“And I’m grateful. You can’t know how grateful I am. But there’s a part of me that wants desperately to go back to that life I lived at the hospital. I don’t know if that was part of the posthypnotic suggestion or if I just became accustomed to the routine and care. All I know is that if I want to be free, I can’t have supports to prop me up. I might lean on them too much.” She smiled shakily. “Please. It’s not because I don’t care. I’d love to be with you. Maybe someday I’ll be able to take what you want to give me. You and Joe are very strong. You’re generous, and you’d want to keep me from getting hurt. But that’s not the way I’ll learn to be a complete person, is it? You have your own lives, your own careers. I have to find mine, Eve.”

Eve could feel her eyes sting as she gazed at her. “It’s not because I’m being generous that I want you to come home with us. I’m being selfish. I don’t want to worry about you.” She swallowed. “But I’ll just have to get over it, won’t I?” She drew a deep breath. “Okay, you don’t have to come live with us. But there are a couple things that you should do. Come to the cottage for a couple days, then I’ll let you walk away. I want you to meet Sandra.”

Beth stiffened. “I don’t know if I want to meet her. I can’t understand how she wouldn’t care about you.”

“You’re being defensive. Perhaps she does care about me in her way. But I know that she loves you. Remember what you said to me? You don’t give up on people because they’re not what you want them to be.”

“But I don’t love her.”

“Give her a chance. I would never have known about you, never come to help you, if she hadn’t loved you enough to tell me about you.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Eve looked at her.

“Oh, all right.” She was suddenly smiling again. “See, if I lived with you and Joe, I’d always be doing the right thing and not what I want to do.” She gave Eve another hug. “And now I’m going to call Billy and tell him the news. I think we should all go somewhere and celebrate, don’t you?”

“Excellent idea.” She watched her take her phone out of the pocket of her robe and go to the atrium rail and start to dial. Beth was glowing, eyes sparkling, expression as vivacious as that of the teenage girl she had been all those years ago. Eve felt a pang of emotion that was a mixture of joy and sadness.

No, banish any hint of sadness, embrace the joy. New life. New opportunities for her sister.

And a new set of anxieties for Eve.

“She sent you packing?” Kendra had come to stand beside her. “I could have told you, Eve.”

“She was very polite about sending me on my way.” She glanced at Kendra. “How did you know?”

“Because I looked at her and saw myself. When I regained my sight, I couldn’t stand the thought of being sheltered any longer. I had to break free.”

“And, from what you’ve told me, when you broke loose, it was like a nuclear bomb exploding.” She shook her head. “That’s not very comforting, Kendra. I’m worried enough about Beth.”

“She’ll get through it.” She smiled. “With a little help from her friends.”

“She doesn’t want to take my help. She didn’t want to come to Atlanta at all.”

“Then send her back here. Beth wants to live? California has everything: sin, purity, corruption, glamour. She can pick and choose.”

“It’s too big a choice.”

“No, it’s not.” Kendra’s gaze went to Beth. “Not if she has someone who’s been there and can tell her what’s waiting on the other side.”

Eve’s gaze flew to Kendra’s face. “Are you saying you’d be willing to keep an eye on her?”

She shrugged. “I can’t think of anyone who could do it better. And I wouldn’t make it a full-time job, like you would, Eve. I’d let her make her mistakes and just be there to pull her out in an emergency. And I can’t see Newell not being around for a backup.”

“Why would you do that, Kendra? You’ve told me from the moment we met how busy you are with your kids.”

She was silent a moment. “She’s your sister, and, besides, I like her. She has a chance of becoming someone special. I don’t want her to blow it.” She added, “So suppose I talk to her and try to persuade her that life in the Golden State is the life for her. Maybe she’ll tell me to go to hell.”

“I don’t think so,” Eve said. “In your way, you can be very persuasive.” She paused. “Thank you, Kendra.”

“I’m not doing it for you. Well, maybe I am … a little. But I told you, I don’t like to leave anything unfinished. Beth is still in that category. We saved her life; now, we’ve got to make it worth saving.” She looked away from Eve. “When we were talking before you came, she asked me about the little girl she saw in the shack again.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her that there was no little girl, that she was a figment of Drogan’s beating. She didn’t want to believe me. She was sure the little girl had been there.” She paused. “A little red-haired girl in a Bugs Bunny T-shirt.”

And Kendra had researched Eve’s story and probably run across references to Bonnie’s clothing on that final day. Perhaps Beth had also accessed those same stories. Yet Eve was grateful neither one seemed to want to confront her about Bonnie just then. “But Beth finally did believe you?”

“You’ll have to ask Beth. At least, she didn’t seem to be worrying about her any longer. She said something about having trouble learning to look beyond reality.” She met Eve’s gaze. “But you probably won’t ask Beth, will you?”

Eve shook her head. “It’s one of the things she’ll have to come to terms with on her own.” She added quietly, “If she comes to me and asks, I’ll answer her. But I don’t think she’ll do that.” She glanced at Beth. “She’s finished her conversation with Jessie Newell. It’s time we got her checked out of this hospital. The doctor’s already given her a release. She wants us all to go out on the town and celebrate her not having to go back to Seahaven.”

“That sounds like a plan.” Kendra smiled. “Champagne, good friends, family, and a bright new life. I can handle a celebration like that.”

Eve nodded as she started across the atrium toward Beth.

A bright new life.

Eve could see those words reflected in Beth’s glowing face. Eve was still worried about her, and that would probably continue. But that was part of any relationship, wasn’t it? If you cared, you accepted everything that went with it.

“Billy’s coming right over.” Beth was laughing. “He told me that it was only right that he plan out our party tonight since he’d been the one to teach me everything since he woke me up in that hospital. He said that one of the things he hadn’t had a chance to teach me were the fine points of celebration. There didn’t seem to be anything to celebrate.” Her eyes were shining with excitement and eagerness. “But that’s all changed now, hasn’t it?”

“You bet it has.” Eve found herself returning Beth’s smile with a joy and eagerness that was almost equal to Beth’s. She gave her an affectionate hug before releasing her and taking her arm to lead her down the hall toward her room. “As Kendra said, good friends, family, and a bright new life. That’s what celebrations should be about.”

ALSO BY IRIS JOHANSEN

Close Your Eyes (with Roy Johansen)

What Doesn’t Kill You

Bonnie

Quinn

Eve

Chasing the Night

Shadow Zone (with Roy Johansen)

Eight Days to Live

Blood Game

Deadlock

Dark Summer

Quicksand

Silent Thunder (with Roy Johansen)

Pandora’s Daughter

Stalemate