51

By virtue of standing at least a head taller than, well, everyone, Alice could appreciate just how mobbed her house was.

She was twice a matriarch, the second time by Louis. And just as she was introducing everyone to Louis, and Louis to everyone, he had invited his grandson and great-granddaughter, soon to leave aboard Koala.

Louis, Wesley, and Tanya looked a trifle overwhelmed, if not as beleaguered as Nessus and Baedeker’s sons and their mates.

Alice’s heart went out to Elpis and Aurora. She had had time to grieve. Their loss—their entire species’ loss—was still a raw wound.

Maybe she and Louis could ease the pain, just a bit. As they had eased each other’s pain.

“Coming through,” Alice announced, edging her way from the kitchen doorway across the family room toward where Louis played bartender. It was slow going, punctuated by hugs, kisses, and catch-up chats. After spending much of a year off-world, casting off two hundred years, witnessing the destruction of the Fleet of Worlds, and bringing home the patriarch her family had never known, “Oh, you know,” did not suffice in answer to, “How have you been?”

Finally she made it to Louis’s side. “How are you holding up?” she asked.

“I was telling…” He ground to a halt, another name having eluded him.

“Danae,” Alice provided.

“I was telling my charming great-great-granddaughter a little something about Known Space.”

“And you’re not going back, ever?” Danae asked.

“Ever is a long time,” Louis said. “But right now, I don’t even want to leave this house.”

Alice slipped an arm around Louis’s waist. “Our house.”

“You young people,” Danae said, grinning. “Get a room.”

“On that note,” Louis said. He raised an empty carafe and started tapping it with a spoon. “People, of two legs and three. Children of all ages. If I may have your attention.”

He succeeded only in setting off a buzz of speculation.

“Hold it down!” Alice shouted. The direct approach didn’t work much better.

Shushing everyone turned out to be a process, as curiosity brought more and more of the families crowding in. When no one else could fit into the room except near the fidgeting Puppeteers, around whom people left a respectful space, the throng finally quieted.

Louis stepped up onto the low stone hearth and offered Alice a hand up. “Everyone, we have something of a family announcement. To all our families. Alice?”

“Louis and I are expecting,” Alice said. Danae’s whoop of approval broke the silence and their families started to clap and cheer.

“Wait,” Louis shouted. “We’re not done.

“Elpis, Aurora, you and yours are always welcome in our home, but there’s another reason Alice and I invited you today. You should know that this little guy”—he patted Alice’s stomach—“is going to be named Nessus.”

“And in a few years,” Alice added, “his brother or sister will be named Baedeker.”