That was it. Too many people, too much noise when she was used to the space of Serenity and the hum of the engine, and Freya was standing outside getting some fresh air and relief from the crush of bodies in the small house. She was considering that having a big family meant you had to be friendly, just as the door behind her opened and Edmundos Frye came out.

“Bit too much for you?” he asked.

“A little,” she admitted, looking back into the evening air. The lights were still on in the factories, indicating that when it was around, work was pretty much twentyfourseven.

“Well, folks want to meet the new arrival,” he explained. “Got people come from miles away, just to see Bethany.”

Freya smiled. “Worth the trip, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t disagree with you on that topic.” He pulled a small cigar from his pocket. “Do you mind?”

She shook her head. “No, please.”

Mr Frye lit up, puffing to get a good head going. “Your man Jayne gave me a couple, but I’ll save them for later.”

“He likes a good cigar,” she agreed.

“So what’s with the name?”

Freya grinned into the darkness. “I don’t know. I never got up the courage to ask.”

“I guess it explains why he looks the way he does.” Mr Frye inhaled. “Being called Jayne must make you wanna beat up on people.”

“I think it’s just a coincidence.”

“Could be.” There was a silence, then he went on, “Mrs Reynolds, when you came last time, you told me you’d look after Kaylee.”

“That I did.”

“And you have. So now I have to ask. Do you know why she ain't agreeing to marry the young doctor?”

Freya was surprised. “I ... I don’t know.”

“Have you asked her?”

“Well, no. I just figured she’d say yes when she was ready.”

“Weren't you?”

“I don’t –“

“Kaylee wrote us, told us you’d lost a baby.”

Freya closed her eyes. “I … yes.”

“How’d that happen?”

She remembered falling, but not hitting. Just being in the air … “It was an accident. Nothing anyone could’ve done.”

“But you were going to marry the