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“Well, hot dog!” Carlotta belts out a cheer. “Who says it doesn’t pay to wish upon a fiery star?”
Mom shakes her head. “It’s that arsonist. They’ve struck again, haven’t they?”
I know for a fact that’s not possible because the arsonist himself was just arrested on murder charges.
A thought comes to me, and I lift my chin a notch.
“Oh my word,” I say as that cryptic conversation Lou had with me runs through my mind. He said I’d thank him later. “I think you’re right, Mother.”
Charlie comes back into the room with Naomi and Greer by her side.
Lou Norris arranged for Rizzo’s to burn to the ground. And I bet he did it because Crane was still walking free and he wanted to amp up the investigation in her direction. But thankfully, justice prevailed. Crane Mitchel is free, and it’s Lou who is locked up for the foreseeable future.
“Hear ye, hear ye,” Charlie calls out. “We’ve got some big news. Out of the handful of women who stepped up to the maternity plate, three of them hit a home run.” She looks our way. “Do any of you object to me sharing the big news for you?”
I point to myself and shake my head.
There’s no way I’m having a baby.
Am I?
“Okay,” Charlie says as the room grows quiet. “Drumroll, please,” she calls out, and Bear is quick to oblige her by trilling it out with his vocal cords. “The first mama-to-be is—Samantha Thompson.”
“What?” Sam squeals like she just won the baby lottery, and she did. “Oh my goodness!” She leaps on top of Jed Silver. “We’re going to be parents!”
Oh, holy horror.
Noah is going to die on the spot when he finds out.
A hard groan comes from me. I’m so glad Noah and Everett aren’t here to witness this event. They both might have been moved to commit a homicide.
Charlie waves another white stick in the air. “And the second mama-to-be among us is—none other than Meg Lemon!”
“What?” my mother, Lainey, and I shout in unison. And I’m pretty sure Lyla Nell chimed in as well.
“It can’t be right,” Mom shouts as she jostles Lyla Nell on her hip. “She’s not married.”
“That didn’t stop Lot Lot,” Carlotta points out.
And to tell the truth, I can’t remember whether or not I was married when I found out I was pregnant with Lyla Nell—or to whom.
That says everything about the sad state of affairs—my affairs to be precise.
Meg picks her jaw up off the floor and runs for Jed Silver before picking him up and spinning him around like a top.
“We’re going to be parents,” she shouts with glee.
“Oh no,” my mother moans, and Lyla Nell is quick to imitate her.
“Oh no, indeed,” I moan along with her.
“And our third mother-to-be—” Charlie lifts the last little white stick into the air and stops abruptly to look toward the entrance.
The thundering of what sounds like hoofbeats emanates from behind, and every person in the room turns that way.
A wall of men in dark jackets with glowing yellow letters printed on them storm the room with Noah leading the charge.
“Noah.” I head his way. “What’s going on?”
