Really, it was West's fault that they couldn't come by the front door. Who cared if a few fans accosted him on the way here? Alice would have left him to his own devices and continued to the entrance anyway— it would have been much better than filling her lungs and clothes with dust.

She should have married a nobody. Lost opportunity.

But one area in which the Magpie did appreciate her husband was gift-giving; not a fraction of the presents in the Odessas' hands had been chosen by her. It was kind of sad that she'd loved most of the Botros kids from their birth and still had no idea what to get them. Emotional intelligence at its finest, that was.

Crisis averted, though. Alice could still hand them out.

"Hi! We bought gifts! Forgot a shirt for Hassan, though." Why couldn't he get one of those by himself? That was the important question.