Alien Proliferation

mean?”
    She gave me a sly grin. “Possessive, protective, jealous—you know, what every serious boyfriend you ever had was like. What Chuck was like, only in a low-key way, at least, whenever you were around. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have questioned the physical choices.”
    “Jeff’s not . . . totally . . . um . . . okay, he’s just like that, yeah. But it’s sweet.”
    “Yeah? You didn’t think so when you’d had it with Brian. So, who was better in bed, Chuck or Jeff?”
    “Beg pardon?” I hadn’t told her I’d slept with Chuckie.
    “Oh, come on. It’s me. He was hot for you from day one. And he’s tall, handsome, your normal physical type now, maybe a tad taller than your average, but I doubt that was a deterrent. You two went to Vegas together for a week. I remember talking to you about that trip. ‘Best vacation of my life’ were your exact words. The way you think, I know that meant you screwed like rabbits.”
    “Yeah, okay, fine. Until I met Jeff, honestly, Chuckie was the best. By far.”
    “Jeff’s better?”
    “Jeff’s a freaking sex god.”
    “You’re such a simple creature.”
    “Almost male in my needs. Yeah, yeah, heard it from you before. Bitch.”
    We both laughed. “I miss this,” Sheila said.
    “Me too. Is it hard, being a wife and mother first?”
    She shrugged. “Sometimes. But it’s usually worth it. But that’s me. Everyone’s different. I have a hard time imagining Amy as a wife, let alone a mother. But I think she really wants to find that special guy.”
    “Yeah, well, they show up when you least expect them. I sure wasn’t expecting Jeff when he appeared.” Literally and figuratively.
    “Yep, like the song says, you can’t hurry love.”
    Finally done. I had pumped something like twenty bags of milk. “This looks like I’m starting my own dairy. Do you have any bags left?”
    “Sure. In fact, you keep the rest of this box. You can always express by hand if you have to.”
    “Ugh.” I took the box from her. The way she handed it to me, I saw the bottom. There was a mark there that looked vaguely familiar. I brought the box closer to my face. There was a circle divided into three parts, with the letters A, B, and C in each piece of the pie. Underneath were the words Aquitani, Belgae & Celts. I read them aloud.
    “Three tribes of Gaul in Julius Caesar’s day. Why?” Sheila was changing Number Four’s diaper. She’d always been a history buff.
    “They’re on the bottom of this box. You get Gallic breast milk bags?”
    She laughed. “No, silly. I’m just a loyal shopper.”
    “You’re Polish, married to an Englishman. If you can even count that, since you’re both like fourth generation Americans at least.”
    Sheila looked over her shoulder and gave me a “duh” look. “That’s the baby products division of Gaultier International, idiot. Amy’s dad’s company?”
    “He imports milk bags from France?”
    “I doubt it.” She turned back to the diaper situation. “That’s his logo. Duh, Gaultier—three parts of the Gauls. Get it? He’s just proud of his heritage.”
    “I thought he was an importer and exporter.”
    “Sure, he is. But he’s almost as big as Proctor & Gamble. He’s got a lot of different businesses. One of them covers a lot of baby products. We buy his company’s generics, too.”
    “Generics?”
    She looked over her shoulder again. “You sure you should be out of bed so soon after delivering? Generic drugs, idiot.”
    I stared at her. “Oh, my God.”

 
    CHAPTER 46
     
    I LOOKED AROUND. Worth a shot. “Com on!”
    “Yes, Commander Martini?” Gladys sounded tired of hearing from me. I almost couldn’t blame her.
    “Two things. I need someone to come and collect the incredible number of bags of breast milk I just squeezed out, get them into a freezer, and make sure that whoever has Jamie can get them as needed.”
    “Not really Security’s job, but, as always, we’ll humor you. What else?”
    “I need to know where Herbert Gaultier, of Gaultier International and a whole lot of other companies is, and I need to know immediately. Oh, and I’m leaving this bathroom. Have whoever’s coming to get the milk step on it.”
    Two big Security A-Cs came in, looking embarrassed, carrying a cooler. I gave them the milk. “Take care of that, freeze it in a safe container pronto—safer than this cooler, by the way.”
    “Yeah, that stuff’s worth its weight in gold.” Sheila shook her