It was a sense of unity, of belonging, of rightness.
Maybe this was what it felt like to have a real family-to have someone, very literally, at her back, not just during bad times, but good times as well. Which was not to say that she and Maggie hadn"t been a family, albeit a small one. But it had always felt to her as if it were Arlene and Maggie against the world. With Jack sitting beside her, it felt more as if they were part of the world.
The conversation had drifted to the character named Peeta, and Jason was enduring some intense teasing. If Lizzie was Foxface, and Maggie was the heroic main character named Katniss, then Jason was Peeta. Apparently Lizzie"s brother Mike had some compet.i.tion in the crush-on-Mags department.
Arlene looked at Jack to see if he"d made note of the boy"s blushing, but he was frowning.
But only because his phone was buzzing. He"d set it to vibrate, and he now pulled it out of his pocket. "Ah, s.h.i.t," he said. "I mean, shoot. Sorry. Becca just called me three times in a row."
Arlene laughed. "I think that qualifies for an ah, s.h.i.t," she leaned closer to tell him.
He smiled, but he wasn"t happy. "I better take this," he told her as he pushed his chair back from the table.
"Say hi for me," Arlene said, and the face he gave her-Not a chance in h.e.l.l mixed with Are you freaking kidding?-made her laugh again.
"I"m in the middle of something important," she heard him say into the phone as he headed for the door to the hallway, "so unless this is an emergency ..."
Jack put his finger in his ear as he started to push open the door with his shoulder. But then he froze. It was only for an instant before he was moving again, but his body language had changed so dramatically that Arlene was up and out of her chair and heading for him, before the door shut behind him.
As she slipped out into the hall, he was going through his pockets almost frantically, even as he asked, "He"s in surgery right now? Who"s the doctor?"
He"d found a folded piece of paper to write on, but as he looked at Arlene he said, "Pen, I need a pen."
He always carried one in the back pocket of his jeans-even back when he was in college-and she reached for it, and sure enough it was there.
She uncapped it before she handed it to him, and as he scribbled the name of a doctor and what looked like a hospital onto the paper, he said into the phone, "You seriously left them home alone when Luke was ... No, I"m not saying it"s your fault. How could appendicitis be your fault? I"m just ... Oh, oh, that helps. That"s ... Do we really have to do this now? Shouldn"t you ... No, no, I"m not saying that! That"s not what I-" He took a deep breath and exhaled hard. "Look, I"ll call you back with my flight information. Yes. Yes." He hung up the phone. "Jesus!"
"Luke or Joey?" Arlene asked.
"Luke," he told her, already scrolling through his address book. When he glanced up at her, his eyes were apologetic. "I gotta catch the next flight to San Francisco. World Air flies out of Logan. I have their number in here, somewhere ..."
"People don"t die from appendicitis," she told him.
"Yeah, I know, thank G.o.d, right?" Jack said. "But I"m sorry, I still have to go."
He thought she"d said that to ... "Of course you still have to go," Arlene said. "I wasn"t ... That wasn"t ..."
"Where the h.e.l.l is it?" he asked, frowning at his phone.
Arlene reached into her pocket for her own cell. "I"ll get the number from information." She dialed her phone. "World Airlines ticketing," she told the voice system. "Please put the call through."
Jack, meanwhile, had started trying to access his far fancier phone"s Internet service. "s.h.i.t," he swore as he tried to access the tiny keypad. "s.h.i.t. I"m all thumbs."
She"d already been put on hold, so she held out her phone for him. "Trade."
Jack handed his phone over as he took hers, holding it to his ear.
Her Master Sergeant had a similar phone to Jack"s, and Arlene knew how to use it. "What are you looking up?" she asked.
"It ruptured," he told her.
Oh, no. She didn"t say it aloud, but she didn"t have to.
"Yeah. He"d been complaining of stomachaches for weeks," Jack said, but then he pointed to the phone. "Yes, thank you. I need the next available flight to San Francisco. Or LA. I could fly into LA. Or even Sacramento ... There is?" He looked back at Arlene. "One seat left on a red-eye to San Francisco. It leaves in two hours. I"m going to take it."
"You should," she said, as the Internet revealed that the big danger from a ruptured appendix came from infection after surgery. Peritonitis. And oh, she"d been wrong. People did still die from a ruptured appendix.
Jack had dug for his wallet and was giving his credit card information to the airline rep.
He was going to need a ride to the airport, but Arlene didn"t have a car. She stepped into the pizza party room, where her brother was completely focused on Dolphina. "Will!" she called.
But it was Jules Ca.s.sidy, always vigilant, who looked up and came over.
"What happened?" he asked, and she told him what she knew as she pulled him with her back out into the hallway.
"Robin and I can drive you to the airport," Jules told Jack as he hung up Arlene"s phone. "No problem."
"Thank you," Jack said, handing Arlene her phone. "d.a.m.nit, I have to leave, like, ten minutes ago."
"I"ll get Robin." Jules vanished.
"Luke"s going to be okay," Arlene told Jack.
He nodded, but he didn"t look convinced.
"Call me when you get there," she said.
"It"s going to be late," he said.
"I don"t care," Arlene insisted. "Just call me when you land. And again when you get to the hospital. And whenever else you need me."
The muscle was jumping in his jaw. "I will," he said, then he grabbed her and held her close. "Jesus, I"m a total douchebag for thinking this. My kid"s in the hospital and I can"t stop thinking s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, why didn"t I check into the Baldwin"s Bridge hotel with you when I had the chance?"
She laughed. "You"re thinking that because you"re human and you know d.a.m.n well that you were going to get some tonight." She lifted her head to kiss him, and the kiss he gave her back was deliciously loaded with promise. But his worry and fear was back there, too, and she pulled away, because he had to go. "I"ll be here when you get back," she promised him in a voice that was breathless.
He kissed her again. "Or you could meet me in Vegas."
"Again with the Vegas thing."
"We"ll talk about it," Jack told her.
"Jack." Robin was at the door. "Jules got the car, he"s waiting out front."
The trip to the airport was going to take fifteen minutes at best. Longer if there was traffic.
Jack pulled Arlene back with him into the party room. He raised his voice. "Mags, I gotta go."
But Maggie was already standing right there by the door, looking worried. "Jules told me that Becca called and Luke"s in the hospital."
"Jack," Robin said again.
"I"ll keep you updated," Jack promised Maggie, giving her a hug and Arlene one last glance before he followed Robin back out the door.
Maggie chased after him. "Jack, wait!"
Arlene pushed open the door, too, watching as Maggie ran to keep up with Jack.
They were halfway down the hall when something Maggie said made Jack pull up short. Arlene watched as Maggie stood there, almost nervously turning the green ring around and around on her finger. And Jack gave the girl his full attention as he listened to whatever she was telling him so earnestly. It was clear she was upset as she used the heel of her hand to wipe tears impatiently from her eyes.
Jack, bless him, spoke to her just as seriously, just as earnestly, and completely rea.s.suringly. And then he took Maggie"s sweet face in his hands and planted a kiss on her forehead.
And it took Arlene"s breath away-watching this man be the kind of father that Maggie"d never had, the kind of father that all little girls deserved in their lives.
Whatever he"d said to Maggie calmed her, and she nodded as he told her something else, and then they both turned, almost at the exact moment, and looked back at Arlene and smiled.
And her heart d.a.m.n near burst.
Then Maggie stepped back, and Jack was gone.
But then Lizzie appeared, running past Arlene to pull Maggie back with her into the party.
And Arlene knew she was going to have to wait until they got home to ask Maggie what she"d said to Jack, and what he"d told her in response. Except her phone rang, and she saw from the number that it was ...
"Jack."
"Hey." His warm voice came through the tiny speaker. "Since I"m not driving, I thought I"d call and tell you, well ..." He exhaled hard. "I"m just going to say, okay? Maggie was afraid that my having to rush off to California was another ploy of Becca"s that would keep you and me apart. And I was sitting here and it suddenly occurred to me that if Mags was worried about that, you might be, too."
Arlene hadn"t even considered the possibility. "Should I be worried?" she asked.
"No," he said, his voice absolute.
"Then I"m not worried," she told him.
"I love you," he said.
Arlene nodded, even though she knew he couldn"t possibly see her. "I love you, too." And then she said words that were even more astonishing-words she truly couldn"t believe were coming out of her mouth. "We"ll meet you in Vegas, Jack. Maggie and me. After Luke"s out of the woods. After Maggie"s show on Sunday. Maybe on-"
"Monday," he finished for her, laughing, and she could hear his joy in his voice. "That would be amazingly great."
"Or Tuesday," she said, "provided I can take Maggie out of school."
"I think they"ll let her go for her mother"s wedding," he said, and the world tilted for her, because it was so surreal. And somehow Jack knew it, because he lowered his voice. "When you start having second thoughts, just remember, Leenie, how many years we"ve known each other. How good it feels, just to sit together in the same room. How well we fit."
They did fit. But ... "I still have to go back," she reminded him. "I can"t get pregnant. Not ...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, s.h.i.t, 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 a.s.signments 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. "Ca.s.sidy." 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 to ask where. He knew what she meant.