When the Mountain Speaks No More Secrets

Seven thousand miles south of Aspen Ridge, in a courtyard draped with bougainvillea and strung with lanterns that swayed gently in the Andean evening, Bobby Mars stood in a white guayabera shirt with his hands clasped in front of him and tried very hard not to look like a man who was about to cry.

He was not entirely succeeding.

Two hundred people filled the Rios family courtyard — relatives whose names Bobby was still learning, members of the global network who had traveled from twelve countries, and people from Aspen Ridge who had made the trip because they understood what this day meant. Tom Mercer stood near the back in his good suit. Mary Mars sat in the front row, her eyes already bright.

Father Mateo Rios stood at the front with an expression Bobby had never seen on him before. It took him a moment to identify it. Joy. Pure and uncomplicated and almost unbearable.

Jeffery was standing beside him, which was where Jeffery had been standing for as long as Bobby could remember needing someone to stand beside him.

"You're doing the thing," Jeffery said quietly, without looking at him.

"What thing."

"The thing where you stand very still and blink too slowly and think nobody can tell."

"I'm fine," Bobby said.

"You're about to cry."

"I'm not about to cry."

"Bobby."

"Jeffery."

"Your mother is already crying."

Bobby looked at the front row. Mary Mars was indeed no longer holding it together at any meaningful level.

"Okay," Bobby said. "I might be about to cry."

"It's a wedding," Jeffery said. "It's allowed." A pause. "I'm also about to cry."

Then the music changed, and Sarah Mercer was walking toward him down the center of the courtyard, and the rest of the world reduced itself, very simply, to her.

But the world as they knew it was about to change. Something was coming. Something big. Later that evening, Commander Rael, the alien Commander, appeared and pulled Bobby aside. He looked at him with those calm, ancient eyes and in a serious mental voice said: "This changes everything."