“Get some toast and a banana,” Maggie said as she went back to her hearty breakfast. “Do a good job, and I’ll treat you to dinner at Martin’s in Georgetown. I’ll even call ahead to see if we can get John Kennedy’s favorite booth, the one where he proposed to Jackie. Booth three, or maybe booth one, where he would go to read the Sunday paper after Mass.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Ted said as he galloped out of the kitchen, Espinosa on his trail.

Forty minutes later, Maggie was back in her office. She took care of a few housekeeping details and settled down to wait for Lizzie Fox’s call. She took the three-hour time difference as a personal affront to her own busy schedule as she watched the latest happenings coming in over the wires. Her eyes narrowed to a squint as she stared at her computer.

Santa Claus, aka Baron Bell, and his elves will arrive in his personal antique sleigh, complete with sleigh bells and his eight worthy steeds, on the South Lawn of the White House for the annual children’s Christmas party at the White House, hosted by President Connor and Baron Bell. The date is three days away.

Maggie’s gaze raced through the news flash. Tree lighting. Tons of gaily wrapped gifts, snowballs.

The ultimate in photo ops. No mention who would set the sleigh down in the snow on the South Lawn or how they would accomplish this feat. Or how the horses in their Christmas attire would get there. Probably by horse trailer. Security would be worthy of a summit meeting.

Maggie pressed SEND. Five seconds later the article was on the way to the mountain.

Maggie reached for her BlackBerry. She sucked in her breath, then let it out in a loud swoosh as she alerted Ted to what she’d just read. Headlines of every size and shape ripped through her mind. It looked to her like it was going to be one hell of a busy week. Gut instinct told her she might get two special editions out of the forthcoming events. “Yesss!”

Promptly at nine o’clock East Coast time, Lizzie Fox called. They updated each other, made small talk, then got down to business. Maggie read to Lizzie the article that she’d just e-mailed to the mountain. Lizzie burst out laughing, knowing exactly what Maggie was thinking.

“Maggie, before I keep my appointment with Baron Bell tomorrow, I am going to need written confirmation that the Evanses want me to represent them. I don’t want to give Baron Bell one inch of wiggle room. I also cannot solicit the Evans family. They have to come to me. Rachel Dawson said she would do her best to convince Beth Evans, who in turn would have to convince her husband.”