"What about Jenna?" came Lennie's crackling voice. "And Kelly Templeton?"

"I'm fine," Jenna said. "Kelly needs an ambulance and quickly."

Steven lurched to his feet. "Three ambulances." He stumbled into the barn doorway and saw Nora Lutz's unconscious body sprawled on the floor. "Make it four."

His radio rattled. "Steven, it's Liz. Where's Josh Lutz?"

Steven looked at Lutz's motionless body with disgust. "He's alive. We can Mirandize him when he comes to." He dropped to one knee and cuffed Nora Lutz, thinking it ironic how the silver of the cuffs clashed with the diamond bracelets she wore on both wrists. Let's see what your money will buy you this time, rich bitch, he thought, then rolled to his feet when Jenna limped into the barn.

Jenna grabbed his arm, her hands smearing blood on his sleeve, her eyes frantic. "Seth?"

"He's alive," Steven assured her and watched her relax. "Allison figured he'd taken you to the cemetery to talk. She found him unconscious and called 911. He has a headache, but he's alive. You need to sit," he said, wanting to take her face in his hands but was afraid he'd hurt her.

She shook her shorn head. "I want to cover Kelly before the paramedics come."

She wanted Kelly to maintain some semblance of dignity, he understood, so he shrugged out his jacket, tossing it on the ground, then unsnapped his holster and unbuttoned his shirt. "My shirt will be softer than my coat," he said, then refas-tened his holster against his bare skin.

Jenna hesitated, clutching his shirt in her bloody hands. "I have so much to say to you," she whispered. "I don't know where to start."

Steven took her face in his hands, as gently as he could. He had to prove to himself she was whole. He placed a kiss on her forehead, a half inch from where the stubble that had been her beautiful black hair began and felt her shudder. He looked down into her incredible eyes, so very grateful she was still alive. Nothing else seemed to matter. "Do what you need to do for Kelly." He cocked his head, hearing approaching footsteps. "Hurry and cover her and I'll tend to Neil. The cavalry's here."

Sunday, October 16, 10:00 A.M.

Casey ran a shaky hand over Jenna's stubbled scalp. "Well, we could take it down to the skin and you could go as Sinead O'Connor for Halloween," Casey said, trying for a cheerful tone but her voice wobbled and Jenna knew she was close to tears.

Jenna made herself smile for the benefit of her friends and family who'd gathered in the hospital waiting room to make sure she was truly all right. "Won't Father Mike be pleased?"

"I don't think he'll mind," said Father Mike from his seat against the wall. His had been the first face she'd seen when the ambulance brought her into the ER, smiling but terribly worried.

Her first words had been questions about Kelly's and Neil's condition. He'd told her Neil was in surgery and that Kelly's family was with her in ICU but wanted to talk to Jenna.

Six hours later Neil was still in surgery to repair the shattered bones in his thigh and hand.

Kelly's family had found Jenna in the ER, their expressions a wild combination of gratitude, relief, and grief.

Now, hours later, Jenna was numb. She expected to feel the jitters and the panic later. For now she was taking refuge in the faces of the people who loved her most.

Seth was there, of course, sporting his own bandage, compliments of Josh Lutz. Allison sat very quietly, clinging to her father's hand, knowing how close they'd come to losing him. Seth was blustery and tried to joke, but in the end he'd broken down, holding Jenna, rocking her, which she understood was purely for his own peace. If there was anything she'd learned in the last weeks it was that people needed to care for those they loved and to deny their care was to deny their love.

Lucas came and joked about Casey and Jenna setting up permanent residence in the hospital, which the nurses had not found amusing. Casey had apparently been a less than ideal patient.

But Charlie was the one to truly break the tension, walking boldly into the hushed waiting room, a baseball cap in her hand. "Some people have attractive bald heads, Aunt Jenna," she'd said. "You are not one of them." And she slapped the cap on Jenna's head with a great flourish.

Helen had arrived with the boys about an hour before, Nicky giving her a hug that nearly broke her ribs, reminding her that she and Steven were no closer to resolution. They'd been through fire, saved each other's lives, but had no closure on the very basic issue of "them." Still she'd held Nicky, laughing in all the right places when he told her about a rhino from Ohio who yodeled in the Alps.

Steven was the one person she hadn't seen that morning, her last look at him being from the back of the ambulance at about three a.m. He'd looked scared, as if he still couldn't believe it was over and she was safe. He'd gone into SBI headquarters, insisting he follow the arrest of Josh and his mother to the end and Jenna supposed that's where he still was.

She wasn't sure what she'd say when she saw him. Thank you, seemed inadequate. I love you, would be true, but awkward considering where they'd left things. She'd start with I've missed you and Hold me.

Then, as if conjured from her thoughts, she heard his voice behind her. "Jenna."

She turned, conscious of everyone watching her. She stared at him, at his face that was bruised from Josh's fists, at the marks around his neck from Josh's strangling hands. At the look in his beautiful brown eyes that seemed to say everything that was racing through her mind.

Thank you. I love you. I'm sorry. I've missed you. Please hold me.

She wasn't sure who moved first, just that she was in his arms and he was holding her, finally. Then he was kissing her, there in the hospital waiting room with all their friends and family looking on.

Jenna rested her forehead against his chin. "I was going to say I've missed you and ask you to hold me," she murmured. "But you already are."

He kissed her forehead. "Back at the barn you said you had things to say to me," he whispered.

Thank you, I'm sorry, I love you. The words sang through her mind. "I do, but I was hoping for a place a little more private to say them," she whispered back, now very aware of the curious eyes behind them. "How about some coffee?"

"I was going to suggest Rocky Road."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

They were sitting in the Volvo, parked in front of the convenience store, and Jenna was just finishing the Rocky Road. She'd hung back, saying she didn't want to be seen in public, and his stomach clenched. Despite the bruises and the cuts and the shorn head she was still beautiful and now, as he sat next to her, he desperately wished he had the words to make her believe that.

"Jenna, I don't know where to start."

"Thank you," she said abruptly, then sighed. 'That was on my list of things to say."

He looked out the car window, unable to look at her. "For what? Putting bruises on your face?"

She sighed. "No, for saving my life. You never touched me, Steven. These bruises have nothing to do with you." She paused. "Well, the ones from Thursday night do," she amended.

"Thanks," he muttered bitterly.

"Well, they do. You want to know what the other two things were I wanted to say?"

"Sure, why not?"