In the car, he put an arm around her, and she rested against him. “Hurry,” he told the driver.

They crossed the Newport Bridge in record time. “This reminds me too much of my mother’s accident,” Kate said, weeping into his chest. “This is just what it felt like.”

He smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. “She’s young and strong and healthy. She’ll be just fine.”

They pulled up in front of the hospital, and Reid followed Kate out of the limo.

“Thank you so much,” Kate said, wiping tears off her face.

He hugged her. “Let me know how she is.”

“I will.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jamie asked.

Reid and Kate turned to find her Aunt Frannie and Uncle Jamie on the sidewalk. Kate ran into her aunt’s outstretched arms.

Reid put his hands up to fend off Jamie, who once was his good friend at Berkeley. “I just gave her a ride.”

“You’ve got some nerve showing your face around here,” Jamie said, his jaw pulsing with anger. “Especially right now.”

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving. I’ll pray for your sister, Kate.”

“Thank you,” she said with a last glance back at him as her aunt and uncle each put an arm around her to escort her into the hospital.

Frannie, Jamie, and Kate rode the elevator to the third-floor intensive care unit.

“You need to prepare yourself, sweetie,” Frannie said. “She looks pretty bad.”

“Is she going to die?” Kate asked in a small voice.

“No,” Jamie said gruffly. “We won’t let that happen.”

They stepped off the elevator, and Kate ran to her mother.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Clare whispered.

“Tell me she’s better.”

“She’s no worse, but they say that’s good news.”

“Can I see her?”

“Dad’s in with her now. They want us to take turns.”

“Will he mind that I’m here?”

“Of course not.”

Kate exchanged tearful hugs with all her grandparents, who had driven up from Connecticut. Jill came through the swinging door and dissolved when she saw Kate. They clung to each other for several long minutes.

“This feels far too familiar,” Jill whispered through her tears.

Kate nodded, and her eyes filled again when Andi came over to hug her. “Are the boys here?”

Andi shook her head. “We sent them home with a sitter.”

Jack came out of Maggie’s room, his eyes red and his shoulders stooped.

“Daddy,” Kate whispered.

He looked up, and his face softened when he saw her.

Kate went to him. His arms tightened around her, and she clung to him as sobs hiccupped through her.

“Kate,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “My girl. I’m so glad to see you.”

Since she couldn’t speak, she just held on to him.

In the middle of the night, Kate went with Jill to get coffee in the cafeteria.