Grant came awake slowly, disoriented by the dark and the deepest sleep he’d had in more than a week. As it occurred to him that he’d slept without the assistance of sleeping pills, he remembered what’d happened earlier. He’d totally lost it in front of his dad and brothers. Thinking of the scene he’d made and the way they’d come to his rescue brought new tears to his eyes.

Stephanie’s hand landed on his chest. “You’re awake.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost midnight.”

“Wow.” The last he’d known, it had been around seven when Stephanie suggested he lie down for a while. “Have you been here the whole time?”

She kissed his shoulder. “Right here.”

Wrapping his arm around her, he caressed her hair with his lips. “You missed girls’ night out.”

“There’ll be others.”

“You were looking forward to it.”

“This was more important.”

“I owe you an explanation for why I’ve been behaving so strangely since the accident.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Grant. If you want to talk to me, you know you always can. If you’re talked out, that’s fine, too.”

“I should’ve told you before I told everyone else.”

“There’s no protocol for something like this. You talked about it when you were ready to. I’m glad your dad and your brothers were there for you.”

“I lost it big-time. I think I scared the hell out of them.”

“They were more scared when you were silent.”

“How do you know? Have you all been talking about me?”

“Maybe a little.” He could hear the smile in her voice as her hand moved in a soothing pattern on his chest and belly. “We’ve been very worried about you. How do you feel now that you’ve let it out?”

“A little better. It was hard to see Steve’s mom and to hear he was her only child. I wish there was more I could’ve done for him.”

“Do you realize that everyone considers you a hero for what you did for Dan?”

“I’m not a hero. Don’t let them say that about me.”

With her hand on his face, she turned him into her kiss. “Ask Dan if he thinks you’re a hero. You did all you could, Grant. You did more than most people could’ve done. I try to imagine what it must’ve been like… To be separated from Mac and Evan, to not know what’d become of them while you’re trying to keep yourself and Dan afloat in freezing cold water and dense fog for hours. You had to have been terrified and despondent and worried about me and your family and a million other things, yet you took care of Dan and saved his life as well as your own. If that’s not the definition of a hero, I don’t know what is.”