Jolene advanced from the safety of the kitchen and helped the customer regain hold of Alan. They each managed to hold him by an arm while the other diners watched wordlessly as this horror unfolded before them.

Harmony continued to try to appeal to Alan’s better judgment. He had once been kind, once been someone she loved. It didn’t have to be like this, but he was the only one who could stop it. “Alan, you can’t force me to be with you, and even if you could, this is not the way to do it. Please, please just go away and stay away.”

He laughed and attempted to jerk his arm away from Jolene, but she held on tight, her freshly manicured nails digging into his bare arm so hard they left little pinpoints in his skin. “How can I leave with your friends keeping me in this sucker hold?”

She looked to Nolan who collapsed onto the nearest bench seat, clutching at his jaw which had already bloomed with ugly purples and blues. A trickle of blood dripped from his nose and ran down his chin.

Meanwhile, Alan appeared completely unscathed, save for the indents from Jolene’s fingernails.

“Are you okay?” Harmony asked, taking a step closer to her boss, her friend, her Nolan, and feeling so terrible that he’d taken such a beating at her expense.

Why hadn’t he fought back? He had every right given the scene Alan had caused in the restaurant, given that Alan had thrown the first punch, given that Alan was clearly out of his mind.

“Why didn’t you defend yourself?” she demanded, almost as angry with Nolan now as she was with Alan. It was so hard seeing his handsome face marred by the gruesome evidence of the other wild man’s anger.

“I didn’t want you to think I’m like him,” Nolan mumbled. Though his voice came out weak and breathless, she understood every single word. He wanted her to know that he would never hurt her, that his love was just that—love, pure and simple.

Alan swore up a blue streak, but she no longer cared. The police would be here soon enough to take care of him. It was up to her now to take care of Nolan. That’s what people did when they cared for each other. Nolan had taken the full force of the other man’s range so that Harmony wouldn’t have to.

Despite all her fears, doubts, and reservations, she saw it now. God’s true presence lived in Nolan Murphy. When faced with an evil before him, he’d actually turned the other cheek!

The door swung open again, and this time two uniformed police officers charged into the restaurant. She didn’t know how much Jolene had told them during their brief phone call, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out what had happened here. They marched straight up to Alan and read him his rights.

It was over.

Finally over.