"It's up to you whether you tell him," Ca.s.sie said, her voice so low that Sam had to lean down to hear her. "Your decision." Ca.s.sie took another gasp of air, tried to say something, but stopped herself. Instead, she motioned to the table beside the hospital bed.

Sam pulled open the drawer and saw a piece of white paper. At Ca.s.sie's insistence, she drew it out. Ca.s.sie had gotten the nurse to draw up a paper and had paved the way for Sam to adopt Zack. The paper had been signed and witnessed.

Sam's eyes blurred with tears. She looked at the woman lying in the bed and reached for her hand. "Thank you."

Ca.s.sie shook her head slowly. "I just needed to know-" she sucked in another breath, her face drawn with pain "-Zack is going to be all right now."

The monitor beside Ca.s.sie's bed went off, a shrill frightening sound. Several nurses raced into the room and ordered Sam out.

"I promise I'll take care of him," Sam called to Ca.s.sie as she was pushed back. A crash cart was rushed into the room. She held the precious paper to her as she stumbled out into the hall.

She stayed there, captured by the frantic sounds inside the room she'd just left until the doctor came out to tell her that Ca.s.sie was gone.

Then she stood in the hallway and cried, cried for Ca.s.sie and Lucas and Zack and Charley and Katie, and for herself and Will. She didn't cry long. Then, wiping her eyes, she went to find her cousin.

WILL LOOKED UP FROM his hospital bed to see Charley Murphy framed in the doorway.

"Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all, I could use the company," he said, and smiled. He hadn't seen Charley since last night and he hadn't been in any shape then to thank him. "Thanks for your help."

Charley shrugged. "Part of the job. I'm just glad I got Sam's call and could get there in time. You were the real heroes, though."

"Yeah, right," he said. "How is Ca.s.sie?"

Charley shook his head. "I'm grateful for what you did, helping Sam. And Zack."

Will nodded. "Something tells me you didn't just come by to build up my self-esteem."

Charley shook his head. "I need to know how you feel about my cousin."

"Yeah, I thought that might be it." Will took a deep breath. "Twenty-five words or less? I'm crazy about her. I can't imagine living a day without her. But I also can't imagine living a day with her working as a private investigator. It scares the h.e.l.l out of me. I've always thought of myself as a pretty progressive kind of guy. But I'm not sure I can be married to a woman who risks her life like that."

"That's kind of what I thought," Charley said.

Samantha stuck her head in the door then, almost as if on cue. "Hi," she said, and smiled at him. "How are you feeling?"

He nodded. He'd forgotten just how beautiful she was. The bright blue morning and the sunshine streaming in the window gave her a glow that pretty near made him take back everything he'd just told Charley and turn those words into a proposal of marriage. Pretty near.

But he could also see that she'd been crying. "What is it?" he asked.

"Ca.s.sie. She just pa.s.sed away," Sam said.

He could see her fighting more tears.

"Mind if I steal Charley for a moment?" she asked, her voice hoa.r.s.e with emotion.

He noticed tension then in her eyes, and feared why she'd come to talk to her cousin. He thought of Zack. The boy had lost both his mother and the only father he'd known.

A nurse stuck her head in the doorway. "Good news! The doctor said you can leave this morning," she said cheerfully. "By the way," she said holding up his chart, "happy birthday."

"Thanks." His thirty-sixth birthday. And he could go home. It seemed like eons since the day he'd driven to Wolf Point to bid a job and seen Samantha sitting in the sun in her Firebird. Or one of her cousins' Firebird. He never had gotten around to asking her just whose car it was. Not that it mattered now.

He realized he should call his sister. Katherine was probably worried about him. Yeah, right.

"Where have you been?" she demanded the moment she heard his voice on the phone. "You've heard what happened? The commissioner has been arrested. Someone captured him on film exchanging construction bills for cash at my my party! In party! In my my library!" library!"

"Really?" He smiled, remembering the beautiful young woman he'd followed to the library terrace with two gla.s.ses of cold champagne. "Imagine that."

"Where are you? It almost sounds like you're in a hospital," Katherine said, obviously overhearing a page for one of the doctors on call. "Will? Will, what's happened?"

He didn't know where to start. But as was his nature, he started from the beginning.

When he finished, Katherine said, "You risked your life for this woman and child?"

He guessed he had. He realized he'd do it again.

"That is so unlike you," his sister was saying. "Just taking off like that. Tell me more about this woman. Murphy? Samantha Murphy, right?"

This time when he finished, his sister said, "Oh, Will," and he realized she was crying. "Jennifer Finley will be so disappointed."

SAMANTHA AND CHARLEY WALKED down the hall to one of the hospital atriums. They had the s.p.a.ce to themselves and stood for a moment, neither talking.

"Ca.s.sie is gone," she said after a moment.

He said nothing, just stared at the floor. "I know. I'm sorry."

"She signed a paper making me Zack's legal guardian and asking that I be allowed to adopt him." Her voice broke with emotion.

He looked up quickly. "Is that what you want?"

"More than anything." She hesitated. "Before she died, she told me who Zack's father is."

Charley's gaze met hers and held it, gentle and yet solid as a rock. That was Charley. She felt her heart begin to pound and tears welled again in her eyes. "How long have you known?"

He shook his head. "Not until the day that Ca.s.sie came by the house with the court order to pick Zack up. I guess something just clicked. I remembered that one night we'd spent together and suddenly I looked at Zack as she left with him-and realized he was mine. Do you know he's going to have my big feet? Poor kid," he added with a laugh.

"You and Ca.s.sie," she said, shaking her head.

"It was only one night. I had no idea she had conceived, since we used protection. But nothing is failsafe, huh?"

"She didn't realize she was pregnant with your baby until after you met Katie and fell in love with her," Sam said.

"She still should have told me," he said, then shook his head, obviously thinking how that would have changed all of their lives.

"What about Katie?"

Charley smiled. "I told her. She says she's fine with whatever I decide to do."

Sam held her breath. "What are you going to do?"

"Tell Zack the truth. Someday. When he's older. Right now he's confused enough. He's just lost the only father he's ever known. For now, Lucas was Zack's father. Let's leave it at that."

"What are you saying?" she asked, her heart in her throat.

"That it's time for you to tell Will what happened five years ago," Charley said. "He loves you and I know you love him. Clean the slate. Tell him everything. Then decide what it is you want and go for it."

"I already know what I want." She held his gaze. "I want Will. And Zack."

Charley nodded. "It's obvious that Zack loves you and Will, and that the two of you feel the same way about him." He stopped as if overcome with emotion. "I couldn't bear not to see Zack grow up now that I know about him. But I will be able to, as your son, Sam. And my nephew."

She threw her arms around her cousin's neck.

He held her for a long moment. "So what are you waiting for?"

"Courage," she whispered.

"Cousin," he said, holding her at arm's length. "You have more courage than any woman I've ever known. And more love to give. You're going to make Zack a great mother."

She hugged Charley once more, then headed for Will's room.

WHEN SAMANTHA PUSHED OPEN the door to Will's room, her heart fell at the sight of the stripped bed. She'd missed him! He'd already gone home.

Then she heard him. He was on the phone. She stepped in and saw him sitting in the alcove by the window.

"It has to be a bright-red boy's bike," he was saying. "You have one in stock that size? Great! I'm going to have to get back to you about where to deliver it. No problem." He hung up, smiling.

Seeing the happiness in his face, she started to back out of the room. She didn't want to add any more pain. After all, she'd almost gotten him killed, not to mention everything else she'd put him through the past few days. He must be anxious to get back to his old life. That's where he belonged.

But before she could escape, he seemed to sense her, and turned. "Samantha," he said softly.

"They're letting you leave," she said lamely. "That's good. I guess you're all right?"

He nodded, his gaze intent on her face. "My head's too hard for something like a gun b.u.t.t to do much damage," he said, motioning to the clean white bandage on his temple. "Just a slight concussion."

She couldn't go through with this. No matter what Charley said. "I need to tell you something."

"I need to tell you something, too," Will said.

Oh boy, here we go.

"You don't have to say anything," she said quickly. "I already know."

"You do?" He sounded surprised.

She nodded, unable to speak for a moment. "I want to tell you about Lucas and me."

He frowned. "Yes?"

"Five years ago, after I found out about Ca.s.sie and Lucas, I did something really stupid. I was upset, and I got into my car and I started driving." She stopped for breath. "It was snowing out and the roads were slick and I was crying."

"I know you had a car wreck," he said quietly.

She nodded and took another breath. "But what you don't know, that no one but Charley knows, is that-" The tears came in a wave. She choked back a sob.

Will rushed to her and took her in his arms. "It's all right, Sam. Whatever it is, it's all right."

"I was pregnant with Lucas's baby." The words were out. Finally. "I was pregnant and I killed my baby in the wreck."

All the guilt, all the grief, all the pain she'd held inside her for five years came out in a flood.

"Oh, Sam," Will whispered as he hugged her. "Oh, Sam." She cried then for all she'd lost. For the little baby who had ended her dream of motherhood and marriage with Lucas.

Will held her until her tears waned, then got her a cold washcloth and waited while she pressed it to her face.

"I'm glad you told me," he said after a few moments. "I knew something else had happened to you. I thought it was just Lucas."

She shook her head.

"He never knew?"

She shook her head again. "He was already planning to marry Ca.s.sie." She straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye. "There's one more thing."

He braced himself.

"It's Zack. Ca.s.sie told me who his father is."

"Charley."

She stared at him. "You already knew?"

"Suspected as much. The resemblance is amazing, added to the fact that you all went to college at the same time." He grinned at her. "Is it my turn?"

"Not just yet," she said, and seemed to fortify herself. "I intend to adopt Zack. Before Ca.s.sie died she asked that I be made legal guardian."

He nodded, not surprised.