" Leah took abreath. "Now, since I've probably upset you anyway, I think Kim needsthe microwave, if you are done?"Carol looked like she was about to ...xplode. She grabbed her meal out ofthe microwave and stormed out without a word.Leah looked after her with a bit of regret. "That's probably going tocome back to bite me. I wonder if I will ever learn to keep my mouthshut."Kim reached out to touch her arm in support. "I'm sorry I caused this.I really just wanted this week to go by without. If I claim the throne now, the ships will be ours and all the others too. The fighting will end, and all the Tandra will be freed. Did you think we would go to your home on Tandra, and simply not help the peoples we find? The empire is dead, and this is the only way to bring the law, and ethics, that the Tandra are known for, back to the people that need it.I saw in her mind the thoughts of immediate death. All of their minds were preparing for the worse. One distraught mind fed another, till. " They are good kids, Dieter. They've gone through a lot in the last couple of years and come out without too many scars." Divorce?" I askedShe nodded. "Unfortunate ... but necessary."When we got my car, she stopped. "Oh, this is nice. I've always wanted to ride in a Corvette. Is it a '61 or '62?" she asked.That stopped me dead. "You know, there isn't one woman in a thousand that would know to ask that question. Have a look at the front fender." A 327! Wow, a '62! Fuel injection?" she asked,. Although it no longer was a secret that he and Maria Elena were lovers, he saw no point in sharing that detail with the world by showing up wearing a Church collar in what was likely to be a very public hearing. Instead he would finish sending Pedro off to school and simply go to his office. As much as he wanted to be present to see Maria Elena officially returned to the Ministry of Justice, he knew that the public scandal would be bad enough as it was and for the Prime Minister’s brother to be.