Alien in the Family

yeah.”
    Both grandmothers looked at me, gave me very innocent smiles, then turned back to watch the rest of the girls do their modeling thing.
    Something about their expressions made me wonder. I watched the girls more closely. The dresses were really great—they looked good on all of them, even Jareen, and when you considered that the dresses were looking good on Dazzlers as well as Giant Lizards, you had to figure the designer was fabulous. No tails showed at all, no matter how the Animal Planet girls moved. Awesome dresses. I’d live with the flower at the waist, it was more dramatic.
    My brain kicked. None of the girls were disguised as human. I had seven aliens parading up and down in designer wear, and no one was batting an eye.
    I cleared my throat. “Ah, Nana? Nona? What do you see, when you look at the girls?”
    “I see seven lovely ladies,” Nona Maria said. She sounded like she was trying not to giggle.
    “We’re very proud of you for having such an interracial wedding party,” Nana Sadie added. Considering how upset she and my Papa Abe had been when my parents got married, her attitude was impressive. Nona and Nono hadn’t been much more thrilled at the start. Now each set loved the other like true family. My grandparents had come a long way on religious tolerance over the ensuing decades. I got the feeling they were coming along even quicker on species tolerance.
    “Um, Chuckie?”
    He sighed. “Ask your mother.”
    “Mom?”
    She sighed. “Your grandparents had a difficult time believing your reasons for leaving the party in the first place. Then when you and Michael came back and others started acting like the end of the world was coming and so forth, they got more suspicious.”
    “So, what, you just broke down and shared highest-level government secrets with them to stop them from complaining?” How had this woman been working in covert ops for most of her life?
    Mom gave me a dirty look. “No.”
    “Did Dad crack?” He was the more easily guilted of the two of them.
    Dirtier look. “No.”
    “Who shared, then? Not Uncle Mort!” The high-up-there career Marine? I would figure someone would have to be cutting off body parts to get Uncle Mort to share any secret, let alone government ones.
    Dirtiest look yet. “Hardly.”
    “Who then?”
    Lucinda sighed. “We discussed it. They’re all becoming family now. That means what we do affects them. Alfred, Stanley, Ericka, Richard, and I made the decision. Richard told them. Most of them took it very well.”
    “Most of them?” My voice was heading to the dog-only register. “You told my entire family tha—” Chuckie put his hand on my wrist and I stopped myself. Maybe they hadn’t said what I thought.
    “That you’re marrying a space alien?” Nona Sadie finished for me. “Yes. You know, Kitty, a prince is a prince.”
    “Oh, my God.” It hadn’t occurred to me that this was what Martini’s title was if he wasn’t king. “Guess it’s a good thing Jeff passed on the Alpha Four crown then.” Whoops. My mouth was doing that speaking without thinking thing again. Hated that.
    My grandmothers exchanged glances. “Pay up,” Nana Sadie said.
    Nona Maria sighed and nodded. “I always take the long shot.” She dug into her purse and handed money to Nana Sadie.
    “You two knew about that? And you were betting ? On whether or not Jeff would choose the kingship over me? You were betting on it? And Nona picked that he would ?” My family. The love was overwhelming.
    Nona Maria shrugged. “I told you, I always bet long shots. Besides, he’d had to deal with Carla. I mean, lesser men have run screaming away because of her.”
    “Like three husbands,” Mom muttered.
    “Right,” Nana Sadie said. “And he’d already dealt with our Ruth, too.” She shook her head. “I almost felt daring, taking you over the kingship.”
    I looked at Reader. He was focused on the dresses. “Girls, bend, sit. Want to make sure no one’s going to bust out.” They groaned but followed his orders.
    Looked to Chuckie. He shrugged. “It’s a security breach, yeah. Considering Angela’s technically my superior, though, nothing I could do about it. Besides, I wasn’t there when it happened, and Richard, as the Sovereign Pontifex, has free rein to make these decisions.”
    “They were betting! On Jeff and me!”
    He looked over at my grandmothers. “Did you give me any odds at all?”
    “Oh, yes, Charles,” Nona Maria said. “If