Part 13 (1/2)

His s.h.i.+elding was sufficient to keep long-eared Isthia from penetrating his tired mind. Or perhaps she had arrived at a similar conclusion.

Aha! she cried triumphantly.

I know that sort of an 'aha' from you, Mother and it means trouble for someone, Jeff said with a groan not unlike Afra's.

Wearily Afra explained. I was thinking that most of Damia's problems would be solved if she had other Talented children nearer her age and accomplishment. She is the youngest in daycare by over a year.

If she had a human playmate her own age - I don't want her down on Earth, Jeff began, and the only place where there' re more is-. He stopped short and regarded Afra solemnly. You're right, the Rowan won't like it. Not at all.

But she must see the sense of it, Jeff, Isthia said. This isn't the first time Damia has instinctively appealed to Afra as a source of rea.s.surance and a.s.sistance. He can't be bailing her out of every little sc.r.a.pe. Or if he does- Isthia kindly left the thought unspoken but Afra could still see the Rowan's desperate lunge to grip the Altairian freighter and could imagine what would have happened had not Jeff Raven been there to help her prevent the freighter from plunging into the void unguided.

'How do you feel about this, Afra?' Jeff asked the tall Capellan softly.

Afra's response was a long time coming. 'It is not what I feel that matters, Jeff. It is what is best for Damia.' 'It'll be hard on all of us,' Jeff said in response to Afra's unspoken plaint. Mother, not a word of this to anyone!

Particularly not within Angharad's hearing. Thank goodness she's involved in slinging cargo about the galaxy, Isthia replied. There are quite a few Talented children nearby. And a shower of second and third cousins who could be. -- if anyone bothered to show them a thing or two. I'll see what can be contrived here on Deneb. Especially if Damia's just become kinetically active. More to Afra than to Jeff, she added, I promise that I will help this difficult grandchild of mine whom you find so adorable.

With strong and sensitive fingers, Jeff ma.s.saged deep into the Rowan's neck, kneading out the worst of the knots in her tense muscles late that night.

'If it hadn't been for Afra!' she exclaimed. 'Oh! That's it, right there!' She swivelled her neck to aid his efforts.

'Ah.' She pulled away from his grasp, taking his hands in hers and gently squeezing them. 'Oh, thank you! That's much better.

'Anything to oblige,' Jeff replied with a slight bow as he sat on the edge of the bed. The Rowan was below him on the floor, tucked between his legs. She jumped up, brushed his forehead with a kiss, then dragged him up as well.

Jeff responded with a firm hug and a tender expression.

The Rowan stopped him with a stern expression and a finger on his lips.

To his puzzled expression she said: 'Let's talk in the kitchen.' She turned and, fingers twined with his, dragged him after her by the hand.

The kitchen presented two good places to sit: the barstools and counter near the stove and the larger circular table where they usually ate (or tried to) breakfast with the kids. Jeff raised an eyebrow enquiringly at his love but she resisted his gentle probe until she dropped into one of the seats surrounding the kitchen table.

'Jeff, I'm scared,' the Rowan began. 'If it hadn't been for Afra, we might have lost Damia completely.' 'The s.h.i.+p was going to Altair, luv, not the Horsehead Nebula,' Jeff chided her gently. 'They would have brought her back.' 'What if she had panicked?' The Rowan wrung her hands together. 'What if Afra hadn't been there? Hadn't handled her kinetic thrust? She could have been lost for ever.' She flung out her hands despairingly.

Jeff captured one in both of his, stroking her palm gently with his fingers. He smiled up at her. 'But she wasn't, luv Afra caught her.' Her answer came in a sob. 'He did, didn't he? Why didn't she call me?' Her eyes watered. 'Oh, Jeff, am I such a terrible mother?' 'No!' Jeff's answer was emphatic, firm.

'Then why didn't she call to me?' the Rowan cried. She pulled her hand out of his.

'You were too intent, Rowan. You had a freighter to 'port-' 'So did Afra!' she broke in. 'He had that load too! But she called to him, not me!' Again she pulled her hand free to wave it over her head in more wild gesturing.

'Rowan, love, who knows what goes on in the mind of a two-year-old child - especially Damia's.' 'She's almost three!' the Rowan corrected him almost absently.

Jeff shook his head. 'No matter, she reacted out of panic, called to the first person to come to her mind. At least, she's learned not to bother you when you're working.' 'You see, I am a terrible mother!' she wailed.

Jeff let out a hot hiss of breath and turned away, angry with the Rowan for her futile outburst of self-contempt.

'Well, it's certain that you're not doing your new son much good, getting yourself all rolled up like this,' he remarked when he had schooled his emotions. 'Damia's a spirited child which makes her a handful.' He grinned, flicking a finger accusingly in her direction.

'If I recall correctly, you were just about the same age when you startled a whole planet which is much more than your daughter's done.

The Rowan blinked and managed a small chagrined smile. 'Our situations were somewhat different but I take the point.' Then she sighed in despair. 'Only I have no trouble coping with Jeran and Cera 'Who are even-tempered to the point of being phlegmatic and totally engrossed in their small selves to the exclusion, I might add, of their younger sister. Damia, on the other hand, requires the same delicate understanding you received from Lusena. But we don't have a Lusena here, who can devote every waking hour to the care and companions.h.i.+p of our Damia. Who is, it has been pointed out to me, very much like her mother. Opposites attract, luv, and alikes set sparks. And, in turning to Afra in time of crisis, Damia's only following her mother's good example, isn't she?' He waggled his finger at her. 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Rowan drew breath to contradict, then let it out in a long defeated sigh. Their eyes locked and a long silence ensued. 'If it happened-' she began.

'It'll happen again,' Jeff finished, nodding. 'We may not be so lucky the next time.

'What can we do?' Jeff was a long time forming an answer and, when he did, his voice was rueful. 'For all my fingers in Talent pies, I haven't been able to find a T-6 nanny. And I've offered all kinds of enticements.' 'You didn't tell me Jeff rolled his eyes at her vehemence. 'We'd need someone anyway with the new one on the way. And come on, luv, after today, you wouldn't have complained if I had found someone suitable.' He exhaled and made a less palatable suggestion.

'We could try hypnotic'No!' the Rowan's response was emphatic. 'I will not have my children tampered with!' Jeff continued down the list of possibilities. 'What about a pukha?' 'Damia has not been orphaned.

'She has been through a rather traumatic experience 'She doesn't need a pukha. She's got a mother and a father.. -' 'Remotes, then?

There're some excellent robotic-' 'A robot minding Damia?' Rowan was horrified. 'A thing with no sensitivity Why even a pukha would be preferable!' ”Bots can't be distracted from the job they're programmed for. Then Jeff shrugged that notion aside before the Rowan gathered her contradiction. 'I admit the notion doesn't appeal to me but-' 'Hideous notion!' 'There is one possible alternative,' Jeff began, careful to sound tentative.

'What?' 'It worked with me, Jeff began, judiciously choosing his words, 'though even a whole planet might not be large enough. We could ask Mother to take all three of them.

At least until you've delivered this child.' 'What? Admit to all Deneb and the Nine Star League that I can't look after my own children?' 'No, admit to the Nine Star League that you are having a bad pregnancy, yet you honour your commitment as Prime. But, because your children are special, you are willing to sacrifice your daily contact with them to ensure that they grow up as happily as possible,' Jeff corrected her. 'Besides,' he continued on a fresh breath, 'what do you care for the opinion of others as long as the children are happy?' 'But your mother can't possibly-' 'It's not just mother who'd be involved but my brothers, sisters, cousins and nieces,' Jeff corrected. 'They'd all be ecstatic. It'd be a good thing for Deneb. You know how many undeveloped Talents you found in the city. Even young as our kids are, they've had more training than anyone there. Deneb's been reorganizing - give the planet examples of Talented children to stimulate interest in that natural resource. And,' Jeff added, reaching over to pat her belly lovingly, 'you'll be able to concentrate on him wholeheartedly.' 'Maybe if I hadn't-' 'You got pregnant for Damia, if you recall,' Jeff gently reminded her. 'Mother would be over the moon. And Ian's a good lad: he'd certainly be happy to have nephews and nieces to play with!' The Rowan had to smile at the incongruity of a seven year-old uncle.

Ian was the last born of Isthia Raven and the first baby the Rowan had had a chance to handle. She could in fact visualize him as a good companion for six-year-old Jeran who was much too preoccupied with a sister fifteen months his junior.

'Jeran could do with an older brother and I'm sure Ian would be glad to oblige,' Jeff remarked, neatly accessing the Rowan's thoughts.

'Jeff-' the Rowan began in preparation for a protest.

He raised a hand to forestall her then placed it over hers.

'Sleep on it, love.' Gently he led her from the kitchen to their bedroom.

In bed, the Rowan rolled over. 'Jeff?' 'Mmm?' 'Don't mention this to Afra, just yet.' 'Of course not, not until you've made up your mind,' Jeff responded ingenuously.

As the week progressed and the ripples from Damia's 'accident' spread throughout the Nine Star League, with s.h.i.+pments late or lost, the Rowan found it increasingly harder to resist the suggestion.

'It's just that it's so unnatural!' the Rowan railed late one night to her husband. Eyes tear-rimmed, she turned to him. 'Why can't I look after my own daughter?' Jeff patted her soothingly. 'Hush, luv, you could, if you'd nothing else to do with your time. But look at the demands on you. Three highly Talented children, another on the way, long hours in an FT&T Tower.' 'But I don't want to be like Siglen Jeff regarded her with astonishment, then laughed, rocking her in his arms.

'Luv, you're no more like Siglen than... than Brian Ackerman's a Reidinger clone. Sometimes, when I think how that woman repressed you, babied you, gifted you with a load of rubbishy phobias, I wonder you've turned out as well as you have,' Jeff exclaimed. He cradled her possessively.

'You've chosen not to repress or overprotect your children and they're really rather marvellous. It's just that,' he added ruefully, 'a young Gwyn-Raven marvel is a handful for anyone!' The Rowan sighed in agreement.

'And you've three handfuls with a fourth on the way.' Jeff moved a hand to rub her belly soothingly. 'And then there's this disturbing report from Elizara.' 'Hmm?' The Rowan stirred uneasily at the change of topic. 'Oh? That, well, yes, she mentioned something about anomalies in my latest lab results.' 'Oh?' '7' The Rowan dismissed them. 'Elizara said she'd come back to me. It does happen.

'I'd really rather know a.s.a.p' Jeff said with gentle insistence.

'I can't think why,' and he grinned, 'but you're very important to me.' He draped an arm about her shoulders and peered down at her half-hidden face.

She gave him a long, enigmatic look out of the corner of her eye.

'I could...' she hesitated, 'take a leave of absence from the station!' Before he recovered from his surprise, she added, 'Afra could take over with you to give him a hand with the live and heavy stuff.' The suggestion bowled Jeff over. Sympathetically he drew her against him as he mulled it over, digesting the notion - and also the Rowan's reason for making such a drastic proposal. He knew how important the Callisto post was to her. And, in the normal way of things, she ran it faultlessly. He'd seen Reidinger's private notes about her management.