Along Came Trouble(114)

“Are we getting married, then?”

“I’d like to think so.”

She let that sink in. Marry Jamie Callahan. Share the Wombat with him. Share her whole life with him. The possibility settled in her bones and became inevitable.

This was where they’d been headed from the beginning. They’d started on the laundry room floor, and now they were here. How improbable.

How lucky.

He smoothed his hand over her stomach. “What are we going to call him if he’s a boy?”

“Not Jamie.”

“God forbid.”

“I was thinking of Austin, after my grandfather.”

“Austin Short?”

“Maybe Austin Callahan.”

“Yeah, that works.” She could hear the smile in his voice. Full wattage this time.

He pushed himself up on an elbow so he could lean over and kiss her forehead. “I love you, Carly.”

“I know.” She did. She had all along, really.

Telling the truth was part of being brave. So she told him. “I love you, too.”

She’d never said the words to him before.

He pushed up the sleeve of her hospital gown a few inches and kissed her bare shoulder. “I know.”

They lay there together, and even though her skin itched and her head hurt and she was more frightened than she’d ever been in her life, she was happy, too. This was her man. Jamie Callahan. Of all the crazy, impulsive decisions she’d ever made, he was the very best one.

“Jamie?” she said after a minute or two. “I’m not changing my name.”

He laughed. “No. No, you wouldn’t, would you?”

And that pretty much settled it.



“We could really do that? Tap into their security feed and monitor the entrances from one spot?” Caleb asked.

“Sure,” Sean said. “You could even do it off a laptop.”

The two of them were in a busy hallway in the maternity ward, talking logistics. Caleb liked to bounce these kinds of problems off Sean, who became almost talkative if you gave him something interesting to think about.

“That would be great. If I don’t need a man at every entrance, I can free up four or five guys for other jobs.” Four or five guys he desperately needed. Trying to protect three separate sites on short notice was stretching his resources to the breaking point. “Let me talk to the chief of security here and see what he says.”

Sean nodded agreeably. “I can handle the computer end if you . . .”

He trailed off, and Caleb looked down the hall to see what had grabbed his attention. Katie was making her way toward them, carrying overstuffed paper grocery sacks in both arms. Two more plastic bags hung from her wrists.

“Hey, guys,” she said. “A little help?”

Caleb stepped toward her, but Sean moved faster, relieving her of the groceries. Then he simply stood there, blank and silent as a robot awaiting his next command. The contrast to the animated guy Caleb had just been conversing with couldn’t have been more dramatic.

It was true, then. Sean didn’t talk to Katie. She’d mentioned it, but Caleb had figured she was exaggerating. Apparently not.

Katie had also said Sean hated her, but he wasn’t picking up any evidence of that. Sean seemed guarded and wary, not disapproving.

Quite the opposite, if Caleb had to guess.

“Food?” Caleb asked.

“Yep. Sandwiches. Thought everybody might be getting hungry.”

“Thanks. Visitor’s lounge is that way.” He pointed to the left.

Katie led the way, with Sean close behind. As she unloaded the sandwiches and set out napkins and bags of chips in the kitchen attached to the lounge, Caleb watched Sean, and Sean watched Katie. When she bent over to put a coffee cake on the lowest shelf of the fridge, he fumbled a two-liter bottle of soda, sending it crashing into a tower of paper cups. For the first time all day, Caleb almost felt like smiling.

“Subtle,” he said under his breath.

The dismay that flashed across Sean’s face confirmed it. Sean had a problem with Katie, but it wasn’t what she thought. Katie had it backwards.

With a shake of his head, Sean sighed, grabbed a sandwich, and cleared out, all without risking another glance in her direction.

Katie made up a few plates. She stuck one in his hand and said, “Eat.”

Turkey sandwich in hand, Caleb wandered over to the wall of windows in the lounge and looked out on the lot. He couldn’t see the entrances from here, but off to the side was the line of cars where the hospital guards had been directing the photographers to park. He counted twenty-seven before Katie said, “You okay?”