Zelda smiled. "He does have good stories," she said cheerfully. Honestly, part of why she had originally been attracted to Alfred was that he had so many stories to tell her — and while things were no longer quite the same, she did still enjoy them. "Maybe I'll bring them next time. My sister's usually happy to take them — she misses when her own children were small."

Somehow Katia missed when her children were small. There had been so many of them, and Zelda couldn't imagine it for herself — but Katia was just like their mother. Zelda was rather looking forward to when her children were old enough to have conversations with her, to learn to sail, to — do all the things they could do when they were a bit older.

"The girls will have to learn to be gentle with the new baby when the time comes," Zelda said, with a gentle indication to Elsie's rounded belly.