Andre raised an eyebrow. "We'll be wanted," he pointed out. "I thought you didn't want to stay with Sophie. Maybe she'll go back to her estate and we can use the town house."

"I forget she has two houses," Spider said. "Let's borrow the townhouse, then. Paper the privy walls with old broadsides. Use the books as doorstops."

Andre slapped her cheek playfully. "You're so bad, Spider," he said, amused. "You can't play at being a lady?"

"What?" She laughed and swatted him back. "An I must be the poor relation I might as well get some fun out of it." Her chin went into the air and she spoke in her best faux-Aquitainean manner, which was still pretty bad. "To prove I am a lay-dee I will read all zhe books before I use zhem as doorstops."

Andre laughed and kissed her cheek again. "You will be the most brilliant and sophisticated lady in Port Ange," he replied. "And your mother hasn't been so bad to us, has she?"

"She takes babies on short notice, that I'll give her, but then again all the kids she's adopted, that may just be habit." She looked more thoughtful. "I don't know. I think she's, y'know, sincere. I just don't think she knows how to go about it, if that makes any sense."

"It does," Andre answered. "She knows how to love you in her own way. It just doesn't feel right to you because it's not the kind of love you're used to. She is trying, though."

"I'm not a little girl anymore. It's a bit too late for her to be my mama. She had that chance, she blew it." Her mouth turned down. "If she wants to be something else, that's fine. But I think we need to both decide what that is first."

"I don't mean to side with your mother," Andre said slowly. "But I think she made the right choice. I think you were better off with your father than you were with her. But no, her trying to be your mama is just as excruciating as my father trying to be my papa."

She snuggled up against him for the warmth. "You're not sidin' with her. You're just tellin' the truth. I know it would've been worse if she'd stayed. Just like I knew it was better off me bein' with the Mallorys than with Da' all those years." She swallowed. "It still hurt while it was happenin', though. Understanding doesn't make all of that go away."