Chapter 479

Usually we spent our late evenings around the fire with everyone else, but not tonight. I’d been keeping a secret as had several other women. It was sneaky, but it seemed like a surprise the men would like. It was time for more family.

The other women in my extended family, along with myself, had petitioned our administration. We wished to breed. Tonight my family and I would start the process, as would four other families. If it was to be female offspring, we had bets on who would get pregnant. If it was to be male offspring, we would all get to celebrate. The Great Harmonious Spirit was in control of that choice, though.

Damien and his brothers settled next to Hodlen and continued to discuss who could play chuke with them as I slipped into our sleeping chamber. My thoughts were kept closely guarded as I lit the fires around the room.

Unplanned pregnancy was not something we’d wanted to do again. Kennedy and her sisters had developed a novel way to prevent it. Wel