He could still see Evan Remington's colorless eyes, wide and wild in a face white as bone. "A padded room's as good as a cell."

She got to her feet to pour more tea. But when she came back to the table, Zack wrapped an arm around her, pressed his face into her body.

"It's going to take a while for me to get the picture of you with a knife to your throat out of my head."

She stroked his hair. "We have a lifetime to put others in its place. I want to marry you, Sheriff Todd. I want to start that lifetime very soon."

She slid into his lap, sighing as she rested her head on his good shoulder. Through the window she could see the first streaks of color announcing dawn, the pale burn across the sky.

Laying a hand on his heart, she timed its beats to her own. And knew the truest magic was there.

***