13 years earlier

Jackie Winthers walked with her husband, Ness, along the streets of the Montressor spaceport. She heard a small cry come from the bundle she was holding, and she lifted some of the blankets back, shushing the infant inside. “Hush, Skylyn,” she murmured, rocking her child. Ness looked at her. “Is she alright?”
“Yes, just tired and hungry. It’s good that she cries- it means she’s healthy.”
“Good.” Ness put an arm around Jackie’s shoulders and hurried along, going slow for his wife. “We’re almost there, this is the street.” Ness counted the houses they passed, then stopped in front of one that was larger than the others. He led his wife and child up the steps and knocked on the door. They waited for a minute, then the door opened a crack. An older woman peered out, squinting from bad eyesight. “Jackie? Ness? What are you two doing out at such a late hour?” she asked as she opened the door wider.
“We have a problem, Millie,” Jackie said softly as she and Ness walked in. Millie’s attention was immediately drawn to the baby. “Is something wrong with Skylyn?”
“It’s not her. Do you remember that job Ness tried to get?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they contacted us again and said that the job was open- the person who’d had the position previously quit. The catch is that we have to leave the spaceport. We’d be going to Yssaire, and we might move around a lot after.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Skylyn can’t be brought up in that kind of environment. You know about Yssaire- it’s the capital of the empire. And if we uproot her over and over, what kind of a life is that?”
“So you’re leaving her with me,” Millie inferred.
“If you will accept,” Jackie said, almost pleadingly. “Please, Millie. She may only be a year old, but she recognizes you, I know. And you know her. You’re the best person. We don’t want to have to leave her in an orphanage.”
“Calm yourself. Of course I will take the child. I can never be any kind of mother to her, but I can be more of an…aunt. Or grandmother. Something like that, I suppose.” Millie took the child from her mother. Jackie looked painfully at her daughter, tears filling her eyes. Ness looked at her, silently asking if she wanted to say goodbye. Jackie shook her head. “Saying goodbye will make it even harder to let go,” she whispered brokenly. Ness hugged her around the shoulders with one arm, and led her out.
“Jackie?”
She turned around to face Millie.
“She’s going to look like you. I can tell.”
Jackie smiled, then walked away with her husband into the dark.