The whole scene with Verity and Grace and his mother was playing out more or less as he'd assumed it would. For all of their complaining about not having enough time to prepare, however, he didn't regret having waited until now to tell them. If he'd told them three hours ago, or yesterday, or last week, he was sure they would have acted just the same way — their anxieties were like goldfish, and would grow to fill whatever living space was available for them. Noble, however, was being very weird about this. Ford didn't mind that he seemed to think it was funny, particularly — if Ford hadn't been worried about Mama and his sisters embarrassing him in front of one of his friends, he might have thought it was funny, too, so he understood that Noble with nothing to lose would probably think that. It was unlike him to be so unsubtle, though, especially when it was clearly bothering their sisters.

He raised an eyebrow at his brother, but then turned his attention to their mother, and whatever 'deal' she was about to unpack. "Should I furnish Verity with a list of all my friends?" he asked sarcastically. "So that she can let me know which ones are royalty?"