Chapter 13
Our daughter arrived three weeks later.
Lucia Valenti.
Healthy.
Loud.
Already furious about being outside.
Perfect.
Nolan learned from Rose.
He sent no gift.
No visit request.
Just one message to me.
Tell Elise I hope they’re both safe.
Nothing about succession.
Nothing about Second Chair.
Good.
Vivian sent a pair of hand-knitted socks through Rose.
No note.
Elise stared at them.
“Do you want them here?” I asked.
She thought.
“Yes.”
Important.
Her choice.
We put them on Lucia.
Too big.
Vivian had apparently knitted for a baby with enormous feet.
Elise laughed for the first time when discussing my mother.
Small.
Not reconciliation.
Breathing room.
The birth changed nothing organizationally.
Exactly as my father’s recording said.
No automatic shift.
No magical inheritance.
No chairs moved.
I kept Nolan’s former position vacant.
Several captains assumed I would name someone quickly.
I did not.
One asked:
“Who protects continuity?”
I looked toward Lucia sleeping against Elise.
“Adults.”
He frowned.
“Which adults?”
“Competent ones.”
That ended it.
I refused to turn another baby into a political weather system.
Lucia had one responsibility.
Exist.
Elise held her and whispered:
“Imagine all that over you.”
I sat beside them.
“All what?”
“Hidden rooms. Bones. Second Chair.”
I looked at our daughter.
Tiny face.
Zero concern.
“Embarrassing.”
Elise smiled.
Then became serious.
“She doesn’t owe anyone for what happened before she was born.”
“No.”
“Not Nolan.”
“No.”
“Not Vivian.”
“No.”
“Not us.”
That one made me pause.
“No.”
Good.
May you like
We would not turn our protection into a debt either.
That mattered more than I expected.
