Charlie’s own heart was racing as if in sympathy for LuAnn. He had never known Jackson to fail, but, well, you never knew. What the hell, it couldn’t hurt, he thought. He moved his free hand up and quietly felt under his shirt for the thick, silver crucifix he had worn for as long as he could remember. He rubbed it for good luck.
Ever so slowly, even as LuAnn’s heart threatened to cease beating, the two balls, as though carefully choreographed, again swapped places with each other in the swirling spray of hot air, even ricocheting off one another at one point. After this momentary collision, the number one ball, mercifully for LuAnn, finally shot through the opening and was caught in the tenth and final tube.
It was all LuAnn could do not to scream out loud from pure relief, rather than from the excitement of having just become one hundred million dollars richer. She and Charlie looked at each other, their eyes wide, both bodies shaking, faces drenched with perspiration, as though they had just finished making love. Charlie inclined his head toward her, his eyebrows arched as if to say “You won, didn’t you?”
LuAnn nodded slightly, her head swaying slowly as if to the tunes of a favorite song. Lisa kicked and squirmed as though she sensed her mother’s exhilaration.
“Damn,” Charlie said, “I thought I was going to pee in my pants waiting for that last number to drop.” He led LuAnn out of the room and in a couple of minutes they were walking slowly down the street in the direction of the hotel. It was a beautiful, brisk night; the cloudless sky housed a stretch of stars that seemingly had no end. It matched LuAnn’s mood precisely. Charlie rubbed at his hand. “God, I thought you were going to snap my fingers off. What was that all about?”
“You don’t wanta know,” said LuAnn firmly. She smiled at him, sucked in huge amounts of the sweet, chilly air, and gave Lisa a tender kiss on the cheek. She suddenly elbowed Charlie in the side, a mischievous grin on her face. “Last one to the hotel pays for dinner.” She took off like a blue streak, the trench coat billowing out like a parachute in her wake. Even as she left him in the dust, Charlie could hear her shrieks of joy flowing back to him. He grinned and then bolted after her.
Neither one would have been so happy had they seen the man who had followed them to the lottery drawing and was watching from across the street. Romanello had figured that tailing LuAnn might result in some interesting developments. But even he had to admit that his expectations had so far been exceeded.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
You’re certain that’s where you want to go, LuAnn?”
LuAnn spoke earnestly into the phone. “Yes sir, Mr. Jackson. I’ve always wanted to go to Sweden. My momma’s people came from there, a long time ago. She always wanted to go there, but never had the chance. So I’d sort of be doing it for her. Is that much trouble?”
“Everything is trouble, LuAnn. It’s just a matter of degrees.”
“But you can get it done, can’t you? I mean I’d like to go to other places, but I’d really like to start in Sweden.”
Jackson said testily, “If I can arrange for someone like you to win one hundred million dollars, then I can certainly take care of travel plans.”
“I appreciate it. I really do.” LuAnn looked over at Charlie, who was holding Lisa and playing with her.
She smiled at him. “You look real good doing that.”
“What’s that?” Jackson asked.
“I’m sorry, I was talking to Charlie.”
“Put him on, we need to arrange for your visit to the lottery office so they can confirm the winning ticket. The sooner that’s accomplished, the sooner we can get on with the press conference and then you can be on your way.”
“The conditions you talked about—” LuAnn began.
Jackson interrupted, “I’m not ready to discuss that right now. Put Charlie on, I’m in a hurry.”
LuAnn swapped the phone for Lisa. She watched closely as Charlie spoke in low tones into the phone, his back to her. She saw him nod several times and then he hung up.