Headed for Trouble - By Suzanne Brockmann Page 0,74

… yet.” Once again, she’d said a word that she would never in a million years have believed that she’d say. But she meant it, because someday—a not-too-distant someday—she could imagine bringing another child into this world. A world that she was going to share with this man who loved her.

Arlene heard Jack smile as he exhaled, as he understood the subtext of what she’d said. “I love you,” he said again. Simple. And absolute.

“I know,” she said, and it was true. She believed him.

He laughed again. “I gotta go, Han Solo. Although I gotta tell you, you’re the only woman on the planet for whom I would willingly play the part of Princess Leia. But my battery’s at ten percent and I don’t have my charger on me and, shit, I won’t have time to get one at the airport.”

“Then don’t call me when you land,” she told him. “Save your phone for an emergency. Call me when you get to the hospital. Whatever time it is. I’ll be here.”

“I’m counting on it,” he said.

And then he was gone.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jules worked through the weekend, which wasn’t as lonely as it sounded, since Boston’s Bureau headquarters was a 24/7 kind of operation.

Besides, going in on a Sunday was a fair trade for having the following week off. And it was going to be an awesome week.

When Robin heard about Arlene and Maggie’s trip to Las Vegas, he immediately offered to charter a flight out of Logan. It wouldn’t cost him anything—he knew a guy who knew a guy, and the first guy owed Robin a major favor. That way, Will, Dolphina, Jules, and Robin could attend the wedding, too.

It wasn’t long before Arlene got over her shock at the idea of Robin using up a favor that big on her, and it became a Plan, with a capital P.

Jack’s son Luke was recovering from his appendectomy right on schedule—his appendix hadn’t ruptured after all, and he was healing nicely from his surgery. The news about the rupture was either a) a mistake or miscommunication from the boy’s understandably distraught mother made during a time of great stress, or b) an intentional exaggeration spun to send Jack catapulting across the country at warp speed to his son’s hospital bedside, where his ex-wife would also conveniently be waiting and ready to provide comfort of all varieties. Depending upon whether or not Maggie was reporting the incident.

Arlene was decidedly more understanding. It was also obvious that she trusted Jack completely, even while he was in the company of a potentially crazy ex-wife.

But the real good news remained the fact that Luke was feeling much better, and that Jack could and would meet them in Vegas on Monday night.

They’d leave Boston on Monday afternoon, after Maggie got her homework assignments from school, fly in, find an all-night chapel for Arlene and Jack to tie the knot, and then bunk at the Bellagio where Robin had a standing invitation to stay whenever he was in town. In fact, all it took was one phone call, and the manager immediately reserved a three-bedroom presidential suite for Robin, as well as a more private honeymoon suite for the happy couple. All of it was on the house, because Robin was just that lovable and charming.

Part B of the Plan was that Will and Dolphina would bring Maggie back to Boston on Tuesday while the newlyweds spent an extra few days in the desert city, no doubt locked together in their room.

Jules would accompany Robin to … wherever it was that the Sundance Channel held its impending annual award show. Jules wasn’t sure if it was L.A., or maybe somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. It didn’t really matter where they went—it was going to be fun.

Of course, Robin could make a trip downtown to pick up the dry cleaning into something wildly entertaining.

Jules’s phone rang—his direct line—and he picked it up. It was probably Robin, but he kept his greeting professional. “Cassidy.” Besides, he knew that his husband found what he called Jules’s “FBI agent mode” to be hot.

But it wasn’t Robin on the other end. “Jules? It’s Maggie.”

It was Maggie. That was weird. How had she gotten this number?

“Wow,” Jules said, unable to hide his surprise. “Yes, it’s me. Hey, Mags. What’s up?”

“My mother has to go back early,” she said in a voice that was way too tight.

“What?” Jules said, immediately reaching for the remote to turn on the TV in his office. He didn’t need