Page 21 of Legally Mated
Holland introduced them to Eva and she gravely shook hands with eachofthem.
"I'll let you get back to your evening," she said, packing her notes into her briefcase. "I understand you're flying back out latetomorrow?"
Quin nodded. "I can't stay away much longer than that, and the pups are missingschool."
She smiled at the two youngsters. "I don't imagine they mind. I know my nephews don’t." Then she looked back up at us. "I'll drop by again tomorrow afternoon. I'd like to sit down with you for an hour, Garrick? Before we get into sorting out which issues you want tackled first, and deciding what cabinet and senate members we need to start working on for our long term goals. This might end up going to the Supreme Court, but we’ll try the political route first. It’s much more all-encompassing." She frowned down at her briefcase, hard nails drumming tic-tic-tic against the wood of the table in front of them. "I suspect we're going to want a staff member involved in this as well. I'll think about who might be best and make a recommendation to the President." She stood up, and we rose with her. "It was lovely meeting you all. I've always been curious about the packs and wondered what you'd be like to meet in person. I'm glad to see that Hollywood's gotten it allwrong."
She shook everyone's hands, including the pups' again, and left us in the sitting room with the feeling that the world spinning around us. I could imagine what my face looked like, and both Quin and Holland smelled like they were feeling the same thing--hope, fear, apprehension,confusion.
The First Lady took us back to their private kitchen and she and Holland put together a meal that tempted even the pups' appetites. Quin and I stayed out of the way, listening to Dorian’s and Agatha's tales of their first try at bowling, and waiting impatiently for a chance to discuss what hadhappened.
"Ma'am?" a dark-suited man said from the doorway to the kitchen. "The President asked me to tell you he's going to grab something quick fromtheMess."
"Oh, is it the insurgents again?" she asked placidly, as if it were no more than, "Oh, did his boss ask him to work late again?", which struck me as the oddest way to live with a partner. Except Holland looked at her with sympathy and then shared a glance of commiseration with Quin, so I supposed that they ran into the same issue in their mating as well. And then it occurred to me that Laine and I had the same issues, and I barely stopped myself from shaking my head in rueful disbelief, mostly because I didn't want to have to explain my train ofthought.
After the evening meal of giant shell-shaped noodles stuffed with cheese and ground beef, we all ended up in the movie theater in the basement of the Residence, where some thoughtful person had arranged for one of the newer children's movies to play, an animated one where the children saved the day from the weird-looking aliens who were trying to take over their town. The pups loved it, and I overheard Holland and Quin having a quiet, sporadic conversation over the course of the story, though I doubted the humans could have made out anything they said over the noise of the characters in the film. Then the film was over and it was time for baths and bed for the pups, and I had a few minutes in the Queen's Bedroom to sit and go over my notes and try not to be distracted by mysurroundings.
I decided to rewrite everything, and wondered as I set it all out in neat categories, cross-referenced and annotated with any ideas I had in terms of legislation or previous cases, if I should send Laine a text to let him know how the day had been. Yes, I was still kind of frustrated with him, but no more than usual, and as much as I couldn't always fathom the freedom he had, I knew the opposite had to be true for him.As soon as I've tidied up mynotes.
Someone knocked on my door. "Come in," I called, and started to pile my papers into neatstacks.
Holland stuck his head in the opening. "Quin and I were wondering if you'd like to come have coffee and talk abouttheday."
"It looks..." My voice trailed off. I didn't want to say promising, because it wasn't that. But better?Certainly.
"Yeah," he said wryly. "I'm already tired, thinking about the work that's coming." His expression softened as he leaned against the door frame. "But he wants this so badly, I really want to give ittohim."
By him, I guessed that he meant Quin. I'd never have thought that Quin wanted our freedom so badly--Abel, yes. But Quin... Then again, he'd learned a long time ago how to keep his thoughts to himself, I imagined. It would be a hard habit to break. As hard as some of my life-longhabits.
"Sure," I said. "I've been rewriting the notes I took this afternoon, but they're still kind ofamess."
"No worse than what I've got packed away up here." Holland tapped his temple. "Come on. I think they'll bring us cookies ifweask."
He knew the way to my heart. I gathered up my papers and pens andfollowedhim.
Chapter16
We settledin the East Sitting Hall, with its rounded window and deep, comfortably cushionedfurniture.
“I want to be able to listen for the pups, just in case,” Holland explained. “I don’t expect they’ll wake up—they were pretty tired—but it is a strange place, and strange beds.” He set the baby on the floor in an out of the way corner, and sat down at the end of the couch closest to him. Quin came along a moment later and took the space beside him, rubbing his cheek briefly against Holland’s hair before turning his attention backtome.
I took the spot across from him and spread my notes out over the low table between us. The East Sitting Hall was formal, two expensive couches with tables to each side of them, the one I was setting my pens out on, and another narrow one covered in flowers right in front of the window. Nothing like the enclave, with its mismatched furniture and stitched together rag rugs made up of clothes too torn and tattered to be turned again. Quin and Holland looked absolutely at home here, as if this was their rightfulterritory.
Holland reached out for my half-finished page of re-written notes. “How did you feel about that this afternoon?” His gaze rested on me for a moment, before moving back to thepaper.
“I think it was a good start. She’s got a very different perspective onthings.”
“I was worried you felt left out of the conversation. After all the talk about your bar exam problems.” Holland’s voice was gentle, and once again I felt that brush of warm fur on my skin, where no fur was. I rubbed a hand over my arm and made a face at him, and he made one in return, to acknowledge that I’d recognized he was doing something. I’d have to talk to him about that later but I didn’t want to do it here, because I didn’t know if Quin was aware of it. Just as well not to set that pup in the midst of thepigeons.
To answer his question, I shook my head. “No, you guys had it pretty much covered. I was more interested in watching her. She’s good.” And, I had to admit, where Laine had long since stopped intimidating me, Eva had been a force of nature once she'd gotten going. I'd never before felt my lack of official approval as a lawyer so much as when I'd been sitting across from her in her sharp suit with her precise way ofspeaking.
"Maybe, but this stuff isn't anything we're used to, or really know much about," Quin said quietly. "We're countingonyou."
Oh. I glanced up at him and caught a hint of worry in his eyes, and realized how much he must hide from us all on a daily basis. "Sure." I could do this--it was what I'd trained for. Not the political side, or the constitutional stuff, but I'd taken all those courses too, along with my concentration on civil and contract law. It had been a while, but it would all come back. "Do you have any questions left over fromtoday?"
He nodded and we bent to organizing the rest of my rough notes, and adding in more questions that hadn’t occurred to us until thisevening.
The coffee arrived, and with it a plate full of cookies that I eyed longingly. Holland smirked and took two, passing one to Quin, then pushed the plate in front of me. "Go ahead. I suspect you're going toearnthem."
