“I’m going to need some help, and some advice. On the law, I suppose. I’ve generated false identification, and I’ve put false information on official forms, signing them with a name that isn’t legally mine. I think faking my own death is illegal, too. At least there must be something about life insurance fraud. There were probably policies.”

He didn’t take his eyes off hers. “I think a lawyer would be able to handle that for you, and that when all facts are known, there’ll be no charges brought. What are you telling me, Nell?”

“I want to marry you. I want to live my life with you, and make those children with you. To do that, I have to end this, so I will. I need to know what I’m going to have to do, and if I’ll have to go to jail.”

“You’re not going to jail. Do you think I’d let that happen?”

“It’s not up to you, Zack.”

“The false papers and so on aren’t going to put anyone’s sense of justice up. The fact is . . .” He’d given this angle a great deal of thought. “The fact is, Nell, once you tell the story you’re going to be a hero.”

“No. I’m no one’s hero.”

“Do you know the statistics on spousal abuse?” He pulled open his bottom drawer, took out a file and dropped it on his desk. “I’ve put some data together on it. You might want to have a look at it sometime.”

“It was different for me.”

“It’s different for everybody, every time. The fact that you came from a good home and you lived in a big, fancy house doesn’t change anything. A lot of people who think it’s different for them or that there’s nothing they can do to change their situation are going to look at you, hear what you did. Some of them might take a step they might not have taken because of you. That makes you a hero.”

“Diane McCoy. It still bothers you that you couldn’t help her. That she wouldn’t let you help her.”

“There are a lot of Diane McCoys out there.”

She nodded. “All right. But even if public sentiment falls on my side, there are still legalities.”

“We’ll handle them, one at a time. As far as the insurance, they’ll get their money back. We’ll pay it back if we have to. We’ll do what we have to do together.”

When she heard that, a weight lifted. “I don’t know where to start.”

He rose, came around to her, crouched at her feet. “I want you to do this for me. That’s selfish, but I can’t help it. But I want you to do it for yourself, too. Be sure.”