A moment later, Brady returned with her jacket. He draped it over them. "She should go in the back."

Ana's legs clamped around Marisa's middle. The little girl wasn't about to let Marisa put her down, and Marisa wasn't arguing. "You can get us to the hospital safely, right?"

He wrapped the seatbelt around both of them and clicked it in place.

"Thank you."

He nodded and closed her door.

Brady had called ahead to the small hospital. A young, perky nurse met them at the door and led her and Ana straight to an exam room.

A gray-haired older man stepped in a moment later and shook her hand. "Dr. Lariviere. Detective Thomas asked me to meet you here."

"Oh. Are you friends with him?"

"I'm Johnny's doctor, so I know Mrs. Thomas better than the detective." Dr. Lariviere peeked at Ana's face. Marisa hadn't looked, but she thought her daughter might have fallen asleep.

"Hey, sweetheart," the doctor said. "You look sleepy."

Ana nodded, held Marisa tighter.

"I'm going to have to lay you down, okay?"

The little girl shook her head, squeezed her arms around Marisa.

The doctor met Marisa's eyes, smiled kindly, and looked at Ana again. "I bet I can be done in five minutes. What do you think?"

Ana shrugged.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket, touched it a couple of times, and showed the screen to Ana. "I set the timer for five minutes. If you let your mother put you down, you can hold onto my phone in one hand, and your mommy's hand with the other. And you can watch the numbers go down while I work. By the time they're all zero, I'll be done. You want to try that?"

"I'll be right here," Marisa said. "I promise."

There was a pause before Ana nodded.

Marisa gently laid her daughter on the table, held her hand, and let the doctor examine her. Her eyes filled with tears, and she couldn't watch what the doctor was doing, was looking for. Thank God, Ana seemed intent on watching the numbers as Marisa stroked her hair.

As promised, before the time was up he said, "All done." After Ana had scrambled back into her mother's arms, the doctor met Marisa's eyes. "Everything looks fine. Nothing to worry about."

The relief washed over her like a warm rain.

After Marisa got Ana to pee in a cup, they were led back to the waiting room, where Brady met them at the door. "All set?"

She nodded, could hardly speak for the emotions swirling around in her mind. She got them under control enough to say, "She's okay. Have you heard anything about Nate?"

"Not yet. He's being examined. I'll get you settled at the cabin, then come back and check on him."

They climbed in Brady's truck, which he'd left at the door, and returned to the cabin.