A smile quivered on his lips, one of his tears falling onto her own, the salt of him burning her parched tongue.

She couldn’t leave him.

“I love you,” she rasped. “Thank you for giving me more than I ever deserved.”

The cold reality hit him hard and his eyes shimmered. “I love you, my little crip. Always have, always will.”

“No!” Nikki screamed. “You stupid fucking cunt! Can’t you do anything right? You have only one thing to do – tell it to go away. Not get all mushy in the head with Andy. Jesus fuck!”

Andrew didn’t even react to her outburst. His eyes wouldn’t leave Kate’s.

There was so much she wanted to tell him, but Nikki was right. Her infirmities might have kept her from doing much of anything this past decade to help her husband, but this she could do. This she had to do.

“Promise me,” she said.

He choked back a sob.

“Promise you what?”

“Oh, enough of this,” Nikki snapped.

Kate heard the knife slide out of the butcher block. The blade caught a harsh slat of light creeping through the blinds.

Nikki charged them.

“Andrew!” Kate screamed.

He turned but it was too late. Nikki brought the knife down, aiming for Kate’s face. Andrew’s shifting body made her miss. The blade sliced a clean, vicious line down his arm.

Nikki jumped back before he could grab her.

“If she dies, it dies,” she said. “The sooner the better. I want to get out of here and collect my husband. Both parts of him. Damn you both for bringing us here!”

She wrapped both hands around the knife handle, raising it high over her head, lunacy swirling in her eyes.

Andrew blocked Kate with his body, nothing to defend them save his bare hands.

Nikki screeched, looking the part of an avenging demon.

Before she could plunge the knife into Andrew, the house exploded.

* * *

It was as if a grenade had gone off.

The front of the house blasted inward.

Nikki was thrown off her feet

Wood and shrapnel flew across the room, a heavy board crashing through the glass doors. The air was choked with dust and debris.

Andrew froze, his ears ringing from the impact.

What the hell had just happened?

Nikki lay unconscious by the mattress, a jagged shard of wood stuck in the side of her neck, blood bubbling from the wound.

He spun to check on Kate.

She was unhurt, eyes wide with terror and confusion, mouth open, collecting the gray dust that was everywhere. She had hold of his arm, knuckles white, but he couldn’t feel the pressure.

His face stung but he had no desire to see what had happened to it.

Had the boiler exploded? Was there even a boiler in the cottage? Or was it a gas line? It was so hard to think.

Nikki.