Cortin stared at him, then found herself unable to hold back a wide, delighted smile. "No veto, Mike. That's the nicest present I could ever get! Thanks, all of you!"
"No need for thanks," Chang said. "The honor and pleasure are ours. On St. Ignatius, we would now be entitled to call you Mother; is that true here?"
"You've made me head of your—our—family, and I'm a female," Cortin said, "so I suppose that is the proper title. And that means I'll be grandmother to your children!" She smiled again, thoroughly pleased. "Though I hope you'll keep calling me Joan or Joanie, too, and of course we'll have to observe correct protocol in public."
"Of course, Excellency," Chang said with a perfectly straight face.
The news was just too good to keep to herself, and Cortin knew His Majesty had to be the first to know about the Family and her new status in it—though it would surprise her if Prince Edward hadn't already told him about the first part. She was nervous about the result, enough so that she was reluctant to call at all—certainly not before His Majesty could reasonably be expected to have been to Mass, had breakfast, and gotten his morning briefing from his chief advisors. God willing, there'd be nothing in the briefing to upset him—maybe even some news to put him in a good mood.
In the meantime, she told herself she really ought to brief Matthew to expect new residents and a visitor, then write the invitation to Blackfeather. And there was all that mail and paperwork that had been accumulating in her main-floor office; she should at least go through it enough to sort what had to be taken care of from what could be thrown out.
She had alerted Brady, who proved enthusiastic about having children in the house once she assured him they'd be kept very strictly out of her profession, written the invitation, and was starting to work her way through the stack of mail when Powell looked in the open door. "Need some help? I'm pretty good at that sort of thing."
Cortin looked up at him gratefully. "I sincerely hope so, because this is the one part of my job I really don't like. Pull up a chair and see what you can do."
Powell did so, taking a stack of mail, opening and going through it with considerable assurance and more speed than Cortin herself was managing. After a few minutes, she discovered she was doing more watching than working—and being impressed. When he finished with the stack, she took it and scrutinized his work.