His mind struggled with the concept as the doctor asked, “Would you like to know the sex?”

Olivia looked at Steve. “You want to know, don’t you?” Her British accent thickened with excitement.

Steve studied the image on the monitor and smiled. A warmth spread through him as he discerned the details he needed to know. He leaned down and gave Olivia a light kiss on the lips. “It’s a boy.”

“Very good, Dr. Chalmers,” the doctor affirmed. “This looks to me like it will be an August baby.”

“We’re going to be parents,” Olivia said, looking Steve in the eye. She was bubbling with joy.

Steve gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I love you,” he said. “We’re going to have a great life. You, me, and the baby.”

Chapter Eighteen

Pressing the insides of his knees tightly against the horse, Frank smiled as it trotted toward the house. He hadn’t ridden since he’d gotten sick, and he’d been afraid that the all-too-familiar aches in his joints would remind him that he wasn’t truly cured.

The radio on his belt vibrated and he heard Megan’s voice broadcast on the handheld unit’s speaker.

“Honey, one of the sheriff’s deputies just came by about that black van. They found it abandoned over by the Shell gas station in Ash Springs.”

“Are they sure it’s the same van?”

“Oh, it’s definitely the right one. They showed me a picture, but I suppose the clincher was the blood they found inside the van. I guess Jasper took a good bite out of whoever had come by.”

Frank looked to the side and spotted Jasper barking like a crazy thing as he raced ahead, chasing a rabbit—again. “Damn, I wouldn’t have thought Jasper had it in him to take a bite out of someone. What else did the police have to say?”

“Not much. The van had been reported stolen out of a Vegas parking lot two days ago. The sheriff thinks it might have been some meth head looking to steal some tools or something. Anyway, they’re still investigating. Are you almost home?”

“Yes, ma’am. Jasper and I should be home in about ten minutes.”

“Okay, that gives me just enough time to make a few calls I’ve been meaning to get to.”

A rabbit darted across the trail about fifty feet ahead, and Jasper raced after it.

Frank yelled good-naturedly at the chocolate lab, “Jasper, you ain’t never gonna catch that thing.”

Jasper sprinted across the field, ripping up grass with his back claws. The rabbit was about twenty feet ahead of him, zigzagging toward its burrow.

But the rabbit must have slipped on the dewy grass, because suddenly it went tumbling end over end. For a moment, it lay still—no doubt stunned.