years. By this time and because you are still alive after the term of your imprisonment has ended, we have probably spoken. Knowing the temperament of your family, we have not spoken kindly. So much has happened and changed since that day long ago, and I have to force myself to remember that you don’t know the good I’ve tried to do. All you know is my sins. I cannot take back that which was done, but I can give you a new life. With these papers, you will never have to explain your age or your past. As my daughter, a general’s daughter, you will have the freedom to pass by Federation ports unhampered. I cannot leave the life I have chosen. The Federation has granted me the home, which I so longed to be a part of in those years you knew me, as a reward for my services. I know it is not the land it once was, but all it is, I give to you.”
Her father continued on to explain modern space life as if talking to…well, to a woman who’d missed the last hundred years of technology. He walked through how to use space credits and identification papers. He gave Josselyn directions to a mostly automated personal vessel with navigational guides to assist her in flying it. On the ship, the woman would find clothing and a machine to download knowledge into her brain to help her function in the new time. The general had thought of everything, even supplied a list of possible new home worlds and directions to them, should she decide to relocate. Violette listened to all of it with a stone in her stomach, lump in her throat, and a heart that ached so badly she wanted to cut it out of her chest.
“If, by some miracle, you can forgive me, I would welcome you back into the family,” Jack continued. “Though it remains my greatest wish, I fear you will never take me up on this offer. What you might not have discovered is that your mother was my wife. I will not presume to call myself your father-by-marriage though legally speaking I am just that, which is why the papers I give you call you my daughter. Do not toss those papers aside. You will not be able to survive in the current world without them. I want you to know that I took care of Lady Craven, but she was never the same after our world was destroyed. I did not tell her about your fate. I did not want to give her false hope.”
A tear slipped over Violette’s cheek.
“From our union, you have a sister. We named her Violette after the moonflower petals your mother dearly loved. Our Violette is strong willed and smart. She reminds me of you as a child, rebellious to a fault, but with a heart bigger than the entire universe. Lady Craven did not survive the birthing. Please, for your mother, do not seek revenge against your sister for my crimes. She is your blood. I sometimes long for what we could have been to each other, should life have been less cruel. I don’t blame you for I see the impossibility of us now, but you must know that I loved you then, as part of me continues to love you even now. I would have proudly been your husband, but you know that. You know all of that. I sometimes forget how fresh the events must be to you. There was so much death between us. That said, if there is to be another death, or more to the point if I am dead, I hope it was in atonement of my sins and that you will be able to forgive me now. I am truly sorry, Josselyn. All I ever wanted was to be a part of what you had. I never meant to destroy that which I loved so dearly.” Jack sighed, and she could see the pain on his face. He nodded once before the holo-box turned off.
Was it an apology or a love letter or a justification of some past tragedy? Was Josselyn a daughter or fiancée? Though it filled in a great piece of the puzzle, it only caused more questions to arise. What had happened? And how did this information change the fact that Josselyn had killed a great man, her father? If Josselyn was imprisoned that had to mean the woman had done something wrong. Violette knew the general.
Her father continued on to explain modern space life as if talking to…well, to a woman who’d missed the last hundred years of technology. He walked through how to use space credits and identification papers. He gave Josselyn directions to a mostly automated personal vessel with navigational guides to assist her in flying it. On the ship, the woman would find clothing and a machine to download knowledge into her brain to help her function in the new time. The general had thought of everything, even supplied a list of possible new home worlds and directions to them, should she decide to relocate. Violette listened to all of it with a stone in her stomach, lump in her throat, and a heart that ached so badly she wanted to cut it out of her chest.
“If, by some miracle, you can forgive me, I would welcome you back into the family,” Jack continued. “Though it remains my greatest wish, I fear you will never take me up on this offer. What you might not have discovered is that your mother was my wife. I will not presume to call myself your father-by-marriage though legally speaking I am just that, which is why the papers I give you call you my daughter. Do not toss those papers aside. You will not be able to survive in the current world without them. I want you to know that I took care of Lady Craven, but she was never the same after our world was destroyed. I did not tell her about your fate. I did not want to give her false hope.”
A tear slipped over Violette’s cheek.
“From our union, you have a sister. We named her Violette after the moonflower petals your mother dearly loved. Our Violette is strong willed and smart. She reminds me of you as a child, rebellious to a fault, but with a heart bigger than the entire universe. Lady Craven did not survive the birthing. Please, for your mother, do not seek revenge against your sister for my crimes. She is your blood. I sometimes long for what we could have been to each other, should life have been less cruel. I don’t blame you for I see the impossibility of us now, but you must know that I loved you then, as part of me continues to love you even now. I would have proudly been your husband, but you know that. You know all of that. I sometimes forget how fresh the events must be to you. There was so much death between us. That said, if there is to be another death, or more to the point if I am dead, I hope it was in atonement of my sins and that you will be able to forgive me now. I am truly sorry, Josselyn. All I ever wanted was to be a part of what you had. I never meant to destroy that which I loved so dearly.” Jack sighed, and she could see the pain on his face. He nodded once before the holo-box turned off.
Was it an apology or a love letter or a justification of some past tragedy? Was Josselyn a daughter or fiancée? Though it filled in a great piece of the puzzle, it only caused more questions to arise. What had happened? And how did this information change the fact that Josselyn had killed a great man, her father? If Josselyn was imprisoned that had to mean the woman had done something wrong. Violette knew the general.
Similar Books
