The gasps around the room lent validity to the magnitude of the question Colin asked.  Eveline was no fool.  And Colin didn’t believe her to be one, or he would have never posed the question in the first place.  She could read the challenge in his eyes, forcing her to step up her game, to answer what should be an impossible question and still maintain the independent air that she had projected the entire course of the meeting.<br/><br/>Yet it was not.<br/><br/>“Of course I have an opinion, Colin MacGregor.  There is no law that forbids me from having my own belief in whether or not you would be the right match for me,” Eveline begin, purposely wording her statement to favor her over him.  “And perhaps one day I shall share that opinion with you, in the private confines of the home we will share.<br/><br/>“The system isn’t designed to determine if we are good personality match, however, but a genetic one.  The system cares about our offspring more than us.  And given the state of our world, of what we are recovering from, we would be remiss in our duties as citizens of the commonwealth to do otherwise.  At least today. Perhaps our tomorrow, when our genetics have reached perfection, will have no need for such a system.  But I would not change it today.”<br/><br/>She heard her father let out a long breath, as though imminent disaster had been avoided.  Around the room, worried eyes seemed to calm and the lawyer suddenly shovered the paperwork at Colin.<br/><br/>“Sir, I have everything prepared if you are ready.”<br/>