Page 153 of Trouble Comes in Threes

“I just dropped Ash and Mikey off at school. Oh, by the way, they want to call us Mom and Dad now, and Ashley just told Oliver that her new dad is the sheriff, and if he’s not nicer, she’ll have you come to school tomorrow and arrest him.”

He was silent for a moment, then said, “That’s a lot to unpack. When did this come about?”

“She told him off just a couple of minutes ago.”

“I mean the calling us Mom and Dad?”

“Ashley asked me yesterday afternoon. She said it felt weird calling us Aunt Rose and Uncle Joe. I told her that we’d never replace her parents and that lots of kids have two moms and/or two dads.”

“She really wants to call us Mom and Dad?”

“I about fell over when she asked. Then Mikey asked this morning if he could too. I told him yes, of course.”

“Mom and Dad,” he said in awe.

“But that’s not why I called,” I said. “Long story, but Neely Kate had brought the box to Aunt Bessie and Uncle Albert’s and put it in the back of my car this morning. It fell out when we were getting the backpacks out of the trunk in the carpool lane, and the box broke into pieces.”

“Oh no. I’m sorry.”

“That’s still not why I’m calling,” I said, turning down the street toward the church. “There was an old, yellowed plastic bag with two floppy disks inside.”

“Huh,” he said. “I never saw any floppy disks in the box.”

“Neither did I, but I think the box had a false bottom. After Mikey suggested it had a secret compartment, I realized the inside was shallower than the outside.”

“Shit.”

I turned into the church parking lot. “I know.”

“Shit,” Hope said cheerfully behind me.

“Shit,” Daisy repeated, which sounded strange in her tiny princess voice.

Liam made a sound that was a pretty close approximation of the word.

“Did our children just say what I think they did?” Joe asked.

“Yep, and Daisy too. I’ll let you explain it to Jed and Neely Kate.”

“Shi—I mean crap.”

“Cwappy doodles,” Hope said with a grin.

I laughed.

“I really do have to go,” Joe said reluctantly, “but I want to know about these floppy disks. Was there any writing on them?”

“Not that I remember. They’re currently in the back of the car.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m dropping the three younger kids off at daycare, then I’m heading to the office.”

“Okay, bring the disks in with you to the office. I was at the courthouse for the arraignment, but…” He hesitated, then said, “Can you take me off speaker?”

“Yeah,” I said, starting to get worried. “I’m parking in a space right now. Give me a second.” I parked the car and got the phone sorted, then held it up to my ear. “What’s goin’ on?”

“There isn’t gonna be an arraignment today,” he said solemnly.

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