table next to the sofa, near where her bags were packed and ready to go.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that hung next to the front door. Dressed in her BDUs, her pants tucked into the top of her boots, her jacket buttoned to her chin, with her hair tied neatly back, no makeup on her face …
She was ready for war.
As she gazed into her own eyes, they welled with tears. And for those few brief moments, before Maggie emerged from the bathroom, Arlene allowed herself to acknowledge the dreadful fact—a terrible possibility—that this might be it for her.
When she said goodbye to her daughter at the airport, it might be for the very last time.
She might never come home again.
But there were tens of thousands of servicemen and -women out there, just like her, who had said goodbye to their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives, their mothers and fathers and families, uncertain as to their own futures. That was always the case when one served one’s country.
And until she came home safely—and even if, God forbid, she didn’t—she would carry her love for Maggie and Jack and Will and, yes, even Dolphina with her, wherever she went, securely in her heart.
Arlene squared her shoulders and quickly brushed her tears away as the bathroom door opened. She even managed to smile at Maggie, whose own eyes were red.
“Ready?” she asked her daughter, who nodded.
Maggie hefted the larger of Arlene’s bags, and together, they went out to the street, to wait for Jules.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jack sat clutching the armrests in the airplane as it touched down at Logan Airport in Boston.
It was five minutes after five, and Arlene’s flight was scheduled to leave in twenty-five minutes—if it hadn’t already left early.
He was sitting in the back of the plane, which meant the entire full flight would have to empty before he could start his sprint through the terminal.
He knew that Arlene was flying out through World Airlines. She was taking a flight to New York City, where she’d transfer to another that would go first to Germany.
As the plane taxied to the gate, the intercom clicked on, and Jack focused, hoping to hear which gate that New York flight would be leaving from. But instead, the pilot spoke. “Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Boston where the temperature is a balmy sixty-four degrees. Please remain seated until we get to the gate. And even then, once we arrive, please remain seated and leave the aisle clear until passenger Jack Lloyd deplanes. See, his fiancée is shipping out to Iraq, and if he hurries to gate forty-two, he’ll have just enough time to kiss her goodbye.”
There was a murmur among the passengers, as Jack closed his eyes and blessed Jules Cassidy—this had the FBI agent’s name written all over it.
But then the plane was at the gate, and his seat belt was off and he was on his feet. As he dashed up the aisle, someone began to clap, and the whole plane was applauding like some ridiculous Hollywood romantic comedy.
The flight attendants were smiling at him, and then he was through the door and running full speed up the ramp.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Arlene sat in the now nearly empty waiting area by gate forty-two, with Maggie on her lap.
“I love you,” she told her daughter, who nodded as she clung to Arlene’s neck. “But I need you to get off of me now, because I have to give you something.”
Maggie wiped her eyes as she slid into the neighboring seat to let Arlene reach into her pants pocket. She pulled out the necklace she’d found on Maggie’s dresser. It was long enough to be hidden beneath the neckline of her shirts. And onto it Arlene had put the ring that Jack had brought over to Will’s apartment, that very first night he’d rocketed back into her life.
“I don’t want to wear this over there,” Arlene told Maggie. “So I was hoping that you would wear it for me until I get back.”
Maggie’s eyes widened. “What if I lose it?”
“You won’t,” Arlene said as she slipped it around her daughter’s slender neck. “You’ll be careful with it. I know you will.”
Maggie lifted the ring to look at the diamond as it flashed in the waning afternoon light shining in through the big terminal windows. “I will be careful with it,” she promised.
Over at the gate, Jules was deep in discussion with the World Airlines attendant, who was shaking her head.