Note: Clearly this is not going to be the last chapter. One more to come, I think. . . .

Oh, and Elizabeth is meant to be Dr. Pierce's wife. And yes, people do seem to have started calling him by his real name! I don't know why, unless it's because his wife does, and he's gotten used to it.

Chapter 21:

Betty puffed a little as she came up the steps from the church basement and made her way across the street to the park. Goodness, how long had she been down there, helping with the set-up for the supper? The line of families waiting to see her father was gone.

And-as she rounded a corner and looked into the bandstand-her father was gone, too. A couple of Lions were there, Ernie Garnet and Bill Evans. They'd finished packing up the heater and generator, and were just starting to take down the tarps.

"Where's Dad?" she asked.

"Doctor's," Ernie said.

Betty's eyes went wide, and her heart started to flutter wildly in her chest.

"Not for himself," Ernie added, mercifully. "Something happened with a child."

"Mamie was by and told us," Bill Evans called out. "A family came into the bakery and bought out their supply of gingerbread to try to calm their kiddies down. Said your dad came down the stairs and scooped up the little girl ahead of them, started running down the street with her in his arms. She said he headed up Elm Street with her."

He didn't have to tell Betty that the doctor's house was just off Elm, on Maple. The whole town knew where Dr. Pierce lived.

"How long ago was that?" Betty asked.

"'Bout twenty minutes, I think. We came by ten minutes ago to start packing up, and he was gone then for sure."

"I'll go straight there, then," Betty said.

She was still puffing from the pull up the hill when she turned into Maple Street. It was quite dark now, except for the lights twinkling down at the harbor, the pearly beads of the streetlamps and the warm, yellow glow from the windows of homes along the village streets. As she approached the doctor's house, she thought she could see a small form huddled on the front step. She picked up her pace.

"Noah Lyman!" she gasped, when she saw who it was. "What ever are you doing here?"

000000

"He's all right," Donna sobbed into the phone to Josh. "He's hurt his arm somehow, but he's going to be quite all right, Benjamin said. It's only a bad scratch, or something. And he's gotten a bit chilled from sitting out in the cold, the silly idiot, but Elizabeth has popped him into a hot bath, and is pouring hot chocolate into him, and the agents have gone to get him, and the doctor kept saying that I've just got to remember that he's really quite all right."

"Thank God," Josh said, and sat down abruptly, his legs suddenly weak with relief. "Thank God."

They were conventional words that came to his lips because they were what people said in moments of profound relief, not because he believed in any religion or God. And yet he'd never come closer than he was in that moment to thinking that maybe there could actually be some sort of divine organizing principle of goodness behind the chaos and cruelty and injustice of the visible world.

"Benjamin wanted to talk to Gerald," Donna went on. Gerald was the agent in charge of security at the lighthouse. "Something he thought he should know; I don't know what. And there's another child, Josh, a girl-that's who he went to see. I wanted to talk to him, of course, so Elizabeth put him on-he was in the bath-and he said he was sorry, he hadn't meant to upset everyone, and could he bring his friend home with him, because she's been scraped up too, somehow. I don't know what they've been doing. I said yes, of course. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not. But what about her family? Won't they want her home for Christmas Eve?"

"There's just a mother, it seems-she works as a maid in town. Betty knows her. She was there, Sid brought the girl in-it's all so confusing, I don't really know what happened, all I've been able to hear is bits and pieces so far. Betty's going to get in touch with her and tell her I want her to come, too. The agents are making a bit of a fuss about it. You'll tell them it's all right, won't you? They don't have to do a background check on the poor woman if Noah already knows her. And Betty, and Sid!"

"I'll talk to Gerald," Josh promised. "I've got a surprise for you, too-Sam and Toby and C.J. and Danny are going to be arriving with me. They wanted to come, when they heard. I suppose I should have said no, but. . . ."

"I'm so glad!" Donna exclaimed, still a little weepily. "I'm so glad you've had them with you. What a good thing we had those cottages built. I'll go right out and get the beds made up. It will be something to do, until Noah gets here. But-what about Ainsley and Andie, and the children? Shall I call, and see if they want to come up tonight, too?"

"You're a saint, Donna."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all. I don't expect you'll want to go out to dinner tonight, will you?"

"Oh, I'd forgotten! Completely forgotten; it had slipped my mind entirely! No, I couldn't. Not tonight. I just want to be home with Noah, and Sally, and you. And our parents, of course. And the others-it will be lovely to have the others, but I couldn't go out tonight. I'm so sorry; I know we always do, but-you don't mind, do you?"

"Of course I don't mind. I couldn't, either. I'll call Gagnon, and-actually, I have a better idea."

"What is it?"

"Never you mind; it'll be a surprise for you. I just need to talk to Gerald first, and then I'll call Gagnon. You call Andie and Ainsley, and see if they're willing to pull up stakes and fly up here tonight. They can stay as long as they want, of course. Just make sure they don't feel like they have to come; it'll be quite a production for them to get the kids organized, and I can have Toby and Sam back there tonight, if they don't want the bother."

"Of course. Oh, I do love you, Josh!"

Josh felt his throat tighten and his eyes start to burn.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he said, huskily.

And Air Force One sped on through the night.