“Stephen. He asked me point blank. Wants us to marry as soon as possible to save your honor.”
“Oh.” She chuckled. “It seems we are transparent, my love.”
“It was very awkward.” He cleared his throat.
“No doubt, Jonathan. Stephen must have loved it,” the duke muttered.
“What did you tell him?” she asked, biting her lower lip.
“I said I was a gentleman, and gentlemen don’t talk.” She smiled at him, and he touched her hair in a gentle caress.
“Marry me, this weekend, and let’s be done with it,” she offered.
“I have an idea. What if we had a double wedding? Us and the kids? I know it’s fast, especially for them, but…what do you think?.” Butler hugged her to him.
“It would be terribly rude to marry in mere days, yet make them wait months.” Diane’s eyes sparkled. “I’m not sure if they’ll want a small, quiet wedding.”
“My hunch is they’ll be thrilled.”
“Then let’s do it. We’ll speak to them as soon as possible.” Diane kissed Jonathan on the cheek.
“Now take her out of here, Jonathan; I’m an old man and need my rest.” The duke waved them away with his hand and pulled the covers back up. They closed the door softly behind them and went downstairs.
“Well, this wasn’t what I’ve have planned, but I think it will make everyone happy.” She sighed.
She would just have to accept there were some things she couldn’t control.
•●•
Brett lay on the couch in the library, an icepack held over her eye and cheek. The swelling was going down, but the bruising was still bright purple, and her head pounded. The split in her lip had closed with some liquid cut sealer, and she’d taken off her shoes and curled her legs under her. Stephen came in the room and stood in front her, hands on his hips.
“Your father has slept with my mother, did you know that?” he accused her.
“No, I didn’t know, but good for them.” She winced as she tried to smile.
“It’s all very well for him, but what will people say about her?”
“That she’s lucky to have found such a wonderful man?” Brett offered from under an icepack.
“Or he was lucky to have found her, more likely.” He sighed and sat next to her. “I told your father about us.” He took her hand and kissed it.
“He must have taken it well, you’re still alive.” She chuckled.
“For a moment, it was touch and go. I thought he would use his weapon on me.”
“He wouldn’t have done it. He’d never ruin his chance for grandchildren.”
“Good, I want to be with you, love. Truthfully, I don’t think I could have held out until six months. I’m glad it’s out in the open. No more sneaking around.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.
“It’s a relief, to tell the truth. I can’t tell you I’m ready to marry you now.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her properly.
And damn the man if he didn’t tempt her to elope then and there.
•●•
Jonathan and Diane found Brett and Stephen in the library.
“We’d like to speak with you both.” Jonathan cleared his throat. “About the wedding.”
“Yours?” Brett asked.
“No, both of ours.” He gave a nervous laugh. “I think—both of us think it would be a good thing to have a double wedding.”
Diane cleared her throat. “And we’d like to have it here, next weekend.”
“Next weekend?” Stephen gasped.
Brett stared at him. “What about the big wedding? Waiting three months? Society and all that?” Jonathan shrugged. “Well, things are going to change around here very soon. There is no reason for your mother and I to wait, and we thought why should we impose an arbitrary rule about you waiting.”
“You don’t care about people talking?” Brett stared at Diane.
“Oh, they’ll talk no matter what. After almost losing Jonathan today, and you too Brett, I—we both realize life is too short to wait.”
Brett turned to Stephen. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I’m for it if you are. You’re the bride, after all.”
“Well, we’d talked about eloping. This isn’t much different.” She paused and put her hand to her cheek. “I’d hate to do it looking like this.”
“In a week it will be much better, and there is a marvelous foundation I have that can hide anything.” Diane grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s not as if there will be people watching. Just us. Just family.”
Brett sighed. “All right. Let’s do it. Let’s get married and shock them all!”
Jonathan laughed. “That’s my girl!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jonathan met acting Ambassador Montego at the Century IV embassy and sat on the same sofa he did when he’d spoken with Pheydor. He assumed everything had been cleaned up, the basement and the room where Brett and the duke had been rescued from. There was no sign of any of the men he had seen. In fact, this time four armed, uniformed embassy guards stood at attention at the front door in the foyer and in twos at the top of the stairs, none of which he saw last time.
Montego looked tired and pale and very uncomfortable. He sat across from Jonathan in the chair Pheydor had sat in. He crossed his legs and motioned with a wave of his hand for Jonathan to proceed.
“Mr. Montego, are you aware of all the events that happened here today?”
“Yes, sir, I have been made aware of everything. We apologize and deeply regret any harm your daughter and Duke Brandon may have come to at the hands of former Ambassador Pheydor. He was, I assure you, operating well outside of the scope of his assignment. Our government was unaware of the weapon. As we found out from Pheydor during questioning, he planned to sell it to a group wishing to launch a coup of the current government.”
“How was he removed so quickly?” Jonathan was curious about the speed at which the powers that be moved. So, they were going to use a coup to cover up their part in this.
“We, uh, have for some time been watching Ambassador Pheydor, and we had a person we trusted on his staff. When the events occurred, this person contacted with us immediately, but by the time we got here, the situation had been handled.”
“Well, he or she certainly gave us no help, sir. I was not pleased to have to come in here, Taser blazing, to rescue my daughter and Duke Brandon from Pheydor’s henchmen. I saw no one other than his men.”
“Yes, most unfortunate, but I assure you, when the events unfolded our person established contact with authorities as soon as he could without jeopardizing his own situation. We arrived shortly after you left and took control of the embassy.”
Jonathan sat back and studied the man in front of him. Acting ambassador, I’ll bet. More like head of secret police watching Pheydor. If he was, then Pheydor was long gone, along with his henchmen, probably on a diplomatic courier ship back to Century IV to face, well, whatever it was they were going to face.
“Unfortunately, it was too late to keep my daughter from being beaten, sir.” He stared at Montego, who uncrossed and crossed his legs.
“May I ask, sir, who killed the men in the basement?” Montego’s eyebrow lifted slightly. It was his turn to hold the upper hand and time for Jonathan to shift his weight on the sofa. The last thing he wanted to do was implicate Brett in a double murder, even if there were extenuating circumstances.
“Let’s just agree the deaths of those two henchmen did not happen, and the kidnapping of Duke Brandon and Brett and her attempted rape didn’t happen either, shall we?” As badly as he’d love to seek some justice, it was the best deal for both of them.
“Just so.” Montego opened his hand and held it out, then closed it into a fist. “We are agreed, nothing happened to involve anyone other than ourselves.”
“Agreed. There is one other thing, sir. The regent has called a special meeting for
all the ambassadors to attend. We will be discussing the fate of the weapon and a new treaty. I assume you will be there, and lend your full support?”
“Absolutely. You may depend on it, sir.” Montego stood, indicating the interview was over, and Jonathan stood and shook his hand. Montego walked him to the door and bowed him out.
•●•
Ambassador Jonathan Butler stood in front of the other ambassadors gathered at the New Commonwealth Embassy. They met in the large meeting room, sitting around the conference table. The five ambassadors sat on either side of the table, and their undersecretaries and aides sat in chairs against the wall behind them. Jonathan had loaded the vidcom there with the disk of the weapon, Duke Brandon’s conclusions, and gave a bare-bones explanation of how the weapon had fallen into their hands.
There had been a lot of discussion on the technical merits of the weapon, and frankly, many of the men were disturbed by the sheer raw power of the thing. There wasn’t a man among them who couldn’t see the implications of only one of them having the weapon. And all could see the advantage the weapon gave against the Ottomans. Ambassador Rohan stood and spoke to the men gathered in the room.
“I want to make it perfectly clear this meeting is being done under the auspices of William, Regent of New Commonwealth. By all rights, this weapon is his, to do with as he will. However, he has seen a far greater political good can be reached by this proposal.” Ambassador Rohan paused and looked at Butler to continue.
“He intends to give each of the planets in the Archipelago this weapon to use in defense against the Ottomans.” Jonathan added. There was a silence as the implications sank in, then the room exploded as all of the ambassador’s shouted.
So many questions flew at him that he finally had to put his hands up and ask for quiet.
“One at a time, please. Now, Ambassador Feng?”
“There will be no cost for this weapon?”
“The only cost of signing the treaty is agreeing to the conditions laid out and the actual cost of building the weapon. I’m sure you’ll realize whatever costs you incur in the benefit of belonging to the new Archipelago are well worth it. If you will read the document before you, I’m sure you’ll see this is mutually beneficial to all, both in the sense of the weapon, and in the sense it ties us all much closer together.”
There was a hurried effort to scan the document, and for a few minutes the room fell silent.
“This constitution of the Archipelago will be ratified by all except Euphrates Prime?” Ambassador Koenig asked, glaring at Jonathan.
“Yes, all or nothing. If everyone signs, we all get the weapon; if we don’t all sign, William keeps the weapon for himself and uses it as he sees fit, which may or may not include defending the rest of you from attack.”
“All or nothing, eh? It seems fair. I’d hate to see my fate decided on a whim. William is young, but there is no telling what the future holds,” Koenig stated, and sat back.
During the rest of the debate, Koenig became his staunchest supporter. After Koenig had made a rather good point about the all-for-one, one-for-all stance of the Federation, Jonathan had caught his eye, and they had both nodded their mutual assent.
Montego was quiet. He must have been told to vote for the constitution. Butler doubted Century IV’s government was anxious to have the events at the embassy discovered and knew the acting ambassador would cast his vote at the call as promised.
After an hour or so of further discussion, they took the first vote. It was unanimous to accept the constitution and to share the weapon.
The document had been drawn up by Jonathan and Rohan of New Commonwealth over the last two days. They had been locked in Rohan’s office, hammering out the document.
Jonathan represented the interests of the other planets, and Rohan, the regent’s interests. There was a mutual protection clause: each planet could be called upon to send troops and warcraft to help defend the other planets. The force would be controlled by the Archipelago under the flag of the new Archipelago Federation of Planets.
The details would be hammered out by the ambassadors of the planets, such as where it would be built, how to share the technology, and the time frame for deployment. No one planet could have the weapon before the others. Each planet had to be able to produce the antimatter and build the containers and weapon, so no piece could be held back from the others. Infrastructure would have to be built on a few of the more rural planets with the aid of the more technologically advanced planets.
The constitution also made them all trading partners, with a set tariff agreed by all. The lower tariff on exports and imports basically opened free-flowing trade, stimulating economies on various planets and maintaining economic strength on others. Building strong economies was in everyone’s best interests. Stable economies meant stable governments.
A representative of each of the planets would sit on the Federation’s council to ensure the letter and intent of the constitution and treaty were followed. The council would send the Federation forces to wherever they were needed, and it would settle any trade disputes between planets. Each planet would send one general to sit on the Federation’s general staff, to ensure the proper use of this military force. The general staff was the check and balance to the council and without their approval no military action could be taken.
The Federation would set tariffs and unify common laws touching on matters occurring in space between the planets, like piracy, smuggling, and even espionage. Each planet still would be governed by their own government, but now had to answer to the Federation on galactic affairs. A boundary was agreed upon and set by defining where the Federation’s authority began and the planets’ authority ended. They decided to use the Lagrange point of each planet, the place where the communications satellites sat just at the edge of the planet’s gravitational pull.
It was seen as a new galactic order, a new age of peace and exchange of ideas and technology. All saw a common threat in Euphrates Prime. There was even a clause which foresaw as more planets were colonized, others could be brought into the Federation by adopting a constitutional amendment.
A fund would be set up, financed by each planet, to help cover the costs of running this Federation. Each planet gave an equal amount for an equal share in the Federation. One planet, one representative, one general, one vote in the Federation.
There was a small argument about where this Federation should be based, but due to the fact New Commonwealth had pushed it through, in the end it was agreed they would host the Federation, and everyone voted to mutually fund the building of the Federation’s new offices, to be located in New London.
The meeting went on for eight hours, but finally the main points were settled, and the minor details and accounting left to the undersecretaries. As the ambassadors gathered their papers and started to leave, several stopped by to congratulate Jonathan on his impending marriage. Even Koenig came by and spoke to him.
At first, it was awkward between the two men, allies for the Federation, but who on a personal level could in no way be called friends. Jonathan had a new respect for Koenig. He’d always thought the man politically sharp, but Koenig’s arguments had been good enough to sway the most cynical of the ambassadors, Feng from Xui Lu. Koenig, too, had a new appreciation of Butler, as one of the drafters of the document and as the person behind the entire concept of the Federation.
“I understand you are to be congratulated, Butler. You are to be married to Lady Diane, eh? And also your daughter and Lady Diane’s son?” Koenig said, shaking Jonathan’s hand slowly.
“Yes, the ceremony is tomorrow.”
“Is there to be a honeymoon?” Koenig raised his eyebrow.
“For Stephen and Brett, yes. For me, no. I’m afraid this work came first, but after this is over, Lady and I leave for the south.” He watched Koenig for some crude remark.
Koenig paused, for once his face serious. “You are a very lucky man, sir; she is not only a beautiful woma
n, but a woman of depth and grace.” Jonathan could almost feel a sense of envy from Koenig.
“Thank you, Ambassador.” He bowed slightly. Koenig looked as if he were about to say something, but he swallowed and looked down at his feet. Then the moment passed.
“Does she have a sister?” Koenig barely hid a smile as he took Jonathan by surprise. Then Koenig slapped him on the back once, turned, and walked away.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Brett had decorated the Duke’s garden with paper lanterns and tiny white lights and she’d watched over the wedding dinner’s preparation. After discussing it with Lady Diane, they decided to make the affair small and intimate.
The duke gave his room to the men to dress, and the ladies were given one of the many guest rooms.
Brett suffered only a touch of melancholy when helped each other into their dresses, thinking her own mother should have been there. After her soon-to-be mother-in-law zipped up the back of her perfect dress, Lady Diane gave her a small brooch to wear that had been passed down to each new bride in her family’s line. A small gesture, but it brought tears to Brett’s eyes and when they embraced, Brett knew her own mother would be pleased.
She could hardly believe this day had arrived, much faster than they’d expected.She and Stephen had spent as much time together as possible, but due to his involvement in the weapon affair, he’d been spending most of his time at HQ. They were damned lucky to get a few days after the wedding.
Now, she and Lady Diane walked down the stairs to the foyer and through it to the garden. The lights she’d strung in the trees twinkled, and somehow the flowers had bloomed. To Brett, it looked like a fairy tale come true.
Next to her, Lady Diane paused in the doorway. “I can’t do this.” Her voice wobbled. Brett took her hand and leaned closer. “Do you love him?”
“Yes. Do you love Stephen?”
“Yes.”
Lady Diane glanced at her, blinking back tears. “I’m so lucky. I almost lost him.”
“Well, if we don’t get going, you just might. Come on. The future is waiting. For both of us.”Lady Diane nodded, gave her hand a squeeze and started forward, with Brett at her side.
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