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most powerful imageer in the galaxy, I had to guess the odds of him touching pictures of his parents and Jeff’s parents would be hig s wowerfulh. Alfred and Lucinda were big on pictures—they had photos of their family all over their humongous house, and I knew Alfred had photo albums at work.
    That Lucinda had been jealous of Terry was something I’d known early on. Jeff and Christopher knew this, too. Of course, I didn’t know all the reasons why. I could pussyfoot, but it seemed extremely relevant, so I decided to go for it. “Why were you jealous of Terry?”
    “She married my brother, she had to take my only son, my son and hers still love her more than me even though she’s been dead for over twenty years—you tell me why I wouldn’t have some jealousy issues.”
    Nice to know where Jeff’s jealous streak came from. “Ah. But weren’t you happy that Richard was happy?”
    “Of course! I loved Terry. She and I were friends, that’s how she met Richard and I met Alfred.” She sniffled. “I lost someone precious to me, too, when she died. But the boys only see the loss as their own, and all I ever hear is how much happier they were when Terry was alive.”
    “I can see how that would hurt your feelings.” I could. Lucinda wasn’t a monster, she was just a regular person with failings, like anyone else.
    “And Christopher didn’t even take the time to bring Amy down to meet us before they started living together, let alone before they got married.”
    “Well, things happened pretty fast. And Amy wasn’t in a great position to meet parents at the time.” Since she’d found out her father had murdered her mother at the same time she discovered he was a charter member of the Evil Lunatic Scientists Club.
    “I know. I’d hoped that maybe Amy would see us as her new parents. But we barely got to know her name before they were married. I can’t tell anyone anything about her, because much is classified, and I don’t know anything else.” Tears ran down her face. “And all our family, all my friends, they think we’re ashamed of her and Christopher. I’d hoped that by focusing Amy on traditions and protocol, I could convince her to let me throw a reception. And now Mister Reynolds says we can’t, and by the time he lifts that ban, everyone’s opinions will be set.”
    “Why didn’t you just say this, straight out, to Amy?”
    “And have her realize that she wasn’t fully accepted into the community?” Lucinda looked and sounded aghast. “Better she should only hate me, rather than feel as if she’s an outsider all the time.”
    Wow. Lucinda was taking one for the team, and no one had known about it. I felt particularly crappy that I hadn’t picked this up in the slightest way. I’d been here a month, watching the interactions and hearing what she was saying, but none of it had registered.
    Of course, I could do something about this now that I knew. But
what
was the big question. Marching into the dining room and sharing that this had all been a big misunderstanding didn’t seem like the smoothest way of handling the situation, but I didn’t have any other ideas.
    A throat cleared, and I looked over my shoulder to see Chuckie standing in the short hallway between the kitchen and dining room. He wasn’t alone. He had his hand over Amy’s mouth, and Jeff had a hold of Christopher.
    I glanced back at Lucinda. She looked trapped.
    “Hey, guys. What’s up?” I sort of felt trapped, too.
    Chuckie rolled his eyes and let Amy go. She shot him a dirty look, then walked over to me and Lucinda. “I don’t care if anyone else likes me,” she said to Lucinda. “I only care that the people who matter to Christopher like me. And you matter to him, no matter what you might think.”
    Jeff now let Christopher go. Christopher shot Patented Glare #1 at him, then came over to us. He took Lucinda’s hand. “You are my other mother. I just don’t always know how to let you know that.”
    Lucinda