Riya, Elena, and Amalhi promised to look after the farm while Jyn, Walt, and I traveled to Ares Central. We had a lot of work to do preparing our defense. Jyn, in particular, had gone above and beyond to help us, and I made a mental note to somehow repay her kindness. But I think she was just as eager to stick it to Fleming Barnes.

After arriving late afternoon on the lev-train, we walked down the platform to the waiting lobby, carrying our bags. There, four smiling female faces met us, all members of Martian Bride Network.

My grin matched theirs. "What are y'all doin' here?"

"We're here to help," said Robyn, a short, freckled redhead from Ireland. I opened my mouth to protest, but before any words came out, she stuck a finger out at me. "And before ye say again that this be only yer problem and not ours, remember, we Martian brides look out for each other. Right?"

"Umm, okay." Damn, if she didn't just use my words against me.

"And where are you staying?" Asked Janus, a pretty former Canadian with sandy-brown hair tied in a long braid.

"Probably find a room at the hostel--"

"No, you're not," she ordered, narrowing amber eyes. "My new husband owns a pub, and we have guest rooms upstairs. You're staying with us."

"Umm, okay?"

"Right," said Sofia, a tall, dark-haired woman with long flirty eyelashes from Chile. "Before I came to Mars, I was a forensics accountant, so I can help."

"Okay..."

Ming, a petite woman with short dark hair from China, approached my not-husband with a knowing smirk. "You must be Walt. Mavis told us allll about you."

Walt glanced my way, wrinkling his brow. "What did you tell them about me, Mavis?"

"Umm, not too much..." I gulped, my voice trailing off.

Ming scanned Jyn, looking up into the taller woman's dark eyes. "You are the lawyer, yes?"

Eyes widening, Jyn merely nodded to the perky dynamo.

"Good. Let us go," Ming said, impatiently motioning. "I have a car to take you anywhere."

These gals chased away my gloom, and a warm wave of optimism washed over my heart.

*****

Turned out, Janus' husband owned the Red Dawn Pub, the same tavern I snuck off to on my first Martian evening, and where I first met Walt. He remembered, too, winking at me as we entered the front door. The pub would soon open for the evening as the port workers finished their shift thirsty for drinks, so no customers yet, just a cute barmaid scurrying about making final preparations, and a man cleaning within the center rectangular bar. He was as tall as Walt, but about ten years older and with reddish-blonde hair and trimmed beard. We knew for sure this was Janus' new husband, Brett, when she went right up and laid a slobbery kiss on his smoocher.

After introductions, Janus took us upstairs and showed us to our rooms. Three doors lined one side of a short hallway. Long, narrow tinted windows overlooked the bar area below.

When Sofia entered the first door, I furrowed my brow.

"I left my husband," Sofia explained with a sigh. "All he wanted from me was cooking, cleaning, and shagging — not necessarily in that order. Janus gave me room and board in exchange for keeping the pub financial books."

Jyn took the second room, which included a partitioned area with a round table and chairs where we could meet to discuss legal strategy.

With a sly grin, Janus opened the last door for Walt and me. It had simple, but comfortable, hotel-like furnishings with a small bathroom, small desk with lamp, two padded chairs, and a double bed. But just one bed...

As we put our bags down, Walt glared at me with narrowed eyes. "What have you told them about us?"

"Nothin' much, really..." I mumbled, rocking back and forth.

"Uh huh."

As crowds filled the pub below, Sofia, Walt, and I gathered with Jyn around the table in her room to strategize. Jyn had an appointment with the plaintiff attorney first thing tomorrow. Walt would follow-up with the marshals, while Sophia and I would begin the search for connections to Fleming Barnes.

Agreeing to an early start, we retired to our rooms. Without Godzilla to wake us up with his crowing, Walt set an alarm on his com-viewer.

I put on a long t-shirt as a nightgown while Walt showered. Soon, he emerged wearing only a thin pair of blue pajama bottoms. I bit my lip, watching him towel wet, bushy hair. God, he was good looking, bare chested like that. His trim muscular form stirred desires deep within me, and if not overshadowed by legal anxiety, I might have jumped him right here and now.

"I talked with Brett earlier about his business," Walt said as he brushed his hair. "The pub has surprisingly high margins, especially with all the new emigrants. Maybe we could open a tavern sometime?"

"Maybe," I replied. "But first, let's focus on keeping our farm."

"I suppose so."

Things would have gone better if we had actually married from the start, rather than pretending. Our vain attempts to avoid romantic complications had resulted in complications of a worse kind.

After turning the lights low, Walt plopped down on the bed, laying on his back, and letting out a long sigh. I snuggled up to him on my side, using his bare shoulder as a pillow and looping a leg over his legs. A satisfied purr escaped my lips as Walt covered us both with a blanket and gathered me tight against him with an arm. This was bliss — something of ours, no matter how the lawsuits turned out.

Warm contentment flooded my soul, pushing away the swirling worries to a distant part of my mind, at least for a while. Without thinking, the words tumbled out of my mouth as naturally as starlight, "I love you, Walt."

"That's the complications, Mavis." Walt whispered while tightening his hold on me. "But I've kinda fallen in love with you, too."

A smile formed on my lips. "Just kinda?"

"Kinda, a lot."

"Mmm, good."

*****

First thing in the morning, while Walt went out chasing down leads with the marshals, Sofia and I joined Jyn going to the Land Bank for a meeting with the opposing lawyers. Jyn insisted we wait in the lobby, probably worried my mouth would open and ruin everything. Can't say I blamed her for that.

The Mars Land bank was one of the biggest buildings on Mars, and probably the fanciest. The single-story building spread out across an entire city block, and was constructed with the usual adobe-like material. Tall double glass doors etched with the Land Bank logo led us to an airy lobby. A circle of high windows in the domed ceiling gave it a cheery look, but I wasn't feeling cheery. Clusters of comfy chairs surrounded a central oval counter with a smiling blonde receptionist. Two white-shirt guards looked bored, standing by a tall, carved wooden door. Things made of wood were rare on Mars.

Various art decorated the wall, most depicting Mars landscapes, including Olympus Mons, which we could see from our house. The key feature was a tumbling waterfall that sprang from the wall near the entrance, splashing down to a rock-lined trough. Had to admit, it was kind of relaxing to watch.

Not sure why I didn't notice all that before when Walt and I first made a land claim — maybe because we were so excited about the future. A tremble shook me at the thought — we might lose that future.

While Jyn went further inside for her meeting, Sofia and I occupied two cushy chairs.

Later, Sofia said something as we waited, but I didn't hear her since my wandering mind went to a happy place. Stuck in a mental cloud, I recalled Walt's declaration of love last night, and me snuggling within strong arms. I could get used to that, and Walt becoming my always. Warm tingles crawled down to my nether regions and then climbed back up again. Good God, I was neck deep in the romantic complications I tried to avoid before.

"Mars to Mavis, come in Mavis," Sofia said with a lilt, breaking through my brain haze.

"Huh?" I answered, as Sofia's pretty face came back into focus. Must have drifted off, and probably with a stupefied spaced-out, dreamy face. "I was just thinkin', that's all."

"Hmm," she hummed as her lips turned up to a smirk. "Everything good with you and Walt?" It was more a statement than a question.

Why was everyone so interested in me and Walt?

But I couldn't stop the big Cheshire cat grin on my face. "Good. Real good. Last night--"

My words fell away as I spotted someone pacing across the lobby like he owned the place — well, he kinda did. Fleming Barnes, dressed in a high-money black suit and with perfectly styled gray-streaked dark hair, looking smug as a fox in a chicken coop, strutted out and totally ruined my happy mood.

"There's the snake himself," I hissed, narrowing my eyes to angry slits. "I aughta give him a piece of my mind."

"Umm, I don't think that is a good idea, Mavis."

"Just a friendly little chat," I said, standing, although I had no intention of becoming friends. "What could possibly happen?"

A little voice in my head advised that I should never ask that question.

The all-powerful chairman of the Mars Land Bank pulled up short as I blocked his way beside the bubbling water sculpture, hands on my hips. At first, he scrunched his forehead, probably wondering why a little gal like me glared at him, but then a smile of recognition came to his lips, kind of a villainous type from my perspective.

"You ain't gonna get away with this, Fleming," I challenged.

His smile widened and pearly-whites came into view. "Mavis Jones, isn't it? I have no idea what you mean."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's rainin'."

"How charming," Fleming responded, his eyes narrowing. "But it is you who ain't gonna get away with this, if I may use your unrefined vernacular. Now, if you will excuse me, I have much more important things to do."

Taking a defiant pose, I crossed my arms and stood tall — well, tall for me. "I ain't goin' nowhere."

Turned out, I did go somewhere, assisted by two big guards in pressed white shirts, who dragged me outside and unceremoniously deposited me on the sidewalk by a concrete planter. Sofia joined me, but under her own power.

"That went well," I said in sarcasm, "don't ya think?"

She sighed at first, but then her lips turned up and let out a giggle. "You have a way of expressing yourself, Mavis."

"I suppose," I replied before a matching giggle came out of my lips. "But it don't always turn out so good."

"I hope Jyn has a better outcome."

Speaking of which, here she came through the front door, looking around for us. Based on her tight-faced expression, it looked like things didn't go well for her, either.

"There you are," she said, spotting us in the sunshine. "Why are you outside here?"

Tightening my lips, I rocked back and forth. "Umm, had a little chat with Fleming and got thrown out."

Jyn sighed. "As your lawyer, I have to advise you not to confront him." Then a grin grew on her face. "But as your friend, I wish I was there to speak my mind, too."

"How did things go for you?"

She blew out a breath. "Not good. They're out for blood and not willing to make any accommodations. And the lead council... I wanted to wipe the smug expression off her face."

"Good thing I wasn't there, then. I probably would have. So, what do we do now?"

"You two start digging for connections to Fleming while I visit a blogger friend of mine. Perhaps he can leverage the public."

*****

Digging through public business records was mind numbingly boring. But Sofia seemed to be in her element, sniffing around like a bird-dog on hunt. We sat at two adjacent terminals at the public library, which was connected to the Ares Central town hall. The building actually was the largest one on Mars. The thick domed structure, originally built more than a hundred Mars years ago, used to be the terraform headquarters.

We worked all afternoon and about when my butt couldn't stand anymore sitting and my brain turned to mush, Walt showed up. I welcomed the distraction, particularly since he makes me all happy-queasy inside. He bent over beside me, one hand on the desk and the other on my shoulder.

"Hey, not-wife," Walt said with a boyish smile. "How are you doing?"

"Hey," I replied, then let out a long breath. "God, this is boring."

I gazed up into his eyes and bit my lip. So far, we had avoided any public displays of affection, but what the hell, everyone knows about us anyway. Reaching up, I grabbed a handful of shirt and yanked his lips down to mine for a long, slobbery kiss. Walt didn't mind the PDA at all. Sophia didn't look our way, but from the rising grin, I knew she noticed.

"Find anything interesting?" Walt asked.

Sofia answered while I gazed. "Some. The Broker, who is named Bartholamew Smith, owns a company called Relocation Services, and is under contract with the Mars Land Bank to place the brides with prospective husbands. He and another entity share fees paid by the husbands."

"Who is this other entity?"

"Don't know yet. The trail leads a shell holding company. Whoever it is wants to remain hidden," Sophia answered, then put on a sly smile. "But we'll find them. Nobody hides from me."

"How 'bout you?" I asked Walt.

He shook his head. "The trail has gone cold. Like these guys just vanished."

"Do you have names and pictures?"

"Yes." After touching the screen a few times, he showed me his com-viewer. "What are you thinking?"

I grinned. "Maybe we should leverage the Martian Bride Network."