“I guess that’s true enough,” Stephen said with a chuckle. “So, Kimmy really was in a hot tub, naked with some dude?”

“Kimmy? That’s her name?” I asked, surprised. “They named their kids Jimmy and Kimmy?”

“Well, no,” Stephen said. “I mean, that’s her Americanized name. I don’t know what their real names are in Chinese, but the two do go by Jimmy and Kimmy here in the US.”

“Huh. Well, yeah, I did catch her in the hot tub naked with some dude over twice her age. To be fair, there were two other girls in the tub, too, and one of them wasn’t naked.”

“Underaged? Sounds like quite little scandal,” Stein said.

“That actress, Solange, she’s gotta be in her mid twenties, I’d say, so no, they weren’t all underaged.”

“I’d love to be a fly on the wall when TB busts this guy’s chops,” Stephen said, turning to take his shot.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s gonna happen any time soon. Teddy Bear went the wrong way,” I said.

“Typical,” Stein said, watching Stephen make an easy shot.

The bartenders had been watching and listening in on the whole conversation, not saying a word. I sauntered over and asked for another old fashioned, then grabbed myself another couple of skewers of saté chicken from the catering tables, realizing I hadn’t actually eaten since lunch.

I strolled out to the motor court to talk to the valets. The lot was down to less than half the cars it had held at its peak that evening, but there were still plenty of people there, judging by the number still there. A few I recognized, but not most.

After talking to one of the valets for a while and hearing that it’d all been smooth sailing, I wandered into the cavernous space of the sound stage. The instruments and amps and the like had all been packed up thanks to Riggo and Snake, so the stage was nothing more than a raised platform with a dark blue backdrop curtain.

When I wandered in, there was another actor neighbor of ours whose name escaped me emoting the heck out of a Shakespeare monologue, amusing a handful of others, who were sipping their drinks and nibbling on snacks being handed out by a waiter circling the space.

“And there she is, our lovely host for the evening,” the actor declaimed in his best theatrical voice. “Please, everyone, a round of applause for Leah Farmer!”

Surprised by the clapping and cheering, I was at a loss for words for a moment, but then recovered.

“Thanks, really,” I said, loud enough for everybody to hear. “Thanks for coming, too. Most of you are from the neighborhood here, and you’ve had to put up with far too much construction noise and traffic while this old place was reborn, and now, well, there’s still gonna be traffic as it gets used as a film and recording studio, but not nearly as much. And no bulldozers or cranes, so that’s good,” I said.

“Hooray for no bulldozers!” shouted somebody, and about half the group laughed in sympathy.

“I one hundred per cent agree,” I said. “But I’m happy with the way the place has turned out, so all that work was worth it. It’s a lovely home, a great work space, and a fantastic venue for parties.”

“Hear, hear!” boomed the actor. “More parties!”

“I’m sure there’ll be a lot more parties if Emmy has anything to say about it,” I agreed.

“A toast! To Leah and her talented wife, Emmy De Lascaux!” Urged the actor, still using grand, stagey gestures. The crowd raised their plastic glasses, and I raised mine in return. We all drank to more parties, especially parties at other people’s houses.

Leaving the actor to his audience, I wandered farther into the studio, where I ran into Grant and Edouard, who also seemed to be on patrol.

“Everything going good?” I asked.

“So far so good,” Grant confirmed, and Edouard nodded.

“It’s good to see you, Edouard,” I said, offering my hand, which he shook. “I hope you haven't just been working tonight.”

“I did watch the princess perform,” he said. “That was very special.”

“I’ll tell her you thought so. She’ll be happy to hear it,” I said.

Resuming my wandering, I found Riggo in the recording studio, showing a small group of people the capabilities of the facility. It seemed as if they understood what he was talking about, so I had to assume they were musicians or industry types of some sort and this was a sales pitch.

To my relief the rehearsal rooms were dark and empty and devoid of any guests, just like rest of the studio facilities. I’d asked Grant, Jody and Eddie to make sure all the recesses of the property got checked every so often, but the place was huge and had lots of nooks and crannies.

Satisfied things were fine in the studio, I took the elevator down to the garage level to continue my circuit. I heard voices coming from the gym down the hall, but as I got closer I could tell it was Angela and Jenna. They were talking about social media presences and monetizing Jenna’s account, from what I could tell.

“Hey, you guys,” I said as I stepped into the gym.

“Hi, babe,” Angela said from her seat on the big balance ball.

“Hi, babe,” Jenna echoed from where she was leaning back against Andy on the weight bench.

“Hi, babe,” Andy said, making it unanimous.

I leaned down to kiss Angela. “Why are you guys hiding way down here?”

“We just needed a place to talk, you know?” Jenna said with a shrug. “It’s quiet down here.”

“It’s getting quiet everywhere,” I said, reaching out and stroking Angela’s hair. “The crowds are really thinning out.”

“We’ll be up in a little while,” Angela promised.

“Alright,” I said and gave Angela another kiss before I left.

On the bedroom level, I poked my head into Tiffany’s room and found Grace showing a bunch of pictures she’d taken in the desert to Tiffany and Cecilia, so all was good.

In the living room the three moms were still talking, so I just waved as I passed by. The deck (and hot tub) were empty, to my relief, too.

On the off chance, I strolled down the long hallway and took the stairs up to my office. Rafael and Emmy’s father were up there, with the lights mostly off so they got the best view out of the three hundred and sixty degree windows.

“Ah, Leah,” Mr Lascaux said. “Rafael and I have been having a very constructive discussion.”

“What about?” I asked, pulling up a chair.

“I have explained about the Night Children to him, and we’ve explored the possibility that there may be some of our kind in Latin America, most likely in large cities on the coast, such as Rio De Janeiro, Salvador, and Buenos Aires. Perhaps even in his own city of Cartagena.”

“And this leads into what I wanted to talk to you, Rafael, about, and also to you,” I said to Emmy’s father.

“I think I now understand what you said earlier,” Rafael said, leaning back and sipping his drink.

“Right. I don’t know if this came up yet, but here in North America, Emmy and I are working to consolidate the Night Children under our banner. We have well over two hundred now in our shadow, and maybe fifty others that we’re in contact with who haven’t accepted us as their queens, but are otherwise neutral.”

“Yes, I understand that,” Rafael said.

“You should know, so does your daughter. We’ve kept none of this from her.”

“I had hoped that is what you meant earlier when you said you do not like to keep secrets from those close to you,” he admitted.

“Right. And since you and Mamá are here and part of the family, now it’s time to share this with you.”

“Why wait until now? We have been here a week.”

“I wanted to wait until you’d had a chance to meet other Night Children besides just Emmy, to make the whole thing seem more, well, believable,” I said.

“That… is understandable,” Rafael said, nodding.

I spent at least an hour with the two men explaining the difficulties we’d been experiencing and the resistance we’d encountered as we expanded our reach back East. Mr Lascaux said that he’d had no contact with any organized hierarchy on the East Coast, nor even any idea that such a thing might exist. He asked if we’d tried diplomacy, but when I told him that we have no obvious way of contacting any higher-ups and the only Night Children who’ve come to our side profess to know nothing, he grew more thoughtful.

“This is always the difficulty with our people,” he admitted. “As a matter of habit, we shroud ourselves in as much secrecy as we can. The old nations, of course, are well known, but these you are bumping up against… They are a different story.”

He had no real advice on how to engage these possible rulers in any sort of diplomacy, but we discussed a number of scenarios. Rafael was involved in the discussion, too, showing that although the whole idea was new to him, the concept of discussions with foes who could melt away wasn’t entirely alien to a man from Colombia.

Eventually the three of us made our way down to the great room where pretty much everyone still left had gathered. Emmy and Jackson were playing their guitars and singing duets as much for their own amusement as to entertain others, and the few people talking rather than listening to the music were being polite about it and keeping it low.

Seeing things were winding down, Mr Lascaux and I made one last circuit, making sure that things were buttoned up. The studio was closed and locked, but I wanted to make sure it was completely devoid of any stragglers.

We found Grant overseeing the caterers as they packed up, and he confirmed that there were no guests anywhere but in the house itself.

I thanked him and told him that as soon as the caterers were packed, he, Jody and Eddie could come on in and relax, or go home if they wanted.

As Mr Lascaux and I passed the pool and then around the back of the house, he said, “Leah, you have grown into quite an impressive individual. I can’t imagine a better mate for our daughter than you have turned out to be.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said.

“The princess told me what happened in Chicago,” he said. “She said that you planned and prepared for the ambush, and almost single-handedly destroyed the opposition.”

“I think that overstates my contribution,” I said.

“She said that you took down six armed Night Children by yourself, in a dark warehouse. This is not a minor contribution.”

I stopped and turned to look at Mr Lascaux. “As much as I hate to say it, killing people turns out to be something I’m good at. I’m not proud of the fact, and it’s not something I take lightly, but it’s true. I would not ask my people to do what I am unwilling to do myself.”

Sighing, Mr Lascaux said, “I understand completely. The first person I ever had to kill was my brother, and I still regret that it was necessary, all these many years later.”

“Prince Marfan was my first,” I said. “Him, I don’t regret even a tiny bit.”

“I don’t think very many people mourn his passing,” Mr Lascaux agreed.

We stood there in silence for a long moment, thinking about the blood on our hands, then went in the man door into the garage.

Looking at the cars parked in there, Mr Lascaux said, “I hear you’ve been enjoying the GT3 M6.”

“Very much. Thanks again for the amazing gift,” I said. “It’s a great way to blow off steam.”

“I’m glad you’ve been using it in the way it was meant to be driven,” he said. Then, seeing the opportunity, he asked, “Have you given any more thought to buying the dealerships?”

“I’ve looked at the financials,” I said as we checked to make sure there was nobody in the gym or wine room. “The thing is, I know real estate, but I don’t know anything about running a car dealership. It’s outside my area of expertise, and I’d hate to have the business fail because of my lack of understanding the industry. Even though you’re out of the area more often than not, you’re still running them better than I could.”

“Consider the offer open, and when you’re ready…” he replied as we joined the party in the living room.

Mom and Mamá Castro organized the clean-up the next day, roping Cecilia, Tiffany and Grace into helping out. Thankfully I was given a hall pass, so I contented myself with changing the water in the hot tub and nothing else.

Jenna and Andy came over for lunch, also volunteering to help out. Luckily for them everything was more or less done by the time they got there, so there was nothing much for them to do but visit.

It was nice and low-key, just what we all needed following such a long day before. After lunch, I took Tiffany out for a drive in the Spyder, which knocked her socks off. We stopped at the big turnout on ACH to take in the views of the Los Angeles basin, as we usually do when we pass that way on the Saturday drives. Of course, the car drew a lot of attention, and Tiffany ate that up, too.

When we got back home, Mom bundled Tiffany into the car for the drive back to Fallbrook. Grace said her goodbyes, too, since she had a seven hour drive ahead of her and class in the morning.

Soon enough, the house felt empty with only the three of us and the Castros, but at the same time, it felt comfortable that way.

Instead of continuing my workout after the session with Jody as I usually did, I returned home for breakfast and to drive everybody to the airport. Emmy had waffled on whether to go with Angela and her family to New York, but ultimately decided she would, which was going to leave me all alone for the week. Add to that that the coming weekend was a San Jose trip for me, and I wouldn’t see Mamá, Cecilia and Rafael before they returned to Colombia.

At the airport, I gave Mamá a good, long hug and said that it was wonderful to get to know her, and said that we’d need to get together again soon- either in Cartagena, or in the US, whichever worked. I gave Cecilia a hug, too, and told her to be good for her mamá and papá. Rafael and I shook hands, but then I pulled him into a hug, too, which at first he was awkward about, but then relaxed and hugged me back.

“We’ll see you soon,” I promised as they turned to board the waiting jet.

Of course, I gave Emmy and Angela hugs and kisses and told them to send me pics, which they promised to do.

After they all climbed the steps into the aircraft, I went straight to the office. There was no reason to stop at the house.