Giant tears spilled from her lovely eyes and traced dirty tracks along her cheeks. Leaning forward, she pressed her face to my shirt and cried. I wrapped my arms around her, my heart aching with each hiccup and sob that escaped her. She fisted her hands in the wet material of my shirt and held on as if I was the only thing keeping her alive.

I watched as the crew worked to remove Arthur from the car, fitting him with a neck brace and loading him onto a stretcher.

The first of the journalists arrived as they were loading him into the ambulance. Leaning down, I swooped Meredith into my arms and headed for Charles’s car. He opened the back door for me and I slid in carefully.

“I need to go to the hospital.” Her voice sounded so tiny and broken. She had cried so hard and for so long, I was surprised she could talk at all.

“Let’s get you changed first.” I set her on the seat next to me and reached around to buckle her in. “You’re drenched to the bone, and the paramedics said that your father was stable.”

“Hospital.” Her chin jutted forward and I sighed.

“Very well.” Charles met my eyes in the rearview mirror and I nodded my head.

Picking up my phone, I called the Thysmer house and asked for Rachel.

“You found him?” Her motherly voice rang with worry.

“We’re on our way to the hospital. Could you get some dry clothes together for Meredith? She’s soaked to the bone.”

“Yes. Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you.” I hung up and immediately called Alex.

“How’d it go?” My brother answered the phone with no greeting.

“Not so well.” I lowered my voice. “We’re on our way to the hospital.”

“What happened?” His tone shifted. “Is Meredith hurt?”

“No. Arthur had a car accident.” I frowned. I wasn’t going to elaborate with Meredith sitting next to me. “He’s stable, but I’m not sure when we’ll get home.”

“Don’t worry about Marty. Samantha and he have been having a blast. He’ll be safe here with us.” Alex’s crisp words flowed through the phone. “Family comes first.”

He had said those very words to me before I’d gotten in the car this morning. I closed my eyes. He’d understood that Meredith and Marty were mine, even before I had. And in turn, Alex and the others had accepted Meredith and Marty as their family.“Thank you.” I said the words quietly. “Don’t tell Marty. Let Meredith handle that, okay?”

“Of course.” Alex paused and I could practically hear his brain working. “Let me know if you need anything else. I can send someone to Thysmer if I need to.”

“Rachel is there. I believe the place is in good hands for now.” I looked over at Meredith. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Okay.”

I hung up the phone and wrapped my arm around Meredith.

“I’ve been such a burden to your family.” She turned and looked at me. “Do they mind watching Marty a little longer?”

“Alex said that Samantha is having a blast.” I looked down into her eyes and tried to figure out how to explain how my family saw them. “You are not a burden. My family . . . my family loves you. You’ll be lucky if they ever let you leave.”

“Maybe I don’t want to leave.” A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Picking up her cold hand, I brought it to my lips. “Good.”

We were silent the rest of the ride to the hospital. Charles dropped us off at the emergency entrance and we were escorted back to the triage area where they were working on Arthur.

She never let go of my hand. Her fingers squeezed mine as she watched them pull glass out of wounds and go over X-rays. We were huddled in a tiny corner, out of the way as the staff worked. One of the nurses took note of our wet clothes and took pity on us. She disappeared and came back with two thin blankets. I wrapped them both around Meredith’s shivering shoulders.

By the time Rachel arrived with clothes, they had taken Arthur back for surgery. One of his lungs had been punctured, but the surgeon seemed very confident that he would be able to repair the damage. Rachel handed me a bag of men’s clothes before she ushered Meredith off to the bathroom to change.

I shrugged out of my ruined clothes in the men’s room and tossed them in the trash. The clothes Rachel had brought were a little big, but that was better than being too small. Unfortunately I was stuck with my wet dress shoes. Going to the mirror, I looked at my reflection and frowned. I hadn’t realized how much blood I’d gotten on my face and in my hair.

Turning the water on, I stuck my head under the flow and used the hand soap to scrub my hair. It wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was better than having matted blood stuck on my head.

By the time I got out, the press had been alerted to our presence. Thankfully, one of the doctors offered us his office to wait in.

It was the longest four hours of my life. Meredith refused to eat the entire time, her face pale and her hands clenched together. The only time she moved from her seat was to talk to Marty on the phone. She paced back and forth in the tiny office while she cheerily talked to her son about the fish he had caught. When she was done, she collapsed in the chair next to me, and I pulled her into my lap.

“It’s going to be okay,” I murmured against her head.

“How can you know?” she whispered.

“I just do.” God, please let him be all right. Meredith had dealt with enough.