Chapter 16

After Donovan left with Lockwood and Ashcroft back to Miami, Rachel took herself and Nancy Beth to the ER. The physicians wanted to check her out as well, but she didn't want them looking at her until she knew Nancy Beth was all right. Nancy Beth told her how to reach her frantic parents, and they assured her they would get to the hospital in due time.

Rachel sat in the waiting room, wishing she was calm enough to read a magazine or something. The TV was on, but all the news was about the capture of the TSK killer. Rachel surely didn't want to pay attention to that. She picked up a magazine, it was about twenty years old, but she thumbed through it anyway. She wanted to wait for Nancy Beth's parents to arrive. She had no idea what they looked like, but considering that the ER was deserted, they wouldn't be hard to identify. After looking at the magazine for about twenty minutes, she dropped it. What was up with Nancy Beth anyway? No one would tell her anything, because she wasn't a relative.

It was then that she noticed two people entering through the sliding doors of the hospital. They looked about the right age to be Nancy Beth's parents. They didn't notice Rachel. Instead, they went up to the reception desk and asked about their daughter. When they didn't get any useful information that way, the man went off to find help. Rachel watched the woman go over to one of the hard plastic seats and sit down. Figuring this had to be the elder Gooch's, Rachel approached her.

She sat next to her. "I'm sorry for invading your space," she said. "I'm Rachel Sloane. I came in with your daughter." She noticed that Nancy Beth's eyes came from her mother. "Your daughter is in pretty bad shape, but she'll pull through. She is a very brave girl."

The woman took hold of Rachel's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you so much for being there with her. I'm Grace Gooch. I know she had to be terrified. Sweetie, you look pretty torn up yourself. Have you seen a doctor?"

She shook her head. "No, not yet, I wanted to make sure Nancy Beth is all right."

Just then Rachel saw a tall man coming from down the hall. He was Nancy Beth's father. His daughter inherited his hair. He glanced at the young woman sitting beside his wife with great curiosity. "Grace, Nancy Beth is in Room 1099."

She nodded. "Bryan, this is Rachel Sloane. She brought Nancy Beth in," she said.

He shook her hand. "Thank God for you."

Rachel shook her head. "No, Nancy Beth is the hero here. She saved me."

Grace stood and walked over to her husband. "Miss Sloane? Would you mind coming along with us? I'm sure Nancy Beth would love to see you."

Bryan Gooch nodded. "Oh, yes ma'am, please. Nancy Beth asked about you."

"I don't want to intrude," Rachel said.

"You won't be," Grace said. "Please, come along."

The three of them walked down a long corridor to the elevator that would take them to the tenth floor. They rode up in silence. Rachel had begun to feel dizzy, so she was glad there was something to hang onto in the elevator. They walked down to 1099 and could hear Nancy Beth speaking to a nurse. The three of them entered her room and when she saw Rachel, she began to cry. Without waiting a moment, Rachel approached the girl and held her until her tears began to taper off, then she pulled away and gazed up at her with her shiny sapphire eyes.

"What about you, Rachel?" She asked. "You look like you need a hospital bed, too. I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for you."

Rachel laughed, shedding her own tears now. "No way, Nancy Beth. You were the brave one."

"Don't you need a doctor?" She asked. "Didn't that crazy guy say you were having a baby?"

"Don't worry about me, Nancy Beth, I'm fine." She kissed the girl's forehead. "I'll check back on you after you visit with your parents for a while."

Rachel kissed her forehead again and started for the hallway. She never made it. She passed out right before she left Nancy Beth's room.

It was past midnight before Donovan and Lockwood made it back to Miami with a rambling Jack Ashcroft. The two men left him in the custody of marshals from the federal prison, who would hold him there until he was ready to go to trial. Donovan didn't have time to dawdle. He had heard nothing from Rachel, and he was worried sick. He told Lockwood to stay there to answer to Director Buchanan, because he wanted to go back to Brandonvale. Unless he was lucky, he knew that even if he floored it, he wouldn't reach the town until dawn.

When Donovan arrived in Brandonvale, there were already media outlets from as far as away as Tennessee descending on the town. He almost didn't find a parking space at the hospital. It was a community hospital like that of Springville, so it didn't have that many parking spaces to begin with. He ran toward the entrance, his heart racing, his mind coming up with all kinds of scenarios he could think of regarding Rachel's health. As soon as he made it to the reception desk, he was told she was on the tenth floor in Room 1098. He had no idea it was next door to Nancy Beth.

He ran toward the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator. Floor after floor passed him by, his mind making up the most horrible things happening to her. Over and over, he felt that she was worse than she looked, that she was dying, or that she had had a miscarriage. Tons of things. When he passed by room 1097, his pace slowed. He didn't know if he was ready to see her yet. Was he calm enough? Would he only make a bad situation worse? Whatever the case, he moved on. The room door was open. He entered and saw Rachel in a hospital bed. There was a young girl in a wheelchair at her bedside. He immediately recognized Nancy Beth Gooch.

Nancy Beth looked up at Donovan. "I'll be leaving the two of you alone now," she said with a smile, that of a girl who knows what grown up couples do.

He smiled back at her as she left, then he made a dash toward her bedside. The effect was almost comic. She might have laughed, but he didn't know her status, so she would not do that to him. He dragged a chair over, sat down, and took her hand.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Have you even slept, Frank? How did you get back so fast? You should have waited," she said.

He leaned over her and kissed her hard, deeply, feeling the instant need to taste her, to touch her in the only way he could right now. She responded readily enough, one arm coming up so her hand could cup the back of his head. She couldn't help it. The horror of the night had begun to hit her, to overwhelm her. She cried. The harder she cried, the tighter he held her, his lips drinking in her salty tears. When her tears dried up, he placed one small kiss on her lips and pulled away.

"Forget me," he said. "I want to know. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, quickly wiping fresh tears out of her eyes. "No, everything is fine. Even the baby. As much as I put my body through tonight, even the baby is strong."

"You're her mother, that's why," he said softly.

"If it is a girl," she said quietly. She began to cry again. "Lily's gone, Frank," she whispered harshly. "She saved me. She saved my life. I can never thank her for that."

"I know," he said gently. "But she would probably tell you to stop blubbering over her. She was that kind of lady. A good one. Wherever she is, she knows you're thanking her."

She nodded, noticing that her tears were getting harder and harder. "What about Jack? What happened to him? Is he secure?"

"Yes," Donovan said. "I left Lockwood in charge of him. He went with the federal authorities to assure that he is locked up until trial. In Florida, he is bound to receive the death penalty."

"He deserves it," she said sharply, harshly. "Can you hold me now, Frank? Can you hold me for a long time? It's over, but it still hurts."

They clung together like people do when they're shipwrecked. They were survivors of a terrible crime, a rein of terror. It had finally ended.

Months later, Donovan and Rachel found themselves at the residence of Maude and Dale Shempert again. The elder couple were away on vacation and allowed them to stay in the room where their love was not only renewed but strengthened. They sat on the deck, a table and a pitcher of iced tea between them. Rachel was hugely pregnant, due any day. She made a joke about putting her glass of tea on her stomach. It sat there perfectly, in wonderful symmetry. Amused, Donovan grabbed the glass before the baby could kick it right off. He was right so many months ago. Rachel was having a girl.

They sat in lounge chairs, watching three teenagers playing basketball out in the yard. Two of them were, of course, Donovan's sons. Megan had finally sent them out to see their father. It was a big time in Donovan's life. He and Rachel had married two weeks ago. No one asked about the baby she was carrying, they simply figured it was Donovan's. Neither told them anything different. The other teenager playing with the boys was Nancy Beth Gooch. Since Donovan and Rachel had gotten married here, she had hung around them as much as possible, even calling Rachel her 'aunt.' It was fine with Rachel. In fact, she was going to make Nancy Beth her child's godmother. It might sound crazy, but Nancy Beth was eighteen now, bound for college. After college, she was joining the FBI.

There were some unpleasant things as well. Jack Ashcroft was convicted for all the deaths he was responsible for. As Donovan predicted, he was sentenced to die. He sent Rachel letters almost every week talking about their child, wanting to see their baby, and so on. That is, until Donovan put a stop to it. Something peculiar had happened to Jack Ashcroft. He somehow lost the use of his hands. No one else would write letters for him, either. He hadn't told Rachel how it happened or why Ashcroft could no longer write, but that was okay. There were only so many things a wife wanted to be told.

"I think Nancy Beth is falling in love with Adam," Rachel said with a smile.

Donovan laughed. "Don't say that, I was thinking the same thing. They're too young to run off and get married. College first."

She laughed as well, but her eyes were haunted. Something was bothering her. She caressed her abdomen gently, every now and again she could feel her daughter moving inside her. "Frank, do you think she'll be like Jack?"

"No way," he said with certainty. "She will have two loving parents who will spoil her rotten. She'll have a great godmother, two loving brothers, and scores of other relatives. Don't worry, Rachel, Jack's type of problem isn't hereditary. Just remember one thing. She isn't his daughter, she's ours."

"There was something else I was thinking," she said.

"Yeah?"

"I thought that since Lily saved my life, I would like to name her Lily. What do think about that?"

She was gazing at him, waiting for his approval. Already, they were thinking in terms of Donovan being the father. That was all right with him. He had considered himself the baby's father the moment he found out Rachel was pregnant. "I think it's perfect. She would have loved it, Rachel."

She smiled again, noticing that her eyes were leaking. "I think so, too." She looked out at the kids having themselves a grand old time. "Lily Belle Donovan it is."

He took her hand in his and held it tightly. They sat outside listening to the sounds of summer, birds chirping, frogs singing for rain, and the laughter of children playing.

Finis