"Ma'am." Police officers swarmed around them now. Some hovering over the man unconscious just a few feet away. Another behind her. "Please step back."

She met Nate's eyes. Even in the darkness, she thought she saw her own feelings reflected there. Maybe, when this was all over, when she had Ana...

"Ana."

"Go."

His word propelled her, and she stood, swiveled, ran back toward the cabin.

* * *

MARISA RAN UNTIL HER chest burned. Past one police officer heading toward Nate and the kidnapper. Past trees and bushes and cabins and police cars lining the road. All she could think about now was Ana.

Was she alive?

Had she been hurt?

Would she recover?

Marisa's whole life hinged on this moment. On what she would find back in that dingy cabin. Had she truly rescued Ana from a life of an impoverished orphan in Mexico? Or had she adopted her into an early death?

How would Marisa survive if Ana hadn't?

She reached the cabin and froze at the bottom of the steps just as a figure filled the doorway.

A tall, broad-shouldered figure that could only be Brady.

And on his hip, a little girl in a blue sundress.

"Mama?"

The most beautiful melody in the world could be found in those two syllables.

Through a haze of tears, Marisa rushed up the stairs, and Brady shifted Ana into her outstretched arms. Ana's tiny arms slid around Marisa's neck, her thin legs folded around her torso and clenched as if the girl would never let her go.

Marisa held on just as tight. Focused on the soft skin pressed against hers.

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry."

Ana's tears soaked through Marisa's thin pajamas, and her own tears dripped into her daughter's hair.

Brady whispered, "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, held her baby closer. "I'm fine."

"Marisa."

His tone had her focusing on him.

"The blood."

"What?"

"On your pajamas."

She had no idea what he was talking about. She adjusted Ana, looked down, and saw the red stain. She'd felt it before, the dampness. She'd ignored it. But now...that was blood.

"Oh, my God. Nate."

"All right," Brady said. "Let's get out of this cold. You want me to get a car to drive—"

"I can walk."

They walked fast down the road to the cabin. An ambulance had arrived, and Nate was lying on a gurney, a paramedic examining him. He must've seen them approach, because he tried to push himself to a sitting position. The paramedic pushed him back down with a hand to his shoulder.

Marisa rushed to his side. Nate's head was bloody, which she'd expected. It was the fresh blood on his shirt that had her gasping.

Before she could form words, Nate said, "Thank God." Tears slid from his eyes. "Is she okay?"

"I think so. Are you all right?"

"It's not serious." He seemed to be trying to peer around her to get a look at Ana.