The story came out in fits and starts. Vince did his best not to react the way his brain wanted to react. He wanted to fly into a rage. He wanted to find Dennis Farman and beat his brains out against a wall. He swallowed all of that down so as not to upset Anne, who was more upset about Wendy and Haley than about herself.

“All I could think was that I was supposed to protect her and here I was making her relive that attack all over again!” she said.

“It wasn’t your fault, Anne.”

“Of course it was my fault!” she said angrily. “You warned me not to stay involved with Dennis, but I couldn’t listen to you. I had to try to help him, and look what’s happened!”

“Baby, you didn’t tell him to burn the hospital down. You didn’t tell him to kill people. You didn’t arm him. You didn’t tell him where we live. How did he find out where we live?”

“Don’t even ask me that right now. I’m so upset!”

“Shhhh ...” Vince held her and rocked her some more. “Where’s Wendy?”

“Down the hall somewhere with Sara. How am I ever going to face Sara again? Her daughter comes to visit me and ends up having to beat a kid in the head with poker! Why do these things happen to me?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” he said, holding her close again. “I guess they happen because you care too much. If you didn’t give a shit about Dennis Farman he would have gone off to juvie a year ago to begin his lifelong career of incarceration. If you didn’t care about Haley, she’d be with Milo Bordain, for God’s sake.”

He pulled back a little and stroked his hands ever so carefully down the sides of her face. “If you didn’t care so much ... I wouldn’t be so crazy in love with you that I would go out of my mind like I just did and make a big ass of myself in a public place.”

Anne tried to smile a little, but the tears were right there to threaten. “I just feel like I’ve made such a mess of things. Now what’s going to happen with Haley? She was put in danger because she was in our home! Maureen is going to get her taken away from us!”

“Over my dead body,” Vince promised. “Or hers.”

“Milo Bordain will be petitioning the court tomorrow for custody.”

“Don’t you worry about the Bordains. They’ve got problems of their own tonight.”

Someone rapped on the door. Vince scowled at the doctor that came in.

“It’s about damn time.”

“Vince ...”