"Laura, boys, I think I know," offered Chuck. "The man that shot your father," he looked at each boy directly before going on, "was the same one, we think, that killed Kim Connor back in Tampa. Best guess is that he thought maybe your dad knew he did it."

"But why?" Mike blurted. "Dad really thought Mom did it. Kev and I kept telling him that there's no way that she would do that, but he wouldn't listen."

"I know," Laura said slowly. "Chuck, do you really think it's him?"

He nodded. "I was suspicious when I saw someone walk directly toward Steve when tempers were flaring in the ticket line. Good disguise, phony hairpiece, but the same build. When he fled the scene, Detective Lopez called airport security to get those exit gates down. Well, you know the rest. And the Tampa cops finally got their killer."

Laura looked at him quizzically. "But how did Detective Lopez know that Santiago would be in Detroit?"

"Mom, why couldn't you save Dad?" Mike challenged in a shaky voice. "Even though you hated each other, you should have tried."

There it was: the dreaded question. Laura looked into his eyes. "Mike, we didn't hate each other. Listen, you have to believe me. As soon as the bullet hit, it tore open the large chamber of the heart. The man who did this knew just where to aim the bullet. You know when I knelt down to try to find out what happened? The hole I found was too big, much too big to ever repair. Your dad was dead the instant the bullet hit him."

"Then why did you do mouth-to-mouth? Why did you go with him in the ambulance?"

"Because I was working on reflex," Laura said shakily. "Maybe hoping for a miracle. Maybe just not wanting to believe it myself."

"Oh, Mom," Mike finally sobbed, "I know he did some mean things to you, but he was our dad."

Laura and her sons embraced.

"Laura," Chuck said softly, "I have a car outside. I'll take you to the airport to meet your flight back to Philly. I've got tickets for the boys too."

"Yes, we should go. Get back to Patrick." Laura finally broke down. "How will I tell him, and the twins?"

"Mom, it'll be okay," said Mike, holding Laura's hand. "I'll help you tell them."

"Come on, Mom," urged Kevin.

"Let's go," Chuck said softly. "I'll stay and take care of everything here. The police will want to question you, but with Patrick in the shape he's in, they'll wait. And, Laura," Chuck went on, "about Greg. It was urgent that he get back to Tampa tonight. I'll tell you what happened later on."

"Oh," was all Laura said. Then, "Oh, no, Chuck. Steve's father. Has anybody told him? Am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know," Chuck answered. "But it's gotta be soon, before it's all over the news."

Laura nodded. "I should do it."

She asked Chuck to stay with the boys while she called Jim Nelson.

Steve's death had occurred too late to be announced on the six o'clock news, so Laura hoped she'd reach Jim before anyone else did. Jim Nelson may not have been the ideal father, but he had loved Steve in his own restrained, pa.s.sive way. Laura wondered, as she had so often before, if the Nelsons had been a normal, happy family before Steve's twin, Philip, died so tragically. Maybe if Jim and Helen had been able to talk about it. Maybe if they'd taken Steve for therapy, things would have been different. Maybe the rift that had grown between her and Steve and Steve and the twins...

"Hullo?" Jim Nelson answered on the second ring.

"Jim, this is Laura," she could feel her voice falter. "I have something terrible to tell you. I hate to be -"

"What's the matter? Is it Patrick? Oh no, Laura, I'm so sorry -"

"No, Jim, it's Steve. He's dead."

"What?" Jim gasped. "Did you - no, of course not."

He thinks I did it, Laura realized with a start, and then she explained what happened as best she could though sobs emanating from both sides of the line.

"So many mistakes," he kept sobbing.

"I know, Jim," she said each time.

Then she heard a loud snort. Jim blowing his nose. "You know, Laura, whoever did this to Steve had nothing to do with you. Something to do with Kim Connor, apparently, but not you. You know, I still think that you and Steve would have eventually got your lives back together. You and Steve and all the children. Steve was just hurting and he can be stubborn. Know what he said just before he left? Said he had one big regret - that you two never make it out to Elvis's show in Las Vegas."

"Yes, we'd always promised ourselves we would, then Elvis went and died." She hesitated before vocalizing a factoid that flew into her mind. "Did you know that Elvis - Elvis Aron - was an identical twin? His twin brother died at birth, Jessie Garon. Oh, Jim, I'm sorry, I don't know what made me say that."

"No matter, but Steve said that he wanted to take you to Graceland some day."

"Thanks, Jim, for being so kind to me. I did love Steve, even through all the terrible times."

"What will you do?" Jim asked.

"Right now, I'm leaving for Philadelphia with Mike and Kevin. I need to tell the younger kids, but I just don't know how I can."

"I understand, and Laura, I need to apologize. Who am I to judge what goes on in a marriage? Can you forgive me?"

"I don't need to, Jim, but thank you. We do have to talk about Steve's funeral. Where to take his body -"

"I figure you're still his legal wife, so it's up to you. Of course, I would prefer Traverse City where Steve grew up, but -"

"I think that a funeral and burial in Traverse City would be best too. St. Patrick's, where he was baptized and made his First Communion. And," she added, "where Philip is buried. I think that Steve would like to be buried next to his twin brother. You know, he never forgave himself for what happened. Always blamed himself."

"Thank you, Laura," Jim Nelson said quietly.

"I'll make arrangements for his body, once you give me the name of the funeral home you want to use."

"Will you be here, Laura, for Steve's burial?"

"Yes, of course, and the four older kids. And Jim, will you make sure they sing "How Great Thou Art"? Steve's favorite gospel song. Did you know that Elvis got a Grammy for it?"

"I will. And please let me know how Patrick is doing."

"I'll call you tomorrow."

"Please."

"Okay then," Laura said simply, and hung up.

Laura and her two sons flew East at nine p.m. No one spoke much during the two-and-a-half-hour flight. Mike and Kevin each took a window seat and stared out at the deepening night, trying to stifle their snuffles, and Laura sat in the aisle seat next to Kevin, her arm around his shoulders, staring dully ahead trying to figure out just how to break such tragic news to the other children. Not until tomorrow, she decided. Let them sleep in peace for one night.

But how would they handle Steve's death? How would she manage on her own?

Within moments of arriving at the Sheraton suite across from the hospital in Philly, the phone in Laura's room rang. It was just past midnight.

"Yes?" She answered cautiously.

"Only Chuck, Laura."

"Oh Chuck, it's you." She had all but forgotten about him.

"I know it's late, but I wanted to make sure you got in okay. Also wanted to let you know what's going on in Tampa and why Greg had to get back. Turns out that a hitter was hired to find and kill the little Palmer child, the one who identified Frank Santiago at Steve's place the night Kim was killed. The guy's a professional, obviously hired by Santiago."

"Dear G.o.d, that's terrible. I had no idea."

"It's a long story, but we were keeping the child in Celeste Marin's condo on Amelia Island, over by Jacksonville."

"Celeste, Greg's fiancee? Yes?"

"The one and only. As it turns out, she got suspicious and showed up at the condo at the same time the hitter was setting up the hit. She tried to save the kid and got herself shot instead. That's why Greg left in such a hurry. He wanted to make sure you knew."

"Dear G.o.d. Celeste, will she be okay?"

"Looks like it. Bullet pierced her lung and lodged in her shoulder. It was a freaky thing, but she'll be fine."

"And the little girl?"

"Molly Palmer's fine too," Chuck rea.s.sured. "Now that we've got Santiago, she should be okay. The guy who tried to take her out's in the slammer too."

"I have to say, my head is spinning. I've been so absorbed by my own problems, I haven't realized what other people have been going through, because of me. I never even thought about the danger to her - to Carrie's daughter."

"That's understandable and yes, Elizabeth was staying with Molly Palmer. Both are fine."

Laura breathed a tired sigh. "Thank G.o.d. Tell Greg, and Carrie, I don't know how I'll thank them. And Chuck, one more thing. What was Detective Lopez doing at the Northwest terminal?"

"Right." Chuck paused. "Well, maybe that's what separates the police from us mere mortals. Apparently he got a tip that Frank Santiago might be on Steve's tail all the way to Michigan."

"I see," Laura said, not really understanding. "But why didn't Lopez apprehend Santiago before he got to Steve?"

"You saw Santiago's disguise," Chuck said with no further explanation.

"Steve must have known something about Santiago, maybe from Kim."

"We'll see what the sc.u.mbag says. So far, he's demanding a lawyer," Chuck said. "It's probably best not to speculate."

"You're right. I'm not sure I even want to know. But, Chuck, thanks for being there with me tonight. Thank you for everything."

He sighed. "We did our best, Laura, but it just wasn't good enough. So very sorry about Steve."

"Chuck, I just don't understand."

"Yeah, I hear you, but how's the little guy?"

"I'm on my way to check him out right now."

The next morning was bright and sunny and Laura felt a spark of hope when she awoke before remembering that there was still more to face: how to tell the twins and Patrick about Steve. Before trying to sleep last night she'd called her parents, asking that the kids not be told until she got there. The minute she opened her eyes around six, she checked in with the hospital about Patrick's condition - improving - giving her at least some small sense of relief.

After waking the boys at seven thirty, they all walked down the hotel corridor to her parents' suite. Mike said, "Mom, are you going to tell the twins about Dad right off?"

"I don't know, honey. What do you think?"

As soon as Carl Whelan opened the door to the hotel room, everyone hugged and cried and hugged even more. Eventually, Laura nodded to her parents and her sons.

"Nicole, Natalie, my darlings, we have to tell you something," Laura said. The room went deadly silent and the family arranged themselves on the two king-size beds. The twins flanked their mother on one, the boys on the other with their grandparents.

Nicole's eyes narrowed as she looked around at all the somber faces. "Is it Pat?" She turned to look at Peg. "Grandma, you said this morning that he was doing good!"

"It's not Pat, Nicole," said Kevin.

"Well, I don't want to know," said Nicole in a familiar stubborn tone.

"It's Dad," said Mike.

"Somebody shot Dad," Kevin cut in. "He got killed yesterday." His blue eyes brimmed with tears.

Laura and Mike's eyes met. So leave it to Kevin, they seemed to say.

Natalie's eyes searched her mother's. "Mom," she pleaded, "don't let Kevin say such awful things about Dad." To Kevin she said, "Kev, that's not funny."

"It's not a joke, Natalie," said Mike stoically.

"Yeah," Kevin went on, "Dad was gonna take us to Alaska. To get us away from Mom. And we were at the airport and Mom came and ... and this guy came and just shot Dad. Right, Mom?"

Laura nodded.

"At the airport," Mike repeated.

Nicole stared at Mike. "I don't believe you."

"It's true," he said, glancing away.

As Nicole blinked in disbelief, Natalie just dissolved into tears. Holding both girls tightly, she murmured, "It'll be okay, babies, it's okay."

"No, it won't," Nicole said. "We won't have a dad."

The boys shrank back, trying hard not to cry. Laura held onto her daughters as she started to sob, rocking both girls gently.

After a while, the Whelans suggested that the kids have some breakfast.

Laura nodded and stood up. "Kids, I'm going over to see Patrick now. You'll stay and eat with Grandma and Grandpa, okay?"

n.o.body answered. Laura looked at their distraught faces. "Patrick's still sleeping, but he's going to be okay. We're going to be okay now, I promise."

Laura walked across the street to CHOP slowly, trying now to focus on how her youngest child would react to Steve's death. She was awed by Nicole's reaction. Nicole had made no pretense of her dislike for her father and yet she seemed distraught at the news. Laura's limited experience in child psychiatry told her this did not bode well. Could the child somehow be blaming herself for what happened to Steve? Later, Laura told herself, worry about Nicole later. Right now she needed to concentrate on Patrick. At least, the little boy would be spared the abandonment that Steve had intended. There was no need for him to know - not ever - that Steve had rejected him, or even more importantly, that he was not Steve's biological child.