experimentally.

Then Janet Fisher showered shards of ice with a light laugh. "You two can
stand there holding hands," she said. "But I'm going to eat it while it's
on the table."

James Holden's hand opened with the swiftness of a reflex action, almost
as fast as the wink of an eye at the flash of light or the body's jump at
the crack of sound. Martha's hand did not drop because she, too, was
holding his and did not let go abruptly. She giggled, gave his hand a
little squeeze and said, "Let's go. I'm hungry too."

None of which solved James Holden's problem. But during dinner his
personal problem slipped aside because he discovered another slight
change in Janet Fisher's attitude. He puzzled over it quietly, but
managed to eat without any apparent preoccupation. Dinner took about a
half hour, after which they spent another fifteen minutes over coffee,
with Janet refusing her second cup. She disappeared at the first shuffle
of a foot under the table, while James and Martha resumed their years-old
chore of clearing the table and tackling the dishwashing problem.

Alone in the kitchen, James asked Martha, "What's with your mother?"

"What do you mean, what's with her?"

"She's changed, somehow."

"In what way?"

"She seems sort of inner-thoughtful. Cheerful enough but as if
something's bothering her that she can't stop."

"That all?"

"No," he went on. "She hiked upstairs like a shot right after dinner was
over. Tim raced after her. And she said no to coffee."

"Oh, that. She's just a little upset in the middle."

"But why?"

"She's pregnant."

"Pregnant?"

"Sure. Can't you see?"

"Never occurred to me to look."

"Well, it's so," said Martha, scouring a coffee cup with an exaggerated
flourish. "And I'm going to have a half-sibling."

"But look--"

"Don't _you_ go getting upset," said Martha. "It's a natural process
that's been going on for hundreds of thousands of years, you know."

"When?"

"Not for months," said Martha. "It just happened."

"Too bad she's unhappy."

"She's very happy. Both of them wanted it."

James considered this. He had never come across Voltaire's observation
that marriage is responsible for the population because it provides the
maximum opportunity with the maximum temptation. But it was beginning to
filter slowly into his brain that the ways and means were always
available and there was neither custom, tradition, nor biology that
dictated a waiting period or a tim