by Ben Bova
Jade stared at him. She couldn’t speak. She could hardly breathe.
“Your ...” Sam gulped before he could say, “Your father?”
Jade nodded.
“Jean Margaux,” Sam said in a whisper. “That’s who your face reminded me of.”
Jill slid off Sam’s lap. “Maybe you two ought to talk this through by yourselves.”
Sam clutched at her. “No. Don’t go.”
Jade couldn’t fathom the expression on Sam’s face: Anger? Guilt? Fear?
“Jean and I had an affair after we came back from the Belt,” Sam muttered, remembering.
Jade found her voice at last, although it was barely above a whisper. “Rick Darling told me.”
“She tried to contact me after I left Selene,” Sam went on. “I never called her back.”
“She was my mother,” said Jade.
The beginnings of a crooked little smile snaked across Sam’s face. “You’ve got my red hair, all right.”
Jill spoke up. “We could do a DNA comparison. That’d prove it, one way or the other.”
Sam shook his head. “We don’t need that.” He slowly got to his feet. “Jade, I’m sorry it’s taken all these years for us to meet each other. I’m sorry that I haven’t been a real father to you.”
Jade rushed to him and, as Sam folded his arms around her, she felt for the first time in her life that she’d found her place in the universe. Tears filled her eyes, and she heard Sam snuffling, as well.
“By God,” Jill Meyers said, “you’ve got me crying, too.”
THUS IT WAS that Sam Gunn and Senator/Justice Jill Meyers were married in Selene’s nondenominational chapel. It was not a grand wedding, not the enormous bash that Jill had once planned, so long ago. A simple, brief ceremony.
But Douglas Stavenger, Selene’s power behind the throne, gave the bride away. Spencer Johansen served as Best Man. Frederick Mohammed Malone came from his space habitat and stood beside Sam on legs newly made strong by stem cell therapy to serve as an usher. As did Larry Karsh, who flew to Selene from his mansion in Utah with his wife and son. Jane Avril Inconnu Johansen was Matron of Honor.
The small group gathered in the chapel’s pews included gangling Russell Christopher from New Chicago, Zoilo Hashimoto, and a pair of elderly women, twins, who smiled and cried at the same time through the entire ceremony.
The reception, back at the Selenite Hotel, was hosted by Garrett G. Garrison III. Jim Gradowski ate almost all the roast beef, while Monica Bianco nibbled daintily on caviar canapes. Champagne flowed. A good time was had by all.
When the moment came for the bridegroom to offer a toast, Sam stood on a chair and raised his champagne flute.
“For once in my life, I don’t know what to say,” he admitted.
The crowd hooted.
“Well, in the past week I’ve found a daughter and married the one woman in the solar system who’s willing to put up with me. I think I’m the luckiest guy on Earth.”
“We’re not on Earth, Sam!” shouted Spence Johansen, one arm tight around Jade’s shoulders.
“That’s right. I stand corrected.”
“Where’re you going on your honeymoon?” Melinda Karsh asked. Her teenaged T.J. stood between her and his father.
Jill looked surprised. “Honeymoon? We haven’t even thought about that.”
But Sam said, “You know, I’ve never been to Saturn. It’s supposed to be spectacular, with those rings and all.”
“There’s a big habitat out there,” said Professor Solomon Goodman, “with a scientific community of about ten thousand men and women.”
Sam looked at Jill. “How about it? Would you like to spend a month or three at Saturn?”
Jill nodded enthusiastically. “Sounds like fun.”
“Ten thousand men and women,” Sam mused. “I wonder what they do for entertainment?”
“Now Sam,” said Jill, “we’ll be going out there for a honeymoon, not for business.”
“Yeah, I know. But still...”
End of The Sam Gunn Omnibus
Table of Contents
Author’s Preface
Selene City
The Sea of Clouds
The Supervisor’s Tale
The Hospital and the Bar
The Long Fall
The Pelican Bar
The Audition
Diamond Sam
Decisions, Decisions
Statement of Clark Griffith IV
Tourist Sam
The Show Must Go On!
Space Station Alpha
Isolation Area
Lagrange Habitat Jefferson
Vacuum Cleaner
Selene City
Armstrong Spaceport
Nursery Sam
Selene City
Statement of Juanita Carlotta Maria Rivera y Queveda
Sam’s War
Habitat New Chicago
Grandfather Sam
Solar News Offices, Selene City
Bridge Ship Golden Gate
Two Years Before the Mast
Marooned
Bridge Ship Golden Gate
Asteroid Ceres
Space University
A Can of Worms
Titan
Einstein
Surprise, Surprise
Reviews
Torch Ship Hermes
Acts of God
Torch Ship Hermes
Steven Achernar Wright
The Prudent Jurist
Pierre D’Argent
Piker’s Peek
Zoilo Hashimoto
The Mark of Zorro
The Maitre D’
The Flying Dutchman
Disappearing Act
Takes Two to Tangle
Solar News Headquarters, Selene
Orchestra(ted) Sam
End of The Sam Gunn Omnibus