Beyond The Breakwater

Beyond the Breakwater

Sheriff Reese Conlon and Doctor Tory King face the challenges of personal change as they define their lives and future together. Tory’s pregnancy forces her to examine her personal needs and goals while Reese struggles with her escalating anxieties over conditions she cannot control. Twenty-year-old Brianna Parker makes a sacrifice for love that threatens not just her happiness, but her life, when she returns home as the newest member of the Sheriff’s department. A life-threatening accident, a suspicious fire, and the appearance of more than one woman vying for Bri’s attentions makes one Provincetown summer a time of transformation as each woman learns the true meaning of love, friendship, and family.

CHAPTER ONE

September, Provincetown, Ma

Doctor Victoria King tilted her face to the sun and let the swift ocean current carry her to shore. She rested her paddle across the front of the seventeen-foot long, twenty-one inch wide red kayak and squinted in the early morning haze toward the beach at Herring Cove. Men and women perched on the undulating curve of sand marking the border between earth and water, casting baited lines to tempt the sea bass to their last meal. In the black ribbon of parking lot sandwiched between the dunes and the shore, vacationers were just beginning to stir, opening the windows and doors of their mechanical homes, airing out their sea dampened linens and clothes. Tory was so used to seeing the idyllic tableau, she barely took note as her craft glided the last few feet and touched bottom in the frothing water at the ocean’s edge.

As she unzipped her life vest and tossed the PFD into her boat, the sound of a car door thudding closed penetrated the roar of the waves, and she stopped what she was doing to watch Reese Conlon walk down across the shell-littered sand, a blazing grin on her handsome face.

“Good morning, Sheriff,” Tory said softly, her eyes roaming the trim body in the immaculately pressed and polished uniform, moving slowly from the broad shoulders over the faint swell of breasts to the narrow hips and long, muscular thighs. God, you’re gorgeous.

“Good morning, Doctor,” Reese replied easily, stopping a few feet away, shoulders squared in that unconscious military posture that was second nature to her. She knew Tory was watching her, looking at her, and she liked it. Her skin tingled under the stiff cotton of her khakis everywhere Tory’s glance fell, the visual caress as tangible as a touch. The two feet of air between them shimmered like the currents above blacktop on a hot summer’s day. “Nice out there today?”

“Mmm. Yeah, it was.”

Reese smiled. Tory’s clear, lightly tanned skin was flushed from the wind off the water and the exertion of her recent paddle. The T-shirt she had worn under her PFD was damp with sweat and spray, the thin material subtly outlining her firm, high breasts. Her mid-thigh length shorts hugged slender, toned thighs. Even the scarred and damaged calf held a trace of valiant beauty.

“Give you a hand?” Reese finally said, her voice husky. You are so very lovely.

“Anytime,” the doctor replied, her own throat suddenly dry.

Tory caught up to Reese by the side of her Jeep and opened the back. Tossing the items she carried inside, she turned and reached for the rear of the kayak. “Ready?”

“Any time you say, love.”

Together they lifted it to the roof rack and secured it. As they stood facing one another by the side of the vehicle, their eyes met and they moved close enough so that their hands touched.

“Busy day today?” Reese asked, brushing the auburn collar-length hair back from Tory’s face with her fingertips, letting her hand linger against her lover’s cheek.

“Uh huh,” Tory murmured, resting one palm on the taller woman’s chest. “You?”

“Routine,” the sheriff replied, watching the green eyes deepen to the color of the ocean in August. “I won’t be late. Can we have dinner?”

“Mmm, okay.” Tory ran a finger down the buttons on Reese’s shirt, thinking about the hard muscles and soft smooth skin underneath. Thinking about waking with her that morning and how much she had wanted her right then and knowing that there wasn’t time. Knowing that she would want her all day. Knowing that that evening there would be time. “I love you.”

Reese lowered her head and brushed her lips over Tory’s, her hand beneath Tory’s hair caressing the back of her neck. “Me, too,” she whispered against her lover’s ear.

“Go to work,” Tory ordered as she stepped away. Reese had a dangerous glint in her deep blue eyes, the kind of spark that promised flames. She was afraid if they touched again they’d kiss for real, and then she wouldn’t be able to concentrate all day.

“When?” Reese persisted, but she didn’t move. She didn’t dare. You always do this to me, make me so hot I can’t think.

“Later. Now go.” Tory slid into the Jeep, pulled the door closed, and started the ignition with shaking hands. She had expected the passion to lessen, the fires to cool, but they hadn’t. She glanced into the rearview mirror as she drove away. Watching Reese stride to her patrol car, she knew that they never would.

Later turned out to be eleven o’clock that night. Tory’s patient schedule had been disrupted while she sutured a series of nasty lacerations on the forehead of a cyclist who had blown a tire coming down Route six from Truro and had catapulted into the guard rail. By the time she got home her leg ached, and she was exhausted.

“Did you ever get dinner?” Reese asked as she met her lover on the rear deck of the house they shared overlooking Provincetown Harbor.

“No,” Tory sighed as she flopped into a deck chair, absently petting the huge brindle mastiff who lumbered to her side. “Hey, Jed,” she whispered faintly.

Reese leaned to kiss her, then said, “I’ll be right back.”

Tory closed her eyes and when she jerked awake a few moments later, there was a tray table beside her with a glass of wine and a sandwich. Suddenly she was ravenous. “Thanks.”

“Better?” Reese asked when Tory set her glass down with a satisfied groan.

“Almost.”

Reese raised an eyebrow. “Something else?”

“Uh huh.”Tory held out a hand, and Reese moved to take it. Tory tugged her down onto the lounge chair beside her, turning so that they rested face to face. Threading her arms around Reese’s waist, she pressed close, pushing one thigh between Reese’s. “This.”

It began with a kiss…a kiss to say welcome home, a kiss to say I missed you, a kiss to say I love you. It became something more urgent as flesh met flesh and passion stirred. Tory worked her hand between them and pulled the T-shirt from Reese’s jeans, resting her palm on the curve of rib as it arched above Reese’s taut stomach. Reese kissed her way from Tory’s mouth along the line of her jaw to the smooth skin of her neck, biting lightly until she drew soft cries from her lover’s throat. Their hearts pounded, beating a rhythm that echoed in each other’s blood as they explored one another with mouths and lips and demanding hands.

“Tory,” Reese gasped as she felt her lover’s finger slip down the front of her jeans. She didn’t remember opening her fly, but one of them must have. “Careful.”

“Why?” Tory murmured thickly, pushing lower as she leaned up on the other arm so she could see Reese’s face. Her fingers found the hardness she was seeking, and as she pressed the length of her, Reese moaned. “You’re always good for more than one.”

Reese grew still under her hands…body arched slightly, head tilted back, pupils wide and dark. Tory knew how to touch her to keep her on the edge…knew the telltale flutter of her lids, the stutter of breath in her chest, the faint cry barely uttered…she knew and she held her there, moving her fingers slowly, carefully, one gentle stroke after another.

“Tory…love,” Reese whispered as the pleasure escaped the confines of the places Tory touched and cascaded outward to burn through her blood and roll down her legs, muscles clenching with the force of nerves and vessels turning to fire. She pressed her forehead to Tory’s shoulder and shuddered, lost and forever found.

As many times as she had watched Reese come, Tory was never prepared for the beauty of it. Awestruck, humbled beyond words, she bit her lip to keep from falling with her, wanting to remember each precious second of the moment. But she couldn’t keep from thrusting against Reese’s thigh, her body having long since moved beyond her control. Trying desperately to ignore the pressure building between her legs, she clung to her lover, gasping.

Dimly Reese heard Tory’s ragged breathing against her ear, and even as she continued to shiver with the last ripples of release, she reached for her. “I want to be inside you.”

Tory lifted her hips, helping Reese push her slacks down. “Yes. Yes.”

It was quick, because she was so close. One second, Reese was there…gliding over her, opening her…and then she was inside her, owning her. Tory cried out once, sharply, and then she was coming. Over and over and over she closed around Reese’s fingers, each spasm knifing through her with a terrible wonder. When she could make sound, she could find no words. She simply turned her sweat-damp face to Reese’s chest and hung on.

They must have slept because it was the chill that woke her. The sky was very dark above them, and the wind from the water was sharp and crisp. In the distance, the foghorn echoed plaintively. Tory stirred, running her fingers over Reese’s chest. “Hey, Sheriff.”

“Mmm?”

“Bedtime.”

“Okay,” Reese said, but when she moved to get up, Tory suddenly held her tighter. She stilled, surprised by the force of her lover’s grip. “What’s wrong, Tor?”

Tory shook her head. “Nothing.” She fiddled with the button on Reese’s jeans, uncharacteristically uncertain. “I’ll be thirty-nine in September.”

Reese waited.

Tory took a deep breath. “I was thinking it’s time for us to have a baby.”

CHAPTER TWO

February, Provincetown, Ma

Reese reached for another folder and shook some of the tension out of her shoulders. She’d been hunched over her desk for over an hour filling out requisition forms for equipment that needed to be replaced as well as completing paperwork on an early morning domestic disturbance complaint. In the middle of the winter, Provincetown was deathly quiet.

When the door opened admitting a gust of cold air, she looked up gratefully as Sheriff Nelson Parker walked in.

“Hey, Chief.”

“Hey, Reese,” Nelson said as he brushed a light dusting of snow from the shoulders of his red and black checked hunting jacket and pulled it off. He hooked the jacket over a coat tree and put his Stetson on an adjoining hook. “Anything happening?”

“Not much,” Reese said with resignation.“A couple of minor calls, but nothing serious.”

“Well,” he said as he settled behind his desk, “that’s about right for this time of year. Remember when you first started I warned you about how dull this place can be in the winter.”

“I remember.”

“Have you heard from Bri lately?”

Surprised, Reese shook her head. “Not since Christmas when she was here. Why?”

“No reason,” he said nonchalantly. He was mildly embarrassed to admit that his daughter had not called him in over a month and had failed to return his calls when he had tried her number in Manhattan. Brianna and Reese were close in a way that he and his daughter were not.

He supposed their closeness made sense, since Bri and Reese were practically cut from the same mold. Stubborn and strong and brave. Hell, they even looked alike…both of them dark-haired with wild blue eyes, almost too handsome to be women. But there was something in Bri’s eyes that he’d never seen in Reese’s—a simmering anger that had begun when she a teenager and that had been fueled by the events of two summers before. Thinking about that summer, something he tried not to do, he winced.

“Nelson? You sure everything’s okay?”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m sure. You know how twenty-year-olds are. They don’t think much about calling home.”

Reese nodded, knowing there was more but also hesitating to inquire. “If I hear from her, I’ll tell her to report in.”

“No. Forget it,” he said with a wave of his hand. With the other he searched in his desk drawer for a roll of Tums and, after finding a loose one, popped it into his mouth. “She’ll just figure I’m checking up on her.”

At that moment the door opened yet again, and a middle-aged woman entered carrying a shopping bag in one arm. Of average height, she carried an extra twenty-five pounds with aplomb. Her wavy gray hair was tied up in a scarf, and her knit suit was covered with a long down coat. “God, I can’t wait till this winter is over.”

“You’ve got quite a wait there, Gladys,” Nelson said as he smiled at the sheriff department’s office manager.

“Yes, well, I can always hope.” She smiled at both of the officers as she wended her way between the desks toward the large workstation in one corner with the room’s only computer. “You doing anything special tonight, Reese?”

“What?” Reese asked, her mind still on Bri.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, remember? Are you and Tory doing anything?”

“Oh,” Reese said, blushing. Even after two years, she couldn’t quite get used to the easy familiarity of the small town’s local inhabitants. Everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business, and didn’t mind asking for information if they didn’t. “Tory is working in Boston today.”

“Is she still flying over there three days a week?”

Reese nodded. “She doesn’t need to keep the clinic open here full-time during the winter, and she likes doing the emergency room shifts. She says it keeps her current with the newest techniques.”

The phone rang, and Reese picked it up on the second ring.“Sheriff’s department, Conlon.”

“Honey?”

“Tor?” Reese’s heart started pounding double-time. It was rare for Tory to call her at work, particularly when she was working a shift at the Boston City Hospital emergency room. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Tory said hastily. “I just need you to come to Boston.”

“Uh…my shift isn’t up until seven.” Reese hesitated, glancing at the other occupants in the room as she lowered her voice. “Is it, you know, time?”

“That’s what my thermometer says. I’ve talked to Wendy, and she can see us at six.”

By now, both Nelson and Gladys were watching Reese and pretending not to be. She curled over the phone as if that would make some difference. “I’ll get someone to fill in for me.”

“Is everyone listening?”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s okay to tell them, you know. It’s not like we’ll be able to keep it a secret.”

“Isn’t it…you know, bad luck or something to talk about it?”

Tory laughed again, and the heat in her voice was almost palpable over the phone line. “Do you know how much I love you?”

“Cut it out,” Reese said in a husky murmur. “I’m supposed to be working here.”

“Yeah, well…your services are required elsewhere. Get your butt on a plane, Sheriff.”

“I’ll be there soon.” Reese stood and walked to the coat tree beside the door. She shrugged into her green nylon flight jacket and pulled her brimmed uniform cap down over her eyes in a familiar gesture.

“Is everything okay?” Gladys asked, because she knew that Nelson wouldn’t pry even though he was clearly dying to know what was going on.

“Yes. Perfect.” Reese opened the door, stepped through, and then stuck her head back inside. “I just need to get to Boston so Tory and I can make a baby.”

Grinning, she closed the door on the explosion of surprised questions.

CHAPTER THREE

February Boston, Mass

“Are you two all set?” Wendy Deutsch asked.

Tory, suddenly and inexplicably frightened, glanced at Reese, searching the handsome face as she reached for her hand. Reese…darling? Of course we’re ready, right?

“I love you,” Reese murmured, her entire being focused on Tory. “I will always love you.”

And that was the ultimate truth, and the ultimate answer.

“Yes,” Tory said firmly, entwining her fingers with her lover’s as she smiled into Reese’s eyes. “We’re ready.”

“Come on back then,” Wendy said, opening the door to a dimly lit room.

There was a carpet on the floor, which struck Tory as odd. She was so used to the harsh lights and institutional tiles of examining rooms. And the air was warm, with a hint of vanilla teasing at the edges of her awareness. Nothing cold, nothing sterile, nothing clinical about it.

“Why don’t the two of you get settled, and I’ll be right back,” the doctor said as she closed the door, leaving them alone.

Slowly, Tory undressed. Reese took each garment and folded it carefully, placing the clothes on a small table against one wall. She handed Tory a white terrycloth robe that had been left for them.

“Cold?” Reese asked gently.

“I’m fine, honey.”

Tory eased up onto the table, glad that the surface was covered with a soft, cotton sheet. Reese covered her with another, then pulled a chair close to the head of the table and sat down. She threaded the fingers of one hand into Tory’s hair and took her lover’s hand with the other. Tory turned her head so that their faces were only inches apart.

“Are you sure this won’t hurt?” Reese asked, unable to hide her concern. You mean everything to me.

“No. I won’t feel anything.”

There was a knock on the door. “Ready?”

The two women smiled, and Tory called, “Yes.”

Tory continued to look into Reese’s eyes, listening with only part of her mind to the doctor quietly arranging a tray. When Wendy softly instructed her to slide down and lift her legs, she complied without breaking eye contact with her lover. Reese’s hand was strong and warm, enclosing hers.

After a moment, Wendy murmured, “Here we go.”

Reese touched her forehead to Tory’s, and together they whispered, “I love you.

March, East Village, Manhattan, NYC

The rail-thin, young man with short, spiked hair wore a shapeless black T-shirt and equally formless black denim pants that hung precariously from his nonexistent rear end. In the tiny kitchen of a fourth floor walk up, he approached a petite blond, also in black jeans that actually fit her trim form and a midriff-baring, white crop-top that exposed a softly curved belly adorned with a silver navel ring. “Great party, Carre. Any more beer?”

“In the fridge.” The three studs in the rim of Caroline Clark’s left ear glinted as she turned to refill a bowl of pretzels from a bag on the counter. “It’s nice to get the midterm projects over, huh?”

“For sure. Did you hear about Paris yet?”

“Just that they got all my application materials,” she replied, her smile fading slightly as she thought of spending her junior year abroad. She wanted to go, because the chance to study and paint in France was like a dream come true. But when she actually pictured herself there, so far away from everything she knew, everyone she loved…

“What about Bri? She going, too?”

Caroline hesitated. “I…we haven’t really talked about it.”

“Where is she tonight, anyhow? She’s missing all the fun.”

“At the dojo.” Caroline glanced at the clock uneasily. It was after 11:00 p.m., and Bri’s class ended at 9:30. Bri knew that Caroline was having friends over from school, and Caroline tried to ignore the stab of hurt at her lover’s absence. Now that she thought about it, Bri had been even quieter than usual the last few weeks. She seemed to be training even more, if that were humanly possible, and coming home later and later. For the first time in the four years they’d been together, Caroline felt uncertain of what was happening between them.

“What?” Caroline asked when she realized that her friend James was still speaking.

“The black belt thing…that’s happening soon for her, right?”

“Oh. Yes. Sometime this year.”

“Man, that’s amazing.” James leaned against the counter and fished a handful of potato chips from an open bag beside him. The two of them moved closer together as another woman squeezed in beside them, muttering that she was looking for ice. “She, like, practices every day, doesn’t she?”

“Almost.” Sometimes Caroline thought that Bri’s training was the most important thing in her life. She knew for a fact that the martial arts were much more important to her lover than college. Not for the first time, she thought that Bri had only come to Manhattan to be with her. That if they had stayed in Provincetown, Bri would have been just as happy. Maybe more. It wasn’t that Brianna wasn’t intelligent, because she was. She just chafed at schedules and deadlines and inactivity.

When they’d talked about going away to college, Bri had simply said that she would go anywhere that Caroline wanted to go. When Caroline received the scholarship to the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, it had seemed like an ideal solution. It wasn’t that far from Cape Cod, so they could still get home easily. There were plenty of schools where Bri could enroll, and Reese Conlon knew of a dojo where Bri could train. Bri had settled on the city university, because it was affordable and offered a solid curriculum in criminology. She wanted to go into law enforcement, like her father and Reese.

When they found the tiny apartment in alphabet city, the student/artist enclave in Greenwich Village, life had seemed perfect. For Caroline, it still was.

“I’d better get back out there,” Caroline said, grabbing a bottle of beer for herself.

“Later,” he called as he reached for more chips.

The front door was just closing behind Bri as Caroline walked into the crowded living room, which also happened to be their bedroom when the sofa bed was pulled out. Caroline stepped over extended legs and threaded her way around the bowls and bottles on the floor until she reached her lover. Standing on tiptoe, she slipped one arm around Bri’s shoulder and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. “Hi.

Bri, taller than Caroline by a head, was in her usual outfit—tight, threadbare blue jeans, multi-zippered leather jacket, and heavy black motorcycle boots. She put both arms around her girlfriend and pulled her close, squeezing gently. Caroline always smelled like the shampoo she used, some combination of fruit and spices. Just the scent of her could make Bri wet. “Hey, babe. How’s it going?”

“Okay. Missed you.”

“Sorry.” Bri let her go and shrugged out of her jacket. The black T-shirt was stretched tight across her muscled chest and shoulders, her breasts smooth shadows beneath the thin cotton. Narrow-hipped and broad-shouldered, hard-bodied from years of jujitsu, she exuded danger and a seething sexuality.

“Come on,” Caroline said, taking her hand. “You want something? A beer?”

“Sure,” Bri replied, allowing her girlfriend to pull her though the crowd. She was happy that Carre hadn’t asked her why she was late, but she’d seen the hurt in her lover’s deep green eyes just the same. Fuck. I have to tell her soon.

CHAPTER FOUR

By 2:00 a.m., everyone had gone. Discarded bottles and half-empty bowls of snacks lay scattered around the room, but the apartment had survived the crush of partiers in fairly good shape. Caroline and Bri were nestled on the couch where they had collapsed after bidding goodnight to the last of their friends. The room lights were off, and a few candles provided the only illumination. Bri, cradling Caroline in her arms, leaned against the corner of the sofa with the smaller woman lying between her out-stretched legs.

“I guess we should open the bed,” Bri murmured, nuzzling her lips in Caroline’s fragrant hair. She rubbed her palm slowly up and down Caroline’s stomach, brushing the navel ring back and forth. Every now and then, she tugged it between her fingers. “Carre? Babe? You awake?”

“Mmm hmm.” Caroline turned on her side and pressed her hips between Bri’s thighs. “It’s awfully nice right here.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Bri tilted Caroline’s chin up and found her lips, exploring with the tip of her tongue along the sensitive inner surfaces. They’d kissed thousands of times, but every time she was struck anew by how incredibly soft those lips were. Within seconds, Bri felt herself swell and grow hard.

“I love to kiss you,” Bri murmured.

“Mmm. Me, too.” Caroline rested her hand on Bri’s chest, rhythmically brushing her thumb across the peak of her lover’s tight nipple. She knew that would make Bri crazy.

After a minute, Bri said urgently, “Come on. Let’s open the bed and get our clothes off.”

“Not yet,” Caroline said with gentle firmness. “I’m too comfortable. Just kiss me again.”

Bri knew what Carre was doing, and as much as it frustrated her, it excited her tremendously, too. Surrendering to the sweet torture, Bri groaned and kissed Caroline hard, her tongue inside the warm mouth now. Minutes—hours—passed, she couldn’t tell how long. Her head was light, her legs heavy, and her breath hissed from her chest in uneven spurts. Somewhere in the midst of their kisses, Caroline had turned on her stomach and lay face down between Bri’s open thighs, thrusting her hips in time with their questing tongues.

Bri clasped Caroline’s butt in her hands, pulling her lover hard against her crotch, trying unsuccessfully to satisfy the pressure building precariously inside.

“You feel so good,” Bri whispered.

Caroline’s only response was a soft whimper.

The sound of her lover’s pleasure snapped the tenuous threads of Bri’s control, and she wrapped one firm arm around Caroline’s waist and twisted until the smaller woman was beneath her. She grasped the lower edge of the diminutive crop top and pushed it up, lowering her mouth to the soft, full breast.

Caroline arched and cried out as Bri sucked the nipple into her mouth. She fisted her hands in Bri’s hair, pulling frantically as the pleasure streaked from her breast through her belly. “Bri…ooh, you make me so hot.”

Never moving her lips from Caroline’s breast, Bri eased away enough to get her hand between them. Deftly, she opened Caroline’s jeans and began to push them down over her hips.

“Oh, yes.” Caroline lifted her hips, grasped her jeans with one hand, and helped her lover bare her body. With her lips pressed to Bri ear, she begged, “I’m so excited. Make me come, Bri.”

Bri groaned. Nothing had ever made her feel at once so powerful and so hopelessly inadequate. That Caroline would want her, would trust her so completely, nearly broke her heart. She pressed her forehead to Caroline’s breast, murmuring fervently, “I love you so damn much.”

“I know… I know… oh, love me now.” Eyes closed, head twisting helplessly against the arm of the sofa, Caroline pushed Bri down.

Moving fast, Bri knelt on the floor, her hands beneath Caroline’s hips, pulling her forward to the edge of the couch and lifting her easily on her powerful forearms. “Oh, baby, I love you.”

Then Bri lowered her head and stroked the slick folds with her tongue, holding tight as Caroline jerked at the first light touch. When she took the distended clitoris between her lips, Caroline’s cries echoed the thundering of her own fierce passion. With her mouth, with her hands, with her lips, she paid homage to the love that had saved her sanity and shaped her life.

When Caroline climaxed, trembling and whimpering, Bri squeezed her eyes closed and groaned with the answering surge between her own thighs. She rocked her pelvis against the sofa, the seam of her jeans riding over her clitoris. The faint pressure was more than enough to trigger her oversensitive nerve endings, and she came instantly, shuddering with the force of it. Her hoarse cries mingled with her lover’s last soft moans.

“Bri? Honey?” Caroline questioned weakly, trailing her fingers over her lover’s face. Bri’s cheek was pressed to her stomach, and Caroline’s hand came away wet. “Are you crying?”

“No,” Bri lied.

Caroline sat up and leaned forward, her arms resting on her lover’s broad shoulders. “You are.”

Kneeling, encircled in Caroline’s embrace, Bri looked away. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

“I don’t think you’ve done that since the first time. Remember?”

Caroline’s voice was gentle, and Bri thought of the warm summer nights in the dunes—innocently making love beneath the stars with the sounds of the surf in the background. “Yes,” she said quietly. “I remember.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Bri insisted.

“You have to tell me.” Caroline gave Bri a small shake. “Something hasn’t been right for a long time. Ever since Christmas.”

“I don’t how to explain.”

Caroline’s heart lurched. Suddenly, for the first time in her memory, she was frightened of something that Bri might say. “Is there…someone else?”

“No! Jesus.” Bri put her palms on either side of her lover’s face and kissed her swiftly. “Never.”

“Then what?”

“I want to quit school.”

Caroline jerked back. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to be here next year while you’re in France.” She hadn’t wanted to say that. But it was the truth.

“Oh.” The sound was small, surprised.

Neither of them said anything for long moments, until finally Bri got to her feet and moved as far away as the small room would allow. She leaned against the doorway that joined the kitchen and the living room and pushed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

“I won’t go then,” Caroline said quietly as she hastily rearranged her clothing. Brushing a hand through her disheveled hair, she smiled tremulously. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I want you to go,” Bri said forcefully. “You want to go. Fuck…you should go.”

Bri turned and walked into the kitchen, jerking open the small refrigerator door and pulling out a bottle of beer. Viciously, she twisted off the top and threw it into the trash. She turned to find Caroline framed in the doorway, staring at her with wounded eyes. “I can’t go with you, Carre. You know that.”

“What would you do?”

Bri looked away.

“Bri?”

“I applied to the Sheriff’s department in Barnstable.”

“You’re going to move back to the Cape?”

“Yeah.”

Caroline felt like she had plummeted into another world. “When did you apply?”

“January.”

“You didn’t tell me.” It was a statement, not an accusation.

“I didn’t want you to change your mind about Paris.”

“Oh, Bri.” Caroline hadn’t meant to cry, but the tears came before she could stop them. She felt so sad, and so helpless to change events that already seemed to be moving too fast.

Stunned, Bri put the bottle on the counter and rapidly strode across the small space. She pulled Caroline into her arms and buried her face in her hair. “I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.”

“Can we talk about this tomorrow?” Caroline pressed hard against Bri’s body, needing the solid reassurance of her presence.

“Sure. Anything you want.” Bri kissed Caroline’s forehead. “It will be okay, babe.”

But somehow, they both knew that wasn’t true.

CHAPTER FIVE

Three weeks later Bri and Caroline stood together in the chill March wind on the sidewalk in front of their apartment building. Bri strapped her loaded saddlebags onto the back of her Harley with methodical care. She wasn’t taking much…extra jeans, a few books, her gis. And she was leaving everything behind. “You should go inside. It’s freezing out here.”

“I’m okay.” Shivering, Caroline crossed her arms over her chest, but it wasn’t the frigid air that chilled her. “I don’t care about Paris.”

“Look, I’ll see you for Memorial Day, right? That’s only two months.” Bri yanked on her heavy riding gloves. The tears in Carre’s eyes were killing her.

“But if I stay here next year,” Caroline continued hurriedly as if Bri hadn’t spoken, “I’ll be able to see you every other weekend or so. At least once a month.”

“We’ll have this summer together. By the time you have to leave in the fall, we’ll be used to the idea.” Bri straddled the bike and tried to think of something that would take the hurt out of Caroline’s eyes. It’s not just Paris. It’s not just next year. Don’t you know that? You’re really good, babe. Everyone knows it. This is your chance. You have to do whatever it takes, and it sure isn’t going to be spending your life in Provincetown. If I stay here, I’m only going to hold you back.

Caroline crossed the sidewalk in a rush and threw her arms around Bri’s leather-jacketed shoulders. She buried her face in Bri’s neck, her words muffled against her lover’s cold skin. “I love you. I don’t want us to be apart.”

“Oh, babe.” Bri wrapped the smaller woman in a bone crushing embrace, pressing her face to the top of Caroline’s head. Much more of this and she was going to crack. It felt like her chest was going to explode it hurt so much. “We just have to do this. Promise me if you get the scholarship, you’ll go.”

“Bri,” Caroline pleaded, her fists clutching the stiff leather.

“Promise.”

Caroline nodded wordlessly.

For one terrifying moment, Bri didn’t think she could let her go. She had a horrible feeling that she would never hold her again. Oh Jesus, what am I going to do without you. “I don’t want you to watch me drive away.”

Shivering, Caroline stepped away, her jade green eyes locked on Bri’s midnight blue ones. She was crying, but she didn’t feel the tears freezing on her cheeks. “I’m not going to let you leave me.”

“I’m not,” Bri whispered, but she feared she might be lying to them both.

March, Provincetown, MA

Reese leaned on the railing on the postage stamp-sized deck behind the Galleria, a relatively new two-story enclave of boutiques in the middle of town. She’d left her jacket in her patrol car and stood in shirtsleeves under a clear sky, watching the fishing boats leave Provincetown Harbor for their morning run.

A gruff voice behind her interrupted her reverie. “What are you doing working already?”

Reese turned, rested her hips against the rail, and nodded to her boss. “You’re up awfully early, Chief.”

“Don’t call me Chief,” he groused, handing her a steaming cup of coffee. “I saw the cruiser out front. It’s another hour before the day shift starts.”

“I took Tory to the airport for her 5:30 flight to Boston.” She sipped the coffee and regarded him silently. He didn’t look like he’d been sleeping very well.

“Have you heard from my kid?”

“She called me two days ago. Gave me an update on her training.”

He grumbled something unintelligible. Bri hadn’t called him, but then that was pretty much his fault.

He pulled the cruiser into his driveway and stared at the big Harley parked in front of his garage. What the hell?

She was in the kitchen, perched on a stool with a glass of orange juice and half a hoagie in front of her. Same jeans, same boots, same slicked-back black hair. Same hoodlum jacket, too. Christ, he was glad to see her.

“Bri?”

“Hey, Dad.”

He tossed an arm around her shoulder and squeezed, brushing his cheek quickly across the top of her head. She seemed thinner, harder, and there was a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen in a long, long time. A lost look. His heart turned over, and his stomach started burning. “It’s Wednesday. What are you doing here?”

She shrugged.

He shed his parka to the back of a chair and walked to the refrigerator. He rummaged around, found a beer, and popped the top. Then he leaned on the counter and stared at his only child. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” It came out a bit strangled, and she cleared her throat. “Yeah. Fine.”

“Caroline with you?”

Bri shook her head.

Sipping the beer he couldn’t even taste, his mind raced. If she’d needed money, she probably would have called. Of course, she never asked him for money. Hardly ever asked for anything. Couldn’t be trouble with Caroline’s old man. That asshole was long out of the picture—the guy hadn’t had anything to do with the kids since he’d slapped Caroline around for being involved with Bri and then tossed her out of the house. Trouble with the law? Nah—not his kid. So, if it wasn’t money or—the burning in his gut climbed into his chest.

“Are you sick?”

Bri stared at him. “What? No.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here in the middle of the week in the middle of school?” He might have asked a little loudly, but she’d scared the crap out of him.

“I quit.”

Nelson’s mouth dropped open. “Are you nuts? Where’s Caroline?”

“In Manhattan.”

“Did she quit, too?”

“No.” Bri’s voice was tight again. “I moved out.”

Okay, relax. Try to get the facts. Don’t yell at her. He crushed the beer can without even realizing it. “Jesus H. Christ, Brianna! What in hell are you thinking?”

She got up fast and headed toward the back door.

“Bri, wait! Jesus—just—wait, okay?”

She had her hand on the doorknob, but she didn’t open the door. With her back to him, she said, “I’m starting at the Sheriff’s department training academy on Monday.”

“Just like that?” he asked as quietly as he could, which wasn’t very. “You just walk away from school? Did you walk away from Car—”

But he was talking to himself by then, and all he could hear by the time he made it to the door was the thudding of his heart and the roar of her motorcycle fading into the night.

CHAPTER SIX

Nelson cleared his throat. “She, uh…say where she was staying?”

“Chief,” Reese said quietly, “I’m kind of in a bind here. Bri didn’t say much.”

“And if she did, you wouldn’t tell me?” he snapped.

Unconsciously, she squared her shoulders. “No, sir. Probably not.”

His eyes blazed for an instant, and he stiffened. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, Conlon. Lose the ‘sir’ bullshit.”

Taking a deep breath, Reese relaxed her shoulders. “She told me she was sharing a place with a couple of other cadets in Barnstable. It sounds like she’s okay.”

“It doesn’t make sense. To leave school? Jesus, to leave Caroline?” He met Reese’s eyes, and his were filled with uncertainty. “You haven’t seen her. She’s got that look in her eyes like she had before Caroline settled her down. Like there was something broken inside of her.”

“You need to call her, then. Talk to her.”

“Yeah, I did great with that last time.” He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. “Jesus, why is it so hard to talk to your own kid?”

“Probably because she means so much to you.”

“I think about her being hurt, you know. And it makes me want to break things.” He looked away, embarrassed by the admission.

Reese thought about Tory being harmed. The pain was so intense it actually made her ill. “Yeah, I know.”

“You’ll probably know a lot better when you have a kid of your own,” he said gruffly.

“Probably.” Reese grinned.

He joined her at the rail, close to her side but still not quite touching. Together they faced the sea, and at length he asked, “How is that…situation…going?”

“It’s a little too soon to tell,” she replied carefully. She wasn’t totally comfortable talking about the baby thing…not because of embarrassment, but due to a lingering superstition. She just didn’t want anything to go wrong. They hadn’t talked about it, but she knew that Tory wasn’t exactly the ideal age to be getting pregnant. But Tory said it was safe. Promised Reese it was safe. “Sometimes, Tory says, you have to try more that once.”

“Huh. Doesn’t sound a whole lot different,” Nelson acknowledged, studiedly not looking at Reese. “Everybody thinks it’s easy the, you know, the…regular way. But it isn’t…not all the time.”

She waited.

“Brianna… it was a long time before her. We’d kind of given up.” His voice had gotten rougher, and he cleared his throat. “She was like a present, when she came along.”

“I can imagine that she was,” Reese said softly. “It’s kind of terrifying, isn’t it?”

“Damn right it is.” Nelson laughed. “And you haven’t even gotten started yet.”

“Look,” Reese offered. “I’ll give Bri a call.”

“Okay. Yeah. Thanks. You don’t need to say I was asking.”

“Nope, I won’t.” She clapped him on the shoulder and then tapped the brim of her cap. “I’m gonna take a ride through town before I hit the office.”

“Sure.” He watched her walk away and silently counted himself lucky that she was part of his daughter’s life.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and at seven p.m., Reese was standing outside the tiny airport watching the sky. Five minutes later, the twin engine, twelve-seater taxied to a stop a hundred feet away. Six people disembarked, one of them Victoria King. Reese walked out to meet her.

“How you doing?” Reese murmured as she took Tory’s hand and leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’m fine,” Tory said with a smile. “How was your day?”

“Not bad. Let me take your briefcase.”

Tory laughed. “I’ve got it. How about taking me out to dinner, though?”

Reese held opened the door to the one room terminal. “Sure. Any place special?”

“You pick,” Tory replied as she threaded her arm through her lover’s.

“Laverne’s is open. Feel like Mexican?” Reese opened the passenger door of her Blazer and waited while Tory climbed in.

“Perfect.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were settled in a booth in one of the few restaurants that was open year-round, perusing menus that they knew practically by heart. After they had ordered, Reese reached across the table and took Tory’s hand.

“You had a long day. Was it busy?”

“The usual,” Tory replied.

“How much longer are you planning on working three days a week over there?” Reese asked as she leaned back to allow the waitress to set appetizers in front of them. “The clinic’s starting to get busy, isn’t it?”

“It’s picked up.” Having heard the concern in the deep voice, Tory studied her lover across the candlelit table. “I was planning on another week or so. Why?”

Reese shrugged. “It’s a pretty hectic schedule.”

“Well, actually, I was going to tell them I wanted to cut back to half shifts in the ER.”

“Really?” Although the news was welcome, Reese was surprised. “How come?”

Reaching for a nacho, Tory said, “There’s a lot of work to be done at the clinic before the season starts. I need to inventory the supplies, set up schedules for the employees, and I still have another physician to interview for the interim position.”

“Makes sense,” Reese said with a wave of relief. She tried hard not to interfere with Tory’s work, but she couldn’t help but worry about her demanding schedule.

“Besides,” Tory added casually, “I’m pregnant.”

Reese dropped her fork. “Holy God.”

“Wendy confirmed it this afternoon.” Tory grinned. “We did it, honey.”

In the next instant, Reese was on her feet and moving around the side of the table. She took Tory’s face in both hands and kissed her thoroughly. Then, unmindful of the few patrons who watched and the waitress standing a few feet away with loaded plates balanced on one arm, she knelt on the floor by Tory’s side and took both her lover’s hands in hers.

“You know my heart is yours,” she said softly, running her finger over the scrolled gold band on Tory’s left hand. “But I want everyone else to know how very much I love you. Will you marry me?”

“In town…at the meeting house?” Tory murmured, forgetting that they had an audience.

“Yes, there or anywhere you want.”

Tory’s eyes welled with tears as she stared into the deep blue ones that gazed upon her with open devotion. “Oh my love, I would be so happy to.”

As Tory leaned over to kiss her kneeling partner, she heard the muted sound of clapping, and thought, not for the first time, how blessed she had been the day Reese walked into her life.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Reese couldn’t remember a thing about the rest of the meal or the drive home. It was just after ten when they started a fire in the bedroom fireplace and settled under the covers. She turned on her side, her head on the pillow a few inches from Tory’s.

“It’s going to take me a while to believe it,” she whispered.

“Are you okay with it?” Tory hoped her trepidation didn’t show in her voice. Despite the weeks they had spent talking and planning, she knew that oftentimes the reality threw couples into turmoil.

“Oh, yeah.” Reese caressed Tory’s cheek with her fingertips, her throat so tight she could hardly swallow. “I’m so high, I feel like I’m flying.”

Tory ran her fingers through Reese’s hair and moved closer, until their bodies touched all along their length. “You never let me down, you know?”

“I’ll try not to, ever,” Reese murmured. She stroked her palm over Tory’s shoulder and down her arm to her hand, squeezing her fingers briefly. Then, she rested her hand on the arch of her lover’s hip, making slow, gentle circles with her fingertips. “I love you, Tor.”

“Mmm.” Tory leaned nearer still and brushed her lips over Reese’s. “Me, too.”

Tory kissed her again, enjoying the gentleness of her lover’s mouth as her fingers played over the hard muscles of Reese’s chest and shoulders. Reese was such a wonderful contradiction of strength and secret softness, and touching her never failed to stir Tory’s desire. Tonight, she wanted, needed, to be as close to her as possible. When she felt Reese’s tongue slide smoothly across her own, she moaned. She edged her thigh between Reese’s legs, her stomach clenching briefly as the smooth, warm skin pressed to her own heated center. She knew she was wet, and she rocked her hips gently to increase the contact. “God, I could come doing this.”

“Go ahead,” Reese urged gently, her voice a register lower then normal. She slid a hand between their bodies and cupped Tory’s breast, finding her nipple and squeezing gently to the cadence of her lover’s surging hips. “I love it when you do that.”

“Maybe later,” Tory managed, struggling not to lose control. “I want you to make me come the first time.”

Reese groaned and pressed her forehead to Tory’s. The throaty sound of Tory’s need sent of pulse of excitement streaking through her depths. Her clitoris twitched madly in response. “Jesus.”

Tory’s only response was a faint whimper as she caught the fingers sweetly torturing her breast and drew Reese’s hand down along her stomach toward the space between her legs. When Reese gently brushed the damp curls at the base of her belly, she arched her back and pressed against her lover’s palm. When fingers gently fondled the stiff bundle of nerves, she moaned, “Oh, honey…that’s so nice.”

“You’re so beautiful,” Reese murmured, moving her lips along the edge of Tory’s jaw. Her neck was arched, exposing her throat, a pulse beating wildly at the base of her throat. Reese pressed her lips to that point, marveling at the thrill of life and passion beneath the skin. Her own heart beat furiously, her stomach tight with wonder, as she slowly massaged Tory’s clitoris.

When she couldn’t stand the pleasure any longer, Tory grasped Reese’s wrist and pressed her lover’s hand further between her legs. “I’m…going to come. I want you…inside.”

“Tory,” Reese gasped. “Is it…okay?”

Whimpering, beginning to crest, Tory didn’t answer, but guided her lover where she needed her. Before Reese was fully inside of her, her muscles clenched forcefully and she climaxed. She clutched Reese’s shoulders, growing rigid with the first forceful contraction and then shuddering with each wave of aftershock.

Reese closed her eyes, forgetting to breathe as Tory trembled in her arms. They must have drifted together in the twilight of passion, because the fire had nearly burned down when she opened her eyes again. Tory’s cheek was pressed to her breast, and her fingers were still between Tory’s thighs. Carefully, she withdrew.

“That was wonderful,” Tory mumbled.

“Yeah, it was.” Reese kissed the top of her head. “Are you warm enough?”

“Mm hmm.”

“I should set the alarm.”

Tory tilted her head and kissed the tip of Reese’s chin. “In a minute. How you doing?”

“Great.”

“Just great?” Tory ran a finger down the center of Reese’s belly and didn’t stop until she found the answer to her question. Reese stiffened as if she had been electrified.

“Jesus, Tor.” She gasped as Tory flicked her finger teasingly against the base of her clitoris. “Do that a few more times and I’ll… oh…”

“I know exactly what you’ll do,” Tory said with a satisfied smile, never letting up on the steady rhythm. “And… I… know… when.”

Reese’s hips jerked once, hard, and she shouted as the orgasm crashed through her. Distantly, she heard Tory’s joyful laughter.

“Are you sure,” Reese asked breathlessly as the last surge of pleasure rolled through her, “that this is okay?”

“Okay?” Tory asked, vaguely remembering that Reese had asked something similar sometime earlier. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You know,” Reese said weakly, trying to gather her wits when her brain had just been turned to mush. “The baby.”

“The baby?” Tory leaned on one elbow and stared at her lover. “What about…oh! Sex and the baby.”

“Yeah.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t think it would be very good for the baby if I lost my mind while pregnant.” She kissed her slightly befuddled lover soundly on the mouth. “Which is exactly what would happen if we stopped making love. Don’t worry, this is just with the doctor ordered.”

“Oh, good,” Reese murmured as she wrapped her arms around her lover and closed her eyes.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Reese was awakened what seemed like five minutes later by an insistent pounding on their front door. Jed, fast asleep at the foot of their bed, snored peacefully. She rolled over and peered at the bedside clock. 5:43 a.m.

“Holy hell,” she muttered under her breath, trying to ease out of bed without awakening Tory.

“Reese?” Tory mumbled as she stretched out her hand and found the vacant space where Reese had just been. Instantly alert, she sat up on, holding the sheet against her body with one arm. “Honey, what is it?”

“Don’t know.” Reese hastily pulled on a pair of jeans and searched a nearby chair for a T-shirt. As she pulled one over her head, she added, “I’ll go check. You don’t need to get up, love.”

Turning on lights as she passed through the living room, Reese reached the front door and looked through the beveled glass window to the front deck. There was just enough light to make out the features of the two people peering back at her. She pulled the door open hastily. “Mom? Jean?”

Kate Mahoney and her lover, Jean Purdy, swept past Reese and into the living room. Kate made a bee-line for Tory, who was just coming down the stairs from the second floor wearing one of Reese’s uniform shirts and a baggy pair of sweatpants.

“Is everything okay?” Tory asked worriedly. She stopped on the bottom step and reached for the banister, trying to ignore a faint wave of nausea. Oh, no. Not yet.

“Is it true?” Kate demanded excitedly.

“Uh…” Reese muttered as she followed the procession toward her startled lover. “It’s not even six o’clock in the morning, Mom.”

Never taking her eyes off Tory, Kate replied dismissively, “I wanted to catch you before you went to work. You’re always up this early.”

“It’s Sunday,” Reese pointed out, although no one seemed to be listening.

“Honey,” Jean, a compact, middle-aged woman with kindly eyes, said soothingly as she stepped up behind the tall, blue-eyed woman who bore a striking resemblance to Reese. “They just woke up. Maybe we should come back later.”

“Well? Are we going to be grandmothers?” Kate demanded of Tory.

Reese made a choking sound as Tory’s face broke into a wide smile.

“News certainly does travel quickly.” Tory, feeling steadier now, walked toward Kate. “And the answer is, yes, you most definitely are.”

Amidst a rush of happy exclamations, Kate threw her arms around Tory, and Jean hugged Reese.

“How did you find out so soon?” Reese asked, grinning now as she extricated her lover from her mother’s embrace. “I didn’t even know until last night.”

“Darling, when someone gets on their knees in the middle of a restaurant in Provincetown, people notice. Especially when it’s a couple like you two, and especially when we’ve all been waiting for the happy news.”

“I should have known,” Reese grumbled, wondering if it had been the waitress or one of the diners who had spread the word. “Once Gladys finds out, she’ll probably put out a state wide bulletin.”

Tory slipped her arm around Reese’s waist and snuggled close to her. “I told you there would be no keeping it a secret, honey.”

Reese kissed the top of Tory’s head while her mother and Jean beamed. “Do you two want breakfast?”

“I’ve got an even better idea,” Kate said as she took Jean’s hand. “You two go back to bed, and we’ll bring you breakfast.”

Reese paled. Everyone is insane. Is this normal?

Tory laughed. “That’s not necessary. But thank…”

“Of course it’s not necessary,” Jean said quietly. “But you’ve made us so very happy, and now that we’re here, it would make us even happier to do something for you.”

“And then you can tell us just how you managed it!” Kate said with a glint in her eye.

“Mom,” Reese said warningly.

Kate kissed her daughter swiftly on the cheek. “Never mind, Reese. I don’t really want to know all the details.”

“Don’t tease her before coffee, Kate, please,” Tory said with a laugh. She tugged Reese toward the stairs. “Come on, honey. They just made us an offer we can’t refuse. Let’s go back to bed.”

Recognizing when she’d been outmaneuvered, Reese shrugged and followed Tory back up stairs. “Sorry about that,” she whispered when they were back in bed. She propped her back against the pillows and drew Tory down against her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“I don’t mind,” Tory murmured, resting her cheek against Reese’s chest as she thread one arm around her waist. “It was pretty endearing.”

“I never realized my mother was so anxious for grandchildren.” Reese rubbed her cheek against the top of Tory’s head, breathing in the sweet, distinctive scent that always made her feel at home. “God, you feel good.”

“Mmm, so do you.” Tory felt the first stirring of desire, and then swiftly reminded herself that her in-laws were downstairs. “I hate to say this, but it will be nice to have babysitters in the immediate area.”

Reese laughed, running her hand gently up and down Tory’s back. “Now there’s an advantage I hadn’t considered. I guess I can forgive them for dragging us out of bed.”

“Honey,” Tory said contemplatively. “What are you going to tell your father?” As she expected, her lover stiffened. Tory ran her palm softly back and forth over Reese’s chest. “I’m not rushing you, sweetheart. It’s completely up to you.”

“The General has managed to deal with the fact that I’m a lesbian by ignoring it,” Reese said quietly. “I’ve let him, because my relationship with him has always been more military than familial. I guess I’ve probably let him, too, because I haven’t wanted to be coerced into resigning my commission.”

“I know how much the Corps means to you.” Tory took a deep breath. “Is the baby going to be a problem?”

“No, never,” Reese said quickly, tightening her arms around Tory. “I only meant that if I force him to acknowledge our relationship, he might invoke regulations.”

“The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ thing?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, honey,” Tory said worriedly. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Reese put two fingers beneath Tory’s chin and gently tilted her face until their eyes met. “You’ve made me happier than I ever imagined I could be. Now, with the baby coming, life is even more wonderful. You and this child are the only things that matter to me.”

“But the Mari…“

“I gave most of my life to the Marines. Now I’m just yours.”

Tory shifted until she was lying in Reese’s arms, facing her. She brought her mouth close to Reese’s, holding her gaze. “I love you.”

As often happened when the depth of their love, at once comforting and wild, rose up to confront them, the rest of the world receded. Reese was about to kiss her when a knock sounded on the door. One of them groaned.

“I was just getting started,” Reese whispered.

“Mmm. So was I.” Tory kissed her quickly, then rolled away. “Look out when you get home tonight, Sheriff.”

Laughing, Reese took her hand. “Come on in, Grandmoms.”

CHAPTER NINE

April, Barnstable, Massachusetts

It was after 9:00 p.m. on Friday night, and the parking lot that separated the administrative buildings from the training facility at the Sheriff’s department main headquarters was almost empty. Reese parked her Blazer around the side of the gymnasium, then exited the vehicle and walked to the building’s side entrance. She walked down the deserted hallway to the last door on the right.

There was only one other person in a room the size of a basketball court.

“Hi, Bri.”

Brianna turned away from the hanging bag that she had been lightly punching to loosen up her arms. None of her relief at seeing Reese showed in her face. “Hey.”

“How are things going?” Reese asked as she began to change into her gi.

Bri looked away. Even though she’d seen Reese without clothes in the gym before, she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the faint stir of arousal the sight of the well-built body produced. It was probably normal, but she didn’t really have any way of knowing. There’d only ever been Carre in her life. Carre. Jesus, I miss you.

“I miss you, Bri.”

Carre’s voice was small and sad. Bri’s heart ached from hearing the hurt and knowing she had put it there.

“I know, babe. Me, too.” Her own voice was thick in her throat. She slid down the wall beneath the pay phone in an out of the way corner of the building that housed the classrooms, her stomach in knots. She’d had to call, even though she only had five minutes between classes. She was just so lonely. “How’s school?”

“Okay. The same…you know.”

“Your painting going okay?” Bri asked, wondering when it had gotten so hard to talk to the woman who had been her lover and best friend for four years.

“Uh huh.”

“Have you heard anything about the scholarship?”

“Not yet.” Caroline voice trailed off, then came back strong. “So, are you working hard?”

“Yeah. I’m taking some classes with the night school group. That way I can meet my minimal hours requirement faster.”

“Can you come home this weekend?” The hopeful note in Caroline’s voice was obvious.

Home.

Bri said softly, “I can’t, babe. I signed up for weapons training on Saturday mornings.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorr…“

“No,” Caroline said hastily. “That’s okay. I knew you’d be busy.”

“You’ll be here Memorial Day, right?”

“That just seems so far away.”

Oh, fuck, don’t cry.

Bri swallowed the lump in her throat. “Do you need money…for the bus? I sent the rent check already.”

“No… I… Bri…” She was crying. “I have to go.”

“I love you, babe,” Bri whispered, one hand fisted in her hair, her head down almost on her knees. “Please, don’t cr…”

“Hey! Parker! You coming to class or not?” a rough male voice demanded.

“Yes, sir.” Bri jumped to her feet. “I gotta go, babe. Carre?”

But the line was already dead.

“Bri?”

“Sorry. What?” Bri blushed.

“The academy. Everything okay?” Reese tied her pants, shrugged into her gi jacket, and wrapped the gold embroidered black belt around her waist with practiced efficiency.

“Yeah, sure. Fine.”

“Good.”

Reese stepped onto the mat and knelt, as did Bri, and they bowed to one another. Then, as they had done five or six days a week for the year and a half before Bri had left for college, they trained. Then, Reese called a halt, and they once again knelt and bowed.

“Thank you, sensei,” Bri said quietly.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Reese said, “but I talked to Moriyama sensei about you resuming your training with me.”

“Thanks.”

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t keep you on schedule. You can either test for shodan in New York with Moriyama’s class sometime this summer, or you can test here with me.”

“How would that work?”

Reese shrugged. “We don’t need to decide that now. You’ve got enough things to worry about. First priority is getting through the academy with good scores so you can have a shot at picking your field training placement.”

“I know. I’m busting my as…butt in class.”

“Good. See that you keep it up.”

“Yes, ma’am.” When Bri realized that Reese would probably head back to Provincetown any minute, she said almost desperately, “Listen, we could shower here and then maybe go out for a drink. If you have time?”

Reese regarded the young woman intently. Bri’s dark blue eyes were shadowed, and despite her formidable physique, she looked gaunt. “If you don’t mind a little healthy sweat, I don’t. I’m pretty hungry. Let’s skip a shower. Any place near here we can grab a bite?”

“Yeah,” Bri replied eagerly. “There’s a tavern out on 6A about 10 minutes from here.”

“Let’s go then,” Reese said briskly. “And Bri?”

“Yeah?”

“Soda for you in the bar.”

Bri flushed. “Yes, ma’am. Absolutely.”

Nine minutes later they were seated in a booth at the back of a beer joint that was packed with locals and academy trainees. If Reese wasn’t mistaken, at least one young women had eyed Bri with an appreciative glance that was definitely more than friendly.

“Hamburger, fries, and a root beer,” Bri said when a woman approached with a pad and pencil at the ready.

“Make that two,” Reese added. “Along with whatever beer you have on tap.”

“I’m really glad you came up,” Bri said shyly. It was still difficult for her to relate as simply a friend to the woman who had been her teacher first.

“That’s okay. I wanted to see you,” Reese said as she took the mug of beer that the waitress offered. “Find out how you were doing.”

Bri sipped her soda. “The academy’s not that bad. There’s a lot of material to be covered in a short time, but most of it’s just common sense.”

“Good. You can handle yourself. Don’t be afraid to show it.”

Bri nodded, feeling almost happy for the first time since she’d left Carre. “No problem.”

“It’ll be good to have you back in the dojo,” Reese remarked. “Once you’re through the academy, we’ll need to talk about you teaching one of the junior classes.”

“Yeah, I’d like that. Isn’t Tory teaching a class in self-defense now?”

“Yes. But I don’t know how much longer she’ll be teaching.”

“Why?” Bri asked, her expression suddenly serious. “Is there something wrong?”

“Nope.” Reese couldn’t keep from smiling. “She’s pregnant.”

Bri’s hand stopped halfway to her mouth, the hamburger forgotten. Her blue eyes grew so round they looked almost black. “No fucking way,” she said in a reverent whisper.

“It’s true.”

“Wow.”

“Yes,” Reese confided. “That’s exactly how I feel, too.”

“Does my dad know?”

“Yes, I told him right away. We’ve known for a couple of weeks.”

“What did he say?” she asked curiously.

“I think he said something along the lines of what you just did,” Reese replied with a laugh. “He seems fine with it.”

They counted out cash to cover the check and the tip and then wended their way back through the crowd toward the door. Once outside, they walked briskly in companionable silence until they reached Reese’s SUV.

“Call me,” Reese said, clapping Bri on the shoulder. “Come down whenever you can, and we’ll work out. Okay?”

“Thanks, I will.”

Reese studied Bri’s face, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening inside her. All she could see were hints of her pain. The memory of the shadows in the younger woman’s eyes haunted her all the way home.

CHAPTER TEN

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Bri watched the taillights of Reese’s Blazer disappear into the night. Suddenly at loose ends, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and looked around the deserted parking lot. The options were few. She could go back inside the gym and work out until she felt tired enough to sleep, or she could head back down the road to the tavern and at least be in the company of other people. That might take her mind off the empty feeling that stole through her body. Not wanting to think about that, she strode quickly to her cycle, swung one long leg over the low-slung tank, and fit her key to the ignition. Ignoring the helmet strapped to the rear, she kick started the engine, slammed into gear, and tore off into the dark.

A few minutes later, she settled on a stool at one end of the still-crowded bar and ordered another club soda. She wasn’t thinking about much of anything at all, just aimlessly turning the glass on the bar, wondering what Carre was doing, when a soft female voice spoke very close to her ear.

“You’re back awfully soon.”

Bri swiveled on the seat and met the eyes of one of her academy classmates, a softly beautiful dark-haired young woman about her own age. They’d nodded to one another in class, but never had a conversation.

“There’s not much to do around here on the weekend,” Bri said noncommittally.

“You’ve got that right. Do you mind if I keep you company for a while?”

“No,” Bri replied, oddly uncomfortable, and uncertain why. Maybe it was just that she wasn’t used to casual conversations with strangers.

“I’m Allie Weber,” the faintly Southern-accented voice informed her as a well-formed hand reached out.

“Bri Parker.” The handshake was firm, the skin smooth and warm.

“Uh-huh. I know,” Allie replied. “Where are you from?”

“I’m a local. Provincetown. You?”

“South Carolina. Bet you can’t tell, though.”

“Uh,” Bri said, grinning. “A little.

“My mom got a job at Woods Hole Marine Biological laboratory near Falmouth when I was a junior in high school. So I’m sorta local, too.”

They both laughed. After a moment, Bri said, “Can I get you a drink or something?”

“I’m okay with this one,” the brunette replied as she lifted her bottle of beer. “So what do you think of the academy so far?”

“It’s about like I expected.” In truth, Bri didn’t pay much attention to her classmates. Her entire focus was on the material and what she needed to do to meet the hours requirements for graduation. Because many of the cadets had come from previous jobs and diverse educational backgrounds, the training program was very flexible and allowed the trainees a great deal of independence in arranging their schedules. Bri had mapped out a course of study that would get her through in the shortest possible time.

“The guys don’t seem to give you much trouble,” her companion observed wryly.

“Are they bothering you?” Bri regarded her companion seriously and was surprised to notice how dark her eyes were, almost liquid. Then she realized she was staring and quickly studied her glass of soda.

“Not really.” But the young woman’s tone was not convincing.

“But someone said something to you?”

“Not exactly. Just the usual offhand remarks about women not being strong enough to handle a physical confrontation. That kind of crap.”

“Hand to hand combat isn’t about how big you are,” Bri said intently. “Or how strong. It’s about how you use the resources that you have.”

“I heard that you’re some kind of martial arts master.”

“Hardly.” Bri laughed to hide her embarrassment. Luckily it was too dark for Allie to see her blush. “I’ve had some training, but I have a lot more to learn.”

The young woman casually put her hand on Bri’s wrist below the cuff of her jacket, then leaned closer to talk. “I saw you in the physical training section the other day. You knocked that big blond guy, Jacobs, on his ass like he was a feather.”

“That’s because the idiot rushed me. With that kind of move, they have so much forward momentum that if you simply sidestep and redirect, they’ll go right over. It’s totally a matter of using your own center of gravity against theirs.”

“So, do you think you could work out with me sometime? Like a training partner, maybe?”

Bri glanced down at the fingers lightly curled around her forearm and was suddenly uncertain. She didn’t have many friends; she never had. Just Carre and a few of the kids who hung out at Reese’s dojo. Most of the friends they’d made in Manhattan were Carre’s classmates from art school. She’d never wanted anyone else’s company. Carre was enough. The pang of loneliness that shot through her made her breath catch, and she looked away.

“I’d pay you back. I’m a pretty good cook.”

“Sure…I guess so.” Bri looked back and tried to smile. The fingers on her arm were warm. “I mean, I don’t know that I can teach you anything that you won’t get from the instructors. But, I guess that would be okay.”

“Great.” Allie gave her a winning smile. She didn’t move her hand.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was well after midnight when Reese pulled into the driveway beside her home. The house was dark, but Tory’s Jeep was gone.

Damn it. Where is she?

Reese pulled over, extracted her cell phone from the glove compartment, and punched in the number to the Sheriff’s department. One of her officers answered. “Lyons, it’s Conlon.”

“Yo, Reese. What’s up?”

“Is there any kind of medical emergency in town that you’re aware of?” Her heart was thudding erratically, but nothing showed in her voice. Maybe she’s sick. Maybe something happened, and she couldn’t reach me. Jesus, maybe …

“There’s a big two-car crash on Route 6 coming west from Pilgrim Heights. They called for the EMTs about forty minutes ago.”

“Thanks, Jeff.“Reese put the truck into gear and sped toward the main highway that ran the length of Cape Cod. Five minutes later, she parked on the narrow shoulder behind a Sheriff’s cruiser, a fire truck, two EMS vans, and Tory’s Jeep Cherokee.

Hurriedly, Reese grabbed her Maglite from the emergency kit in the rear of the Blazer and clipped her badge to her belt. Then she made her way around the road cones, stepped over the flares which crisscrossed the highway, and walked between the haphazardly parked cars and trucks toward the center of activity. There she got a clear view of a minivan resting against the guardrail, its front end a crumpled mass of metal and shattered glass.

“Is Dr. King here?” Reese asked of the first EMT she identified.

Without looking up, the technician said sharply, “She’s down with the second car, I think.”

Reese looked around and didn’t see another vehicle. Down? Down where?

Following the skid marks on the highway, Reese reconstructed the accident in her mind. One vehicle traveling east…doing sixty from the looks of it…crosses the median and slams the minivan head on. Poor bastards in that never had a chance. Guard rail stops the minivan, and the other vehicle veers off…fuck. Into the salt marsh.

Stomach churning, she found the section of guardrail that had been breached and shone her light down to the steep embankment. A trail of crushed reeds, pond grass, and scrub outlined the errant car’s path. The vehicle itself lay upside down in the salt pond that ran alongside the highway. The front end was underwater up to the windshield and steam billowed from the cracked engine. Emergency lights had been erected, and a clot of people milled around, maneuvering stretchers and assorted emergency equipment. One of the firemen appeared to be a attaching a towline to the back of the vehicle. No sign of Tory. Maybe the EMT was wrong, and she wasn’t down there after all.

Sliding, nearly falling, she made her way down the damp, muddy bank. How in the hell did Tory get down here? I can’t even stand up.

“Smith!” Reese called when she finally saw someone she recognized. She approached her officer as quickly as the treacherous footing would allow. “Where’s Tory?”

“Hey, Reese! You don’t need to be here, boss. We’ve got it pretty much under control.”

Reese clamped down on her anger, because she knew he had no idea the terror she was feeling. Very succinctly, she repeated, “Where is Dr. King?”

“Oh,” he said hurriedly. “She’s in the car.”

“How long?” she snapped, her nerves raw.

“Huh? Oh…I dunno. Twenty minutes maybe?”

“Son of a bitch,” she shot out to no one in particular as she pushed her way past him and through the firemen and EMTs crowding around the capsized vehicle.

That water has got to be freezing. Jesus, god, she needs to get out of there.

Ignoring the biting cold as she slogged through icy water up to her mid-calves, she bent down to peer through the shattered driver’s side window. “Dr. King? Problem?”

“Reese?” Tory could barely move in the compressed space of what had once been the big luxury car’s passenger area. She didn’t know how long she’d been there, but it felt like forever. A body lay at her feet.

“What’s his condition?”

“Unconscious and critical. I’m bagging him by hand, but there’s a lot of resistance. He must have at least one lung down.” Her teeth were chattering, and it was difficult to talk. “I can’t tell what his oxygenation status is. Too damn dark in here to read a pulse oximeter, even if I had one.”

“Can one of the EMTs take your place?” Reese couldn’t see her lover’s face clearly, but she could hear the strain in her voice. Just seeing her in there made Reese’s guts churn. “Tory?”

“He’s too unstable. I can’t trust this tube not to come out, either,” Tory replied distractedly. “Tell them they can winch whenever they’re ready.”

“Not with you in there,” Reese said sharply. “That’s a twenty percent incline up to the road. This car’s going to twist all over the place when they start pulling it up.”

“No choice.”

Reese turned and shouted, “Get the fire captain down here.”

A minute later, a tall, thin man tramped through the marsh towards Reese. “Sheriff Conlon. I didn’t see you before.”

“Peterson. Just got here,” Reese said brusquely. “What about the structural integrity of the car? Dr. King says she needs to stay inside while you haul this thing out of here.”

“It’ll be one helluva bumpy ride, but they made those old Caddies to stand up to almost anything.” He shrugged. “She’ll get knocked around some. Probably get a few bruises, but the frame will hold.”

“Give me a minute. Do not move this vehicle until I give the word.”

He hesitated for a moment, but there must have been something in the tone of her voice that convinced him, because he replied, “Okay, but make it fast. We need to get this scene cleared up.”

Reese bent over to look inside again. “Tory,” she said in a voice too low for anyone else to hear. “You can’t stay in there during the extrication. It’s going to be rough. Too rough… especially for you now.”

“I’ll brace myself. I’ll be okay.” Tory took a long shuddering breath, and then admitted what she hadn’t wanted Reese to know. “There’s a lot of water in here, and I’m getting really cold. So is he. Get us out of here, Sheriff.”

“Two minutes,” Reese yelled back over her shoulder as she grabbed the top edge of the vehicle, which was actually part of the undercarriage in its now upside down position, and levered her legs through the broken-out window.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Reese, what in God’s name are you doing?” Tory cried.

“I’m going to give you a cushion, Doctor,” Reese muttered as she twisted her larger frame back and forth until she had one leg on either side of Tory’s body.

Now that she was inside, Reese could make out the driver’s legs underneath the steering column and his head wedged under the dashboard on the passenger side. Tory was holding the tracheostomy tube in place with one hand and squeezing a portable oxygen bag with the other.

“There isn’t enough room,” Tory protested.

“That’s the point,” Reese grunted as she wedged herself into the corner formed by the floor of the car above them and the side wall. Tory was now effectively insulated from the frame by Reese’s body.

“Be careful, Reese, there are metal shards sticking out everywhere.”

A powerful engine roared somewhere behind them, and the car shuddered.

“Brace your legs on something and push back into me,” Reese instructed as she wrapped her arms tightly around Tory’s waist. The car tilted, and they were thrown precipitously forward. Reese shot her right arm out straight to stop their fall, ignoring a sharp stab of pain as something jagged tore through her jacket just below her elbow. With her left arm, she encircled Tory’s waist and held her firmly against her own chest as the car rocked violently from side to side. “Hold on to me!”

“I can’t,” Tory shouted. “I have to secure this trach tube.”

The car continued to bounce up and down as it was winched up the side of the embankment. Reese absorbed most of the shock on her shoulders and back as she curled protectively around Tory’s body. What seemed an interminable time later, but what was in reality only a minute or two, the car leveled out and the earsplitting rattles and bone jolting vibrations stopped.

“Are you all right?” Reese asked anxiously.

“Yes.” Tory’s voice was muffled due to their awkward jackknifed position.

Reese rested her cheek against the back of Tory’s head and closed her eyes for a second. “Are you sure?”

“I’m all right, honey,” Tory said. “Just help me move him.”

By that time, firemen and EMTs were working to separate enough of the frame to ease out the victim. Reese shifted again until she could reach down as far as the driver’s body.

“I can hold that, Tor. You need to get out of here and get warm. You’re shaking all over. I can feel it.”

“I’ll be fi…”

“Tory, go!”

“Be sure and advise me if there’s any change in his condition, Sheriff,” Tory said quietly as she eased her cramped, stiff body toward the broken-out window.

“Understood, Doctor,” Reese said without looking at her. Then she shouted, “Smith!”

“Right here, Reese,” he called from just outside the vehicle.

“Take Dr. King to the EMS truck and have someone look at her. Get her warmed up. Now.”

“Roger that, boss.”

Ten minutes later, Reese found Tory in the back of an EMS van, sitting on the edge of the open rear compartment. She was wrapped in a thermal heating unit and held a steaming cup of tea in her hands.

“How are you doing?” Reese asked quietly, stopping a foot from her.

“Probably better than you. You’re soaking wet, Reese. You should go ho—” Tory’s eyes narrowed as she examined the large wet patches on her lover’s clothes. The ones on her right arm and leg actually seemed to be getting larger as they talked. Her heart gave a sudden painful thud. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding!”

“Yeah, I guess so, “Reese said wearily, fighting a wave of dizziness. In the last several minutes, she’d become aware of a variety of aches and pains. Her right forearm throbbed and burned, and she was having a little trouble putting her full weight on her right leg. It felt like it was about to give out. “I think I might have gotten snagged in a couple of places on a piece of the car when they were pulling us out.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Tory set the cup aside and threw off the blanket, then got hastily to her feet. “I need to look at you. Climb up into the van where there’s some light.”

“Okay,” Reese muttered, struggling with a fresh wave of dizziness. “But let’s go to the clinic. I don’t want to do this out here.”

The fact that Reese allowed Tory to open the door and help her inside only made Tory worry more. Fortunately, at that time of night there was no traffic, and in less than five minutes, Tory pulled into the parking lot in front of the clinic. When Reese pushed open the door to get out, Tory simply said, “Don’t even try it. Wait for me.”

“How are you doing?” Tory asked quietly as they maneuvered through the deserted clinic toward the examining rooms in the rear.

“Fine,” Reese grunted through gritted teeth. For some reason, her arm and leg seemed to be burning worse now.

The pain in Reese’s face made Tory’s insides twist, but she kept her discomfort to herself. When they reached the largest examining room which doubled as a procedure room, Tory reached inside and turned on the wall switch. “Lean against the table until I can help you get your clothes off.”

Hurriedly, Tory watched her hands at the small sank in one corner, then turned and moved to where Reese rested with one hip up on the examining counter. Willing her hands not to shake, Tory began to unbutton Reese’s shirt. “Where’re you hurt, honey?”

“Mostly my right arm and leg. The rest of it’s just bumps and bruises, I think.” Reese was having more and more difficulty moving the injured extremities, and it was difficult to get her shirt off. As Tory eased the garment down over the injured right arm, Reese drew in her breath sharply at the swift streak of pain that shot up toward her shoulder.

“Sorry,” Tory murmured, finally getting the garment off. She bit back a cry of alarm when she saw the jagged tear in Reese’s forearm that was deep enough to expose the muscular compartment. Blood oozed steadily for the dark ragged tear, but there was no indication of bright red arterial bleeding.

“Christ, that’s sensitive.”

“It’s the salt from the marsh water,” Tory said flatly. “That’s what stinging. Let’s get these trousers off so I can see your leg.”

Again, Tory had to struggle to contain her exclamation of concern when she saw the jagged star-shaped puncture wound on the outside of her lover’s right thigh. It looked like it might have been made by the sheared off top of the gearshift. Looking at it, she realized that it probably happened when they had pitched forward during the car’s bumpy ascent up the steep roadbed.

“I’ve got to get you up on the table so I can clean these out. The one on your arm is going to need stitches.” As she spoke, Tory worked at separating herself emotionally from the fact that she was looking at her lover’s torn and bruised body so that she could accomplish what needed to be done.

“What’s wrong, Tor?” Reese asked as she watched Tory examining her.

“I hate to see you hurt,” Tory confessed quietly.

“It’s not too bad. Don’t worry, love.”

“You don’t get it, do you, Sheriff?” Tory smiled up at her with a quick shake of her head. “I worry about you because I love you. It comes with the territory.”

“I know. Try to remember that when I’m being overly protective, okay?” Reese took a deep breath. “Like tonight. I was scared out of my mind when I saw you in that car like that.”

“Okay,” Tory said softly. Then she leaned down and pressed her lips to Reese’s forehead for an instant of much needed contact. When she straightened her expression was soft with love but her eyes were firm with purpose. “Now don’t talk to me any more. Just try doing what I tell you to do. Do you think you can manage that for a few minutes?”

“That’s a tall order, Doctor.”

“Stretch yourself, Sheriff. I’m sure you can manage.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

By the time Tory was finished, they were both awash with sweat.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know that hurt.” Tory stripped off her gloves and brushed her hand over Reese’s cheek. Almost to herself, she murmured, “You’re so pale.”

“It’s okay.” Reese tried to smile, but her stomach felt like it had been tied into knots. “It had to be done. I’m glad it was you.”

“I’d rather it not be anyone at all sewing you up.” After filling a paper cup with water at the sink, Tory returned to Reese and held out several colored tablets in her hand, along with the cup. “Take these.”

“What are they?” Reese asked suspiciously.

“Antibiotics and a pain pill. Believe me, you’re going to need it when the lidocaine wears off.”

With Tory’s help, Reese climbed down from the table, and the two of them walked slowly from the clinic to Tory’s Jeep. Ten minutes later, they reversed the process and, together, made their way inside and up to their bedroom.

“Can you get undressed by yourself?” Tory asked. “I really need to take a shower.”

“I do, too.”

“I want you to keep the wound dry tonight. You can shower in the morning.”

Reese nodded and sat tiredly on the edge of the bed. “Okay. You go ahead. I can manage.”

Tory studied her intently for a few seconds. She’d seen Reese injured before, but she’d never seen her appear quite so drained. Reluctantly, she said, “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“I’m all right, love.” Reese smiled faintly. “Don’t worry.”

As soon as she could mange, Tory returned to the bedroom, naked except for an oversized T-shirt. The room lights were still on, and Reese was lying on her back on the bed, still fully clothed. Fast asleep.

The insistent buzzing of the alarm finally penetrated Tory’s consciousness. She rolled over and peered at the clock, then sat up, startled. “Reese. Honey, it’s time to get up.”

When she got no response, she shook her lover’s shoulder gently. “Reese?”

“Tory,” Reese mumbled weakly, “I can’t.” She barely managed to get the words out before she rolled to the side of the bed and vomited onto the floor. “Sor…”

“Reese!” In a flash, Tory bolted upright and leaned over to stare at her lover. What she saw made her heart nearly stop. Reese’s eyes were unfocused, her color gray, and her skin slick with sweat. Worse, her breathing was shallow and rapid. My god, she looks septic.

“I need to check your wounds,” Tory said as calmly as she could manage while unwrapping the gauze on Reese’s forearm. Before she had even exposed the entire laceration, she could discern the redness and swelling extending from the wound itself nearly four inches up Reese’s arm. Cellulitis. To be this bad, this soon, it’s got to be a virulent organism.

Without hesitation, Tory snatched up the bedside phone and punched 911. In a second, a male voice answered, and she snapped, “This is Doctor King. I need an ambulance immediately.”

She gave them the address and slammed down the phone, then jumped from the bed and ran to get dressed. In a minute, she was back at Reese’s side with a cool towel which she used to wipe her lover’s face. “Reese. Honey, can you hear me?”

Reese’s lids flickered open, and she looked up in confusion. “Tor? What…what’s wrong?”

“You’ve got an infection, sweetheart. I need to take you to the emergency room so we can evaluate you. It’s going to be okay.” Tory glanced at the clock. Ten minutes. Where are they?

Then, in the distance, she heard the siren and breathed a sigh of relief. Loath to leave Reese, she rushed downstairs, opened the front door wide, and signaled with her arm for the EMTs to come inside. “We’re upstairs.”

Thankfully, Reese appeared slightly more coherent when the emergency technicians arrived. Enough to protest, “I don’t need…an ambulance.”

“Probably not,” Tory said gently as she held Reese’s uninjured hand. “But it will be easier on me if I don’t have to drive to the hospital.”

“Okay,” Reese replied softly. However, when she sat up, she gasped sharply, pressed her hand to her midsection, and promptly vomited again.

“Let’s get her on the stretcher,” Tory said sharply. “She needs IV hydration and a loading dose of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Come on. Let’s move it!”

With practiced proficiency, the two male EMTs shifted Reese to the gurney, strapped her on, and pushed her from the room. Tory stayed as close to the side of the moving stretcher as she could. Then she climbed into the back of the van and settled near Reese’s head as one of the techs, a burly redhead, rapidly started an intravenous line in her left arm.

“What do you want to give her, Doc?” As he spoke, he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Reese’s bicep and took a rapid reading. “Ninety over forty. Heart rate’s one-fifty. She’s pretty dehydrated.”

“Run the saline wide open. Then we’ll need a gram of Ancef and a hundred milligrams of gentamycin. We need to cover all our bases, because I don’t know what this is.”

As Tory spoke, the tech sorted through the drug box and began administering the antibiotics.

“I need to culture this wound right now,” Tory said as the ambulance screamed east on Route six toward the nearest hospital, which was in Hyannis. “Get me a prep tray and some instruments.”

The redhead’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, but he voiced no objection. He handed her sterile gloves and prepared to assist her. Tory removed the dressings on Reese’s arm once again, carefully prepped the area with antiseptic solution, and snipped out several of the sutures she had placed the night before. When she gently squeezed the area, Reese moaned, thrashed weakly on the stretcher, and tried to pull away. Tory did not look at her face.

“I don’t see any pus in there, do you?” The EMT asked as he peered over her shoulder.

“No. It’s too soon for an abscess. This is a soft tissue infection.”

“Strep?” His concern was evident in his tone. “Jesus, do you think it’s necrotizing faciitis?”

“I don’t know,” Tory said distractedly as she pushed a sterile culture swab into the depths of the wound. Reese stiffened at the swift jolt of pain, and Tory’s stomach clenched. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“S’okay,” Reese mumbled before she faded away again.

“I don’t have my cell phone with me. Can you connect me to the hospital?” Tory questioned.

“Sure.” He tapped on the sliding glass panel between the front cab and the treatment section in the rear. “Ken, pass me the radio.”

He handed it to Tory and pointed to the button on the side. “Push to talk, let go to receive. I’ll get someone in triage for you.”

After he gave the person in the emergency room their ETA, he handed the transmitter to Tory. She did as directed and spoke firmly, with no hint in her voice of the terror she felt. “This is Doctor Victoria King. I have a septic patient coming in. I need an infectious disease consultant and a surgeon standing by.”

An eternity later, they careened into the ambulance bay of the regional hospital. Within seconds they were inside and a swarm of nurses and ER doctors descended upon them. By the time Tory was done giving a synopsis of the injury and presenting symptoms, Reese was hooked up to monitors and additional IV lines. Throughout it all, Tory never left her side.

“I’m Jill Baker,” a short, trim African-American woman in a conservative blazer and slacks said as she approached the bed. “Infectious disease. What have we got?”

“Victoria King.” Tory repeated the details of the previous night and morning.

“Foreign body punctures while in a salt marsh. Jesus. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned dog bites.” The infectious disease specialist surveyed the monitors and frowned. As she reached for Reese’s injured arm, she asked, “No hypotensive episodes? Nothing to indicate shock?”

“No.” Tory’s throat was dry, and she suddenly felt light-headed. “I’m sorry. I need to sit for a second.”

“Here,” a deep alto voice said from behind her as a firm hand took her arm. “There’s a seat right behind you.”

“Thanks,” Tory mumbled, fighting a wave of nausea as she settled onto a stool. She was struggling so hard not to pass out she barely heard the swift intake of breath from the woman beside her.

“Tory?”

When she could look up without her vision dimming, Tory found herself looking into the face of a stranger who had once been her whole world. She was Tory’s age, still fit, and still roguishly attractive. She’d been a lady-killer when they’d been lovers. And undoubtedly she still was. “Hello, K.T.”

“Are you all right?” the dark-eyed, dark-haired woman asked, her expression one of concern and surprise.

“I’m fine,” Tory said, chancing an upright position. “What are you doing here?”

“Moonlighting. I’m the surgeon on call. What’s going on?”

“I think it’s Vibrio,” Jill Baker said as she walked over to them. “She’s got a rip-roaring cellulitis that’s climbing up her arm, GI symptoms, and mental confusion. It all fits with an acute marine bacteria infection.”

“Does she need to be debrided in the OR?” K.T. O’Bannon asked curtly.

“Probably.” Baker lowered her voice. “If it’s the vulnificus variety, it can be fatal if you don’t cut out the involved tissue right away.”

Tory’s head pounded, not with dizziness, but with mind-numbing fear. She walked away from them and went to Reese’s side. “Hiya, Sheriff,” she said when she saw that Reese’s eyes were open, and thankfully, clearer again.

“Hey,” Reese said hoarsely, holding up the hand with the IV taped to it. “How you doin’?”

“I’m okay,” Tory said, her throat tight with tears she would not shed.

“What’s going on? I don’t remember much of how we got here.”

“You’ve got a bad infection in your arm. How do you feel?”

“Head hurts.” Reese frowned. “My insides feel like I swallowed nails. Can’t say as I feel much in my arm.” She saw Tory pale. “Tor? You better tell me now, because I’m getting a little foggy again.”

“You may need surgery, honey. To remove the infected tissue.”

“Surgery?” Reese tried to sit up, but failed.

The sight of her normally strong, commanding lover so weak and ill scared Tory to death. Her eyes flooded with tears, and she looked away.

“Tory,” Reese said urgently, summoning all of her strength. “This is my weapon arm. You can’t let them cut pieces out of it.”

“You’re more important than any job.” Tory’s voice was rough, her eyes dark pools of anguish.

“Don’t cr…oh, fuck…I’m gonna throw…”

Tory grabbed a basin just in time as Reese vomited again. She slipped her arm beneath Reese’s shoulder and held her as close as the hospital bed would allow.

“Please,” Reese muttered when she could catch her breath. “Don’t let them operate.” Then she leaned back, closed her eyes, and slipped into darkness.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Bri looked at the clock beside her bed for the fourth time in less than ten minutes. It’s too early to call. Carre never gets up this early.

Naked, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. It was hard getting used to waking up without Carre beside her. Hell, it was hard doing everything without her. It had been weird riding the Harley with a woman pressed against her, arms around her waist, a cheek resting lightly against her shoulder, who hadn’t been Carre. She’d dropped Allie off at her apartment after they left the tavern around 1:00 a.m. Allie had said she could walk home or grab a ride with someone else, but Bri had insisted on taking her.

It was funny, but watching Allie walk away had left her with an empty feeling. And that didn’t make any sense, because she didn’t even know her. When she got home, even though it was late, she called Carre. And no one had answered.

You wanted to do this. You knew it would be hard. There’s no point in complaining now. Just suck it up, Parker.

Signing, she rolled onto her side, buried her face in her pillow, and tried to sleep. Fuck.

She got up, pulled on sweats and a T-shirt, and padded barefoot out into the living from where the only phone in the apartment was located. She slumped onto the end of the lumpy couch and reached for the phone. After seven rings, she was about to hang up when she heard Carre’s sleepy voice.

“Hello?”

“Babe? Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Bri? Hi, yeah. That’s okay.” Caroline laughed. “I’m awake now. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Bri said quietly. “I just…wanted to talk to you. I tried calling last night…”

“Oh.” There was a moment of silence, then Caroline said softly, “I was out with some of the kids from school. I…I got the scholarship.”

Bri closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. “That’s great, babe. I’m really proud of you.”

“I tried to call you, but I guess I missed you.”

“Yeah. I was with Reese.” Bri straightened her shoulders. “So listen, we should do something to celebrate. How about I’d come down next weekend, and we’ll go out.”

“That would be great. I miss you. “

“Me, too.” Bri heard a muffled voice in the background. “Is somebody there?”

“Oh. That’s James. It was really late when the party broke up last night, and he walked me home.”

“And stayed over?”

“Uh-huh.”

Bri had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. You could spit from one side of that apartment to the other. Everything was turned upside down, and all she could feel was the dark ache of loss. The words were out before she even had time to think. “Where did he sleep?”

“What? Bri!”

“Well, Jesus, Carre—what am I supposed to think?”

“You’re supposed to think I love you. And in case you’ve forgotten, I like girls.” Caroline’s voice rose, tight with anger. “It’s pretty clear you’ve forgotten that the only girl I ever wanted was you. No wonder it was so easy for you to leave.”

“Easy?” Bri whispered, so quietly her voice did not carry over the line.

“I’m going to go now, Bri, because I don’t want to fight. I’ll talk to you later.”

Bri closed her eyes as a soft click broke the connection.

Stupid. Jesus, what’s wrong with you.

She got up and headed for the shower, determined to ride back to New York City as soon as her weapons class was over and apologize. As she stood under the hot spray, trying to purge the misery from her mind and heart, a pounding on the bathroom door penetrated her awareness. She stuck her head outside the shower curtain. “What?”

The door opened a crack and a male voice called, “Parker, your old man’s on the phone.”

“Tell them I’ll call him back,” Bri yelled, surprised.

“He says it’s an emergency.”

Heart pounding, Bri stepped from the shower and grabbed for a towel.

Tory glanced at the clock on the opposite side of the brightly lit emergency room. She couldn’t believe it was only ten o’clock in the morning. She felt like the day had been endless. She jumped, startled by the voice beside her.

“Tory, I need someone to sign an operative consent,” K.T. said quietly. “I don’t think she’s competent. Do you know how we can reach her next of kin?”

“I have medical power of attorney,” Tory said quietly. She leaned against the aluminum guardrail that stood between her and Reese like the bars of a jail cell, her left hand curled tightly over the top rung, her right softly stroking Reese’s forehead. She didn’t look at the surgeon standing next her.

“You do?”

“Yes. She’s my lover.”

There was a moment’s silence, then K.T. said flatly, “Fine. I’ll get the papers.”

“No. Not yet.” Tory turned and met K.T.‘s eyes. “Her vital signs are stable. She just got the loading doses of chloramphenicol an hour ago. I want to wait until Jill has had a chance to look at the gram stain.”

“Why?” the surgeon asked impatiently.

“Because this might be a limited infection, and another dose of antibiotics might bring it under control without surgery.”

“And if we wait, and it isn’t a mild form of the organism, she could lose her arm. She could die.”

“She’s a sheriff and a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps. She needs the use of that arm to be who she is,” Tory said as a wave of agony passed through her. “I have to be sure.”

“I’ll be as conservative with the resection as I can,” K.T. insisted.

“Can you promise me that you won’t resect the extensor muscles in her forearm?” Tory said sharply. “Because if you do, she’ll never hold a gun again.”

“You know I can’t promise that. It depends on what it looks like.”

“Yes, and you can’t always tell if the tissue is healthy or not just by looking at it. And surgical teaching says when in doubt, cut it out. I lived with you through your surgical residency, remember?”

“God damn it, you’re letting your emotions affect your judgment.” K.T. took Tory’s elbow and moved her several feet away from Reese’s bedside. “You’re not thinking like a doctor. You shouldn’t be making this decision.”

“I am a doctor,” Tory said sharply. “And I’m her lover. I’ll let you know after I’ve talked to Jill.”

“Jesus,” K.T. cursed. “You’re just as stubborn as ever.”

“And you’re—”

“Tory!” Bri called as she hurried across the room.

Tory looked over at the handsome youth in leather motorcycle pants, black jacket, and white tee shirt. An inexplicable wave of relief washed through her. Maybe it was simply the fact that Bri had always reminded her of Reese in her single-mindedness and her uncommon sense of valor. She held out her hand, which Bri took. To her surprise, Bri leaned close and kissed her on the cheek. Oh, Bri. You’ve grown up, haven’t you?

“Thanks for coming, Bri.”

“I left as soon as my dad called me. He said he’d be here soon.”

“This is Doctor O’Bannon, one of Reese’s doctor’s.”

Bri nodded briefly in the direction of the woman by Tory’s side. “How is she?”

“She’s in and out. She’s sleeping right now.” Tory squeezed her hand. “I called Jean and Kate, but they must be away because I only got their answering machine.”

“I’ll call my dad in a few minutes. He can probably track them down.” Bri glanced at the stretcher. The sight of Reese in the hospital bed sent a jolt of terror straight through her. Carefully, she kept her expression blank. “Can I…is it okay if I…”

“Go talk to her for a minute,” Tory said gently. “She won’t answer, but she’ll hear your voice. I need to hunt down one of the other doctors.”

Bri studied Tory’s drawn face, her eyes darkening with concern. “Have you had anything to eat this morning?”

“What?” Tory asked in confusion.

“You haven’t, have you?” Bri put her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and hunched her shoulders slightly. “Look, I’ll bring you something from the cafeteria. Toast or something. Is coffee okay?”

The sight of Bri, so very much like Reese, searching desperately for a way to take care of her brought a sudden flood of tears to Tory’s eyes. With a shaking hand, she brushed away the few that escaped before she could contain them. She cleared her throat and smiled. “I guess I should skip the coffee. But some juice and toast would be great. Thanks, sweetie.”

Bri blushed and ducked her head. “I’ll be right back.”

K.T. watched Bri walk away. “She’s hot.”

“She’s a child,” Tory said acerbically.

“I don’t think so.” She gave Tory a speculative glance. “Still living in Provincetown?”

“Yes. Bri’s father is the sheriff there and Reese’s boss.”

“Why did the kid ask if coffee was okay? Is something…wrong? Are you ill?”

“No.” Tory hesitated. “I’m pregnant.”

K.T.‘s gasp of surprise was audible. “Jesus Christ, Tory. Stop fooling around then. Let me operate and make sure your partner’s around to see the baby.”

Tory’s face lost the last remnants of color, but she refused to give in to the sudden wave of dizziness. “You never could see the shades of gray, could you? I’m going to find Jill Baker and see what she thinks. I’ll give you my decision after that.”

Than she walked to the bed, leaned over, kissed Reese on the lips, and strode away without looking back at the astonished surgeon.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Tory found Jill Baker in the pathology laboratory, bent over a microscope, a frown of intense concentration wrinkling her smooth forehead.

“What have you found?”

Without looking up, the infectious disease specialist answered, “It’s a gram negative, just like we expected. At least we know the antibiotics are correct.”

“Is there any way to tell if it’s the virulent form or the self-limited variety?” Tory tried to keep her voice even and hoped that her rising panic wasn’t evident. As each second passed, and the clock ticked down on the chance of keeping Reese out of the operating room, her anxiety escalated.

“No, I’m sorry. Not from this. We need to wait for the culture and sensitivity results to come back.” Her eyes were sympathetic, but her tone held the matter-of-fact delivery of every physician who knew that only the truth would suffice.

“How long?” Tory asked, although in her heart, she knew.

“Twelve hours at best, more likely twenty-four.” Baker shrugged. “Bacteria grow at their own pace.”

“If it’s Vibrio vulnificus, she doesn’t have twelve hours, does she?” Tory put one hand on the counter, determined not to let anyone see her falter.

“If that’s what it is, she doesn’t even have six.” Baker’s gaze slid from Tory’s tormented green eyes to the scrolled gold band encircling her left ring finger, the exact match to the one on the sheriff’s hand. “What would you say if you didn’t know anything about her except the medical facts?”

Tory looked away, attempting the impossible task of keeping Reese’s face from her mind. But she was a doctor, and after a moment, she succeeded in assessing, categorizing, calculating the timetable, and reviewing the sequence of symptoms. She took a deep breath. “I’d say that everything points to the rapid onset of cellulitis which was most likely produced by an ocean-borne pathogen. In all likelihood, there was systemic spread almost immediately, which accounts for her toxic presentation and gastrointestinal symptoms. I can precisely pinpoint the time of infection, and considering that it’s been almost twelve hours, the progression is not escalating particularly rapidly.”

“Very good,” Baker said with a small grin. “And your conclusion?”

“It’s more likely to be the nonfulminant variety, because if it were anything else, by now her condition should have deteriorated to the point of shock and system failure.” For just a second, her voice shook. “There’s no evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation on her last blood panel, and the local spread of the infection seems to have stabilized.”

“Want a job? We could use another ID attending around here.”

“No thanks,” Tory said with a weak laugh. “What if we wait on the surgery, and I’m wrong?”

“Being cautious is the sign of a good physician. Second-guessing yourself, though, is dangerous.” Jill Baker’s expression was solemn. “Let’s try a little old-fashioned medicine. Let’s look at the wound. If the cellulitis hasn’t progressed, and she still looks stable, I say we sit on it for another couple of hours.”

“O’Bannon’s going to go crazy.”

Joe lifted one elegant shoulder. “Let her. Her ego can take it.”

Tory took a deep breath. “Okay.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

K.T. was gone when Tory and Jill returned, having been called away by an emergency in the trauma unit. Bri was sitting by Reese’s bedside, perched on a tall stool, a tray bearing English muffins and cardboard cartons of juice balanced on her knee.

“Look who’s here,” Bri said happily as Tory approached, inclining her head toward the bed.

Tory leaned over the stretcher and gazed into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. “Hello, sweetheart,” she murmured, her heart aching at the shadows of pain that lingered in Reese’s face.

“Hi, love. Sorry I keep…fading.” Reese turned her head slightly. “Bri says she has breakfast.”

“Yes,” Tory said with a smile. “But not for you just yet. Are you hungry?”

“Not really.” Reese grimaced. “I’m just happy not to be heaving. You should eat.”

Tory petted her hair, stroked her face, unable to bear not to be touching her. “In a minute.” She glanced to the side as Jill joined her at the bedside. “Honey, this is Jill Baker. She’s an infectious disease specialist. She needs to look at your arm.”

“Okay,” Reese said weakly. “Just looking, right, Doc?”

“No sharp instruments, Sheriff,” Jill replied with a smile.

Reese kept her eyes on Tory’s face as the other doctor unwrapped her arm. She would be able to read the answer in her lover’s eyes. When Jill gently probed with a gloved hand, Reese winced and immediately saw Tory’s eyes darken. “I’m okay, Tor. It doesn’t hurt too much.”

“I know, sweetheart.” Tory’s fingers trembled in Reese’s hair. “What do you think, Jill?”

“It’s no worse.”

Tory closed her eyes. When she opened them, Reese’s questioning gaze was fixed on hers. “That’s good, honey.”

“No surgery then?”

“Maybe I should decide that,” K.T. announced dryly as she moved in next to Jill and reached for Reese’s arm. Her dark eyes steady on Reese’s blue ones, she said, “I’m Dr. O’Bannon. I’m a surgeon.”

“Doctor,” Reese said with a hint of her old authority in her voice. “I’m hoping I won’t need your services.”

K.T. didn’t respond as she lifted and turned Reese’s arm, then probed upward towards her shoulder. “Hurt up here?”

“No.”

“Make a fist.”

Reese tried, but couldn’t quite close her fingers.

“That bother you anywhere?” K.T. questioned.

“Just feels stiff.” Reese frowned. “Mostly I just feel really beat. I can’t seem to stay awake.”

“That’s the effect of the dehydration and the bacterial toxins,” K.T. murmured without taking her eyes from the wound. After a moment, she gently placed Reese’s arm back on the bed. Then she grasped the guardrail in both hands and leaned over slightly so that her face was all that Reese could see. “I don’t see very much change in the physical appearance of your arm in the last four hours. That may be a good thing, or it might not. The safest thing would be to take you to the operating room, remove the sutures, irrigate the wound, and excise any dead tissue.”

“How would that affect the function of my arm?” Reese said, trying hard to concentrate. The headache was slowly returning, and with it, an overwhelming desire to close her eyes.

“Maybe not at all.”

“Maybe?”

The surgeon blew out a slightly exasperated breath. “I can’t tell you for sure until I see what the tissue looks like.”

“Worst-case… scenario?”

“Sensory loss, primarily in the upper aspect of your hand, weakness of wrist extension, decreased grip strength.”

Reese’s eyes flicked to Tory. “Can we wait?”

“Honey…”

“Sheriff Conlon,” K.T. interrupted. “If we go now, we minimize the risk…”

“K.T., let me talk to her alone for a minute,” Tory said quietly.

Reese stiffened slightly and shifted her gaze back to the surgeon. The tone of familiarity in Tory’s voice was too much to be coincidence. So you’re the idiot who let her go.

“I have a patient to check on in the trauma unit,” K.T. said stiffly. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Reese,” Tory said softly, “I know how important it is for you to have the full use of your arm. But we can’t take any chances. I… I can’t risk losing you.”

“I would never willingly do something that might take me away from you.” Reese lifted her left hand and when Tory grasped it, she entwined her fingers with her lover’s. “But if there’s a possibility that we can ride this out without the surgery, I want to try.”

“Jill feels we can wait a couple more hours,” Tory said, knowing that she was making perhaps the most important decision of her life. Searching her heart and mind, she settled herself and answered, “I agree with her.”

“Okay then,” Reese said with a sigh, closing her eyes. “If you don’t mind… I think I’ll sleep for a bit.”

Tory laid Reese’s hand down on the bed and brushed her fingers over Reese’s hair, then kissed her. “I’ll be right here, sweetheart. You just rest.”

“You don’t have to stay, Bri,” Tory said with a weary sigh. Reese had been transferred upstairs from the emergency room to the intermediate intensive care unit for observation. The isolation room was equipped with the standard hospital bed, freestanding bedside table, and several chairs. In addition, a small sofa had been provided in the event that family members wanted to stay for extended periods of time. It was easier for visitors to remain in the patient’s room rather than the regular waiting room, thereby avoiding the cumbersome process of scrubbing and donning cover gowns every time they reentered the room.

“I want to wait,” Bri said as she settled on the sofa next to Tory. “If that’s okay?”

Tory leaned her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. “Sure.”

It was noon. Twelve hours said she had gotten the call from the EMTs about a multi-vehicular accident with victims trapped in the wreckage. It was a call like so many late night calls she had gotten in the seven years she’d been Provincetown’s year-round doctor. She and Reese had responded to any number of the same calls over the time they’d been a couple and were used to working together. It had all seemed so routine the night before, but then that’s how so many life-altering events began…as something so ordinary. And now, she was waiting while her lover’s future, and possibly her life, hung in the balance.

“Just a few weeks ago we found out about the baby.” Tory’s voice broke on the words. “Now…”

“Tory,” Bri whispered softly as she edged closer on the sofa, alarmed by the tears leaking from beneath Tory’s closed lids. Tentatively, she placed her hand on the weeping woman’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay.”

Tory struggled with the rush of emotions, but she was so tired and so terrified and before she could stop herself, she’d turned into the warm body next to hers. Bri’s arms came around her and Tory held on, pressing her face to the strong shoulder as she wrapped one arm around Bri’s waist. She felt a soft cheek against her hair and the whisper of breath against her ear as she let the tears come.

“She’ll be fine,” Bri murmured, pulling her close.

When Nelson Parker arrived at the hospital and asked for the whereabouts of his deputy sheriff, he was directed to a room in the intermediate care unit on the second floor. The door was closed when he arrived, and looking up and down the hall, he saw no one around. Carefully, he pushed the door open and peeked in.

The room was dim, and at first all he could make out was the single hospital bed in the center of the room holding a sheet-covered form. His gaze drifted to the small sofa tucked into one corner, and his eyes widened. His daughter sat with a woman cradled in her arms, her chin resting on the top of the tousled auburn hair. He and Bri stared at one another for an instant, and then he slowly closed the door.

Nelson leaned with his back against the wall and replayed the image in his mind. He kept being reminded every few months how little he understood of his daughter. Bri was his child; he remembered a million images of her growing up, the kind of snapshot moments he supposed most men had of their children. But he didn’t know who she had become. In fact, he didn’t have any point of reference to even imagine who she was. Victoria King was one of the strongest women he’d ever met, and his daughter was in there holding her, sheltering her, it looked like. He felt inexplicably proud.

The door opened softly, and Bri stepped out. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hi, Bri,” he said gruffly, his throat a little scratchy. “How’s Reese?”

“She’s been asleep since they brought her up here, maybe two hours ago. The doctors are supposed to look at her again soon.”

“She…uh…she pretty sick?”

Bri swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

“Christ,” he growled. “How’s Tory taking it?”

“She’s worn out. She’s been asleep, too.”

“You okay?”

I’m fucking scared out of my mind. Bri looked away. “Yeah.”

Nelson squeezed her shoulder with one huge hand, then slid his arm around her and pulled her close. He hugged her for a second, amazed as always by her solid strength. “Reese is tough.”

“Yeah,” Bri said. She’d never leave Tory. But people do, don’t they? We lost Mom.

Bri stepped away. “I oughta get Tory some lunch. She forgets, and you know…with her being…you know. Reese would be pissed if we let Tory get sick.”

“You go back in,” Nelson said quickly, jumping at the chance to do something, anything, remotely useful. He did not want to walk in there and see Reese on the edge. He didn’t think he could take it. “I’ll get her a sandwich. That would be good, right?”

“Yeah. And juice. Juice seems to be okay.”

“Great. Got it,” the Sheriff said as he hurried away.

Bri glanced at the clock down the hall at the nurse’s station. Almost three p.m. She thought about calling Carre. Carre would tell her that Reese would be fine, and make her believe it. Carre’d always been able to do that…make her see the light in the dark, no matter how bad it seemed. She closed her eyes, leaned her head back against the wall. I wish you were here. I wish you knew how much I need you.

After a minute, she opened her eyes, straightened her shoulders, and slipped back into the room.

Reese opened her eyes, blinked, and focused on the faces leaning over her. The surgeon was closest to her, her dark eyes opaque, her austerely handsome features expressionless. Tory stood across from her. Focusing on those tender green eyes, Reese smiled. “Is this the only show in town?”

A flicker of joy flared in Tory’s eyes, the first sign of happiness in hours. The corner of her mouth lifted in a soft smile. “Apparently, Sheriff, you’re it.”

“It’s good to see you,” Reese whispered, lifting her free hand, which Tory immediately grasped. Then, Reese turned toward K.T. O’Bannon. “How do things look, Doctor?”

“Stable,” K.T. said, her gaze on Reese’s arm. Then she seemed to reconsider. “Actually, a bit better than that. I think the cellulitis has receded and the swelling is a little less.”

“I guess that means you and I won’t be getting together then.”

K.T.‘s dark eyes rose to meet the deep blue ones. She smiled faintly. “I guess not.” The she glanced across Reese’s body to Tory and said quietly, “Can we speak outside?”

Tory looked as if she were about to object, but Reese squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Go ahead, love.”

After a second’s hesitation, Tory nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

Once outside, Tory studied K.T., who leaned with one shoulder against the wall, waiting for her. The surgeon wore only hospital scrubs with no lab coat. Her beeper was clipped to the right hip and several pens protruded from her breast pocket. She was still lean and faintly tanned. She looked much the way Tory remembered her, with only a few added lines around her eyes to mark the passage of time. She was still heart-stoppingly beautiful, with that same dangerous glint in her eyes, as if she knew it. Looking at her, Tory’s memories of their years together were clouded by the mists of half truths and lost dreams. The emotions that had once been so achingly close to the surface whenever she thought of K.T.’s smile, her touch, were gone. Uneasily, she asked, “What is it? Did you see something that worried you when you examined her?”

“No, nothing like that,” K.T. clarified quickly. “I just wanted you to know that I’ll be here for another twelve hours. If there’s any change, call me. I’ll come take another look.”

“Thanks, K.T.” The relief almost made her dizzy. Maybe the nightmare really was over. “I appreciate you spending so much time with us. I know how busy it gets when you’re the only one on call.”

“That’s okay.” K.T. shrugged. Then, her voice pitched low, she added, “I’m glad things turned out this way. As much as I love to operate, I’m glad I didn’t have to this time.”

“So am I. I know you weren’t happy when I wanted to wait.”

“The two of you would have been hard to take on.”

Tory smiled. “Reese is not someone you want to challenge at any time, even when she’s flat on her back.”

“I haven’t seen her at her best, and I believe you.” Uncharacteristically, K.T. looked away for a heartbeat, and then brought her eyes back to Tory’s. “I still miss you.”

Tory’s lips parted in surprise. They hadn’t seen each other since separating nearly seven years before. The first few years after that had been agonizingly difficult. They’d been through medical school and residency together, and Tory had planned on a lifetime with her. When all that had changed, she’d lost faith in love and even worse, in herself. First she had regained her identity and sense of purpose by establishing her medical practice in Provincetown. She’d rebuilt her life while keeping her heart locked safely away. Then Reese had come along and made it impossible for her not to believe in love again. Reese had brought hope back into her heart, and because of Reese’s love, her life was filled with joy and promise.

“Take care of yourself, K.T.,” Tory said quietly. “I need to get back to her.”

As Tory turned away, the deep, sensuous voice she knew so well murmured, “If I called you, could I see you?”

Without looking back, Tory softly replied, “No.”

Then she walked through the door and let it swing closed behind her.

“Everything okay?” Reese asked as she watched her lover approach. She’d been fading in and out for what felt like days, but she remembered realizing who the surgeon had to be. Tory’s ex-lover. Do you still hurt, love?

Tory pulled a chair close to the bedside and lowered the rail that separated them. She placed both hands around Reese’s below the intravenous line, lifted it, and pressed her lips to the top of Reese’s hand. “Everything is wonderful.”

“O’Bannon’s your K.T., right?”

Tory stiffened slightly, then shook her head gently. “No, honey. Not anymore.”

“You’re all right?”

“I am now. You’re better.” Tory lifted Reese’s fingers and brushed them against her cheek, then turned her face and kissed each one. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been on maneuver for four days straight in a swamp somewhere without water. My head hurts, my insides are empty, and I don’t think I could stand up if the room was on fire.” Reese grinned weakly. “But compared to this morning, I feel like a million bucks.”

“You’re going to be fine.”

“I can think a little bit clearer now, and I seem to have most of the feeling back in my right hand. I’m just so damn weak.”

You’ll get over this. You have to, because I need you so much. Tory closed her eyes as a sudden rush of the emotions swamped her. Then she couldn’t stop the tears, even though she wanted to. “Oh, god, Reese.”

“Tory,” Reese whispered. “It’s okay, love.”

“I was so scared,” Tory murmured, her eyes still closed. “I don’t know how I would manage without you. I can’t even imagine…”

“I love you. I will not leave you.” Reese moved their joined hands until her fingers touched the tears. “Besides, we have a baby coming, and I intend to be there for every second of the fun.”

Tory leaned closer and rested her head against Reese’s shoulder. “Fun. Ha.” But her spirits lifted at the sound of Reese’s steady heartbeat beneath her cheek.

“I can’t wait.” Reese wrapped her free arm protectively around Tory’s shoulders and held her as close as she could. “You should go home, love. You need to get some rest. Especially now.”

“No.”

“Tory, please. Everyone agrees I’m going to be okay, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please.”

“Later. I promise, I’ll go home in a little while.” She lifted her gaze, her green eyes still swimming with tears. “I just need to be with you a little longer. I need to feel safe again.”

Okay,” Reese said softly, her fingers stroking Tory’s face. “Okay, love. Whatever you want. Always.”

They both jumped as a knock sounded at the door. Then it slowly swung open and Bri peered around the corner. Her face lit up when she saw that Reese was awake. “Hey! You okay?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Come on in.”

Suddenly shy, Bri came slowly forward until she stood on the side of the bed opposite Tory, her hands in the front pockets of her low-riding jeans. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me too, kiddo.” Reese smiled. “You know, I seem to remember you managed to find some food earlier. Any chance of repeating that trick?”

“Sure, if it’s okay.” Bri looked to Tory questioningly.

“Now that we know she’s not going to need surgery, I don’t see any reason she can’t eat. I’ll check with Jill Baker. She’s the attending.”

“How about Bri huts down some hoagies, and by the time she gets back, we’ll have our answer?” Reese suggested. You look ready to collapse, love. Hoagies will have to do until I can get you to go home.

“You mind, Bri?” Tory asked.

“Hell, no. Anything as long as I don’t have to eat what they have in the hospital cafeteria.”

They all laughed and Bri hurried out.

“She’s been here all day,” Tory said quietly. “Nelson was here earlier, too.”

“He see Bri?” Reese’s eyes fluttered closed, and she fought them open.

“Yes. They seemed okay.”

“Good. I’m glad Bri…was here for you.”

“She’s been great. It’s hard to believe that she’s not a kid anymore.”

“Yeah,” Reese agreed. “She is and she isn’t, you know? She’s not a kid, but she’s still…so damn young.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I’m a little…worried…about her.”

“Rest for a little while, honey. I’ll wake you when Bri gets back with the sandwiches.”

“Maybe just for a few minutes,” Reese murmured as she drifted off into healing slumber.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A week later, Kate Mahoney looked up from the newspaper and regarded her daughter with amused consternation. “Reese, darling, I don’t think that’s exactly what Tory meant when she said you should rest today.”

“If I rest anymore, I’m going to be comatose,” Reese complained as she awkwardly pried open a can of primer with her left hand. The right was tucked into a sling across her chest. She wiped her hand on her faded fatigue pants and glanced at her mother in frustration. “I’ve been home from the hospital for four days, and I’m perfectly fine. If there were any real paperwork to do, I’d beg Nelson to put me on desk duty. But until the end of the month, there’s hardly enough of that to keep him busy in the office.”

“I know you’re bored,” Kate sympathized. “But somehow, painting a room does not seem like resting.”

“It’s therapy. She said I could use my hand.”

“No. What she said is that you could start gentle strengthening exercises. I doubt very much that includes wielding a paintbrush.”

“Did Tory assign you to spy on me?” Reese regarded her mother with faint suspicion.

“No,” Kate said with a laugh. “I just happen to like your company. I know once the season starts, you’re going to be too busy even to visit.”

“Shouldn’t you be working in the gallery? Don’t you have paintings to hang or something?”

“The gallery is in good shape. Jean is taking care of everything.” Kate smiled benignly. “I have absolutely nothing on my schedule.”

“I’m not going to do anything foolish.” Reese stirred the paint and sighed. “I don’t want anything to keep me from getting back to work as soon as possible.”

“Tory said it would be a month,” her mother reminded her gently.

“It needs to be a little sooner,” Reese said determinedly. “The stitches will be out in another week, and there’s no reason I can’t start getting some of the strength back in my arm now.”

“If you use it too much, too quickly, you’ll just prolong the swelling.”

Reese raised an eyebrow. “Is the house bugged? Tory said something just like that this morning.”

“No, but I lived with your father for fifteen years, and I’ve seen my share of physical injuries. Marines tend to get banged up a good deal, as you may recall.”

For a moment, silence descended between them.

“I suppose I’m as bad a patient as he was,” Reese muttered. “Do you think we’re a lot alike?”

“Only in the sense that neither of you were ever willing to admit there was something you couldn’t do.” Kate looked away, a distant expression in her eyes.

Reese leaned back on her heels and asked softly, “Do you hate him?”

“No,” Kate replied without hesitation. “I don’t like him, but I don’t believe he ever did anything to intentionally hurt you. Hurt me, yes. But not you. That I would never forgive.”

“He never tried to understand you.”

“I doubt that he could. He couldn’t change who he is anymore than I could.”

“He could learn to accept some things,” Reese said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

“Like the fact that his ex-wife and his daughter are lesbians?”

“Maybe.” Reese’s smile was brittle. “Or maybe just that there are more ways to live than his way.”

“I won’t defend him to you, Reese. Not when he took nearly twenty years that I might have spent knowing you.”

Reese drew a long breath. “Tory thinks I should tell him about the baby.”

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t know.” Reese leaned her shoulder against the wall and rubbed her eyes. “I’m not sure what the point would be. He hasn’t accepted my relationship with Tory, so he certainly isn’t going to accept our child.”

“Perhaps it isn’t his acceptance, but your telling him that matters.”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Reese said seriously.

“You and Tory are about to experience something wonderful, something precious,” Kate said gently. “He’s your father, one of the most significant people in your life. You need to tell him for your own sake and let him deal with his feelings the best way he can. Because if you don’t, it diminishes you and your relationship with Tory.”

“Like hiding being gay to avoid a court martial?”

“Reese, I know how much that bothers you. But, how does the saying go? You have to pick your battles?”

Reese grinned. “Uh huh.”

“Well, when you choose not to reveal your sexuality to General Conlon, it’s a professional necessity. Not telling your father about your child is personal, and in my opinion much more critical.”

“Being a soldier’s a lot simpler. The rules are clearer, and the decisions a lot easier to make.”

“Yes, indeed.” Kate smiled. “I think you’re doing wonderfully as a civilian, by the way.”

“I hope so,” Reese said fervently. “Because Tory means more to me than anything ever could. And now…” She swallowed and met her mother’s eyes. “I think I’m going to need a fair amount of advice about this parenting thing.”

“I’m sure you and Tory won’t have any trouble at all. I intend to do nothing except spoil him or her, which is a grandmother’s right.”

“Well, as long as you’re available for an emergency rescue mission if I get into trouble,” Reese remarked, hunting for the paint brush.

“You can count on that.”

Tory stopped in the middle of the dining room and cocked her head. “Why do I smell fresh paint?”

Reese swiveled on the stool at the breakfast counter and smiled. Tory had been in the clinic all day. Thirteen interminable hours. “Welcome home, love.”

“Let me repeat,” Tory said firmly as she crossed the room. “Who’s been painting?”

“Uh, I thought I’d get started on the nursery.”

“You did. ” It was a statement, not a question. Tory leaned her cane against the counter and regarded Reese expressionlessly. Normally, Reese was a recruiting poster example of good health and physical fitness. Now, a hint of illness still lingered. The shadows under her eyes had faded, but had not disappeared completely. Her color was better, but she was still pale. It hadn’t been long enough for Tory’s fear to have completely left her. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Could you kiss me first?” Reese murmured, extending her good hand.

Tory moved between Reese’s parted legs, resting her palm on Reese’s thigh for support. “I suppose.”

“Then I’ll go happy.” Reese slid her arm around Tory’s waist and pulled her near, dipping her head to claim soft lips. Closing her eyes, she lost herself in the familiar sensation of supple warmth and tender welcome. It had been too long since they had touched this way. Tory’s breasts brushed her own, and, as it always did, the pressure of Tory’s body started Reese’s blood humming. She groaned faintly and worked the back of Tory’s blouse free from her slacks. Her palm found the hollow at the base of her lover’s spine, and she spread her fingers over the swell of hips below, urging Tory closer still.

“Reese,” Tory sighed as she released the kiss. “I don’t think…”

“Shh. I’ve missed you.” Reese’s voice was deep and mellow. She took Tory’s mouth again, more insistently this time, probing deeper with her tongue, sucking on the full lower lip until Tory moaned. Reese closed her thighs, holding Tory captive against her.

“Your arm…”

“Is fine,” Reese whispered, moving her lips to the sweet spot below Tory’s jaw, kissing her way down to the faint hollow between her collar bones. She drew her fingers from Tory’s back, around her side, and up underneath the front of her blouse. When she encountered the thin silk brassiere and the hard nipple beneath, she flicked her thumb across the taut peak. Tory surged against her, a sharp cry resonating from her throat. The sound of her pleasure made Reese stiffen and throb. “Ah, god, you are so perfect.”

“They’re so sensitive now.” Tory arched her neck, her eyes closed. “I can feel it all the way inside me when you do that.”

Reese closed her eyes, too, and rested her forehead against the crook of Tory’s neck, working the full nipples between her fingers, one and then the other. Tory’s breasts lay heavy in her palm, a weighty fullness so sensuous it stole her breath. Listening to Tory’s breathing quicken, she teased her until Tory’s hands in her hair forced her head up.

“Am I hurting you?” Reese asked quickly, her eyes searching Tory’s face.

“No,” Tory managed hoarsely. “It feels so good I think you could make me come.”

“Do you want to try?” Reese whispered through a throat tight with desire. She never stopped the rhythmic squeezing, watching Tory’s green eyes darken to black with arousal.

“Mmm, no. I want to lie down so you can touch me everywhere.”

Reese groaned as another jolt of excitement tore through her. Pleasing Tory always drove her to the edge, and often when Tory climaxed, she would too, spontaneously, just from hearing her lover’s cries. “Bedroom?”

“Yes, now, before I can’t walk.”

They managed to climb the stairs to their bedroom without losing contact, their arms around each other’s waists. Once at the bedside, Tory said, “Sit down.”

Wordlessly, Reese did as she was bid while Tory turned on the bedside lamp. She was aware of the steady pounding in her depths, of the pressure building, demanding relief, but she would not move until Tory directed it. Tory’s pleasure was her greatest satisfaction.

“Watch me,” Tory murmured as she unbuttoned her blouse, her eyes on Reese’s face. She slid it off, let it fall to the floor. “I love the way you want me.”

“So much.” Reese forced the words out as her hands trembled on her thighs. She caught her breath as Tory reached behind, released the clasp on her brassiere, and freed her breasts. They were fuller, lush in a way that was primordially female. Watching Tory’s hands brush lightly over them, linger briefly on the swollen nipples, then slide down her abdomen made Reese’s stomach clench. A pulse beat frantically between her thighs.

“Touch me,” Tory breathed, stepping closer and reaching for Reese’s left hand. She drew the fingers to her breast, closing her eyes at the shock of pleasure as Reese gently squeezed. While Reese teased her, Tory unbuttoned her slacks and pushed them down along with her underclothes. Resting one hand on Reese’s shoulder, she stepped free, exposing herself to her lover’s view.

“You’re more beautiful every day,” Reese whispered, smoothing her palm down Tory’s gently swelling abdomen. When her fingers brushed the soft hair at the base of her belly, Tory’s hips jerked.

“Time for me to lie down,” Tory said huskily, her fingers fluttering over Reese’s cheek. “Be careful with your arm, sweetheart.”

“I’m fine.” Reese shifted to make room on the bed, leaning her right shoulder against the pillows as she turned on her side. “Lie close to me.”

Tory lay on her back, her eyes on Reese’s face. “Slowly.”

“I will.”

Knowing fingers traced her breasts, the slope of her ribs, the faint curve of her hip. Everywhere Tory’s skin tingled; every sensation seemed to center between her thighs. When Reese brushed her hand the length of Tory’s leg, then up the inside, Tory’s hips lifted in invitation. But Reese did not touch her where she so desperately needed to be touched, but moved instead to the other leg, stroking lightly up and down until Tory quivered with urgency.

“Please,” Tory whispered.

Smiling, her breath barely moving in her chest, Reese drew a fingertip high between her lover’s legs, parting swollen folds, gasping as a flood of moisture rose to her touch.

“Yes,” Tory sighed.

“Don’t close your eyes,” Reese demanded as she slid her fingers around Tory’s clitoris, squeezing gently. She fondled her until the rhythm of Tory’s rolling hips signaled she was on the edge. Then Reese moved lower, easing inside, drawing a guttural moan from her lover. She thrust slowly, watching Tory’s pupils grow huge.

“Oh god,” Tory cried. “You have me so close.”

“Help me,” Reese urged, deep in her now.

Tory slid her hand down her abdomen, her eyes locked on Reese’s. The first flick of her fingertips over naked nerve endings brought her hips off the bed and wrenched a cry from her throat.

Reese groaned.

Tory kept her eyes open as long she could, watching her own pleasure reflected in Reese’s face. When the pressure built too high for her to stand, she pressed harder, her hand and Reese’s moving together, driving her to orgasm.

Long moments later, Tory sighed. “Maybe you could just stay home and be my sex slave.”

“Hmm. Okay.” Reese nuzzled Tory’s ear, grinning to herself. “But sex slaves don’t cook.”

“Is that so?” Tory questioned, turning languidly on her side. She licked a bead of sweat from Reese’s neck as she reached for her fly. “Let’s check.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

March, Provincetown, MA

“Well! Now things will get back to normal around here,” Gladys announced with a huge smile as Reese closed the office door behind her. “How are you feeling, honey?”

“Just fine,” Reese replied, blushing faintly and glancing at Nelson, who just shrugged.

“Desk duty,” Nelson grumbled. “That’s what the doctor said.”

“What, have you got my report card there or something?” Reese asked as she balanced her cap on a stack of folders that rested precariously near the edge of her desk. Ignoring his snort, she sauntered across the room to a counter along one wall that held the coffeepot. Lifting the cloudy pot, she swirled the murky contents and eyed it speculatively. “How old is this?”

Gladys pointedly turned her chair away. “Don’t look at me. I don’t drink that poison.”

“I made it just…yesterday afternoon,” Nelson admitted sheepishly. The stuff had tasted a little like battery acid that morning. Just thinking about it sent him searching in his desk drawer for his antacids.

“I think making coffee is probably considered desk duty,” Reese said with a sigh. “And for your information, the doctor said I can work as long as I don’t stress my arm.”

“And I know your doctor, and I sure as hell don’t plan to get on her bad side,” Nelson commented. He still hadn’t forgotten the one time Tory had threatened him with bodily harm, and he’d known then that she’d not only meant it, she was capable of doing it. “Three weeks is awfully fast to come back to work.”

Especially after being flat on your back and scaring the bejesus out of everyone. He still didn’t like to think about it. The only good thing to come out of the whole deal was that Bri seemed to be speaking to him again. At least a little.

“Three weeks is an awfully long time to be sitting around the house going crazy, too,” Reese grumbled.

She filled the paper filter with coffee, settled it into the plastic chamber, and slid it home. After punching the on button, she turned and gave the room a contented once over. Nothing had changed, except the pile of paperwork on her desk looked like it had gone through several generations of reproduction while she’d been gone. “And if we don’t get the hiring done and all the paperwork in order before the end of this month, we’re going to be behind for the rest of the summer.”

Nelson chewed the chalky tablet absently, fingering a dog-eared piece of paper as he read it for at least the tenth time. Then, without comment, he passed it from his desk to Reese’s. “That’s the first order of business. What you decide to do about it is up to you.”

“What is it?” she asked curiously as she settled behind her desk. The chair creaked in its familiar fashion as her body settled into the seat.

“I’ve got to sit in on one of those damn town council meetings,” Nelson announced as he rose abruptly. In less than a minute he had fished his hat from the rack by the door, settled it on his head, and walked out through the door, leaving Reese to stare after him in surprise.

When she raised a questioning eyebrow at Gladys, the older woman merely shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t have any idea what’s going on with that man. But something is surely bothering him, and I can only think of a couple of things that might be.”

Reese nodded contemplatively and turned her attention to the document Nelson had given her. It was an official inquiry, addressed to her, that had undoubtedly been opened in her absence to be sure that some important business had not gone unattended. She skimmed it quickly and thought she understood at least one reason for Nelson’s disquiet.

Reese phoned ahead to the clinic as she drove. They still had plenty of time before their flight, but it never hurt to give Tory a little advance warning. When the phone was answered by an extremely harried sounding receptionist, she figured her lover had probably gotten backed up.

“East End Health Clinic, hold please.” A moment later, Randy returned. “How may I help you?”

“Hi Randy, it’s Reese. How’s Tory doing?”

“If she hurries, she’ll only be a little late.” He laughed distractedly. “So I would say it’s business as usual.”

“Did she have lunch?”

“I ordered it, Reese.” Randy’s tone vacillated between irritation and frustration. “I can’t make her eat it.”

Reese sighed, curbing her temper with effort. It wasn’t Randy’s fault if Tory worked too hard, and it certainly wasn’t his responsibility to see that she took a lunch break. “Do me a favor, will you? Have Sally pack it up, and I’ll see that she eats it on the plane.”

“Uh-huh…”

His voice faded away and she heard a muffled, “Excuse me…don’t let him eat that pen, please.”

“It’s important,” she said loudly enough to get his attention.

“I know, Reese,” Randy replied, affronted.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I’m just a little…”

“Never mind. We love her, too. Look, I’m up to my behind here…”

“Right. Thanks again. I’ll wait outside.”

At only a few moments past their appointed rendezvous time, Tory exited through the front door of her one story medical office building and hurried across the parking lot to Reese’s Blazer. She carried her briefcase in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

“You can’t harass my staff in the middle of office hours, Sheriff,” Tory advised threateningly as she slid into the front seat.

“Says who? I’m the law around here.”

Tory leaned over and kissed Reese on the mouth, then glanced pointedly at Reese’s right arm and frowned. “You’re not supposed to be driving.”

“Number one, Nelson is still in a meeting. Number two, I’m fine.” To prove her point, Reese keyed the ignition and headed the SUV toward the street.

“How are you feeling, really? And I don’t want a two word answer.”

Reese grinned. “Being pregnant makes you cranky.”

“You haven’t seen cranky yet, sweetheart. Now let’s have a progress report.”

“No swelling, no numbness, and… just a little stiff and sore.”

“Good.” Tory leaned back with a sigh and closed her eyes.

“You okay?” Reese asked, glancing over in concern.

Tory rested her left hand on Reese’s thigh and patted her gently. “It was hectic this morning, that’s all.”

“Do you have your lunch?”

Smiling, Tory turned her head and opened her eyes. “Yes, I do. As per your instructions. Whatever it is you do to Randy, you make him nervous. There was no way he was letting me out of the building without it. I was afraid he was going to do a full body search.”

Reese grinned. “If he tries that, I’ll really make him nervous.”

“Are you okay about this afternoon?”

“Shouldn’t I be?” Reese asked quickly. Routine. You said it would just be routine.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Forty-five minutes later, Reese was nervous. “Tell me again what this is going to show.”

They were seated on facing chairs in one corner of Wendy Deutsch’s waiting room. There were two other couples in the room, the female members of each pair conspicuously pregnant. Tory rested her hand on Reese’s knee. The thick khaki fabric of her uniform pants was as reassuringly solid as Reese herself. “It will give Wendy, and us, some information about the baby. How it’s developing. If we didn’t know exactly when the date of conception was, it would help determine fetal age, too.”

Reese cleared her throat, ignoring the faint churning in her stomach. “So it’s routine.”

“Almost eighty percent of pregnant women have an ultrasound done at some point during their pregnancy,” Tory assured her. “And for high-ri…for women over thirty-five, it’s absolutely standard.”

High risk. She doesn’t think I know? Reese covered Tory’s hand with hers and squeezed gently. “And we’ll be able to see its…parts?”

“What parts would you be referring to?” Tory asked with a laugh. “Besides, I thought you said you didn’t care.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Reese grumbled in mock indignation. “The head and the heart and the spine. Those parts.”

“Very good, Sheriff. Yes, at eleven weeks we can see the heart beat and with a good image, we can tell if the neural crest elements…the brain and spinal cord…are developing normally.”

God, what if… But that was like wondering what an upcoming battle would be like. What it might be like to be shot or killed. Pointless musings about an eventuality that might never arise. Reese straightened her shoulders, and, with the long-ingrained gesture, her nervousness disappeared. “Will you be able to tell its sex, if you see it?”

“Well, if I see it, I’ll know. But not seeing a penis doesn’t mean it’s not a boy. It just means it doesn’t show.”

“But I won’t be able to tell,” Reese pointed out in a rare show of pique. “I’ve seen those pictures in your books. It looks like bunch of blanks in a snowstorm.”

“I’ll make sure you see, if you want to.”

“If you know, I want to know.”

“Deal.” Tory extended her hand to seal the bargain.

Reese smiled and took Tory’s hand, but she didn’t shake it. She folded it between both of hers and leaned forward to murmur, “I love you.”

“I lo…”

“You two all set?” Wendy’s nurse asked as she approached with a chart in one hand.

“Yes,” they both said in unison.

Forty minutes later, Tory was dressed again, and she and Reese waited in one of the consultation rooms for Wendy to return with the printouts of the ultrasound examination.

“So, what do you think about names?” Reese asked, her blue eyes dancing. “Something nice and strong to go with King, like yours. Victoria Conlon King. Great name for a girl. Oh, but Victoria’s already taken. And we already have too many Cs and Ks in the family. My mother, Kate. Your sister, Catherine. Maybe—”

“Reese, sweetheart,” Tory said calmly. “We don’t know it’s a girl.”

“Well, yeah, but we saw everything . So if it was there, we would’ve seen—”

The door opened and Wendy came in. “Okay,” she said briskly as she walked around the cluttered desk and sat down. She extended her hand with the polaroids. “Here you go. Baby’s first pictures.”

Grinning, Reese took them, then glanced down as she shuffled through the images. Suddenly all the black and white splotches looked miraculously like arms and legs and facial expressions.

“Everything seems fine with the fetus,” Wendy commented neutrally.

Fine with the fetus… Reese looked up instantly, her eyes darkening, focused and intent. She glanced at Tory, whose expression was unreadable.

“Your blood pressure is just a tad high, Tory.”

“Yes, I know,” Tory replied evenly. “I’ve been charting it for the last few weeks. It’s been running a bit above normal, but today is about the highest it’s been. I guess I was a little nervous.”

“Understandable,” Wendy said kindly. “And nothing to get alarmed about, although it bears watching. Keep a log. Call me if it starts reading higher. For now, limit your salt intake. And no caffeine.”

Tory groaned.

“Sorry.” Wendy grinned. “Regular exercise, and plenty of rest.”

“Can I keep kayaking?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“What about the dojo?” Reese asked quietly. “Should she quit?”

“Not for a few months,” Wendy replied. “I wouldn’t let an inexperienced student throw you, Tory, but ordinary workouts should be fine.”

“Okay,” Tory agreed, watching Reese. She had gotten very still, and a muscle bunched at the base of her jaw. Ah, damn. I didn’t handle this very well.

“Good.” Wendy stood. “Then I’ll see you in two weeks. I’ve got to run. Call me any time.”

After she left, Reese asked flatly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tory debated several answers, but there was really only one thing she could say. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

Reese reached over and took her hand. “Don’t do that again, okay?”

“No,” Tory murmured, lifting Reese’s hand to her lips. “I won’t.

The taxi ride to the airport was quiet, and Tory napped on the short flight back to the tiny Provincetown airport.

“Do you want to go out for dinner?” Tory asked as they settled into the Blazer.

“It’s been a long day,” Reese commented quietly. “Let’s go home, and I’ll cook.”

“Perfect.”

When they reached the house, Jed’s exuberant barking welcomed them. As they walked up the path to the rear deck, Tory suggested, “How about I take him for a walk while you start dinner?”

“Great. He’ll like that.” Reese unlocked and opened the door, then leaned over to kiss Tory lightly on the cheek. “You’ve got at least forty-five minutes.”

Tory ran her fingers lightly down Reese’s arm. “See you soon.”

Reese watched her disappear down the path to the harbor and wondered what was bothering her. And when she would share it.

The beach was deserted. Tory released Jed’s lead and let him run. She walked along the water’s edge, watching the last memory of sunlight shimmer and die across the water.

“Hey, Jedi, we’re going to have a baby,” she whispered. “What do you think, huh? Pretty amazing.”

He didn’t answer, but his large form in the gathering night was a comfort. As shadows turned to darkness around her, she watched stars flicker on overhead. “Pretty scary, too.”

Her stomach was queasy from the events of the afternoon, and it wasn’t just the news about the hypertension. She’d seen that coming for a few weeks and already had some practice trying to put her worries about it aside. Most of the time, she succeeded with that. Keeping Reese from worrying might prove to be a bigger challenge.

Most unexpectedly, it was the ultrasound that had thrown her. Watching the tiny movements, listening to the rapid beat of a microscopic heart, had impressed even her scientific mind with the magnitude of what was happening inside her body. As much as she’d thought herself prepared for the changes that were coming, there were still moments when she was almost overwhelmed. There were suddenly so many things she needed to balance—her personal needs for professional fulfillment, her responsibility to Reese, the physical demands of her pregnancy. In the midst of happiness she would suddenly feel uncertain, wondering how she was going to manage everything. Just thinking about the incredible challenge and responsibility of raising a child sometimes made her feel inadequate.

People have been doing it for millennia, right? Reese and I love each other, and we want this baby. That’s what counts, right? God, what is wrong with me? I’m never like this.

As she looked over her shoulder, she saw the lights of their home flickering through the small pines that separated the rear deck from the beach. Knowing that Reese was back there filled her with a sense of assurance and comfort. Each time she found herself struggling with doubt or fear, she had only to think of Reese to realize that whatever challenge awaited her, she would not face it alone.

She’s truly the rock upon which my world stands.

A few moments later, Tory let herself in through the sliding doors from the deck. Jed bounded ahead and skidded ungracefully around the breakfast bar into the cooking area, nearly clipping Reese behind the knees.

“Hey. Get out of here, you oaf,” Reese yelled. Turning with a spatula in one hand, she smiled at Tory. “Is there a reason he smells like week old fish?”

“Dead sea treasures.”

“Lovely.” Reese slid a plate with appetizers onto the counter. “You can nibble on these while I finish dinner.”

“Thanks,” Tory said as she settled onto a stool. “I love you.”

Stopping in mid-motion, Reese raised an eyebrow. The tone of her lover’s voice had not been casual. “You okay?”

“Mostly.” Tory extended her right hand on the countertop and Reese took it. “Sometimes, you know, I get a little…” She sighed and shook her head. “It all just sort of hits me.”

“Yeah, me, too. But you know what?”

“What?”

Reese released her hand, walked around the breakfast island, and put her arms around Tory. “Everything is going to be just fine.”

Tory threaded her arms around Reese’s waist, rested her head against the broad chest, and closed her eyes. With her cheek pressed to her lover’s heart and the heat of the familiar body enclosing her, she couldn’t conjure up a single worry. Quietly, she murmured, “I knew that.”

“God, it feels good to get into bed,” Reese observed with a contented sigh. She stretched out her arm and Tory snuggled close, the movement automatic after hundreds of nights together.

“Yes, so good.” Tory smoothed her hand over Reese’s chest, then down the center of her abdomen. Drifting, pleasantly tired, she trailed her fingers over the edge of hip bone and down one hard-muscled thigh. When Reese curled her right arm around Tory’s body, Tory felt the long ridge of the healing scar brush along her skin. A quick thrust of fear swept through her as she realized anew what she had nearly lost. In the next breath, she envisioned walking on the beach earlier and how just thinking about Reese had settled her world. She remembered too what life had been like before Reese had come into her life, bringing such pure and selfless love.

Everything. You’re everything.

Tory pressed her lips to Reese’s shoulder, reveling in the heat of her skin. Her heartbeat quickened, as did her passion. “Reese?”

“Hmm?”

“You tired?”

There was a beat of silence, then a soft chuckle. “Is that an invitation?”

Tory shifted until she was lying on top of her lover. Her legs fit perfectly between Reese’s; her fingers curled possessively over Reese’s shoulders. “Could be.”

“Feels like.”

Laughing softly, Tory leaned down and kissed her, slowly at first, light teasing kisses. As their skin slid softly, their bodies cleaved even closer. Soon Tory sought more, slipping her tongue inside Reese’s mouth, hungry now. Moaning softly, she raised herself until her nipples were close to Reese’s mouth. Shakily, she whispered, “Suck them, sweetheart.”

Tenderly, Reese captured Tory’s breasts in both hands, squeezing them gently together as her mouth moved first from one nipple to the other. As Reese sucked carefully, pleasantly torturing the sensitive tips, Tory shifted to straddle Reese’s hips, rocking herself rhythmically until her desire streaked wetly over Reese’s abdomen. Reese thrust her hips in time to Tory’s soft cries of pleasure, hard and full herself and desperate to be touched.

“Stop,” Tory panted. “It feels so good. I can’t stand it.”

“Come up here,” Reese ordered, her voice a husky growl. Then she slid her hands down Tory’s back to her hips and drew her higher on the bed. The scent of her lover’s arousal made Reese’s clitoris twitch almost painfully, and she shut her eyes tightly for a second against the surge of need that threatened to steal her concentration. Hoarsely, she whispered, “This okay?”

“Yes. God, yes.” Tory leaned forward, braced her palms flat against the wall, and lowered herself onto Reese’s mouth. A small cry fluttered from her throat at the first touch of Reese’s lips. She tried not to move, not to hurry, but the blood pounded insistently, making her clitoris stiffen and throb with each knowing stroke of Reese’s tongue. When she didn’t think she could get any harder without exploding, she looked over her shoulder and down the length of Reese’s body, taut and trembling against the sheets.

“You’re so beautiful,” Tory moaned. Lifting herself from Reese’s mouth, she twisted and turned, settling once again on top of her lover, this time with her face against Reese’s thigh. Desperately she begged, “Come with me?”

“Yess.”

Then Tory parted the engorged tissues with trembling fingers, entering deeply at the same time as she enclosed Reese’s clitoris with her lips. Reese jerked and cried out sharply before she took Tory once again.

Boundaries and borders disappeared as their flesh became one, passion a raging flood overflowing the restraints of their desire. They held to one another, dangling on the precipice of surrender, until Tory pulled her face away with a sharp gasp.

“I’m…ready. Have…to come.”

“Yes, love,” Reese echoed tightly, before drawing Tory in even more deeply.

Tory pressed her lips to Reese’s quivering clitoris and trembled as they exploded in unison. Reese held her as she bucked and shook, letting her soar, all the while keeping her safe.

When she gently floated back to earth, Tory found herself once again cradled in Reese’s arms, her head tucked securely beneath Reese’s chin. She had no idea when she had moved. Reese’s chest heaved with the last vestiges of release, her heart a hammer beneath Tory’s cheek.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Tory questioned softly.

“Hell, yes.” Reese laughed shortly, a sound very nearly a sob. “I think I’m still coming.”

“Mmm,” Tory murmured throatily, her fingers drifting lower. “Go again?”

“No way.” Reese grabbed her wrist, stilling her motion. “I’ll jump right out of my skin. You’re too good. Criminally good.”

“So arrest me, Sheriff,” Tory muttered as she slipped into sleep, her hand clasped in Reese’s.

“Don’t worry,” Reese whispered, pressing her lips to the top of Tory’s head. “I’m don’t plan on letting you go.”

She had worked hard all night not to acknowledge the faint note of caution in Wendy Deutsch’s voice when she’d mentioned Tory’s blood pressure elevation that afternoon. But the echo the doctor’s words had been there all the time in the back of her mind, a subtle almost intangible warning, like shifting shadows in the mist on night patrol. A good marine learned to heed those silent warnings, because the price of ignoring them was losing the skirmish, or worse. Reese stroked Tory’s back, her own breath nearly still in her chest.

You are everything. Everything.

CHAPTER TWENTY

March, Manhattan, NYC

It was after 11:00 on Friday night when Caroline walked into the apartment. She gave a small cry of surprise when she saw the familiar figure sprawled on the couch. “Bri! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

Bri stood, shaking the fog from an unplanned nap from her head. It was warm in the apartment, and she’d just closed her eyes for a second. She’d hit the road after her last class and ridden straight through, not even stopping to eat. “I knew it would take me most of the evening to get here, and I figured if you had plans…”

She shrugged and stuffed her hands into her pockets. She’d never made it down the weekend they’d had the fight, because Reese had been sick, and she’d spent all her free time at the hospital. Then she had classes to make up. Every time she called, Carre wasn’t in. If her girlfriend had called back, she’d never gotten a message. Finally, when the distance stretched into an ache that consumed her days, she’d just decided to come.

“And you thought I’d rather be out doing something else when I could have been waiting here for you?” Caroline shook her head and deposited her portfolio and other things on a small bookcase inside the door. “Do you think I’d want to miss a minute when we could be together?”

“You were mad at me,” Bri said hoarsely, still not moving. “I’m sorry for what I said about… James.”

Caroline came around the couch and went to Bri, slipping both arms around her shoulders and pressing close. With her lips against Bri’s neck, she murmured, “You’re such an idiot sometimes. How could you think that for a second?”

“I don’t know,” Bri whispered, resting her cheek on top of Carre’s head. “The longer I’m away from you, the more confused I get. Things don’t make sense when we’re apart.”

“Then come home,” Caroline said desperately. “Please come back. I’m so lonely without you.”

“I can’t come back now,” Bri explained almost pleadingly, pulling Carre close. “I’ll be through the Academy in a few months. I have to finish. Even if I came back, you’ll be…leaving…in just a couple more months. I’d go crazy here next year without you.”

“Oh, baby, I know. I know.” Caroline smoothed her hands up and down Bri’s back, turning her face to kiss Bri’s neck, the sharp line of her jaw, the corner of her mouth.

Shaking, Bri stifled a cry and found Carre’s lips, aroused and tentative at the same time. She’d never been afraid of the wanting before, because Carre had always been there to soothe her hunger with a sure touch and certain heart. Now, away from her, the wanting was a torment that haunted her day and night. Desire had transformed into loneliness, and it left her aching as if lost.

“Bri?” Caroline questioned softly as she drew her head back to search her lover’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just missed you.”

Sensing Bri’s hesitancy, Caroline stepped away. At the look of panic that flickered briefly in Bri’s eyes, to be just as quickly extinguished, she smiled softly. “Just stand there for a second.”

Then she turned and quickly pulled open the sofa bed and smoothed back the sheets. Extending her hand, she said, “Come here.”

By the side of the bed, Caroline gently pulled Bri’s T-shirt from her jeans and lifted it over her arms and off. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and brought both hands to the buttons on Bri’s jeans. When Bri reached to help, Caroline brushed her hands away. “No.”

In another minute, Bri was naked, trembling in a way she could never recall…her skin hot and cold at the same time, her muscles so tight she felt as if she would snap, and yet so weak, she could barely stand. “Carre,” she said hoarsely. “What are you doing?”

Caroline looked up, her ocean-green eyes fathoms deep. “I’m reminding you of us.”

When Caroline tugged her down, Bri followed, helpless to resist. Uncharacteristically passive, she stretched out on her back as Caroline leaned over her. When the blond head lowered over her chest and soft lips captured her nipple, she arched upward with a startled cry. She brought trembling hands to Caroline’s hair and stroked the soft strands, urgently needing an anchor, feeling as if she might fly apart. Caroline had her palm pressed to Bri’s tense stomach, and when Bri tried to rise, needing the familiar feel of her lover beneath her, Caroline lifted her head and said swiftly, “No.”

For a heartbeat, Bri resisted, but then the hand slipped lower, cupping her possessively between her thighs, and she fell back with a strangled groan. Her head was suddenly light; her heart pounded so hard it was pulsing visibly between her ribs. Her hands lay open, palms up by her side, as her friend, her lover, her heart, lay claim to what was hers, stroking every inch of Bri’s flesh until she quivered uncontrollably.

“This is where you belong, you know,” Caroline gasped at some point. “With me.”

And Bri could only moan in response. When she didn’t think she could stand it any longer, she pushed up on her elbows and looked the length of her body. Carre’s cheek lay against her stomach; she stroked her fingers between Bri’s legs, touching her teasingly for a few seconds and then moving away, measuring out her torture to the beat of Bri’s strangled breathing and the rhythm of her twitching muscles.

“Make me yours,” Bri whispered as she rested her fingers beseechingly against Carre’s head and pressed, urging her lower. For a heart stopping instant, she thought Carey would resist, but then in one fluid motion the blond head dipped and a warm mouth enclosed her. Bri jerked and cried out, her bones dissolving. She fell back, strength failing as pleasure shot through her. She was hard to the point of bursting, and Carre’s lips were so soft as they licked and tugged at her swollen flesh. The brush of a tongue along the length of her clitoris nearly made her head explode.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah.”

Caroline looked up, a satisfied smile on her face. Her voice was like velvet as she purred, “Remember me?”

“Jesus, don’t quit,” Bri gasped. “I’m gonna come any second.”

“Really?” Caroline’s tone was ingenuous as she slipped fingers inside her.

Bri arched off the bed, thigh muscles straining, her breath tearing from her on a hoarse cry. “Oh, please. Please…”

A wave of near painful pleasure swept through Caroline at the sound of Bri’s need, and she lowered her head to capture her clitoris with her mouth. Gently, prolonging the moment, she merely held her between her lips, not moving until she felt the sudden swelling all along the shaft. Then, she sucked gently, urging the orgasm to unfold and engulf her lover in one continuous, rolling surge of release. Bri sobbed her name. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard.

Bri didn’t return to awareness until she felt Caroline, naked now, stretched out on top of her, moving in the familiar rhythm of desire. Caroline’s face was pressed to her neck, her skin slick with urgency, her breath little more than faint broken cries. She felt the wet heat as her lover rocked frantically the length of her thigh. Bri barely had the strength to do more than wrap her arms around her, but she clasped her lover’s hips, adding to the pressure that would bring Carre off.

“Babe, babe,” Bri whispered. “I love you.”

Caroline’s only response was a choked sob.

“Come on, Carre. Come on me.”

Caroline stiffened.

“Oh, yeah. That’s it.” Impossibly, Bri felt a second orgasm rise from her depths, a distant thunder eclipsed by the storm raging in Carre’s body. “Do it, babe.”

Caroline jerked convulsively, her hands clutching Bri’s shoulders desperately, and screamed as the climax pummeled her. Bri strained into her, closing her eyes, letting her lover’s passion carry her away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Man, I’ve missed that,” Caroline mumbled when she emerged from the pleasant torpor that followed. “I thought I was going to melt.”

“Meltdown is more like it,” Bri muttered, running her hands up and down Carre’s back. Carre was still on top of her, their arms and legs entangled. “You practically gave me a stroke.”

“Good.” Caroline traced a finger along Bri’s neck and down her chest, stopping to cup her breast in her palm. “Feeling better?”

“I can’t feel anything at all. I’m pretty sure my legs fell off.”

Caroline laughed and snuggled even closer, drawing one leg across Bri’s thighs and wrapping an arm around her midsection. “I love you.”

“Mmm,” Bri murmured, running her fingers through the soft golden hair. “Lucky for me.”

“Uh-huh. And try not to forget it, okay?”

“I’m sorry for being an asshole,” Bri whispered.

“It’s okay,” Caroline said softly. “You’re not.”

“Yeah, well.” Bri sighed and kissed her as Caroline snuggled closer.

“How’s Reese?” Caroline asked

“Good. Better.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get down to see her.”

“I’ll tell her you said hi,” Bri said. As an afterthought, she asked, “Have you talked to Tory lately?”

“Not since Reese was in the hospital. It was so crazy—I could never catch her in.”

“So you don’t know?”

“Know what?” Caroline asked anxiously.

“Tory’s pregnant.”

“Oh my god! That’s so great.”

“Yeah. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Oh, I can’t wait to see Tory and ask her all about it,” Caroline exclaimed. I want us to have a baby some day.

“Well, there’s a big class party in Barnstable the Friday of Memorial Day weekend—kind of like an early graduation thing.” Bri nuzzled Caroline’s ear contentedly. “So if you came down for that, we could swing down and see Tory and Reese after.”

Caroline grew still. After a moment, she said, “Uh…it’s special, huh?”

“Sort of. I’d like you to meet my friends.” Bri thought for a second, trying to clear her fuzzy brain, which still didn’t have enough blood going to it. From the way she felt, it was all still centered between her legs. “So, will you come?”

Another stretch of silence ensued. Bri opened her eyes, suddenly wide-awake. “Carre? What’s going on?”

“I didn’t get a chance to tell you on the phone before, because… you know, we got into a fight.” Caroline’s voice was flat, impossible to read. “Part of the scholarship for next year has this work study thing.”

“Uh-huh.” Bri’s heart started triple-timing. Jesus, something else?

“I got a job here for the summer. There’s an orientation that weekend.”

Bri sat up swiftly and reached for the sheet, pulling part of it over herself, searching for some fragment of protection. “You’re not coming back to the Cape for the summer? You’re going to stay here? “

“It’s not like I don’t want to be with yo…”

“Christ, you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t know,” Caroline said miserably. “I would have told you sooner…”

“So.” Bri was amazed at how calm she felt inside. No, not calm. Cold. Cold and, mercifully, numb. “I’m going to be there, and you’re going to be here. And then you’re going to be in Europe. For a year.”

Caroline sat up now, too. She searched around on the floor and found her blouse and pulled it on. Automatically, she handed Bri her T-shirt. “Yes, we’ll be separated for a while. So what?”

“Oh, come on.” Bri couldn’t take it anymore. She got out of bed, hunted up her jeans, and tugged them on.

“What’s the matter with you?” Caroline got to her feet and grabbed Bri’s forearms. “We knew this was going to happen sooner or later.”

Bri’s hands trembled as she buttoned her jeans. She turned away so Carre wouldn’t see. And what happens when you come back? You’ll have a new life, and I’ll be part of year old life. I’ll be the past. I can’t stand around waiting and wondering when that will happen.

Bri walked to the door and grabbed her helmet and jacket.

“Where are you going?” Caroline’s voice was filled with anger and tears. “It’s two o’clock in the morning.”

Bri couldn’t think of a single thing to say. She couldn’t say goodbye, because the words would tear her heart out. She couldn’t say I love you, because the words wouldn’t change what she feared would happen. In the end, she said nothing.

She drove all night and pulled into the parking lot in front of the training center with ten minutes to spare. When she’d left for Manhattan the night before, she’d planned on skipping her Saturday weapons class. Now, it seemed like the only thing that might take her mind off the howling pain that had threatened to swallow her up all night.

She must have sleep-walked through the class, because an hour and a half later, she found herself straddling her bike again. She fiddled with her keys, contemplating the rest of the day. The thought of going back to the barren apartment almost made her ill. She could ride to Provincetown, maybe visit Reese. But she should call before she did that. Visit her dad? No, he would only ask her questions that she didn’t have the strength to answer.

“Hey,” Allie said as she walked up. “You okay?”

Bri raised her head, slightly confused, then smiled faintly in recognition. Allie was wearing tight blue jeans and an academy T-shirt with expensive cowboy boots. She looked tough and sexy at the same time. “Yeah, sure. Fine.”

“I thought you looked a little spacey in class. Rough night?”

Bri laughed bitterly. “Yeah, something like that.”

“How about I make you breakfast?” The blond moved a little closer and placed a hand on Bri’s knee.

She didn’t even have to think twice. “Okay.”

“Excellent,” Allie said with a broad smile as she placed her palm on Bri’s shoulder, threw a leg over the broad bike, and snuggled up close behind Bri. She wrapped both arms around Bri’s waist, her hands resting in the curve of Bri’s thighs. “Most excellent.”

It took only a few minutes to reach Allie’s small cottage.

“Is this all yours?” Bri asked, still feeling a little disoriented.

Allie slid off the bike, removed her helmet, and hooked it to the bracket on the back of Bri’s Harley. “Yeah, I’m renting it for now. Depending on where I get assigned for my training period, I’ll either keep it or sublease it.”

“Nice,” Bri commented as she followed Allie up the drive.

“Come on in.” Allie opened the door and motioned Bri into a warm and surprisingly welcoming living room. “Sit down. You want coffee?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” As an afterthought, as she headed for the couch, Bri added, “Do you, uh, need me to do anything?”

“No. Go ahead and relax. You look like you could use it.” Allie leaned a shoulder against the open refrigerator door, observed Bri with a small smile, and shook her head. “I can manage this.”

Bri clasped her hands between her knees and nodded. Now that she was sitting, she realized that she really was beat. A night without sleep and ten hours on the road had left her a little fuzzy.

“Bri?”

Bri jumped. “What? Sorry.”

“Toast and eggs okay?”

“Sure.”

“Just give me a minute.”

Bri leaned her head back against the sofa and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, it took her a few seconds to place her surroundings. She was leaning to one side into the corner of the couch, her legs up on the cushions, taking up most of the rest of the sitting area. Allie was seated at the other end, her bare feet propped up on the coffee table, a magazine open on her lap.

“Good nap?” the brunette asked with a smile.

“Oh, man, I’m sorry,” Bri said as she jerked upright. Rubbing both hands over her face she searched the wall for a clock. When she saw that it was mid-afternoon, she realized that she had been asleep for several hours. Blushing, she glanced sideways into Allie’s dark eyes. “What a jerk, huh?”

Allie shifted closer until their shoulders touched, turning slightly so she could meet Bri’s eyes. “Uh-uh. I thought it was pretty cute when you just conked out. You didn’t even flinch when I put your legs up.”

“Sorry about breakfast.”

“That’s okay.”

Suddenly, Bri was acutely aware of Allie’s body pressing lightly along her side. She was also aware of her light perfume, a scent very different than Carre’s, but nice in a pretty sort of way. Bri looked down when she felt the light brush of fingers over her hand. Allie’s hand was small and delicate, each nail perfectly sculpted and glossy with a pale pink hue. It was very quiet in the room. The soft rhythm of Allie breathing was soothing and, at the same time, exciting.

A pulse tripped unexpectedly between Bri’s thighs, and she caught her breath in surprise. Reflexively, she stood up and stepped away a pace. “I should go. I’ve got a lot of reading to catch up on still.”

“Are you going out later?” Allie asked as she stood. “You know, Saturday night at the Breakers?”

“I don’t know,” Bri said awkwardly. “Maybe.”

“I’ll be there,” Allie informed her as they walked toward the door. “Look for me, okay?”

“Sure, if I go.”

When Bri mounted her bike and pulled out onto the highway, she didn’t head back to her temporary apartment. She took the highway that wound along the ocean and rode until the churning want in her depths subsided. By the time she returned, it was nearly dark. She didn’t go out again that night.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tory walked into the bedroom and stopped to watch Reese finish getting dressed.

Reese glanced over and caught the contemplative expression on Tory’s face. “What are you thinking?”

“How much I love you.”

“Still, huh?” Reese’s blue eyes danced as she crossed the bedroom and slid her arms around Tory’s waist. Her lips were soft, her kiss gentle. A moment later she asked, “You okay about today?”

“Just a little bit nervous,” Tory confessed.

“Since you always tell me that everything is just routine,” Reese reminded her gently, “I never know whether I should worry or not.”

“Well, an amniocentesis is routine, and thousands are done every day,” Tory admitted as she lightly kissed Reese’s jaw. “Let’s go to the airport.”

Two hours later, Reese and Tory arrived at Boston City Hospital. When they reached the outpatient obstetrical clinic, they were greeted by a happy cry of welcome.

“Tory!”

“Oh my god, Cath! You didn’t have to come in just for this,” Tory exclaimed, gathering her sister into a tight hug.

“I haven’t seen you in weeks, and this was a great excuse to leave the kids with Danny for the day.” Tory’s younger sister, a fairer-haired, blue-eyed version of Tory, threw both arms around the pregnant woman and kissed her vigorously on both cheeks. “This is so exciting. I talked to Mom and Dad last night, and they can’t stop talking about how much they’re looking forward to another grandchild.”

Tory slipped her arm around Reese’s waist and leaned into her as Reese draped an arm over her shoulder. “I wish they lived closer so we could see them more often.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already been talking to Mom about getting plane tickets so they can come down after the baby is born.”

“I’ll be right back,” Tory said. “I should go sign in and let them know I’m here.”

Cath watched her walk away and then tilted her head and studied Reese. “How’re you doing?”

“Pretty well.”

“Nervous?”

Reese nodded.

“Are you going in with her?”

“As long as it’s okay with Wendy,” Reese replied. The very thought of something being done to Tory while she waited outside in the hall was enough to make her stomach cramp. She didn’t get this nervous when she was facing down a drunk with a knife.

“You know,” Cath said, taking Reese’s hand, “my husband almost passed out when I had my last one. I think it’s a normal spousal response.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Reese confided softly. “Because I feel that way half the time.”

Cath patted Reese’s cheek. “You know, honey, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to her.”

Reese glanced across the room to where Tory stood at the counter, filling out paperwork. Even from here, Reese could clearly see the swell of her abdomen beneath the loose pullover she wore. Tory’s cheeks were brushed a delicate rose, and everything about her seemed fresh and alive…miraculous. When Reese spoke, her voice was husky. “I’m the lucky one.”

Tory rejoined them and announced, “Wendy is running on time, so it shouldn’t be more than half an hour.”

They settled in to wait, Tory and Cath catching up on family news while Reese held Tory’s hand and tried to relax.

“I just want to make sure the samples get off to the lab,” Wendy Deutsch said as she applied a small Band-Aid to the puncture wound in Tory’s abdomen just below her umbilicus. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“You okay, sweetheart?” Tory asked, turning her head to look at Reese, who sat by her side on a tall stainless steel stool. Reese’s hair was damp with sweat.

“Fine.”

“I couldn’t really talk during the procedure,” Tory apologized.

“That’s okay, love.” Reese brushed her fingers over Tory’s cheek. “I’m pretty sure you weren’t supposed to be talking. Wendy explained everything, and I saw as much as I needed to.”

As a matter of fact, she’d barely remembered to breathe as she watched Wendy place a long needle through Tory’s abdomen and into her uterus. She’d been able to follow the path of the needle perfectly well on the ultrasound monitor. It seemed to pass within millimeters of the baby’s head, which at sixteen weeks, even she could make out without assistance. The whole thing was over in a matter of minutes, but it had felt like an eternity.

“How’re you feeling?” Reese asked, edging closer so that she could take Tory’s hand.

“Fine. Just a little cramping.”

“Is that normal?”

“Perfectly,” Tory said with a small smile. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, Wendy’s the best.”

At that moment, the obstetrician returned and pulled up another stool next to Reese’s.

“That went fine.” She had a chart in her hand which she opened and perused for a few seconds. Then she met Tory’s eyes. “Your blood pressure’s been steadily increasing.”

“I know.”

“Are you having any other symptoms?”

“No.” Tory felt Reese’s grip on her hand tighten, and she looked away from her doctor to smile reassuringly at her lover. Softly, she whispered, “It’s okay.”

“No extremity swelling, no visual problems?”

“None.”

“We’re not at the point where I’d call this preeclampsia,” Wendy said seriously, “but you need to be alert for the early signs, Tory.”

“I have been.”

“What’s going on?” Reese asked sharply.

Wendy focused on Reese. “Preeclampsia is a condition which affects some women during pregnancy, particularly women who are nulliparous, meaning they have not previously been pregnant. It’s associated with hypertension and, in a small percentage, with other symptoms such as persistent headache, visual abnormalities, abdominal pain, and changes in blood chemistries.”

“Is it serious?”

“Reese…” Tory protested gently.

“No. I want to know.” Reese’s eyes were locked on Wendy’s, and her voice was a command. “Go ahead, Doctor.”

“It can be, if it progresses. There can be severe hypertension with alteration in renal and liver function and other problems. But…”

“Is it a risk to the baby?” Reese asked.

Wendy continued in a steady, calm tone. “Sometimes if the maternal-fetal blood flow is compromised, there can be intrauterine growth restriction.”

“And to Tory?” Reese’s voice was even and strong, but there was a roaring in her head that sounded like gunfire.

“Only if the condition progresses,” Wendy said. “But we’re nowhere near that point, Reese. I’m not even willing to call it preeclampsia at this point, but we need to be vigilant.”

“I’m already taking my blood pressure three times a day,” Tory said quietly. “The diastolic has only risen ten points above my baseline. I’ve checked my urine daily for protein. There hasn’t been any.”

“I’ll need to see you every two weeks,” Wendy said. “Keep monitoring your BP and urine the way you’ve been doing, and add a fingerstick hemoglobin every ten days. Call me at the slightest sign of symptoms. Even if you’re not sure.”

“What about working?” Reese questioned. “Is it safe?”

Wendy nodded. “Reasonable hours, yes, as long as we don’t see any worsening.”

“Don’t worry,” Tory said. “I’ll be careful.”

“Good. Then I’m satisfied.” Wendy stood and smiled at them both. “I’ll call you with the lab results as soon as I have them.”

Reese was silent as Tory dressed.

“There’s nothing wrong, sweetheart,” Tory said as she took Reese’s hand.

“I know,” Reese said with a smile, but her eyes were dark. She drew a long breath and straightened her shoulders. “Is it okay for you to eat now?”

“It had better be,” Tory said with a laugh. “First of all, I’m starving. And I’m sure Cath expects us all to go to lunch.”

Reese slid her arm around Tory’s waist and kissed her temple lightly, ignoring the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Then let’s not keep her waiting.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

May, Provincetown, MA

“Things will start jumping around here at the end of the week,” Reese remarked at a little before 6:00 a.m. as she poured the French roast from the carafe into a travel mug. She was already in uniform, dressed for work. As always, the creases in her shirt and pants were knife-edge sharp, the knot below her buttoned collar perfectly squared, her leather belt a polished black. Her weapon was nestled in an equally highly-shined holster on her right hip.

“Uh-huh.”

Reese smiled as Tory, still in the T-shirt she usually slept in—and not much else—crossed the living room. Her normally energetic lover looked sleepy and out of sorts. “Want some juice?”

“No,” Tory snarled, settling a hip onto a stool at the breakfast counter. “I want some coffee.”

“I’ll make decaf.”

“I don’t want decaf. I want real …” Abruptly she quieted as her face grew pale.