Liam still felt the weight of exhaustion. He was spent. He silently gathered his thoughts as Jonah stared at him, quietly waiting. The food was divine compared to the food he was used to; a good meal like this would come maybe once a year back in the Hub.
They did not have much fresh food to go around other than what they could grow on the barely habitable surface of the planet. Breathing was a problem on the surface, go figure that car exhaust was both noxious and a greenhouse gas. People on the surface left their homes through the ground, and those who could tolerate the heat wore respirators and worked the land.
At the moment, the Earth was still cool; it was not as damaged as it was in his past life. A car company called "Sol" had revolutionized the automotive industry. In sunny areas, the car was popular. It was built domestically; the parts were all made in the country. It had a profound impact on society. Liam was euphoric. Without the contribution of gases, the major problems were the destruction of most of North America.
As he ate, Jonah lingered, watching him with a quiet intensity. Liam sensed his friend's concern, but he didn't have the energy to reassure him. Not yet, and he was not going to open the envelope in front of him. The cryptic words she said were warning enough not to chance Jonah seeing the contents of the letter.
Especially if Madam Seer was chiding him for his past life's behavior towards her granddaughter. He could have been a better man; he did not need her to remind him.
Like waves rolling to the shore, Claire drifted into the room, her eyes scanning the space until they landed on her daughter. "Hi Rosey-Posey!" she smiled and scooped up the little girl, chatting softly with Jonah as they prepared to leave.
"Hey, if she knew you were doing this for you she would be pissed off and touched buddy. She told me about what happened before. Tell her how you feel and for frick's sake, take it easy." Claire said.
"I will, can you pass me my phone? I've got to call the lab and make sure they feed Roscoe and the other animals." Liam asked.
"Dude," Jonah said. He was interrupted quickly. Liam was grumpy.
"I cannot let that research fail. She's changing the game on medicine in ways we could never imagine." Liam said with reverence and respect. How Selena turned her life around from being a HUB worker to this was astounding, she must remember like him.
Meaning it would probably be best to hide his 'return', she had probably let go of her resentments, rationalizing that he was not 'him'. The question was, did that non-integrated A.A came with her like his or did it disappear like his prosthetic did?
Jonah cleared his throat, "My grandmother has someone taking care of things for you both. She saw how important that dog was." Jonah said. Roscoe was a paralyzed, well, now partially recovered 2 year 2-year-old golden labrador retriever. He had been hit by a car and would have been put down. Selena had put in the request with local humane societies and vets for cases like his. Selena's Lab jokes were grating until he met the dog and fell in love with the damn thing.
"That is a huge, huge relief. Those animals are very important. I still have to do the last few treatments on them. Jo, she is very close. I am not going to lie, it will probably hurt as you get the feeling back. But it looks very good." Liam assured. Roscoe had been on anti-convulsants for the nerve pain.
"Really?" Claire said, her eyes welling. Jonah had been keeping up with his physiotherapy. He had a very hard day when Selena was shot. Not only did his sister almost die, but it was a setback and a possible double loss to him. He was faithful to his sister. She understood, it was odd to be friends with a legitimate prophet. Her husband also could "see" into the future, which was slightly annoying to live with him at first. Especially when she cooked. He took over so she would not burn food. Her daughter was going to be powerful. She both revered and pitied them; at least she and Jonah could protect her.
She wondered at times if Jesus was from a seer family, it would be more rational to worship Mary more. Especially if she was an heiress of a seer clan. She was told to have a child by god, she wondered if religion itself was a cruel way to cull the herd, a plan of "the creator". Claire's look of wonder made both of them laugh. She was daydreaming again.
"Liam was not going to open that envelope in front of us, how does a young pillar family member know the importance of these envelopes? Grandma only gives them to family or high-ranking vassals." Jonah thought.
"Yeah, I met Roscoe, I am not going to lie, I kind of fell in love with the little guy. I kind of want to take him home." Jonah smiled. If at all possible, he was going to adopt him afterwards, if Selena had not grown attached.
The fluffy boy was his secondary saviour, along with other animals in the lab. He owed them all a big debt. That is why he and Claire had cut down their meat intake and now contributed heavily to local animal shelters. Enough to create a no-kill program, regardless of the veterinary bills. He was proud to be able to help them; his wealth was finally doing more good. Selena kind of brought the altruism out of him that McKenna had stifled in their youth.
Jonah was touched that he cared so much for his sister's work. He knew he had very deep feelings for his sister. Which was great, so did Jakob, and it made things awkward for the pair of brothers. Liam was probably going to be the one that Great Grandmother wrote about. She was dead now, and they were both practically identical. The differences, well he did not know who would be better for her. That was up to Selena.
Just then, Jonah cleared his throat, breaking the silence. Liam looked up, his eyes meeting Jonah's. "What is it?" he asked, his voice low.
Jonah's expression was serious. "We need to talk," he said, he needed to confirm his suspicions, something had changed. He had an aura about him.
Claire looked at Jonah, she took Rose and went to leave. "I will leave you to it, it sounds serious." she said as she left.
Jonah rolled closer and placed his hand on his. "So it's true, why'd you have a knot, Liam? You better not bring up A.A, whatever that means or she's going to never forgive you." Jonah was very defensive of his sister now. He'd only been back for hours now.
Liam's throat bobbed, and his mouth dried out. He grabbed the sweet juice. Luckily, he too could see the future; it was like being struck by a fist or falling over, it hurt. He sympathized with Selena and no longer envied Jonah. That sucked. He'd have to sort that out.
"Jo, I had been having headaches, and your grandmother whispered to me about all that. Maybe the Adams genes are dominant in me? A.A? I will not bring up whatever that is. I won't even drink again, I'm not going to want my future wife pissed off at me."
Jonah raised his brows skeptical of Liam, a smile hooking in his lips, it was complete bullshit. But he allowed it. "Did she ask about the arranged marriage while she was awake? You need to sort it out with the guys, Michael's finishing up the Middle East with the assassinations, Selena needed to be completed by the end of the month."
Liam looked over to his friend. He was no longer 21 years old mentally; he grew up, had a family, watched his sons grow up with no ability, and his son raised Oscar Jr. He made mistakes, a lot of them. He was a boss and a leader. It wouldn't be a problem dealing with these hot heads.
Jakob would need to hear from him that he was taking his birthright as the firstborn, and he let go of McKenna, eventually. After Jakob and she had an affair in his past life.
"Selena is not some prize that one of us wins in a fight. Selena chooses, they can't guilt her into dying alone." Liam said.
Jonah was stunned by the amount of maturity and confidence of his friend. "So do you think McKenna arranged my accident like this assassination?" Jonah was hoping some of the threat was gone. This was the first time in days he was able to talk to him.
Liam looked at Jonah, he quickly searched his memories while yawning, "She has never really been competent enough to plan complicated schemes, it was always handed off to a lackey, or directly did it herself. I don't see her knowing how to sabotage a vehicle. There is something wrong with her head."
Jonah laughed, remembering McKenna, she flunked out of Military School, Dad and James wouldn't buy her diploma. She flew out to Los Angeles to try acting and modeling. She was beautiful but very dumb. Dumb enough to try to kill Selena. "Yeah, Claire ground up her skull. It's in our litter box and even the fucking cats won't piss on it."
Liam was shocked to hear Jonah that way for the first time in two lives, but pleased. The real daughter and 'Golden Seer' had so far done incredible work. Jonah, despite the circumstances, had a happier and more confident bearing. He was mature. "We should probably go. Get some rest, okay. Grandma, just wanted to make sure you ate all of that. She says you will need to eat a lot more." Jonah smiled.
Liam watched him go, feeling a sense of wonder at this new past, full of promise and possibility. He turned his attention to the database, searching for updated information on his employees, the ones he knew he could trust.
As he scrolled through the files, one in particular caught his eye. A red-flagged file, marked with a red dot. Why had his A.A updated the information? Did it update automatically? Liam's heart skipped a beat as he hesitated. He just would not use him in the future. Selena's work was enough to make him completely irrelevant.
Liam stared at the envelope in front of him. He rose from the hospital bed and carried it and the matches to the bathroom to read.