SHE WAS GONE BUT THE LINGERING golden radiance was still keeping the darkness at bay.
And he couldn’t wait to dispel it entirely.
He opened his eyes.
And then he smiled at Eve.
JOE WAS SMILING at her!
Eve could feel the tears running down her cheeks.
Good-bye? Surely not good-bye.
Bonnie had vanished only seconds before, and Eve had feared the worst. But there was a flush of color in Joe’s cheeks, and he was smiling.
“Oh, God, thank you.” She tore open the ICU door. “And thank you, baby.” She was at Joe’s bed in seconds. She took a deep breath. “Hi… took you long enough,” she said unsteadily. “No, don’t say anything. I just want to touch you.” She pressed the bell for the nurse. “I want to hold your hand.”
“So-did-she,” Joe whispered.
“Who?” She answered herself as she took his hand in both of hers. It wasn’t as warm as it usually was, but she could feel a faint pressure. He was alive and it was a miracle. The only miracle she knew had a name. “Bonnie?”
He nodded. “Bonnie.” His eyes closed. “I couldn’t-find my way back. She knew…”
“Yes, she knew.” Her clasp tightened. “Don’t talk anymore. I’ll let you go, but don’t you get lost again. Do you hear me?”
He nodded. “I hear…”
He was asleep again.
But the flush was still on his cheeks, and his hand was holding hers.
He was going to live.
The nurse was running into the room, a frown on her face.
They would tell Eve to go, and she would do it. She would put him in their hands to heal.
As Bonnie had surrendered him to Eve’s hands.
EVE SAW JANE GET OFF the elevator as she left the ICU.
“Eve?” Jane was hurrying toward her, her face concerned. “You’re crying. You look… how’s Joe?”
She smiled shakily. “He’s going to be fine.”
“That’s what they told you? But Catherine said he could be dying.”
“Could doesn’t mean that’s going to happen.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “He’s taken a turn for the better. I just talked to him.”
“Thank God.” She took Eve in her arms and held her. “I was nearly frantic when you told me.”
“I thought it was the end.” Eve hugged Jane tighter. “He came so close, Jane.”
“But he’s tough. We both know that.” She released Eve and handed her a handkerchief. “You seem to be a little damp. I’m pretty close to a deluge myself. Dammit, you should have told me right away. Do you think I would have let you go through this alone?”
“It was enough for one of us to go through this.” Eve dabbed at her cheeks. “I told you when I thought I should.”
“Should you leave him? Can you go to the waiting room? I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”
Eve looked back at Joe, who now had three nurses and an intern by his bed. “He won’t need me. They’re not going to let me near him until they figure out which of those brilliant doctors managed to save his life and turn him around.”
“And which one did?”
“None of them. They’d written him off. Joe did it on his own.” She paused. “With a little help.”
