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"Deputy and Sheriff," I corrected automatically.

"Well, Deputy and Sheriff, that thing has escaped from its crate, and I need to get it back before my next shipment arrives. I've got six more crates of them in there, and I cannot have the whole lot of crates sitting there loose!"

Tarek looked at him. "Why not secure the remaining crates?"

The man opened his mouth, closed it, and then looked towards the spaceport.

"Because I've got a delivery to finish assembling first, which means accounting for all of those things! And...and now I'm one hop-a-long short in one of them!" He hurried away, muttering about paperwork, troublesome animals, and the fact that nobody had warned him New Haven had such enthusiastic but not business savvy law enforcement.

Tarek and I watched him go, then we looked at each other, bursting out laughing.

"Well," I wheezed, brushing grass off my trousers, "that was exciting…”

"Do you think we should file a report?"

"On what? Saying we were defeated by a bouncing ball with ears?"

His mouth twitched. "It might be important for the records."

I snorted. "If you put that in writing, I'm denying everything."

Tarek laughed, and I glanced at the time on my wrist communicator. It was getting close to lunch, and neither of us had managed more than coffee and a pastry that morning.

"Lunch?"

"Sounds good to me."

We headed back towards Dragon's Rest, where our children were hopefully now awake and being good for our friends. I had imagined our first official duties might involve keeping the peace, helping residents, or investigating something that required actual police work. Instead, we'd spent our first morning chasing a runaway space rabbit slash wallaby for an intergalactic trader. I wondered what they would all make of it when we told them how our morning had gone.

Honestly, it was worthy of an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, if Mayberry had been on an alien planet and Barney Fife had been issued a stunner.

Oh. The stunner.

I snorted.

"You know, we could have set our stunners on low and simply zapped that critter?"

Tarek looked at me. "Oh."

I busted out laughing again. Yep, this was very Mayberry.

23

DARREN

The next several days passed in bucolic bliss. The only fly in the ointment was Sarah's mother causing some problem or other by trying to further delay their trip to bring the children and attend her and Doran's small, backyard wedding. The first couple of days had been tense, but with the help of the Mylos Bride Fleet and Bob, things had been sorted out, and now they were all here. Sarah and her mother still had things to work through, but at least they were talking again, and today's wedding would hopefully go off without a hitch.

Tarek and I had deliberately stayed out of that particular family drama. It wasn't our place to interfere, and Sarah had enough support without us adding our opinions. I was simply glad her parents were here with her children, and that the family had a chance to work things out in person rather than across a communication link.

The backyard had never looked more beautiful. Someone had strung little lights through the trees, and flowers had been gathered into simple arrangements along the path. There were no crowds, no grand decorations, and no elaborate ceremony. Just the people who mattered.

Prince Johree stood before the borrowed arch with Jesse beside him, smiling as Sarah and Doran took their places. Sarah's parents sat together near the front, with Kaelor sitting on the other side of Sarah's mother. Tarek stood beside me, while all the children clustered nearby, trying very hard to behave. It was a small gathering of only those who really needed to be there.

Doran took Sarah's hands, and I watched as his fingers closed gently around hers.

Johree smiled.

“Sarah Bennet and Doran of New Haven, you have chosen to stand together today and promise yourselves to one another. There is no greater promise than choosing someone - not only for the easy days, but for every day that comes after.”