God, he looks awful, he thought now, and the frigging strike was three damned months ago! He must’ve been a basket case, right after it, and I let my goddamned ‘responsibilities’ get in the way? Christ! Four fucking days. That’s how long it would have taken. I could have given him the four days to at least come out here and tell him in person that I—

Tell him what? The question cut Jacques off in mid-thought. He couldn’t have told Alfred one thing he didn’t already know. Couldn’t have accomplished anything Allison and his daughters and son couldn’t. Yet he knew he would never forgive himself for not somehow accomplishing something anyway.

“Daddy’s right, Uncle Jacques,” Honor said now. “We knew what you’d have said. You did say it, in your letters. And it’s not like we’re the only family—here or on Beowulf—who’s had to deal with the same thing. We’re…handling it as well as anyone else, I think.”

“I can see that,” Jacques replied. But he and Honor had always been close, and he knew she saw the question behind his lie. If you’re handling it that well, why are all of you still here and not home on Sphinx? He saw the awareness in her eyes, but she only looked back steadily.

“At any rate, I’m here now,” he said more briskly, “and it looks like I’m going to be able to stay for at least a while.”

“Really?” Allison looked across the lawn table at him, and he heard the happiness in her voice. “How long?”

“At least—” he began, then paused and quirked an eyebrow at Honor. “What, another T-week or so, you think, Honor?”

“About that.” She smiled crookedly. “Maybe a day or two longer.”

Allison and Alfred both looked sharply at their elder daughter, and Honor tasted their emotions as they did the math. It didn’t take long; every Manticoran knew when the Solly attack was due to reach Manticore.

“Well, we’ll be delighted to have you,” Allison said after a moment. “On the other hand, if you’re going to be here that long, maybe we should go ahead and reopen Harrington House, Honor?” She gave her daughter a half-humorous, half-resigned look. “He wouldn’t be staying so long if it wasn’t official, and if that’s the case, he probably needs to be close to Landing. Besides, your father and I have been imposing on your and Emily and Hamish’s hospitality long enough.”