‘‘He had his hands around her throat,’’ Ethan remembered. ‘‘And I was sprawled on the floor, looking up, watching her eyes bulge, and I was thinking, Maybe he’ll do it. Maybe he’ll do it for me. She got her hand on a knife, and she jammed it into him. She jammed it into his back just as the people beating on the door busted it in. People were shouting and screaming. She pulled the son of a bitch’s wallet out of his pocket while he was bleeding on the floor. And she ran. She never even looked at me.’’

He shrugged, turned back. ‘‘Somebody called the cops and they got me to a hospital. I’m not clear on it, but that’s where I ended up. Doctors and cops and social workers,’’ he said quietly. ‘‘Asking questions, writing things down. I guess they went looking for her, but they never found her.’’

He lapsed into silence so that there was only the lap of water, the call of insects, the echoing notes of a guitar. But she said nothing, knowing he wasn’t finished. Not yet finished.

‘‘Stella Quinn was at some medical conference in Baltimore, and she was doing guest rounds. She stopped by my bed. I guess she’d looked at my chart, I don’tremember. I just remember her being there, putting her hands on the bed guard and looking down at me. She had kind eyes, not soft but kind. She talked to me. I didn’t pay any attention to what she said, just her voice. She kept coming back. Sometimes Ray would be with her. One day she told me I could come home with them if I wanted.’’

He fell silent again, as if that was the end. But all Grace could think was that the moment when the Quinns had offered him a home had been the beginning.

‘‘Ethan, my heart breaks for you. And I know now that as much as I loved and admired the Quinns all these years, it wasn’t enough. They saved you.’’

‘‘They saved me,’’ he agreed. ‘‘And after I decided to live, I did everything I could to be something that honored that, and them.’’

‘‘You are, and always have been, the most honorable man I know.’’ She went to him, wrapped her arms around him, and held tight despite the fact that his arms didn’t enfold her in return. ‘‘Let me help,’’ she murmured. ‘‘Let me be with you. Ethan.’’ She lifted her face, pressed her mouth to his. ‘‘Let me love you.’’

He shuddered, broke. His arms came round her now, fiercely. His mouth took the comfort she offered. He swayed there, holding on to her, a lifeline in a thrashing sea. ‘‘I can’t do this, Grace. It’s not right for you.’’