She shakes her head and cannot hold back her tears anymore. “There’s no one. Oh my god, there’s no one. I should have talked to more people. I should have tried harder. I thought I’d be your valet forever. You told me that you would never sell me or give me away. I was a fool to believe you.”

I touch her brown hair, and she jerks away from me.

“Don’t touch me.”

I take my hand away and say, “If there is no one else, then I would like to marry you.” She does not reply, so I am unsure if she heard me through her tears, so I repeat myself, “I will marry you.”

“What?” she asks, wiping her eyes. “You?”

“Yes.”

“But don’t you have that other female?”

I have no idea what she is talking about. “There’s no female in my life. There’s just you.”

“I saw the message, her husband died, and you kept it,” she says, crying again. “I’d rather return to the farm than you marry me out of guilt and resenting me because I’m a volunteer.”

I had not expected this. I take Volunteer 4711 in my arms, as I have imagined doing many times, and hold her tightly against me. I stroke her hair. Obviously, my attraction for her has not been one-sided after all, and my heart and mind are racing as she is not pushing me away. “I kept that message because she is an influential female on the Home Planet. She and I were in love many years ago, but we were young and foolish. It was nothing. She messaged me now, as I am sure she did many other males, to see if anyone was interested in marrying her. That’s all. She has no special feelings for me, nor I for her. I swear it.”

I continue to hold Volunteer 4711 as she cries, and I try to comfort her. This is not how I imagined this going. “I do not mean to rush you, but I need an answer. The government fleet is coming.”

She looks up at me with her big brown eyes, her lashes wet from crying. “I want a name. A real name.”

“The only new name I will call you is ‘Wife,’ if you will have it.”

CHAPTER 25

VOLUNTEER 4711

“Wife,” I repeat.

“Yes,” he confirms.

“You’re really asking me to marry you?” I look seriously into his cobalt eyes. In some ways, I feel like this must be a dream.

“Yes. Unless you’d rather…” he begins, but I cut him off.

“No,” I say, and he frowns. “No, I’ll not return to the farm or marry the other commander. But you must always call me ‘wife.’ I don’t want you to ever call me ‘Volunteer 4711’ when we are alone.”

He smiles in his Silver way. “Wife, we must hurry. Can you borrow something from your friend that’s not your uniform and ask her to come with you to conference room one. My first officer will marry us there.”