute there had been some mutual attraction and they had even engaged in some rather heavy making out a time or two, but then the changes had begun and both had become distracted by what was happening to them. Then once that was complete there had been the courses that all of them had tried to cram into a short period of time. It wasn’t that they’d suffered a falling out of any sorts, but had simply been distracted from pursuing anything more. Then Richard had met Sofiya while Charity had started making friends with the Class that followed theirs. The silver fox had also stepped back when Joel had told him that he’d started to develop rather strong feelings for the grey fox vixen.

By the time Amanda and Elena had become part of his family, Charity and Joel had been a fairly solid pairing and Richard hadn’t thought anymore about it.

Until now.

As she stood there with Richard staring mutely at her, his expression unreadable, the feelings that she’d harbored for so long flared before withering at the scrutiny. Charity couldn’t help it as her tail and ears fell, her heart feeling as it did when Joel had been taken from her all over again. “This…” she began softly, “this might have been a mistake.” Closing her eyes tightly against the sudden stinging feeling, Charity let out a shuddering breath before turning for the door, only to find an impassable barrier in the form of Richard blocking her exit.

“I don’t know about it being a mistake, Cherry,” the silver fox said, using the nickname he’d given her long ago. “But we won’t know until we talk. C’mon,” he said, giving her one of his grins that she remembered so well, the expression just as attractive with him being an anthrofox as it had when he’d been fully human. “Let’s sit down and enjoy the dinner that Sofiya’s made and then we’ll see what happens. Okay?”

Sofiya came and pulled the other vixen back to the table putting the grey fox between herself and Richard, though she didn’t release the paw she held, her look saying much to her mate who reached out and took the other.

“Besides,” the red fox began as she smiled warmly at the startled look from Charity, “I am thinking that this is all too much food for just Richard and I.”

***

Richard snugged his arms a little more tightly around the vixen that lay panting against his chest, smiling when Charity wove her fingers into the fur under her paw-like hand, trembling almost as if she were chilled. “Are you alright?” he whispered, snuffling her ear affectionately.

“Better than alright,” the grey fox chortled as Sofiya reentered the chamber they used for a bedroom with Nikoli in her arms. As soon as the red fox sat down, Charity reached out to touch the other vixen. She’s heard of friends doing what she’d just done while in college, the whole ménage-a-trois, or worse, but none of them had ever been like this. It had been far from the wild, almost lewd abandon that she’d heard about and was instead so very warm, caring and comforting with genuine affection given and received. “I’ve felt so alone…so very alone. But I don’t feel like that now. I feel…special. This felt special…”

“It is being very special,” Sofiya told the other vixen softly. “And you can be a part of this if you are wanting.”

“You mean that?” Charity asked with hope causing her yellow-brown eyes to sparkle in the gloom.

“If we didn’t mean it, we wouldn’t have let this happen, Cherry.”

Instead of answering verbally, the grey fox gathered the two others in her arms and wept with joy and relief, getting more than something she’d idly fantasized about with none of the guilt that had come with the rather explicit daydreams. Like the other two Furs there would always be a place in her heart for the one she lost, but there was still room for love and being part of something wonderful.

Sofiya placed a kiss between Charity’s ears before turning her baby around. “Nikoli, I want to introduce you to your Mamma Charity. She’s going to be with us for a very long time.” She then gave the other vixen a wry look and grinned. “And perhaps, if she is feeling up to it, she will be giving you brothers or sisters to be growing up with.”

“Yes please!” Charity said before nuzzling the kit happily while still holding on to the other two Vulps and weeping anew.

***

“It’s good to see Charity so happy,” Matthew commented as he and Richard pulled the latest batch of building blocks from the oven that Petra had built for the firing of the ceramic material. “She’s a good kid.”

“Yes. She’s fitting in well with us,” the silver fox agreed as he stepped back from the heat boiling out of the opening of the large oven and picked up a canteen before pulling the drinking tube open. “Nikoli sure is smitten with her, that’s for sure.”

The red fox looked at his friend and gave him a pointed look. “She ain’t the only one that seems happier, either.”

Richard chuckled lightly. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Sofiya and I always will, but the house seemed a little empty after…”

“Yeah. Don’t go there,” Matthew said with a slightly pained look. “If I’m still hurtin’ over that, I know you are, too. Just don’t go there.”

The silver fox nodded. “Yeah. Best to think of happier things. Speaking of which, how’s Neelu coping?”

“Looking forward to bein’ a mommy, just like most of the other girls,” the red fox said, brightening considerably with his own impending sojourn into fatherhood. “I just wish we had more spices that we’d brought with us. She says she’s cravin’ chicken tandoori somethin’ fierce! I can do a pretty good fried chicken with what we got, but don’t know nothin’ ‘bout that!”

Richard couldn’t help but laugh. “I know what that’s like! When Sofiya was in her fifth month it was borscht! The beets didn’t do so well last year and I have no idea how to make sour cream. I didn’t even have any chocolate to offer her as a way of apology.”

The pair got the next batch of clay filled molds ready for the oven and slid them in before again retreating from the heat when the red fox looked at his friend. “Ya know, I think I’m happier here than I’ve ever been in my whole life.” He scratched his ear and drew a perplexed expression. “That don’t sound too weird, does it? I mean, I work like I never had before, I’m pretty bushed when I finally hit the sack, but come morning I can’t wait to do it all over again. Am I the only one that feels this way?”

“Nope,” Richard answered with a grin. “Most of us feel this way. What we have we’ve built. We’ve worked for this and it has a lot more value than something that can just be bought back on Earth. I think that’s all the difference right there.”

Matthew thought about that and had to nod as a smile grew on his vulpine face. “You know, that’s it exactly! I mean, when I was on Earth and I finished a job all I could think was ‘thank goodness that’s over and where’s my paycheck’. Now, I look at the houses, the wall, the fields full of good crops and I think ‘I helped do that!’ and it feels…I dunno…just good. Like really good.”

Richard nodded and passed the canteen to the other Fur. “Maybe this was how the pioneers felt when they headed west,” the silver fox commented. “You know, when we were on the train after leaving the Institute, Sofiya told me that the American contingent was her biggest worry because she thought we were a bunch of cowboys. Maybe too independent to work with others, but after seeing how we functioned she felt that perhaps we were better suited for exploration for those very same reasons. I have to admit that we do tend to have a certain level of tenacity and sense of adventure. I think that might be part of what we’re feeling as well. We’re fairly independent here, we’ve not had to struggle like some of the other colonies. Granted, it hasn’t been a picnic, not by a long shot, but we take pride in what we’ve done.”

“Cowboys, huh?” Matthew chuckled. “I s’pose. All I know is I like this feeling, I like where we are, what we’ve done. Maybe this better world that y’all talk about really is possible.”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.