Caroline was more than happy to get away. Her anniversary celebration was proving something less than celebratory. Rain was getting on her nerves and Hunter seemed distracted. Plus she was worried not only about the girls but about her brother and Becky as well. That they thought nothing of fighting in public was obviously not a good sign. She doubted their marriage would survive the year.
She proceeded to the elevators, unaware that Becky was watching from behind one of several huge arrangements of colorful fresh flowers. She got off the elevator at the sixth floor and hurried down the hall, hearing her children’s imaginary cries leaking through the walls. But when she opened the door to her suite, she heard only the reassuring hum of silence. A quick check proved the girls were sleeping soundly in their beds. Hunter was right, she thought. I’ve been silly to worry.
“You really think I should go after her?” Steve asked soon after his sister had left. He couldn’t afford to leave the table too early. Nor could he afford to wait too long. The timing was critical if they were going to pull this off.
“I’d go, if I were you,” Fletcher said.
“Remind her we’re supposed to be celebrating,” Peggy added.
“Just say you’re sorry and get it over with,” Jerrod advised. “Remember—happy wife, happy life.”
“Fine.” Steve pushed back his chair and stood up. “I’m doing this for you guys.” He walked into the lobby, nodding first toward Becky, then toward a balding man in casual attire who was sitting unobtrusively in a large wicker chair. The man was perusing a brochure, a large carry-on bag at his feet.
What the hell is taking Caroline so long? Becky wondered as time dragged on and Caroline still hadn’t returned. All she had to do was check on the girls and leave. Unless one of the girls had awakened, and then all bets were off. What would they do then?
What the hell is she doing up there? Steve was also thinking, pretending to use the house phone while keeping an eye on the bank of elevators nearby. He could feel the balding man’s eyes burning a bullet-sized hole in the back of his beige linen shirt. If she took too long, Hunter was liable to get anxious and go up there himself. And then where would that leave them?
Which was when the elevator doors opened and Caroline emerged. She looked straight ahead as she cut across the lobby to the restaurant. As soon as she was out of sight, Steve headed for the elevator, Becky and the balding man following casually after him. Becky got into the first elevator, Steve and the balding man in the one beside it. They proceeded individually down the sixth-floor corridor, Becky the first one to arrive at the suite. She pulled out the keycard she’d lifted from Caroline’s purse earlier in the week and unlocked the door.
It was dark in the living room and Becky almost tripped over the coffee table. “Shit,” she muttered.
“Ssh,” Steve warned, bringing his fingers to his lips for emphasis.
Ssh yourself, Becky thought, as she followed her husband into the girls’ bedroom. The man with the carry-on bag waited by the bedroom door.
Becky moved quickly to the crib, relieved to note that Michelle was all but buried underneath her bedsheets, and that Samantha was sleeping peacefully on her back. She reached in and gingerly scooped the toddler into her arms, cradling her head beneath her chin. Samantha made a gurgling noise but didn’t wake up. She was so soft, so sweet, Becky thought, swaying back toward the crib. It wasn’t too late. She could still put the child back and no one would be the wiser.
It was at that moment she heard her husband’s hoarse whisper.
“Come to your Uncle Stevie,” he said, prying Samantha out of his wife’s arms and carrying her quickly to the man waiting by the bedroom door. He lowered the toddler into the carry-on bag and watched as the man snapped the bag shut and hurried down the hall.
The whole enterprise took less than five minutes.
“Oh, God,” Becky whispered. “What have we done?”
“Shut up,” Steve told her. “It’s over.”
They waited a few more minutes, until they were certain the man had departed the premises, and then they left the suite, taking separate elevators down to the lobby and then returning to their room in the other wing.
“What do we do now?” Becky asked, lowering herself to her bed, her head pounding.
Steve checked his watch. Soon it would be Hunter’s turn to check on the kids. Then all hell would break loose.
—
“I should go check on the kids before dessert gets here,” Hunter was saying.
“And I need a sweater,” Rain announced, patting her chest. “The girls are getting chilly.”