73 Girl Talk

Franz had largely moved his base of operations into their shared bedroom so he could watch over his wife but once he saw that I was in a bad mood he kissed her briefly and headed back to his office, leaving us alone to talk.

"What did Alpheus do this time?" she asked with a light laugh.

She knew me too well. He was the only person in this place that could really get a rise out of me.

"He won't stop teasing me about having children," I complained. "He knows I'm not ready for that but keeps giving me a hard time."

Mariela didn't understand where I was coming from. Her world had always been about getting married as a political tool. Children were an incidental but natural part of that.

If her baby wasn't under threat, she would have been proud to bear offspring. As it was, her worry couldn't hide her maternal glow. It was obvious she loved the baby already.