Mrs. Wrong Last Name

Chapter Twenty-four

"Eleven years," she said. One tear fell down her left cheek. "Eleven long years. We tried naturally, then he talked adoption but I wanted our own child. I talked in vitro but he was so against picking a child out of several embryos and playing God. His parents were crushed. We had given up. And now this."

"You have blessed him and his family beyond belief," she said, and she meant it. "Don't take that from them."

She looked away. "I won't," she said. "And it makes me happy to know that The Husband is such a good daddy to the kid. It really does. Blood isn't everything."

They hugged and she told Stacy the tailor would be there soon. They should both shower up, get their Carolina Herrera fittings done and then head out on the boat.

She left the room thinking about The Husband and the kid and it made her smile. And all that thinking about The Husband reminded her of something... she should call Federale.

"Gott im Himmel!" he exclaimed as soon as he answered.

"Seriously? Cussing me in German and this early in the morning? Ihr Deutsch ist nicht so gut, Herr Inspektor Haupt Federale," she said.

"Well I'll be sure to tell Rosetta Stone that next time I see her. I hope your time has been lovely running around with Stacy and ignoring me?" he seemed perturbed.

"Oh it has, it has. You should really try to get to Croatia sometime. You would love the history and my GOD the view!"

"Unfortunately looks like I will soon be enjoying the view in Kosovo and not sunny Dubrovnik, we can't all live the Mediterranean playboy life." He said grumpily.

"Yeah, yeah. Well you know I've officially turned in my notice at work and will be playboying around a lot more from now on. Or is it playgirling? I don't think I have ever really heard of anyone playgirling around Europe but that should be a thing..."

He cut her off angrily. "About you quitting your job," he said. "We really need to talk about it."

She had worried for about 15 years about having this conversation with him. And didn't really want to have it now but there was no avoiding it.

He continued. "So I have a lot of things to say, and you don't have to confirm or deny, but I hope you know that they are things that can seriously affect our working relationship and friendship going forward."

"I understand," she said and took a deep breath. "Go ahead."

"Mr. Wrong Last Name, with whom you have been palling around with in all the hats, is set to take over as the new El Jefe. DEA has confirmed it. The CIA is involved because of some ambiguous land grab damn near the size of the Louisiana purchase going on in Paraguay. I can't even comprehend what that is all about, but apparently it is tied to this guy named Peron who even arranged for Jenna Bush to help finalize it under the cover of a UNICEF humanitarian mission. My God, are there no limits? Who would even think to bring in UNICEF?! This Peron guy, that's who! I've got to give it to him for out of the box thinking but he has everyone and I mean everyone in a tizzy over it. I can't tell you how many different agents in different agencies have gotten an ass chewing over this. And now that they're really looking into it he's all over the place down there! And just like that South America which has been out of play for over a decade is now back on the table. Mr. Wrong Last Name is involved, I know he is. I can feel it. Strange how this huge land purchase of Peron's happens and then the CIA steps up to the table within days of the negotiated transfer. I don't like it, and you're in the middle of it."

She continued to listen, and wondered how much she could tell him and how much she could hold back without insulting his intelligence or losing his friendship.