She frowned, puzzled, and looked from the clock on the wall to him again. "You're early."

"I know. I couldn't wait. And Ty was just about climbing the walls. I thought maybe you'd like to go out for breakfast. If you haven't already eaten."

"I want pancakes," Tyler said, standing close beside his father.

She nodded, wishing she'd had time to get ready first. She'd decided to do her hair and makeup today, since jeans and a T-shirt hadn't seemed to have any impact on Jimmy's inexplicable attraction to her anyway. She opened the door wider so they could come inside. Tyler entered first, looking around expectantly.

"The twins aren't here, Ty," Kara explained. "But when we come back, we can pay them a visit if you want."

"Okay." He sat down in a chair. His father came inside and placed the roses, which were already in a blue porcelain vase with cherubs painted on it, in the center of the table.

"That's really beautiful, Jimmy. You didn't have to do that."

"That doesn't even scratch the surface," he told her.

She smiled and looked down at herself. She was dressed much as she had been last night, in jeans and a T-shirt, her hair in a towel.

"Go on, go finish getting ready, Kara. I really should have called."

She nodded. "There's coffee made. And O.J. in the fridge, if you guys want a drink. Just help yourselves."

She headed up the stairs, almost forgetting not to run.

She didn't stop at the bathroom but instead tapped on Selene's door. "Hey, you in there?"

"Meditating," Selene called back.

"I'm sorry, honey. Jimmy and Ty are here and I'm nowhere near ready."

She heard movement, then the door opened. Selene smiled when she saw the towel on Kara's head. "Where'd you put 'em?"

"In the kitchen. Thanks, hon, you're a doll." She turned and started for the bathroom.

"Take your time, sis. They're not going anywhere."

Kara nodded but didn't slow her pace. She yanked the towel off her head, combed the snarls out of her hair, then put in a handful of mousse, scrunching the way Edie had shown her. She grabbed the hair dryer and bent until her head was upside down, wafting the warm air over it. In five minutes the hair was done. Edie would be proud. As a former model, Edie had taught Kara more than the art of beauty-she'd also taught her how to achieve it with speed.

She flipped open the makeup case and gave herself the once-over. A little powder, a little blush, the thinnest trace of eyeliner, followed by shadow only slightly darker than her skin tone. When she finished and looked in the mirror, she was happy with the results. And for a moment she thought about what a change that was from the way she used to feel when she looked into a mirror.

"Thanks, Edie," she whispered to the mirror. Then she smacked on some lip gloss and headed into her bedroom.

She picked out a pretty blouse-but not a fancy one-tossed her T-shirt into the hamper, grabbed socks, a pair of suede walking shoes and her denim jacket. Then she headed back down the stairs, where Tyler was telling Selene excitedly that he was going to get to ride a pony today.

Jimmy stood up when she entered the room, blinking at her as if he'd never seen her before. "Wow."

Kara lifted her brows, looked down at her clothes.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

He shook his head slowly. "Never mind. You look great, Kara. Beautiful, as always."

"A far cry from last night, huh, Jimmy?" Selene asked.

Kara sent her a frown, but she only returned a wink.

"Last night?" He looked at Kara again. "I thought she looked great last night, too."

"Oh, yeah? Ponytail, no makeup, T-shirt and all?"

He looked at Selene a little oddly. Kara rolled her eyes. "Let's get going, huh? We've kept Ty waiting long enough for those pancakes."

Tyler didn't cry or complain about going to PT once all morning. Not even after the pancakes, when they were on their way to the clinic, though Jim had fully expected he would. Once there, Tyler refused to let Kara stay in the waiting room, insisting she come into the treatment area with them. And while he did his exercises, struggling through them without a whimper for the first time ever, Kara kept bringing up the ponies. "Only another half hour, Ty, and then we get to see the ponies," she'd say. "Just another fifteen minutes, Ty. I wonder if she has a brown one. I like brown ponies best. What color do you like?" And, "Maybe we'll have to get you a cowboy hat, Ty. If you're going to ride ponies, you really ought to have a cowboy hat, don't you think?"

Every time it got tough, every time it hurt, every time Tyler floundered, she was there. Kara Brand was reading his kid as well as he did, Jim thought. Maybe better. Jumping in to distract him or soothe him.

And then finally it was over. Tyler was red-faced, sweating, but dry-eyed and smiling. He hurried ahead of them to the pickup, and Jim put a hand on Kara's arm to slow her down.

She turned to look up at him. He sighed, shook his head. "You can't possibly know what you did for him today, Kara. These sessions...God, they're usually hell. He's never managed to get through one without getting angry and frustrated, without crying and begging to stop. It's like a miracle."

She lowered her head. "I'm just glad it was easier on him this time," she said.

"I know you are." He stared at her, at a loss for words.

She put a hand on his arm. "Let's get him to the farm, Jimmy. He's really earned it."

He nodded, not sure how to make her understand the magic she'd performed today. And then they got to the farm and the magic multiplied tenfold. Tyler was in heaven when Barbara Jean Collins led the way to the pasture, where a half dozen miniature horses grazed by the edge of a stream. She was a solidly built woman, dressed in bib overalls and a big flannel shirt.

She looked down at Tyler. "Do you know how to whistle?"

He nodded, puckered up his lips and blew. A faint whistle that was mostly air was the result.

She patted his shoulder. "Okay, pal, we're gonna have to work on that whistle. Meanwhile, let's try one together, huh?"

Tyler nodded. Barbara put two fingers to her lips, and when Ty whistled again, she did, too.

The little animals' heads came up, then they trotted right to her-and to Tyler since he was standing right beside her.

Jim watched, his heart swelling as his son's face lit up and the woman led him from one animal to the next, introducing them as Corky and Snuffy and Baby Jane. He lost track of the names-not that they mattered. He watched Tyler point to the one he liked best, and then Barbara nodded and took that horse by its halter, leading it into the nearby stable with Tyler right on her heels.

"You guys find a comfy spot and take a break," Barbara called back to Jim and Kara. "Ty and I are gonna have a lesson in saddling a horse. We'll be back in a flash."

Jim nodded, even though it was against his instincts to let anyone, particularly a strange woman, take his son out of his sight.

"It's okay," Kara whispered.

He looked down at her. And he knew when he met her eyes that she was seeing right through him. That uncanny empathy of hers again. She couldn't just read his son, he realized. She could read him, too.

"Mom's known Barbara for fifteen years. She's a good woman, Jim. Raised three sons of her own."

He nodded. Kara took his hand and led him to a bale of hay by the fence, and they sat down on it to wait.

A few minutes later the red-brown mini-horse with the shaggy cream-colored mane came plodding out of the stable with Tyler on his back, and Barbara Jean leading him. Tyler had never in his entire life looked the way he looked right then.

Jim stood up, not quite aware of doing so, and Kara stood beside him. And as Tyler rode past, laughing and waving, the sunshine gleaming in his hair, Jim put an arm around Kara's shoulders and pulled her close as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"I'm riding, Dad! Look at me! I'm riding a real pony!"

Jim waved again, unable to speak. And then he looked down at Kara. Her eyes were fixed to Tyler as he rode, and he thought she might just be as moved as he was. And he knew then that he needed this woman in his life. His son needed her. And he was going to do whatever it took to make her a part of their lives. Permanently. Kara wasn't just too good to be true. She was far too good to let slip away.

Vinnie had gone out and he wasn't back yet. He'd been stingy this morning. Given her just a little sniff, and it hadn't been nearly enough. Angela was nervous, damned emotional, and that wasn't a way she enjoyed feeling. She'd been through every suitcase Vinnie had brought along, but she couldn't find a thing. And dammit, if she didn't do a couple of lines soon, she was going to pull her hair out.

She tried to go back to bed but was too restless to sleep. So she got up and hunted some more. By the time Vinnie came back, she'd torn the lining out of his suitcases, stripped the bed and shoved the mattress off.

He came in the door, looked at the mess around him and shot her a dangerous glare.

"I'll clean it up. Dammit, Vinnie, where's the stuff? You said you brought some, but you barely gave me enough for a buzz this morning. Where is it?"

Lips thin, he tugged a bag from his pocket and slapped it down on the dresser. Angela lunged toward it, but he gripped her shoulder. "Not so fast. First, you listen, because you're working for me today. And if you don't do a good job, you won't be getting another sniff, baby. Understand?"

"I'll do whatever you want," she promised. She couldn't keep her eyes on him, though. She kept darting looks at the stuff on the dresser. "You know I will, Vin, I always do."

He nodded and let go of her. "Go ahead." He tossed another packet on the dresser. It held a flat mirror that folded in half, like a compact only square, and a thin straw. Then he kept talking while she took a little white powder from the bag, formed it into lines on the mirror and sniffed it through the straw.

"You're going to clean this mess up before you do anything else. Then I want you to take a shower. Put on some of the clothes I bought you. Something nice, so you don't look like a ten-dollar whore. Fix up your hair. Slap some makeup over the goddamn circles under your eyes. I want you to look respectable. You got it?"

She closed the compact, straightened, sniffing and rubbing a knuckle over her nostrils. "Got it." She reached for the bag, but he grabbed it before she could.

"You've had enough."

"I know. I was just gonna put it in my purse for later."

He shook his head firmly. "No way. I say when and I say how much. Get used to it, Ang."

"Okay, Vinnie." She watched him pocket the cocaine.

"I'm gonna get us some lunch. Have this mess cleaned up by the time I get back."

"I will."

"Don't answer the phone and don't go out. Don't talk to anybody, you got that?"

She nodded and leaned back against the dresser. "You gonna tell me where you were this morning?"

"Doin' some research, sugar. You're gonna get to see your boy today. So you make sure you do yourself up extra pretty for him." He glanced at his watch. "I'll back in a half hour. Lock up behind me."

She nodded and he left. When he opened the door, she noticed the Do Not Disturb sign hanging from the knob on the outside. He must have put it there before he left. She locked the door as he'd told her, then she turned to the dresser, smiling and taking the compact. She'd put a few pinches of the coke inside it, hiding the act from Vinnie while she'd been bent over the dresser. The little straw was in there, too. She wouldn't be left dying for a hit again.

She tucked the compact into her purse and started putting the room back together, feeling the zing of the coke bringing her body to life. God, it was about time.

She didn't think about the rest of the day, about seeing her son for the first time in more than four years. Part of her sort of hoped things would get in the way, that it would never happen. Something would come up, and Vinnie would get called back to Chicago. Or maybe Jim would pack Tyler up and head somewhere else.

She kind of hoped so. She'd gotten used to being without her son. It stopped hurting after a while. At least, it stopped hurting when she was high, and she was high most of the time. Her life was just fine without a kid cluttering it up. She didn't need that kind of responsibility again.

Vidalia was adding mulch to the more delicate plants in her flower bed to protect them during the winter months, when they would lie dormant. Selene had taken one of her so-called weed walks through the meadows out back. She would no doubt return with a basket of stalks, roots and snips. She would know all their folk names and medicinal uses and she would brew teas that tasted remarkably good and actually seemed to work.

Vi didn't mind Selene using nature's gifts for easing bouts of sinus or nervous energy or a bad stomach. But the other things the girl did with those weeds didn't sit well with her. In fact, she was downright worried about her youngest daughter. She had stuffed a pair of pillows with some wild herb or other and given them to the twins to keep away nightmares and ensure they had only sweet, happy dreams. Then there was the time she'd stuffed flowers into a tiny drawstring bag and told Mel it was for protection.

And there was more. Tarot cards, crystals all over her bedroom and all those books she was always reading about folk magic and shamanism.

It was worrisome, that's what it was. The girl was meddling in places she ought not to be, and Vidalia felt more and more certain she needed to step in and do something about it. Lordy, while the rest of them talked about Christmas, Selene insisted on referring to the holiday as the Winter Solstice and insisted doing so wasn't the least bit disrespectful to the Lord.

She was worried about Kara, too, what with Jimmy Corona back in town with that precious boy of his. Oh, that child could tug every one of Kara's heartstrings. The girl was a pushover for any child, much less one with troubles of the kind that boy had. A motherless baby with braces on his legs. Wouldn't have mattered if his daddy had looked like a billy goat, much less the handsome devil he was. Lord God Himself couldn't have sent anyone more likely to make her Kara fall head over heels.

The question was, was this Corona fellow worthy of her? Would he treat her the way she needed to be treated? Or would he break her heart? Of all the girls, Kara was the most sensitive, the most tender-hearted, the most easily wounded. She was also the most selfless, giving and caring of the bunch. It would take a special man to make her happy, and Vidalia Brand intended to see to it she got one.

And if this Jimmy Corona jerked her girl around, he was going to find out he'd woken up a sleeping mama tiger. With big, sharp claws.

She yanked a weed harder than she'd intended, pulling up a good-size hunk of topsoil with it, and told herself to calm down.

"Excuse me?"

Vidalia looked over her shoulder, irritated at the intrusion, and saw a woman's head perched atop a broomstick body. Hell, even that yellow, lifeless hair kept the broomstick image intact. Her face looked older than Vi's own, dry, drawn, unsmiling. The woman needed twenty pounds to qualify as skinny.

Vi stood slowly, brushing the soil from her hands and forcing a friendly smile. "Can I help you with something?"

"I'm...looking for Mrs. Brand," the woman said.

"Well, you've found her." Vi extended a hand. "You can call me Vidalia."

The woman shook her hand, her grip cold, damp and weak. Vi had to resist the urge to wipe her hand on her jeans when the girl released it.

"I'm Angela Corona," the stranger said. "They told me in town you might know where I can find my husband, Jim, and our son, Tyler."

Chapter 7.

Colby didn't know how long he'd been lying there. And as for how badly he was hurt, it wasn't possible to assess. The pain was an all-encompassing orb that contained him within it. Pulsing, blood-red, blinding pain.

But he was alive. The pain proved it, and for that he loved it. Dammit, he wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for Corona's drugged-out ex. She'd left the tape at his wrists loose enough for him to get free.