Sara held onto her mother’s hand as the men worked around her, cutting her out of the twisted metal.

When her parents had arrived moments ago, before the sirens could be heard, her father had started to crawl into the Jeep with her, but she’d frantically told him that Parker had been driving. She’d convinced her dad that she was okay and that he should look for Parker instead of crawling in there with her. He’d fought her, but then he’d listened to her pleas and had disappeared. She hadn’t expected her mother to crawl in the twisted Jeep in his place, but she had and sat next to her until help arrived.

Her mother’s presence and comforting words soothed her slightly, causing the initial shock and adrenaline to lessen, and suddenly she could feel every ounce of pain.

Her body was shaking by the time her legs were freed from the metal. She was covered in blankets and gently pulled from the Jeep. Being strapped to a gurney and tied down so she couldn’t move was nerve-racking, but at least her mother was able to ride with her to the Edgeview hospital.

“Where’s Dad?” she asked feeling the effects of whatever they had given her start to relax her.

“Honey, he’s looking for Parker.”

“I love him, Mom,” she said as tears slid down her face. “I can’t lose him.”

“Oh, honey, I know.” Her mother’s face blurred. “Your dad will find him. After all, he was the one who found me when I was lost.” Her mother smiled.

“Okay.” Sara was so groggy now, she couldn’t hold onto a single thought. The only thing in her mind was an image of Parker smiling at her.

There was a mixture of lights, sounds, and pain before a sweet darkness and calm filled her.

She woke several times with pain. She remembered waking up on the X-ray table, being rolled into another room, then having bright lights shine in her eyes as her legs turned numb.

Her eyes scanned the room for Parker, but he wasn’t there.

The next time she woke, it was oddly quiet. Reaching her hand out, she winced as wires tugged on her skin.

“Easy.” Her mother’s voice was beside her. She gently took her hand. “I’ve got you.”

“Parker?” she asked.

“Your father just called. They’re still looking for him. They’ll find him.” Her mother leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“How bad am I?” she asked, sliding her eyes closed again. She scanned her body to see if she felt any pain, but everything was numb from whatever they had given her. Her head spun when her eyes closed, so she opened them again.

“You have a broken leg, your right one. It was a compound fracture. They fixed it up, but they gave you a few pins and screws.” Her mother’s voice was oddly strong, and Sara searched her eyes.

“What else?”

She shrugged. “Cuts and scrapes. The leg was the worst of it.”

“What hit us?” she asked, remembering only a few details.

“We don’t know. Robert is trying to figure it out now, but Parker is the priority.”

She could tell her mother was hiding something.

“What?” she asked. “Tell me.”

Her mother took a deep breath. “They think… The Jeep was close to the edge of the road at the turn on Inlet Road. They think there’s a slight chance Parker was thrown from the Jeep and landed in the water.”

Sara’s heart skipped. “You mean, he was thrown off the cliff?” Images of that particular turn flashed in her head. It was easily a hundred-foot drop to the rocks and water below. She’d driven the road most of her life and had never thought anything of the tight turn. Tears rolled down her face as she felt her chest tighten.

“Honey, it’s only a theory.” Her mother leaned down and kissed her again. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

But Sara was blocking out everything once again as terrible images flooded her mind. There were so many things she hadn’t told Parker, so many new memories she’d wanted to make with him. She hadn’t even told him how she felt about him, that she loved him. She’d wasted too much time. She cried for her loss until once more, the darkness took her.

She woke herself up, crying once again, Parker’s name on her lips as pain spread through her heart.

“Easy,” a soothing voice said beside her. Her hand was gently caressed. “I’ve got you.”

“No, I want Parker.” She shook her head. “Nothing will ever be okay again. He’s gone.” More tears flowed, and her chest started to hurt once again.

“I’m here,” he said softly. “I’m not going anywhere.” When his lips touched hers softly, she finally opened them, and Parker’s face came into focus.

“You’re here!” she cried. She reached up for him, and this time, when the wires tugged on her skin, she didn’t mind. Her fingers touched his face and she smiled. “You’re okay?”

“Slightly better than you, at the moment.”

There was dry blood on his face. It looked like he hadn’t even been seen by a doctor or cleaned up yet.

She tried to sit up to get a better look at him, but he held her still. “Easy,” he warned. “You’re kind of tied in with all these wires and tubes.” He moved her hand slightly and set it back, so the wires weren’t pulling.

“You’re okay?” she asked again.

“Yeah.” He smiled down at her.

“Where were you?” She frowned.

“Later.” He leaned in and kissed her again. “They want to clean me up a bit, but I had to see you first.” He rested his forehead on hers. “Later, we’re going to talk about our future.” He leaned back. “I love you and I don’t ever want to be away from you like that again.”

She nodded. There was a lump in her throat, but she managed to say, “I love you.”

His lips covered hers again, slowly kissing her until they heard someone clear their throat.

She glanced over and smiled at her dad. She’d seen Todd Jordan scared before, but nothing like he looked now as he walked over to her.

“You found him.” She reached for her dad as Parker moved aside. Her dad took her hand. She could see that he was trying to mask his worry, which wasn’t really working.

“He found us, actually.” Her dad chuckled and looked over at Parker. “The fool was trying to drive back down the road himself, in the state he’s in.”

“Drive?” She frowned. Nothing was making sense, and she realized the machine administering her pain meds had just kicked in again. “Damn, I’m going loopy again.”

“It’s okay.” Parker came into view again. “Rest. I’ll be back after they clean me up.”

“Promise?” she said, sleepily.

“Always.” His voice drifted into her mind as she shut down once more.

* * *

Parker hissed when the fluid washed over his torn skin.

“Sorry,” the nurse said softly as she worked on patching him back together.

“It’s fine,” he said, turning his attention back to Robert, who was standing at the foot of the bed where Parker was getting cleaned up and sewn back together. So far, he had twenty stitches in various places. He expected he still needed at least ten more in his leg.

“We have your father…” When Parker’s eyes narrowed at him, Robert cleared his throat. “I mean, Jake in custody. He was right where you left him. You did a fine job on him, son.” Parker could have sworn there was a hint of pride in the man’s voice. “They’re patching his face up now down the hall.”

“He deserved it. Besides, I only hit him once.” He thought about it. “Twice.”

“From the looks of it, that’s all it took. They said that the guy appeared intoxicated. We’ve taken a blood sample and will charge him for DUI along with the hit and run.”

“He rammed his truck into the Jeep and almost killed Sara.” Parker tried to keep his anger in check. “Not to mention he kidnapped me and tried to throw me off a cliff.”

“Did he say that was his intention?” Robert asked, writing something down in the little book he had.

“Well, no, but he didn’t have to. Why else did he take me up there? He sure the hell wasn’t going to have a father-son moment.”

Robert nodded. “We’ll get as much information out of him as we can. You say you have a brother…” Robert looked at his notes. “Palmer?” Parker had given the boy’s location to Robert and told him he had every intention of getting custody of the kid as soon as possible.

“Right.” He nodded. “I’ll have someone contact the house where he’s at first thing in the morning and let them know you’ll be there soon.”

“We were going to go up there this weekend and get him, but now… I might drive up there today.” He felt his stomach roll. He didn’t want to let another night fall without meeting the kid.

Robert nodded, then waited for the nurse to leave the room. “Most people in town don’t know my story,” he said softly. “My old man killed my mother, took off on me. Left me all alone. I was raised by my grandmother, much like you were. Then, after I became sheriff, I hunted him down. He died years back, sitting in the jail cell I put him in.” Robert held out his hand to him. Parker shook it. “I’m not usually one for talking about it, but if you need to chat, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks.” When the man was gone, Parker stood up, testing his leg. There was a fresh bandage over the row of stiches holding his shin together. He pulled up his tattered pants and looked around for his shirt. It was a complete loss and he was looking around the room for something to throw on when Sara’s dad walked into the room.

“Thought you might need a fresh shirt.” Todd handed him a new shirt wrapped up in plastic. “I got this in the gift shop downstairs, so I apologize ahead of time.”

Parker opened the shirt and smiled. Straight outta surgery was printed in bold white letters across the black T-shirt.

“It’ll do,” he said as he pulled it over his head.

“I wanted to thank you.” Todd reached his hand out.

Parker frowned at it. “For? Putting your daughter’s life in danger?”

Todd shook his head. “That isn’t what I’ve heard. From where I’m standing, it looks like you did everything you could to protect my little girl.” The man moved closer and his voice dropped slightly. “Tonight’s not for storytelling, but there was a time, not so long ago, that I was in your shoes. You can’t always stop bad things from happening to those you love, but it’s how you fight for them and protect them, then pick yourself up afterwards, that really counts. I see the way you look at my little girl and more importantly, the way she looks back at you.” Todd smiled, and Parker relaxed slightly. “She’s not my little baby anymore, but she’ll always be my little girl. Do you understand?”

Parker nodded slowly and swallowed the knot in his throat.

“Good, because I just wanted to make myself clear that I approve of your next move.” The man’s eyes bore into his own and Parker received the message clearly.

“Thanks,” he managed to croak out.

Todd’s smile grew. “Welcome to the family, son.”

As if in a daze, Todd led him back to Sara’s private room. The shades were drawn, and the lights were dimmed. He glanced at the clock and realized his men would be showing up for work any minute. He thought about heading over there to make sure everything was okay, but then turned towards Todd.

“Any chance I can convince you to head over and make sure my men get into the restaurant to do their work today?”

“I’ve already called Riley. She’ll head over there and open up before coming down here. She’s going to fill in for Sara this afternoon as well.”

“Sara’s not going to like that,” he said under his breath.

Megan smiled. “We won’t tell her until tomorrow.”

He chuckled as he sat beside the bed. Sara was fast asleep.

“We’ll head down and grab something for you at the cafeteria. We need to make a few calls ourselves,” Todd added, taking his wife’s arm.

They left the room as his eyes ran over Sara’s entire body, taking in every bandage.

Her right leg was propped up and had a metal halo around it. He couldn’t see any pins sticking out of her skin, but he’d overheard her mother talking about pins and wondered just where they were.

He pulled the sheet that was covering the leg aside and, suddenly, tears burned his eyes. He collapsed next to the bed and cried as he looked at her bruised and broken body.

What had he done? Why couldn’t he have protected her better? Why was his family so screwed up?

What if he brought his brother into this mess and his father was telling the truth and the kid was as screwed up as he was? Could he be putting Sara in more danger?

By the time her parents returned with a foam container of eggs and bacon, he had made up his mind. Telling them his idea was one of the hardest things he’d had to do in a long time. He was surprised that they were open minded and, in the end, agreed to his plan. When Sara’s brother volunteered to drive him, his chest grew tight.

He kissed Sara before Matt drove him home to let the dog out, shower, and change.

Riley had arrived at the hospital with a bundle of flowers for her cousin.

So much had changed in the past month. His business was stronger than ever, his relationship with Sara had progressed quickly, and his standing in the town had become so strong, most of the town now accepted him as a true local.

There was only one part of his life that needed mending, and he was hoping to take care of that by the end of the day.