“I often bring somebody to a whirly booth for a private conference,” Beynac had said. “Might as well get in some g-time while making sure of no interruptions.” She laughed. “If today they notice me sequester myself with a good-looking young man, why, envieusesoit qui maty pense.”
Yet earlier, briefly, she had been more shaken than he was. He didn’t think he could have mastered hisemotions so fast, nor donned such a cheerful manner. Impassivity was his defense.
The crowd moved spinwise, to gain a little extra drag. He and she wove their way along until they came to the Number Nineteen bespoken. They went in and shut the door behind them. The interior, ventilated, lighted, held a couch, a screened-off toilet and washbasin, and a scrap of carpeted floor space.
Beynac cast herself against Rydberg and clung. He felt how she shuddered. “Oh, God, God,” she stammered at his breast. “You. I never dared dream—“ He embraced her. The realization came that this was why she had hurried him off, minutes after he arrived. It had bewildered him. Did she mean to question him, flay him open, learn whether he was an impostor and what he wanted from her? Instead, through his blouse he felt tears.
“Mother,” he said in awe.
After a while: “Have I done wrong? Maybe this hurts you, a ghost that should stay in its grave. Then I beg you forgive inc. I will leave here and never speak a word to anyone, ever.”
“No. Don’t. Please. Lars—“ She let go, stepped back a little, smiled up at him, still within his arms. The smile trembled, tears glimmered in lashes and on skin, but she cried no more and began to breathe evenly. “Lars,” she whispered. “What a pretty name. Pretty, but masculine. I’m glad they gave you it.”
“My foster parents were always good to me,” he said.
“I knew they’d be. Anson Guthrie picked them. He never told me more, though, and I f-figured he knew best, he and his wife.”
“They did. You had your life to make. I asked myself over and over if it was right I track you down. I still know not.”
“ft was. I am so happy. I thought, yes, over and over about trying to find you, but was afraid it might do harm somehow. You’ve settled it for me. Thank you, dearest.” She disengaged, ran a hand across her face, and gusted a sigh. “Smash! What a mess I must be. ‘Scuse a mo’.” She disappeared into the wash section. He stopd in his own enchantment.
She emerged neatened, self-possessed, radiant. “Hoy, don’t look that earnest,” she chided with a grin. “Sit down and let’s talk. We’ve got, what is it, twenty-six years’ worth of talking to catch up on.”
“We can hardly do that today.”
She cocked her red head at him. “Okay, Til consider you as having finished your ‘Goo-goo’ and ‘Wa-a-ahP and we’ll get straight to business. Mon Dieu, you are a sobersides, aren’t you?”
She settled at the right end of the couch. He thought she must understand how shy he felt, and took the left side, leaving a meter or more between them. She twisted about, shin under opposite knee, arm along the back, to face him. He kept both feet on the floor and leaned on his palm to regard her.
“You have the advantage of me,” she said. “I know your name and that you’re a space pilot for Fireball. And my first-born. Period.”
“You do not know that, except for my word,” he answered. “I had better prove it. I have not the evidence with me, but you can easily trace my path from what I tell.”
“Easier than that. I’ll ask Uncle Anson.” She gave Rydberg a close look. “M-m, but I see you’re anxious to establish your bona fides. Methodical type. Okay, let’s get it out of the way. How did you find me?”
To relate it brought further calm. “My foster parents are Swedish. Far—Father—he was an engineer, his wife taught school, before they retired. They were childless and middle-aged when they adopted me. They made no secret of that, but said they had me from an agency that did not tell them anything about my, my biological parents, because this is wisest. They told the truth there, I have learned, except for not mentioning that Anson Guthrie was involved. Perhaps he bribed someone in the agency.”Beynac chuckled. “Very likely. In the government too, I wouldn’t be surprised. Go on.”