house. Don't you remember my telling you?'
'Then have Marta pick up Julian's stuff.' With his arm around her shoulders, he turned her toward the outer waiting room door. 'And you can order flowers after you've eaten something. You haven't left Julian's side, except to use the bathroom and drink a few cups of coffee. You haven't eaten anything except a doughnut one of the nurses brought you.' He brushed away an errant strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. 'And as soon as you check on Julian, after he's in a private room, I'm taking you to the cottage for some rest.'
'I'll eat soon. I promise. And I'll rest as soon as I'm sure Julian will be all right without me.' She knew Sam was right. She needed food and rest. She was thankful Sam had been forced to remain in the waiting area. If he'd seen her faint twice, he would have taken her away from Julian, despite her protests. And if he knew about her condition—that she was carrying his child—he wouldn't allow her to give Julian the peace of mind and pain-free rest he so desperately needed.
'Dammit, Jeannie, you can't go on this way. Not eating. Not sleeping. Julian wouldn't want you to endanger your health to help him.'
'The choice is mine. Not Julian's. And not yours.' But there was more to consider than her own health; she had to think about her child. 'Please, Sam. I'll order the flowers, then call Marta. And I'll eat something in Julian's room. You choose my menu, and I'll eat every bite. But I must stay with Julian until I'm certain he doesn't need me anymore.'
How could she make Sam understand how much she owed Julian? He had been the surgeon who saved her life after the car wreck, when she was thirteen. Later, he and Miriam had taken her into their home, helped her through years of therapy and made her the daughter they'd never had. The Howells had given Jeannie the beautiful, peaceful existence that had been hers before the truth about her past had been revealed. There was nothing she wouldn't do for Julian or for Manton, just as there had been nothing she wouldn't do for Miriam.
'You're going home tonight.' His statement left no room for argument. Regardless of her protests, Sam was determined to save her from her own stubbornness.
Jeannie reached up, caressed his cheek and looked into his eyes. 'When I love someone, I love them completely, with no reservations, no limitations. Like you, Sam, I haven't given my love often. I love Julian and Manton the way you love Elizabeth and her little Jimmy.'
'I know how you feel,' Sam said. 'But understand this—I'm taking you home tonight, if I have to drag you out of this hospital kicking and screaming.'
She smiled, stretched on tiptoe to drag his face down to hers, then kissed him. 'See if the cafeteria is serving spaghetti. With lots of Parmesan cheese.'
Sam swatted her behind. She giggled. God, how he loved the sound of her happy giggles.
* * *
Jeannie devoured the plate of spaghetti Sam had delivered from a restaurant, along with chocolate cheesecake and ice tea.
'I don't think I can eat another bite.' She shoved the plate aside. 'I'll save the cheesecake for later.'
'You'll take it home with you,' Julian told her, then looked at Sam. 'You should have made her leave long before now. She's exhausted. See those dark circles under her eyes? She's done too much for me already.'
'You know Jeannie. She wouldn't leave willingly,' Sam said. 'But she's going home tonight, willing or not.'
Julian chuckled. 'I'm so sorry this happened. My heart attack brought her right back to Biloxi, and put her within Maynard Reeves's grasp.'
'Sam will protect me from the good reverend.' Jeannie finished off the tall glass of ice tea, wiped her mouth with a paper napkin and shoved back her chair. 'And as soon as the doctors say it's all right, we'll all go to Le Bijou Bleu.'
Julian pointed to the television, which he'd set to the weather channel. 'If that tropical depression off the coast of Africa moves in our direction, we might be in for a hurricane, or at the least a bad storm. You might be stuck here in Biloxi.'
Jeannie turned her attention to the weatherman's forecast. 'Or it could die out before it gets here, or move north or farther south and miss us completely.'
'Nevertheless, you'll want to warn Manton to keep an eye on the weather,' Julian said. 'Is the storm shelter on the island in good repair?'
'Stop worrying. Everything on Le Bijou Bleu is in tip-top shape.' Jeannie had been in the storm shelter only once, when she was ten and a tropical storm hit the Gulf Coast. She'd heard Julian talk about what devastation Hurricane Camille had caused back in 1969 and thanked God that Manton had survived in the storm shelter, located in the basement of the cottage.
'I don't like your being back here in Biloxi,' Julian said. 'It's too dangerous for you as long as Maynard Reeves walks around a free man.'
'You musn't worry about me. You let Sam do that. I want you to concentrate on getting well.'
'I know about Reeves's visit.' Julian glanced from Jeannie to Sam. 'Don't go looking for someone to blame. I overheard a conversation about the reverend passing himself off as a priest.'
'I didn't want you to know,' Jeannie said. 'At least not until after you were fully recovered.'
'I don't remember seeing him,' Julian said. 'I have no idea what his reason for coming to the hospital might have been.'
'You were his only connection to me.' Jeannie walked over and sat down in a chair beside Julian's bed. 'Perhaps he thought he could threaten you into revealing where Sam had taken me.'
'I can't believe the police haven't come up with something that can put that man away.' Lifting himself into a sitting position, Julian clutched the bed's rails. His cheeks flushed. Beads of sweat broke out on his face. 'There has to be something they can do!'
'Julian, please don't upset yourself.' Jeannie grabbed his hand, instantly feeling the surge of anger shooting through him, the rise in his blood pressure, his accelerated heartbeat.
'I'll be … all … right. Don't … don't…' Julian gripped her hand when the first sharp pain struck him.
Clasping his hand tightly, Jeannie cried out as the pain entered her. She trembled from the force of his suffering.
Sam flew across the room, halting behind Jeannie's chair as he placed his big hands over her shoulders, cupping her upper arms. What the hell had happened? 'Jeannie?' She didn't respond. 'Dammit, don't do this. You're too weak.'
Shivering, she closed her eyes and absorbed all Julian's pain, stopping the onset of another heart attack. His anger and fear trickled into her mind, leaving him at peace. Jeannie cried out; tears streamed down her face. Sam ripped Julian's hand out of Jeannie's, jerked her chair around and fell to his knees in front of her.
The anguish on her face told him all he needed to know. She was hurting, hurting badly, and all he could do was watch her suffer. If only he could give her some of his strength. If only he could absorb her pain, the way she had absorbed Julian's. He took her hands in his. She felt ice-cold. Rubbing her hands, he concentrated on mentally connecting with her. Just as he sensed the link beginning to form, a nurse rushed into Julian's room, quickly followed by an entourage prepared to administer lifesaving techniques. The moment the nurse shouted orders for Sam to move, the fragile link to Jeannie's mind shattered.
Sam pulled Jeannie up into his arms and kicked the chair aside. She lay there like a rag doll; Sam realized that she had fainted. The group of technicians hovered around Julian's bed.
'I don't understand,' the nurse said. 'His heart monitor showed signs of another attack.'
'Machines make mistakes.' Sam glanced at the nurse with cold gray eyes.
'Damnedest thing I've ever seen,' a male nurse said. 'Dr. Howell is fine. He's sleeping peaceful. All his vital signs are normal.'
'Arrange for a private-duty nurse for Dr. Howell,' Sam said. 'I'm taking Ms. Alverson home. You have the number of Dr. Howell's rental house, don't you? If his condition changes, contact me.'
* * *
Sam undressed Jeannie and laid her, naked and exhausted, in the bed. She had regained consciousness briefly on the drive to the cottage, but once Sam assured her that Julian was fine, she'd drifted off to sleep, unable to fight the total depletion of her strength.
Both beds in the two-bedroom cottage were doubles, neither really long enough or large enough to
