Catherine was driving to the nearby town when Steve called her. She stopped the car on the side of the road to talk to him.

"Hi, Cath. You promised to call me when you got home and I was waiting for your call."

"I'm sorry, Steve. A tragedy has happened and I'm bewildered."

"What happened, Cath?" Steve was worried.

"Susan left to have fun with her boyfriend and left Kevin home alone. There was a fire and Kevin was taken out of the house by the neighbors and now he's in the hospital. I'm going to the neighboring town to see him. I haven't even been to my house yet. I'm sorry I didn't call," she said and Steve could tell she was crying. He felt bad about minimizing her concern for the boy while she was in Hawaii. "Calm down, you can't drive like that. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Kevin is okay."

"Thank you," Catherine responded and tried to calm down.

"Promise me you'll drive carefully? And please call me when you get to the hospital," Steve asked.

"I'll drive carefully, and I'll call you. I promise."

"Okay. I'm gonna wait."

An hour later, Catherine called Steve to say she had arrived at the hospital.

"Thank God. And how is Kevin?" He asked.

"I haven't seen him yet, I'm waiting for permission to visit him. I'll call you again later."

"Okay," Steve responded and ended the call.

Danny saw that Steve looked worried and walked into his office. "Is there a problem, Steve?"

"Yes, Danny. I failed Catherine a lot. I moved to the island without even asking her opinion, I encouraged her to leave the Navy and when she implied that she wanted to have children with me I pretended I didn't understand. An then she left, we separated, but the desire to have a child continued in her heart. Having a child was a dream she never realized and that's why she's so attached to her godson. I unconsciously denied the realization of her dream."

"But she could have tried to have children with someone else," Danny replied.

"She always loved me, Danny. Even though she left, she always loved me and I don't think she wanted to have a child with anyone other than me."

"That's what I call a high self-esteem," Danny replied

"I was insensitive to her, Danny. Her godson is in the hospital and I don't know how she'll react if the worst happens. There was a fire at his house."

""I'm so sorry about the boy, Steve. But are you blaming yourself for something that happened thousands of miles away from you?" Danny asked him.

"I was insensitive to her in the past and I'm being insensitive to her in the present. She was worried about Kevin when she came to see me and I didn't understand it. Now I can see that she was right to be worried about him."

"But why all this analysis of the past?" Danny asked.

"I'm thinking more mature now," Steve replied.

Catherine was allowed to see Kevin at the hospital. He was sedated, but the nurse told her to talk to him because he could hear her even though her voice might seem distant to him.

She approached the bed and caressed the boy's hair with one hand and with the other hand she held his hand. "Hi, Kevin. It's me, your auntie Cath. I'm sorry I wasn't around when you needed me, but I'm here now and I'm not leaving you. I love you, honey."

Kevin moved his hand gently, but Catherine felt it. "Oh, dear!" She kissed his forehead fondly. He was listening to her and it calmed her heart a little.

A week later...

Catherine was at the hospital with Kevin and she saw the boy smile as he looked towards the door. She also smiled when she saw Steve enter the room. "Look who came to visit you, honey," she told Kevin.

"Hey," he said as he approached and kissed her softly and quickly.

Steve offered Kevin a stuffed dog. "Hi Kevin. I brought you a friend."

Kevin smiled at Steve and took the gift from him.

"Glad you liked it, buddy," Steve told him and kissed his forehead.

"I'm glad you came," Catherine told Steve.

"And I'm glad I'm here," Steve replied and hugged her.

PS: Thank you for your review in the previous chapter.