“I got her.” A tall, swift-moving man strode past her.

Elaine nearly melted into a puddle of relief. “Tony.”

He barely glanced at her as he approached Bobbi. He was totally focused on saving her. He squeezed through an opening that had been bent in the fence, then climbed over the rail and edged toward her.

“We’re both going to fall,” Bobbi wailed.

“No, we won’t. Don’t even say that.”

Elaine held her breath. The shiny cold steel framework was encased in ice. Tony wrapped one arm around the pole and reached out with the other. “Take my hand,” he said. “There you go. I got you.”

Trembling with panic, she reached back blindly. Tony took hold with his bare hand. “It’s okay,” he said quietly. “You’re okay now.” Safe in his grip, Bobbi turned and let him coax her along the pipe, feet scraping along. She slipped, and her arms flailed. Elaine crushed her knuckles to her mouth to keep from screaming. Tony grabbed Bobbi and tugged, until she pitched forward into his arms.

Elaine rushed forward and hugged Bobbi. Heartsore, she took off her coat and settled it around Bobbi’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” Bobbi said. “What I did was wrong.”

“But I was wrong, too,” Elaine admitted. “I didn’t listen to you.”

Bobbi shivered uncontrollably. “No kidding.”

Elaine remembered looking at the glossy black window in her parents’ apartment. She’d seen a reflection of herself at the party, with her perfect career and perfect clothes and perfect jewelry—and a loneliness in her eyes that reminded her of two empty bowls.

The cabbie tapped the car horn. “Let’s go already,” he called. “It’s another fifteen minutes to the airport.”

Elaine bundled Bobbi into the cab and pressed a wad of cash into her hand. “Should I come to the airport with you?”

“No. I’ll be all right,” Bobbi said with a sniff.

As the taxi pulled away, Tony scratched his head. “That cabdriver. Isn’t he the guy—”

“Don’t ask,” Elaine said. “He’s magic.”

Traffic started up again. Tony settled his jacket around Elaine’s shoulders and held it in place with a firm embrace. She could have stayed like that all night, warm and safe and protected.

“How did you know?” she asked. “How did you know to find me?”

“I was driving to church, and a dispatch came over the radio.”

The cabdriver, she realized.

“What are you doing here, Elaine?” he asked.

“You left your gloves.” She fished them out of her purse and handed them over.

“You were coming all the way over to Brooklyn on Christmas Eve to give me my gloves?”

She nodded.

With a laugh that was deep and pure, he brought her to his car and turned on the heater full blast. “So I guess you need a ride home.”