Petra looked at Peter and then back and Mrs. Delphiki. “Why?”

“They climb all over him. And he puts them down for their nap. They obey him a lot better than me.”

The thought of the Hegemon of Earth coming over to play with her children seemed freakish to her. And then it seemed worse than freakish. It seemed completely unfair. She pushed him. “You came to my house and played with my children?”

He didn’t show any reaction; he also stood his ground. “They’re great kids.”

“Let me find that out, will you? Let me find it out for myself!”

“Nobody’s stopping you.”

“You were stopping me! I was doing your work in Moscow, and you were here playing with my kids!”

“I offered to bring them to you.”

“I didn’t want them in Moscow, I was busy.”

“I offered you leave to come home. Time after time.”

“And let the work fall apart?”

“Petra,” said Mrs. Delphiki. “Peter has been very good to your children. And to me. And you’re behaving very badly.”

“No, Mrs. Delphiki,” said Peter. “This is only slightly badly. Petra’s a trained soldier and the fact that I’m still standing—”

“Don’t tease me out of this.” Petra burst into tears. “I’ve lost a year of my babies’ lives and it was my own fault, do you think I don’t know that?”

There was a crying sound from one of the bedrooms.

Mrs. Delphiki rolled her eyes and went down the hall to rescue whoever it was that needed rescuing.

“You did what you had to do,” said Peter. “Nobody’s criticizing you.”

“But you could take time for my children.”

“I don’t have any of my own,” said Peter.

“Is that my fault?”

“I’m just saying I had time. And…I owed it to Bean.”

“You owe more than that.”

“But this is what I can do.”

She didn’t want Peter Wiggin to be the father figure in her children’s lives.

“Petra, I’ll stop if you want. They’ll wonder why I don’t come, and then they’ll forget. If you don’t want me here, I’ll understand. This is yours and Bean’s, and I don’t want to intrude. And yes, I did want to be here when you opened that.”

“What’s in it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Didn’t have one of your guys steam it open for you?”

Peter just looked a little irritated.

Mrs. Delphiki came into the room carrying Ramón, who was whimpering and saying, “My paper.”

“I should have known,” said Peter.

Petra held up the envelope. “Here it is,” she said.

Ramón reached for it insistently. Petra handed it to him.

“You’re spoiling him,” said Peter.

“This is your mama, Ramón,” said Mrs. Delphiki. “She nursed you when you were little.”

“He was the only one that wasn’t biting me by the time…” She couldn’t think of a way to finish the sentence that wouldn’t involve speaking of Bean or the other two children, the ones that had to go on solid food because they got teeth so incredibly young.