“We owe you,” she said. “Seriously.”

“It was a wicked accident.” His lowered his voice. “It’s nothing short of a miracle Ethan is alive. He was about twenty miles south of the Cove when it happened, right off 295. Another motorist lost control of her car after her windshield was struck with debris. She crossed over the double yellow and hit Ethan head-on.”

“Oh my God.” The image was a sickening one. Sadie leaned against the doorframe for support. She swallowed. “Is the other…other motorist okay?”

He nodded, and Sadie felt overwhelming relieved for this stranger and her own family members and friends. “She was taken to the hospital in serious condition but is expected to make a full recovery.”

After a final tearful thank-you, they said their goodbyes.

“Let me know if there’s anything else I can do!” Tyler called. “Take care.”

Sadie stood in the front yard for a few minutes after Tyler had driven away, trying to catch her breath and wrap her mind around everything that had happened these past few days. Ethan was home safely. Their cottage had been spared.

How much good luck could one person be blessed with?

She looked over at Renee’s house. The front curtains were open, and Sadie could see Renee, Dan, and Lincoln doing some sort of goofy dance in the living room. She bet it was one of the Wiggles routines from Tansy’s childhood. Retro! But Lincoln was giggling and boogying away like it was 2010. To add to her blessings, she had a neighbor, a friend, like Renee.

She walked back inside and returned upstairs, where Ethan was sitting on the edge of the bed. “Would you like a sponge bath?” she asked him. “After Lincoln was born, I couldn’t wait to rinse all of those weird hospital smells off me.”

He was holding out his hands, staring at the abrasions as if they weren’t real. “I wish I could go for a hot nurse fantasy right now, but I think you’ll need to settle for an exhausted invalid.”

“My pleasure.” And she meant every word.

She carefully stripped him out of his clothes, tossing them into the hamper, and with slow, steady movements, got him into the tub. With his cast safely propped on the ledge, she wet a loofah and gently massaged it against his skin. His arms looked worse than his face—he had at least five sets of stitches between the two of them and a good amount of bruising—and the sight made her stomach turn. A wicked accident, she thought, Tyler’s words forever scarred her mind the way these wounds would eternally scar Ethan’s skin. Nothing short of a miracle.

She ran her fingers through his hair, dampening the curls, and the intense feelings of love, relief, and gratefulness filled her heart.