And then in a simple, childlike sob he said her name.
"Ara?"
"Yes, it's me. It's me, it's all right."
And again she embraced him, instinctively and with all the love she could muster massaging his back, the taut muscles of his neck. He stepped back after a time and held her arms, confused.
"Then why….."
"To be a governess for his children, and to keep me from the prison colonies."
"To protect you? Why?"
"Because I'm pregnant."
"I thought you said he never….." It was all too much. He looked hard at her figure, perhaps a little fuller, tried to reckon the months. All useless. He did not understand. He did not understand. Then it was his eyes that pleaded, and he felt himself beginning to pass out.
"Ara?" His last hope. "What is happening?"