Alex Stern

"I can still call Palamedes," he offers, but they both know there's little chance he'll get to Black Elm before Alex's labor begins in earnest. Even on Darrow's best day, that would be true, and Darlington lets out a rueful sigh at how isolated they've let themselves become. He loves this house, loves the way they've made it a home that suits both of them rather than the ancestral shell it had been before--but God, they're alone here.

Slowly, he walks around the couch, stopping and bending to look Alex in the face. "I think it's just us, Stern."