“The first time I met Nate, he’d been stabbed through the hand. I was the doctor who stitched him up. Nate said he was lucky he’d been stabbed because he got to meet me.” I laughed, a weepy little gasp. “I fell in love with him because of his commitment to his family, his friends, and his job. He was a good man. An honorable man. He always said we have to do the right thing, even if it’s the hard thing, and he taught our son to believe that good overcomes bad and right always overcomes wrong.

“Nate lost his life while trying to stop a man who wanted to kill me. A man who wanted to destroy everything he’d worked so hard to defend. Nate is my hero.” I took a deep breath, tears now cascading down my cheeks. “But it isn’t how Nate lost his life that makes him a hero. It’s how he lived it. Nate was a devoted father, a loving husband, a dedicated cop, the protector of the innocent. He was a man of great love and compassion. We’re all better people for having known him. I think, in the end, we’re the lucky ones.…”

A raw sob caught in my throat and I bent over, teardrops smearing the notes on the lectern.

Moira hurried to me and helped me down the stairs. I stumbled back into my seat, sobbing, unable to catch my breath.

How would I survive without Nate?

BACK AT the hospital, Josh was awake and howling for Nate and me.

I hurried into his room to find him curled in a ball on his narrow bed, sobbing, one of the nurses trying desperately to comfort him.

“Hey, shhh…” I lay on the bed, pulling his thin body against mine.

“I thought you were gone,” he sobbed.

“I’m right here,” I soothed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His tears finally stopped, and he popped his fingers in his mouth. His eyes drooped, and I thought he would go back to sleep, but he struggled to a sitting position, wincing as the IV tugged at his hand.

“Where’s Daddy?”

“Sweetie…”

“Where is he? I want Daddy.”

I’d been waiting for this moment, planning what I would say, how I would say it. But now that it was here I couldn’t speak. My throat closed around those ever-present tears.

“Josh,” I began. “I have some sad news to tell you. You know that Daddy had a dangerous job. He protected all of us, but sometimes there were risks.…” I gulped, tears already falling. “Daddy loved you so much.…”

Josh’s lower lip trembled.

I took a deep breath. “Josh, Daddy died. I’m so sorry, baby.”

Josh’s tears spilled over, tumbling down his pale cheeks in glistening streaks.