“I wish I could come to support you,” Daisy said. “But we’re so crazy busy at work right now.”

“Not to worry. I’ll be well taken care of with this group.”

Daisy hugged Sarah again and whispered something in her ear that made the older woman tear up as she nodded. Then Daisy hugged and kissed David and left them with a wave.

Frank handed ferry tickets to Laura and Owen, Sarah and Charlie, Blaine, David, Dan, Evan and Slim.

“Before we go,” Sarah said, “I just want to thank you all for putting your lives on hold to help us. It means a lot to me and to Owen that we have such amazing friends and family to rely on.”

Charlie put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. Seeing them together filled Laura with happiness for her future mother-in-law.

“We’re happy to do it, Sarah,” Blaine said. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we want the bastard thrown in jail.”

“You definitely speak for me,” Owen said.

“Who’s covering for you this week?” Laura asked David as they walked onto the boat behind Owen, who pushed Holden in the stroller.

“One of my former colleagues from Boston came out for the week. He sees it as a vacation. We’ll see what he says after a week at the clinic.”

Holden kept everyone entertained on the ferry, and the conversation flowed among the group as if they were going somewhere fun rather than to a trial for a man who’d beaten his wife and children.

“How you feeling, hon?” Owen asked as the ferry dipped and rolled.

“Remarkably fine. It’s so weird to not feel nauseated.”

“We probably should’ve done this a long time ago.”

“Probably,” she said with a sigh. “I just hate to take anything when I’m pregnant. You never know if you’ll have a bad reaction or, God forbid, the babies do.”

“So far, so good. I hope it continues to work. I’ve hated watching you suffer.”

“Right back atcha. How’re you doing?”

“Good. Better now that we’re on the way. The thinking about it has been brutal the last few weeks. I just want to get it over with, and it feels like we’re doing that now.”

“What happens once we get there?”

“My mom and I have a meeting with the prosecutors at two o’clock today. Dan and your dad are going to come with us. It’s just procedural stuff, so no need for you to be there.”

“Your father won’t be there, will he?”

“No.” His tight-lipped expression told her a lot about how much he was dreading the inevitable confrontation with his father.