by Gini Koch
CHAPTER 6
THE THREE OF US JOINED EVERYONE ELSE in the dining room. Jamie was there sitting on Lucinda’s lap, and she made her “Daddy’s here!” sounds at the top of her lungs.
Jeff zipped over, and took her out of his mother’s arms, then he and Jamie had some serious Daddy and Daughter Love Time.
Lucinda took the opportunity. “So, Christopher, we’ve been discussing a wedding party.”
Amy put on a fake smile while I cringed inside. When I’d first met her, Lucinda hadn’t liked me at all, and the feeling had been mutual. But we’d gotten past that before my wedding, and these days I got along with my mother-in-law pretty well.
However, Amy and Christopher had made the decision to get married without any fanfare, based on Amy’s quite accurate belief that any time all of us were dressed up some big fugly attacked or politician went nuts.
This decision had sat just fine with White, Christopher’s father, but not with his aunt and uncle. Because Christopher was also part of the Royal Family of Alpha Four, they’d expected to host a huge wedding for him and Amy. They’d apparently been looking forward to it, especially Lucinda, since she would get to do the mother of the groom job again, because Christopher’s mother, Terry, had been dead since he and Jeff were ten years old.
So they’d been less than thrilled to discover Christopher and Amy wanted to tie the knot with absolutely no fanfare. Alfred and Lucinda had been in attendance, but the rest of Jeff’s family hadn’t been invited. All the A-Cs on Earth were related somewhere back there, but Jeff was the youngest of six, and his sisters were all married with children. Even though they were cousins, Christopher and Jeff were closer than brothers, and Christopher was treated like another member of the family.
This treatment hadn’t always been the best, for a variety of reasons, most pertaining to the talents Jeff and Christopher had combined with Alfred and Lucinda’s desire to, as they’d put it to me, “keep the boys from thinking they were better than everyone else, even though they were better than everyone else.” I’d given up arguing about or questioning this logic three and a half weeks ago.
However, Christopher not having the immediate Martini family in attendance was apparently a thorn in almost everyone’s sides. Lucinda had, therefore, spent much of this past month subtly indicating to Amy that she wasn’t really an official member of the family yet, because she hadn’t done some big ceremony. Lucinda had also none-too-gently been pushing the idea of a big “we’re married” reception type thing to make up for Amy’s evil idea of not doing it up right in the first place.
“Why have we been discussing anything about any weddings?” Christopher asked. He looked and sounded confused, probably because he was—Amy hadn’t mentioned this situation to him when she’d called during our time in Florida. f
“Well, you and Amy just ran off and eloped,” Lucinda replied. “We need to have an official reception for everyone.”
“Why?” Christopher sounded completely uninterested. “We didn’t elope—you and Uncle Alfred were there. We’re married, we’re both happy about it, and everyone knows, so why would we need to have a reception?”
“No one’s been able to send you a wedding gift,” Lucinda shared.
“So what?” Christopher shrugged. “We live at the Embassy, so we don’t need anything. I don’t see why we need to bother with anything about this.” He looked as though he thought this conversation was over.
“It’s proper protocol,” Lucinda countered.
“We’re drowning in protocol right now, and I’m really sure some party like this isn’t necessary to our success as diplomats.”
Jeff looked up from his baby snuggling and shot Christopher the “shut up, shut up” look. But it was too late.
Lucinda had the Stern Mother voice going. “You have an obligation to our people. You’ve married someone no one knows, and you did it in such a way that almost no one knows you’re married. Are you ashamed of her?”
“Of course not!” Christopher sounded shocked and looked confused. “What is this about?”
Jeff winced. Either he’d taken his blocks down or the emotions in the room were so strong he couldn’t help but feel them. I had no clear idea which option was the winner.
“I’m not good enough for you,” Amy snapped. “That’s what it’s about, and what it’s been about for a month.”
“That is absolutely not true,” Lucinda said. “We have traditions, however, and you completely ignored them.”
“I didn’t know what they were, and no one else had a problem with it,” Amy retorted.
“You never bothered to find out,” was Lucinda’s comeback. I’d heard this argument, which always ended in a stalemate, for a month now. It never got any better.
I looked around. Those who’d been with us all this time had “I’m not really here” looks on their faces. Even White hadn’t been able to make any headway with this issue—Lucinda merely turned her righteous wrath onto him, since, as Pontifex, former or otherwise, he knew what all the rules were, and she felt he should have forced Christopher and Amy into the huge wedding.
Melanie and Emily looked as though they’d expected this somewhere along the line. Tito was taking the cue from Len and Kyle and pretending he wasn’t here. Jeff was clearly struggling with the strong emotions.
That left me one person to appeal to for help. I shot Chuckie the “get us out of this” look. He heaved a sigh and cleared his throat, loudly.
Lucinda and Amy both stopped snarling at each other and looked at him. “Thank you, ladies. Under the circumstances we are, have been, and likely will be in over the next few weeks at least, I have to insist that no one in Centaurion Division is allowed to throw what I’d consider an overly excessive party. kessw week”
“And why is that?” Lucinda asked haughtily.
“Because a huge formal affair leaves all of Centaurion exposed and in danger in ways we can’t afford to risk at this time.” The way Chuckie said this indicated the No Parties Rule was in full effect and would be enforced by the U.S. military.
“My son might have something to say about that.” Lucinda sounded even haughtier, if such were possible. She also glared at Alfred, clearly expecting his support on this one.
“He might, but it won’t matter,” Chuckie replied calmly. “I outrank all of you.”
“You have no rank within Centaurion Division,” Alfred said, wisely supporting his wife.
Chuckie laughed. “I don’t need a rank. My position within the C.I.A. ensures that I control all of Centaurion Division. I don’t like to constantly remind all of you of such,” his eyes and voice went icy, “but with one word I can make your lives miserable in the extreme. Now, this discussion is over, because if one more person tries to suggest Centaurion needs to throw a big party, I’m putting Centaurion officially under C.I.A. control.”
Lucinda opened her mouth. White spoke first, however. “Agreed, Mister Reynolds.” He looked at his sister. “You’re done. Complain to Alfred, in private, but we cannot afford for the C.I.A. to feel forced to exercise their authority.”
Lucinda looked over at Jeff. “You’re not going to argue with him?”
Jeff shrugged. “I’m no longer the Head of Field, remember? You can argue about this with James and Paul, but I can guarantee they’re going to back Reynolds.”
I wasn’t sure what the next words were going to be or who would say them. But I decided it was time to toss out some diplomacy. “Hey, I’m starving. What say we eat whatever delicious meal Lucinda’s prepared?” It was sure to be delicious—she was a great cook.
The others quickly took up the “I’m hungry” chant. Lucinda smiled graciously at me. “Well, since our guests are ready to eat, I suppose we can table any further ideas about the reception for a time when we’re not in a state of emergency.” She got up and headed for the kitchen.
Everyone else looked at each other. It was clear no one really knew what to say. I didn’t want us discussing the only state of emergency
I knew about, which involved naked pictures of me and Chuckie. I could tell Amy and Christopher didn’t want to talk about weddings or receptions or anything remotely similar. Chuckie had his “you owe me” expression going and I knew it would be a bad idea to try to make him come up with a legitimate state of emergency excuse. I’d used up my only idea already.
“I smell meatloaf,” Tito announced as if nothing untoward had happened, thankfully breaking the uncomfortable silence in the roo
m.
Jeff groaned. “It figures.”
Yi
CHAPTER 7
CHUCKIE GLANCED AT ME. “I think you should help your mother-in-law in the kitchen.”
I was about to ask when, in all the years he’d known me, my helping in a kitchen had ever been a good idea, when Jeff nodded. “Yeah, please do, baby.”
The idea of arguing appealed to me, but I decided to do as asked. Surely they both had a reason for this request.
Sure enough, they did—I trotted into the kitchen to hear the sounds of someone crying quietly.
Lucinda had her face buried in a dish towel. Okay, this wasn’t good. I went to her and put my arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry we can’t have the party.” It was a lie, but sometimes you had to tell a whopper to make someone else feel better.
She shook her head, face still buried, shoulders still shaking.
“Um, sorry you and Amy had a fight. She just really wants you to like her.” This was true, though Amy probably wasn’t going to be pleased I’d told Lucinda so.
Lucinda took her face out of the towel. “I do like her.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly in that way you do when you’re trying really hard not to lose it again. “I don’t understand why Richard isn’t insisting on this party. Just because he’s retired as Pontifex doesn’t mean he should be ignoring things.”
Things. Not traditions. “Um, what things, exactly, is Richard ignoring?”
Lucinda heaved a sigh. “The fact that without a big wedding, or at least a reception where I can show Amy off, no one believes we want her in the family.”
This was a twist I hadn’t seen coming. “Why not? I can’t believe that in all A-C history no one’s chosen to skip the big wedding parade and just get married quietly.”
“Oh, of course, many don’t do a large wedding. However, Christopher’s position within the community and our family . . .” Her voice faltered. “It’s so hard to deal with talented children when you have no talents yourselves.”
I chose not to ask what this had to do with anything we were discussing. “Oh?”
“You can’t hide the things from them that you can from other children. So when you’re cross or they’ve been bad and you have to punish them, they think you hate them. They can’t understand why you might be jealous of someone even though you love them. They just see the negative and assume that’s all there is to your feelings for them.”
She was talking in generalities, but it was easy for me to put in the specifics. Christopher’s mother, Terry, had been an empath, which was rare for A-C females. Because his powers had been off the charts at birth, she’d had to take Jeff when he was a baby, so she’d been like his mother, too. When Terry had died, the boys had come to Alfred and Lucinda, and I knew they considered Christopher their “other” son.
But as far as I knew, Christopher didn’t think of Lucinda as his mother, and his father was alive. And as the most powerful imageer in the galaxy, I had to guess the odds of him touching pictures of his parents and Jeff’s parents would be hig s wowerfulh. Alfred and Lucinda were big on pictures—they had photos of their family all over their humongous house, and I knew Alfred had photo albums at work.
That Lucinda had been jealous of Terry was something I’d known early on. Jeff and Christopher knew this, too. Of course, I didn’t know all the reasons why. I could pussyfoot, but it seemed extremely relevant, so I decided to go for it. “Why were you jealous of Terry?”
“She married my brother, she had to take my only son, my son and hers still love her more than me even though she’s been dead for over twenty years—you tell me why I wouldn’t have some jealousy issues.”
Nice to know where Jeff’s jealous streak came from. “Ah. But weren’t you happy that Richard was happy?”
“Of course! I loved Terry. She and I were friends, that’s how she met Richard and I met Alfred.” She sniffled. “I lost someone precious to me, too, when she died. But the boys only see the loss as their own, and all I ever hear is how much happier they were when Terry was alive.”
“I can see how that would hurt your feelings.” I could. Lucinda wasn’t a monster, she was just a regular person with failings, like anyone else.
“And Christopher didn’t even take the time to bring Amy down to meet us before they started living together, let alone before they got married.”
“Well, things happened pretty fast. And Amy wasn’t in a great position to meet parents at the time.” Since she’d found out her father had murdered her mother at the same time she discovered he was a charter member of the Evil Lunatic Scientists Club.
“I know. I’d hoped that maybe Amy would see us as her new parents. But we barely got to know her name before they were married. I can’t tell anyone anything about her, because much is classified, and I don’t know anything else.” Tears ran down her face. “And all our family, all my friends, they think we’re ashamed of her and Christopher. I’d hoped that by focusing Amy on traditions and protocol, I could convince her to let me throw a reception. And now Mister Reynolds says we can’t, and by the time he lifts that ban, everyone’s opinions will be set.”
“Why didn’t you just say this, straight out, to Amy?”
“And have her realize that she wasn’t fully accepted into the community?” Lucinda looked and sounded aghast. “Better she should only hate me, rather than feel as if she’s an outsider all the time.”
Wow. Lucinda was taking one for the team, and no one had known about it. I felt particularly crappy that I hadn’t picked this up in the slightest way. I’d been here a month, watching the interactions and hearing what she was saying, but none of it had registered.
Of course, I could do something about this now that I knew. But what was the big question. Marching into the dining room and sharing that this had all been a big misunderstanding didn’t seem like the smoothest way of handling the situation, but I didn’t have any other ideas.
A throat cleared, and I looked over my shoulder to see Chuckie standing in the short hallway between the kitchen and dining room. He wasn’t alone. He had his hand over Amy’s mouth, and Jeff had a hold of Christopher.
I glanced back at Lucinda. She looked trapped.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?” I sort of felt trapped, too.
Chuckie rolled his eyes and let Amy go. She shot him a dirty look, then walked over to me and Lucinda. “I don’t care if anyone else likes me,” she said to Lucinda. “I only care that the people who matter to Christopher like me. And you matter to him, no matter what you might think.”
Jeff now let Christopher go. Christopher shot Patented Glare #1 at him, then came over to us. He took Lucinda’s hand. “You are my other mother. I just don’t always know how to let you know that.”
Lucinda started crying again. I backed away while the three of them did the group hug thing A-Cs all seemed to do naturally.
Jeff took my hand, and he and Chuckie walked me to the other side of the kitchen and out into the Great Room, where I was fairly sure the Martini grandkids performed Shakespeare when things were quiet, simply because it was certainly big enough to handle both the performers and a decent-sized audience.
“You handled that well,” Chuckie said.
“How long were you watching?”
“Most of the time,” Jeff said. He looked at Chuckie. “If you knew, why tell my mother we couldn’t have the party?”
“Because I didn’t think she’d want to discuss this in front of everyone. Oh, and duh.”
“How is it the two of you figured out what was really going on when I’ve been here a month and had no clue?”
Jeff sighed. “I’m an empath. Passing Reynolds’ ‘duh’ along to you, baby.”
“I’m observant,” Chuckie mentioned. “As you know. So, doubling that duh.”
“True enough. Okay, fine, don’t hand out another duh, I’m at capacity. So, while this is all working out, Lucinda brought up a really big issue—if Amy’s not being accepted by the A-C community at large, you know that means whoever’s still holding a torch for the whole purity of the race idea is going to use this to their advantage.”
Chuckie sighed. “Very true. But since there are other things going on that you know nothing about, we need to get back to D.C. and determine what ranks where on our list of priorities.”
“And we need to involve Alpha Team,” Jeff added. “Reynolds didn’t create a fake excuse for my mother not to throw a big party.”
“I hate being out of the loop.”
“Well, don’t worry,” Chuckie said. “We’ll be catching you up quickly. As soon as you’ve taken and passed the HSAC we can bring you up to speed.”
This was a new one. “Excuse me? I’m not heading to law school. Am I?”
Chuckie heaved a sigh. “No. The HSAC stands for High Security Administrative Clearance.”
“I have a really high security clearance.”
“Yes. You do. You don’t, however, have HSAC clearance.”
“How do you know?”
Chuckie gave me a look that clearly said I was dancing on his last nerve. “Because I have the complete records of which Centaurion Division personnel have what clearances. You don’t have this one. At least none of you who’ve been in Florida have it. The others have been cleared.”
“You have?” I asked Jeff.
Who shrugged. “It’s just a test, baby. It’s something we have to take as part of the Diplomatic Corps. Doreen said it’s been around for as long as she can remember. She took it again, even though she’d taken it before.”