Will was red and out of breath. “Couldn’t catch an elevator. You didn’t pick up your phone. Ran up the stairs. Stacia…water…all over the floor…”
“Oh, my god, her water broke!” I said, and Will nodded and pointed to me.
“Fast contractions,” he said, finally catching his breath. “We’re leaving for the hospital because it’s happening fast. The car will be here in ten minutes. I didn’t want to disrupt the wedding with the news, and I didn’t want to leave without telling you and have you worry.
“Oh, my God!” I said again. “You left a woman in hard labor alone?”
He shook his head. “Two nice, little old ladies are with her, but I have to get back.”
“Cancel the car,” I said, thinking fast. I tapped my ear and woke up my comms unit. “I ran into a colleague earlier,” I told Will, but Pasco was used to hearing in-progress conversations and making sense of them. “She has a car here, and she’ll let me borrow it. I’ll call her and meet you out front in five.”
“Really?” he glanced at Gage. “If you don’t mind because I have a feeling every minute counts.” He ran back down the hall and disappeared into the stairwell.
In my ear, Pasco told me, “Cynthia’s on her way to pick up the car. She’ll meet you on 59th Street.”
“Can you get Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants into his carrier and meet us down there?” I asked Gage.
“On it,” he said as he handed me my overcoat. He grinned at me. “You know, it’s not everyone who has a wedding, makes love, and has a baby all within the space of a few hours.”
“I think you forgot something.” I grinned at him. “A kidnapping and a rescue.”
“I didn’t forget,” he called after me. “I was just going for a theme.”
CHAPTER 31
GAGE
Three minutes after Kat took off at a mad dash, I found Will and Stacia moving slowly across the lobby. The two ladies who had sat with her while Will found us were walking with them to the door. I adjusted Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants and his carrier on my back and checked to make sure the overcoat I’d slung over the top of him wouldn’t slip. Then I caught up with them.
One of the ladies was the wife half of the couple who had been on the elevator after we’d arrived yesterday.
“That’s him,” the woman whispered to her friend, not seeming to realize it wasn’t much of a whisper at all. “That handsome groomsman. And he makes her make cat noises, I swear.”
I cleared my throat and moved ahead of Stacia and Will, clearing their path and moving us along faster. “Thanks, ladies,” I called and waved as we pulled away from them.
“You want to tell us what that was about?” Stacia panted.
“Not really.”
“Aw.” She grinned. “I could use the distraction.”
“Still a no.” I stepped out onto the red-carpeted stairs and saw Cynthia climb out of the driver’s seat of a beautiful, sleek, black Maserati.
“Holy shit,” Stacia said as we helped her into the back of the car. “I like your friends, Kat.”
Kat slid into the driver’s seat, Will ran around to the other side of the car and climbed in beside Stacia, and I placed the cat and carrier on the passenger side floor and took shotgun.
“Seat belts on?” Kat asked.
We all said yes. She revved the engine.
“Shit,” I said. “I forgot to ask if you’re a good driver.”
She winked at me. “I have a secret for you, 6A. I’m an excellent driver. And a fast one.”
We peeled away from The Plaza, and she blended into traffic, maneuvering like an expert.
“Quid pro quo,” I said. “My secret is that I picked up the permanent adoption papers for Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants so he can officially be yours by Christmas Day.”
