Jack sat in the empty chapel of the Golden Falls Medical Center. He stared at his hands and waited for them to stop shaking. Waited for his whole body to stop shaking before he went to see his father, aging and shamed and battered by the man he’d wronged so long ago. He needed to deal with the situation, just as soon as he had control of himself. As soon as he could be what both Josh and Bruce needed him to be.

He would tell Josh the truth. He was done carrying the burden of his dad’s shameful secret, done trying to protect anyone other than Elizabeth, whom he’d protect any way he could until his dying day if only she’d let him.

But she wouldn’t. The look of betrayal on her face was something Jack would never forget. He knew her angry words would haunt him for the rest of his life.

After leaving the jail, he’d read a text from Josh saying their dad had been admitted for observation in case he had a concussion. Beyond that, he had a broken nose and was in a lot of pain, although less so since the painkillers kicked in.

His dad. In the hospital again, twice in just a few months. It had been difficult to see him the first time when he’d been stricken with pneumonia, and it would be even harder this time.

Behind him, he heard the chapel door open and didn’t turn around from his front-bench spot, wanting to avoid human contact. As he sank his face into his hands, he couldn’t remember ever feeling so alone.

“Jack? You all right?”

It was Doc Bauer, who placed a reassuring hand on Jack’s shoulder as he asked the question. His appearance immediately brought Jack out of his wallowing reverie.

“Doc! Thank you for coming!” He stood and gave his older friend a fierce hug. “How’d you know where to find me?” Jack had called him on his way to the hospital and left a message updating him with what had happened.

“I figured you’d be heading to the hospital,” he said. “I peeked into your father’s room and was told you hadn’t arrived yet, so I wandered this way. Tried to put myself in your shoes, and, well, here I am.”

“Will you sit?”

They shared a chapel bench, turned sideways so they could talk.

“How are you holding up?” Doc Bauer asked. “I know this can’t be fun.”

“Part of me always figured something like this would have to happen,” Jack said. “Things had to come to a head somehow, you know? Karma and fate and all that. We had it coming.” He sighed. “I didn’t know I’d have to lose the only woman I’ve ever loved, but I guess that’s part of it all, too. Part of what I had coming.”

“You’re speaking of Elizabeth?”

Jack nodded. “I fell hard for her. I tried not to. Remember how we talked that day at the clinic? I had no intention of pursuing things with Elizabeth, but I just couldn’t stay away. I’ve never felt like this before. Never. And it’s awful, and I hate it, because I can’t control it, and I can’t stop—I can’t stop loving her, even though she’s made it clear she wants nothing to do with me. I don’t know what to do, Doc.”

“Oh, my friend.” Doc Bauer’s eyes crinkled in sympathy. “You’ve got it bad.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Love’s a funny thing,” Doc Bauer said. “And it has the most beautiful way of working itself out. You’ll see. Have a little faith.”

But at the moment, Jack couldn’t see a way to have faith. “She’ll never forgive me. After what I put her through?”

“I don’t know Elizabeth, but I know what it’s like to have a rotten childhood. I know what it’s like to always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, never to trust that anything good can last,” said Doc Bauer. “And that’s what happened here, as it always has in her life. People she let herself love have betrayed her time and again, and so she’s dealing with that disappointment, and she’s probably furious with herself for allowing herself to hope or expect things might have been different this time around.”

“I’m sure you’ve hit the nail on the head,” Jack said.

“But there can be forgiveness. There can be moving on.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Well, what other secrets are you keeping from her?”

“None! This one was bad enough.”

“Would you ever cheat on her?”

“No!”

Jack was horrified by the very thought of it. As if he could ever even look at another woman the way he looked at Elizabeth. She was everything. Her touch. Her kiss. Her heart. She was all he’d ever want.

“So what other shoes can drop for her?” Doc Bauer asked. “What other ways might you hurt her deliberately?”

Jack wracked his brain. “I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. But this wasn’t deliberate, either.”

“And yet it was,” Doc Bauer said kindly. “In a way. In a very roundabout way. You made a deliberate choice at some point long ago, which is causing this moment to play out just like it is. You didn’t know Elizabeth at the time you made your choice, true. You didn’t have any personal animosity toward her or anyone in her family. But you made a deliberate decision nonetheless that, to her, feels a hell of a lot like betrayal.”

“Yes,” Jack said. “That’s exactly correct.”

“Well, here’s the thing,” Doc Bauer said. “The way you feel for Elizabeth—being drawn to her and unable to control your feelings—you’re describing true love. I know because I’ve experienced it myself, with my wife. Whatever your most profound feelings are for her, you have to trust that she has those same feelings, too. True love is a raging fire that can’t be contained. It’s bigger and wilder than any human’s ability to quench it. So you’re stuck with the love you have for her, and the good news is, she’s stuck with the love she has for you, too. She can’t get away from it if she tries—so eventually, she’ll stop trying.”

“You think?”

Doc Bauer shrugged. “You may have a lot of proving to do that you will never, ever hurt her again, but her heart knows your heart. In time she’ll be able to forgive you.”

Jack whistled, almost feeling bad for Elizabeth, who he knew had no desire to forgive him. “Damn, love can sometimes suck, huh? It can cause you to do things you’d never, ever planned to do.” He thought then of his father, who’d become a thief to try to save his mother from cancer, and he understood completely why he’d done it.

“Love is in charge, not us,” Doc Bauer said. “Once we realize that, it gets easier. Have faith in love, because love has faith in you, or it wouldn’t have let you meet her in the first place.”