If you don't make that plane today, Allegra, there won't be a wedding, he said calmly from under the covers, and she stopped to look at him with a worried expression.

Don't threaten me, Jeff. I'm doing the best I can. I'll be there.

Just see that you are. He didn't say another word then and she went to put on jeans and a white shirt. And as she drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, she was furious with all of them. Malachi O'Donovan, who thought he could do anything he wanted, and then expect her to bail him out. And Carmen, who used her as a crying towel day and night, and Alan, who kept calling her and asking her to take care of his wife, and even Jeff, who got so annoyed at all of it sometimes, as if he didn't have his moments too, between getting up at three A.M. SO he could be at the set before anyone else, or having to rewrite his screenplay night after night. Everyone expected her to be understanding, and to do just what they wanted. It was beginning to drive her crazy, and for some reason she was maddest of all at Jeff. Of course she would be on the plane ‘ she hoped ‘ unless Malachi had really pulled a major stunt. And even now, she'd have to deal with the tabloids. God, she was getting tired of that too. They all expected her to get them out of their jams, as though she had been born to solve their problems.

She slammed her car door when she got to the Beverly Hills police station, and when she went inside, she saw an officer she knew. She told him why she was there, and he nodded. He went inside to check, and a few minutes later he came out with Mai. She had to post bond for him, which was no problem, and this time he had to leave his driver's license with them. They gave him a court date, at which he had to appear, and Allegra was relieved to see it wasn't for another month, and then, with a stern expression, she drove him home. He reeked of booze, and he kept trying to kiss her to thank her for getting him out of jail, but she told him firmly to behave. His wife was asleep when they got to his house, and Allegra wondered why he hadn't called her. But as soon as his wife started shrieking at him when she heard what had happened, Allegra understood why he had called her instead.

Rainbow O'Donovan almost threw him into their bedroom, and she screamed at him so loudly, she must have woken up the neighbors. A few minutes later Allegra was on her way, and she was back at her own house again by seven. Jeff was in the shower, there was coffee on the stove, and she poured herself a cup, and sat down on their bed. She was absolutely exhausted, but she had a lot of nights like that one. That's what Jeff was complaining about, and she knew he wasn't wrong. But there wasn't much she could do about it either, and she needed him to understand.

He was drying his hair when he came out of the shower, and he was startled when he saw her. He hadn't heard her come in and it was easy to see how tired she was as she sat there.

How did it go?

Great. They took his license away, she said with a soft moan as she lay down on the bed, and he came over and sat next to her.

I'm sorry I got mad last night. I just get so tired of people pulling at you sometimes. It's as though they want to eat you up. It's not fair.

It's not fair to you either. I'm going to have to establish better boundaries. I realized when I took him home that he could have called his wife. I think he was afraid to.

Make them afraid of you, Jeff said, and leaned over and kissed her. He had to be at the studio within the hour, and then they were leaving on a two o'clock flight. You'll be okay? he asked as he left.

I'll be fine, she reassured him.

I'll pick you up at noon.

I'll be ready, she promised.

She got to her office at nine o'clock, with their bags in the car, and Alice had a stack of messages and paperwork for her. She got through all of it, and was just putting her files away, when Alice came into her office holding the latest copy of Chatter.

Please don't tell me I'm going to care about what that says, Allegra said, almost cringing. If it was going to upset one of their clients, maybe she'd never get out of town after all.

Alice set it down gingerly on her desk as though it might burn her, and Allegra could see why. The photographs were awful and the headline wasn't pretty. Carmen was going to go wild when she saw it.

Oh, shit, Allegra said, looking up at her secretary. I'd better call her. She had the phone in her hand when the operator buzzed her. Miss Connors was on the line. The operator didn't say she was hysterical. But Allegra knew it the minute she heard her. I just saw it, she said calmly. I want to sue them.

I don't think that's smart. But she could understand how she felt, and she knew Alan would be livid too. The paper said that Carmen Connors, Alan Carr's new wife, had gone to Europe for an abortion. And there were some grim photographs of her leaving the hospital. She looked as though she were sneaking out, but she was actually doubled over.

They're slandering me. How can they say that? She was sobbing and Allegra didn't know what to say, but suing the tabloids would only make it worse. They were the vermin of the earth, but they had good lawyers who told them how to protect themselves and they never failed to. Why do they do this to me? she wailed, and Allegra felt helpless. There was nothing she could do to change it.

To sell papers. You know that. Throw it away and forget it.

What if my grandmother sees this?

She'll understand. Nobody believes that garbage.

She does. Carmen laughed through her tears. She thinks eighty-seven-year-old women give birth to quintuplets.

Well, tell her they're a bunch of liars. I'm sorry, Carmen. I really am, Allegra said, and she meant it. She could just imagine how it felt dealing with the lies all the time. It was so painful.

The local paper had the story of Malachi O'Donovan's arrest that day too. It was a high-profile day for some of her clients.

You'd better warn Alan before someone else tells him, Allegra suggested. They even read some of that garbage in Europe. But as soon as she hung up, Alan was on the phone from Switzerland. His press agent had called and read it to him.

I want to sue the bastards, he raged. The poor kid almost bled to death in the ambulance, and she hasn't stopped crying in six weeks, and they're claiming she had an abortion. I want to kill them. Has she seen it yet?

We just hung up, Allegra said, feeling as tired as she looked. She'd had four hours sleep the night before, and a very long morning. She wants to sue them too. I'll tell you what I told her. It's not worth it. You'll just sell their paper for them. Fuck em. It was rare for her to say that, but in the case of the tabloids, they deserved it. Just forget about them, don't waste your money on lawyers.

Some are worth more than others, he said, calming down a little bit. Allegra was always so sensible. That was why he called her. How are you, by the way?

God knows. It's been pretty wild here. And I'm flying to New York in two hours, to meet my future mother-in-law in Southampton.

Good luck. Tell her what a lucky old broad she is to have you. Allegra laughed at the image.

When will you be home, by the way?

Not till August. But it's going great, he said, and then he sounded worried again. How's Carmen? She still sounds terrible a lot of the time. I keep telling her there will be more, but she doesn't believe me.

I know. I tell her the same thing. She's hanging in. I think the movie is keeping her busy at least. But she misses you something awful. It took all of Allegra's powers of persuasion to keep her from running off to Switzerland, and the tabloid story certainly wasn't going to help, but Allegra was sorry she wasn't going to be there over the weekend to talk sense into her and distract her.

I miss her too, Alan said sadly.

How's the picture going? Allegra asked with interest.

Great. They're letting me do a lot of my own stunt work.

Don't tell your wife, or she'll be there on the next plane.

They both laughed and he said he'd see her in two months when he got back, but she knew she'd talk to him long before that. As soon as they hung up, Jeff walked into her office.

Ready to go? he asked, looking as though he was in a hurry. But she was all set. And this time, nothing would stop her.

All set. She stood up and he caught a glimpse of the paper on her desk, and the headline.

That's pretty, he said, glancing over it and shaking his head. There was nothing those people wouldn't stoop to. They had interviewed two nurses, who had probably been paid a pretty penny to sell Carmen's secrets and distort them. Have they seen it yet?

I just spoke to both of them. They wanted to sue and I told them not to. It just sells papers.

Poor things. I sure would hate to live like that.

There are other compensations, Allegra said knowingly, but she wondered if they were enough. It was a high price to pay for glory.

They both left their cars in her office garage and took a cab to the airport, and Jeff couldn't believe that this time nothing had happened to stop them. Neither of them had an emergency, a problem, a meeting. They didn't have to cancel again; his mother wouldn't be furious with him.

They actually managed to get on the plane on schedule, and take their seats without a problem. It was amazing.

Jeff looked at her with a grin, as the plane took to the air with the resounding sound of the jets just above them. I can't believe it. Can you? They had agreed to fly first class, and they sat back in their seats with a victorious look, as they held hands and ordered champagne and orange juice. We did it! he said, and kissed her. My mother will be so pleased. Allegra was just happy to be with him, and to be going away with him. They still hadn't decided where to go for their honeymoon. They were taking three weeks, and they were talking about Europe. Italy in the fall was glorious, particularly Venice. And after that Paris, and maybe London, to see friends. But Jeff also liked the idea of a beach somewhere, like maybe the Bahamas, or Bora Bora like Carmen and Alan. But Allegra didn't want anything that remote. It was a lively conversation for close to an hour, and a real luxury to even be thinking about it. And then they talked about the wedding. He was thinking about Alan as his best man, and her brother and Tony Jacobson, and the director of his movie, as ushers. And Allegra was having the same problem. She wanted Sam as her maid of honor, and Carmen as a bridesmaid, and she felt as though she should have had more friends stand up for her than that. She had always thought about having her college roommate from Yale, Nancy Towers, if she ever got married, but she hadn't seen her in five years, and Nancy lived in London.

Maybe she'd come, Jeff said conversationally, at least ask her.

And there was another old friend of Allegra's from school, Jessica Farnsworth, who had moved East years before. They never saw each other anymore, but as kids they had been like sisters. She decided to ask both of them after talking to Jeff, and they completed the wedding party. They were going to invite the Weissmans of course, and a lot of people they liked and worked with. Allegra thought Jeff should invite some of his friends from the East, but he doubted that they would come. They were either too poor or working too hard, but he agreed to invite them.

It was an easy flight, and eventually, they both read. He was still jotting down notes on the script, and she had brought an assortment of papers with her in a briefcase. She had brought a new novel too, and Jeff approved of the selection. But before she read the first page, she was fast asleep, with her head on Jeff's shoulder, and he looked down at her tenderly and covered her with a blanket.

I love you, he whispered as he kissed her.

Me too, she whispered back, and then drifted off to sleep again until they landed. He had to shake her awake, she was so dead to the world, and she didn't remember where she was at first. She had been completely out, after her exhausting night getting Malachi out of jail, and then dashing to the office.

You work too hard, Jeff informed her, as they disembarked and walked to the carousel to claim their luggage. He had arranged for a limousine to meet them at the airport and take them to Southampton. He wanted the trip to be as pleasant as possible for Allegra so it would be one of the first happy memories they shared of their marriage. There was champagne in an ice bucket waiting in the limousine for them, and it was one of those absurd stretch models that go on forever.