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“I came for validation.”

“You’re getting needy,” I say.

“I’m married now,” he replies.

“Apparently emotional support is part of my vocabulary.”

I hand the folder back. “How is Jane?”

The change in his expression is immediate but understated.

“She’s good,” Sebastian says.

“Busy enough to complain about being busy and happy enough that she doesn’t mean half of it.”

“That sounds like Jane,” I reply.

“It is,” he says.

Sebastian settles back in the chair and glances toward the windows before looking at me again.

“Mother has started asking questions,” he says.

“What kind of questions?” I ask.

“The kind she pretends are casual,” Sebastian replies.

“She wants to know whether we’re thinking about children.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Already?”

“We’ve been married six months,” he says.

“Apparently that’s enough time for her to become impatient.”

“That sounds like Mum,” I reply.

Sebastian laughs. “She’s subtle about it for the first thirty seconds.”

“And then?” I ask.

“She starts talking about grandchildren as if she’s discussing a delayed acquisition,” he says.

“That sounds even more like Mum,” I reply.

Sebastian shakes his head, still smiling.

“We’re trying,” he says.

I glance at him. “You’re telling me this because?”

“Because if I have to endure the questions, so do you,” Sebastian replies.

“I’m not married,” I say.

“That hasn’t stopped her from noticing you’re forty-five, unmarried and apparently determined to die without producing an heir,” he says.

I give him a flat look.