Alien Diplomacy

time.”
    We headed off toward where we’d last seen Mom, Oliver trailing us. We got stopped by a lot of people who seemed to feel the President’s speech had been a none-too-subtle hint for them to say thank you to us. We shook a lot of paws and said a lot of “our pleasures.” Oliver took a lot of pictures. Some people actually had us pose with them. None of them knew what we’d actually done, but it didn’t matter. We’d clearly gotten the Presidential Seal of Approval stamped on us.
    Right as we reached Mom and Kevin, who were with the President and First Lady as well as a tonnage of other people, Missus Darcy Lockwood rushed up to us. “Oh, Missus Martini, it’s such a thrill to see you here. You’re, as you know, my favorite student of all those in my Washington Wife class.”
    I looked right at her and smiled sweetly. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe we’ve ever met.” Then I turned my back to her and went and hugged my mother.
    Best. Party. Ever.



CHAPTER 89
    W E GOT HOME LATE, took care of Jamie, looked in on Doreen, Irving, and Ezra, who’d arrived with absolutely no complications whatsoever, then headed to bed.
    Well, I headed to bed. Jeff headed to isolation. Christopher was already there. It was weird having both of them sleeping in the room attached to the nursery, but it was that or send them both to Dulce, and I just couldn’t do it.
    I slept like a log, and Jamie didn’t wake me up in the night. I decided not to worry about it. It was a little harder doing all her routine without Jeff’s help, but it wasn’t impossible. I was still tired and fuzzy from the energy expenditure the night before, so I was moving more slowly than normal, but we had nothing to be on time for, so it didn’t matter.
    Jamie and I had slept in late, so late that I discovered Amy and Caroline had gone shopping with Pierre. I was glad they’d bonded. I really was. But I felt really alone. The Embassy was essentially deserted—everyone was over at Home Base, briefing Senator McMillan on all we’d learned. Why I hadn’t been invited was probably due to my sleeping like the dead, but it still rankled.
    After wandering the Embassy like a pathetic, lonely ghost, I went back up to my apartment. Jeff and Christopher had a couple of hours before they were going to be out. I heaved a sigh as my phone rang.
    I grabbed it. “Hello?”
    “Kitty? It’s Bernie.”
    “Hey! I’m so glad you called!”
    “Wow, talk about a wild party last night, huh?”
    “You and Raul made the President’s Ball after all?”
    “We sure did! I even saw the President congratulate you and your husband. Boy, he’s sure a hunk and a half.”
    “Thanks. Why didn’t you come see me? I didn’t spot you once last night.” Not that I’d actually been looking.
    “Oh, I didn’t see you, either, until the President pointed you out, and I didn’t want to come up and have you maybe think I was only saying hi because you’re kind of a celeb right now.”
    I snorted. “It wouldn’t have bothered me.”
    “Great. Well, I was wondering, you up for a play date today?”
    “When?”
    “How about right now?”
    “Now works. Just need to get our stuff together.”
    “Um…”
    “Um?”
    Bernie sounded embarrassed. “I get why you have bodyguards and all that. But I was hoping to meet up at a park that has a lot of moms and nannies and kids. I just…your dudes kind of stand out. I think they’ll freak the other parents out.”
    The boys had had, like the rest of us, a long night. And I was perfectly capable of going to a play date by myself. Besides, Chuckie, like everyone else, wasn’t here to tell me no or to take the boys. “Sure thing. Name the place, and Jamie and I will be there!”
    “Wicked!” She gave me the name of the park, then, when I shared I had no idea where it was, laughed and gave me the directions to get there, and we hung up. It was fairly close, actually within walking distance if I was willing to hike it. Which, after the prior few days, I wasn’t. But I decided to go for it anyway.
    I hurried us into our coats, grabbed the diaper bag and my purse. I contemplated putting my Glock into it, but if it fell out or Bernie saw it, that was worse than having the boys along. I had the same thoughts about the stroller. It would make some things easier, but it was heavy as hell, and I couldn’t really manage it on steps without help, especially now when I felt totally drained and exceptionally human. Besides, the