The police officer drove Abigail and Jackson to the police station, where he gave Abigail first aid for her eye injuries.
"It appears that someone must have attacked you with pepper spray so that they could take your little girl," he told Abigail. "Are you absolutely certain that you didn't notice anyone who looked suspicious around?"
Abigail slowly shook her head.
"Can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against you or wish you harm?" the officer asked.
"Well, my husband's ex-wife was harassing us over the phone for awhile," Abigail said after giving the matter some thought. "But I can't believe she'd actually do something this crazy!"
"I've seen this type of thing happen before." The officer shook his head sadly.
Abigail tried to call Jack at work, but one of his co-workers told her that he'd left because of an emergency telephone call. They couldn't tell her anything about it except that he'd seemed very upset. 'Panicky' was the word they'd used. Desperate, she called Beryl and told her what had happened. Beryl immediately drove to the police station, collected Abigail and Jackson, and drove them back to their home to await word from the police.
Abigail couldn't stop shaking and crying. Beryl did everything she could to try to calm her daughter down, but nothing worked. At last she gave up and instead busied herself with getting Jackson interested in coloring in his coloring book. For several hours there was no word at all, and then suddenly a police car pulled up in front of the house. With her heart in her throat, Abigail flew to the door and flung it open. She sagged with sweet relief as she watched Jack and Julie emerge from the back seat.
"Julie! My baby!" Abigail raced for the child and gathered her up into her arms, holding her as if she'd never let her go. She felt Jack's arms around her as well, holding her just as tightly.
"I was so afraid I'd never see you again," Abigail told her daughter.
"Well, it looks like this story has a happy ending, after all," Abigail heard one of the police officers say. "I sure wish I could say the same for all of them."
Still clinging to one another tightly, Jack and Abigail made their way back into the house, where Beryl and Jackson eagerly awaited them.
Abigail, still holding Julie, eased down onto the sofa, and Jack sat beside her.
"So what happened?" Beryl, unable to contain her curiosity a moment longer, finally asked.
"Karen called me at the school and told me that she had my daughter, and that if I ever wanted to see her alive again, I'd come to the courthouse right away," Jack said. "When I got there, I found Karen on top of the building with a bullhorn. She had Julie with her. She yelled down at me that Julie should have been our daughter, mine and hers, and that if I still refused to divorce Abigail and remarry her, that she'd jump and push Julie down with her. Of course I agreed, and while she was climbing down from the roof with Julie, I called the police. They came and apprehended Karen and brought Julie and me back home."
"Well, all's well that ends well, I guess," said Beryl.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to let Julie out of my sight again," said Abigail.
That night she and Jack made love, and afterwards she lay in his arms unable to go to sleep. At last she got out of bed and went into Julie's bedroom, where she fell asleep on the floor beside the little girl's bed. At some point later in the night, Jack found her and carried her back to bed, and she awakened in her own bed the next morning.