Rackham spoke before she could. "This child is already dying of the same condition that is killing her father. And her brother. That's why they were born prematurely."
This only made the woman cling more tightly to the baby.
"You'll have children of your own," said Rackham. "You still have the four fertilized embryos you already created."
The would-be father looked up at him blandly. "We'll adopt next time," he said.
"We're all very sorry," Rackham went on, "that these criminals stole the use of your womb to deliver another woman's child. But the child is truly hers, and if you adopt, you should have children that were willingly given up by their parents."
The man nodded. He understood.
But the woman had the baby in her arms.
Petra spoke up. "Would you like to hold her brother?" She reached down and lifted Ender out of the sling. "His name is Andrew. He's a month old."
The woman nodded.
Rackham reached down and took her daughter out of her arms. Petra handed Ender to her.
"My...the girl is...I call her Bella. My little Lourinha." She wept.
Lourinha? The baby's hair, such as it was, was brown. But apparently it didn't take much lightness of hair to earn the appellation "blonde."
Petra took the girl from Rackham's hands. She was even smaller than Ender, but her eyes were just as intelligent and searching. Ender's hair was as black as Bean's. Bella's hair was more like Petra's. It startled her, how happy it made her that the baby took after her.
"Thank you for bearing my daughter," said Petra. "I grieve for your grief, but I hope you can also rejoice at my joy."
Weeping, the woman nodded and clung now to Ender. She turned her face to the baby and spoke in a small babytalk voice. "Es tu feliz em ter irminha? Es tu felizinho?" Then she burst into tears and handed Ender to Rackham.
Standing, Petra laid Bella into the sling where Ender had been. Then she took Ender from Rackham and held him against her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry," said Petra. "Please forgive me for not letting you keep my baby."
The man shook his head. "Nao ha de que desculpar," he said.
"Nothing to forgive," murmured the stern-looking woman who was apparently not just a guard, but also an interpreter.
The woman wailed in grief and leapt to her feet, upsetting the chair. She sobbed and babbled and clutched at Bella and covered her with kisses. But she didn't try to take the baby.
Rackham pulled Petra away as the guard and the husband pulled the mother back and held her, still wailing and sobbing, while Petra and Rackham left the house.
Back in the car, Rackham sat in back with Petra and took Ender out of her arms for the ride back to the hotel. "They really are small," he said.
"Bean calls Ender a toy person," said Petra.
"I can see why," said Rackham.
"I feel like a really polite kidnapper," said Petra.
"Don't," said Rackham. "Even though they were embryos when they were stolen from you, it was a kidnapping, and now you're getting your daughter back."
"But these people did nothing wrong."
"Think again," said Rackham. "Remember how we found them."
>
They moved, she remembered. When Volescu's deadman switch triggered a message, they moved. "Why would they knowingly--"