Page 44 of A Mother’s Love

Major Leopold came forward from where he had been concealed and made sure Halley was all right.

He took one look at her and called for an ambulance on his radio, grabbing a chair and telling her to sit down, as Bart saw what the major had seen.

There was a red stain spreading up the collar of her white sweater.

Maduro had sliced through it as he dropped the knife.

She was bleeding as Bart opened her coat.

There was a cut through her sweater into her flesh, the shoulder of her sweater was bright red, and the knife had gone through her coat as well.

“You’re okay,” Bart said calmly, as two of the agents exchanged a glance—there was no telling how deep the cut was. In the excitement she hadn’t felt anything. She touched her shoulder and her hand came away red.

Agents removed Maduro from the scene, as he attempted to spit on the agents, just as the paramedics arrived and put Halley on a gurney. She looked dazed and like she was going into shock.

“Don’t forget my bag,” she said to Bart.

It was lying on the ground in the game stall, still in the brown paper bag.

And Maduro had the money in his jacket. One of the detectives picked up the bag and gave it to Major Leopold, while Bart went to ride in the ambulance with Halley.

The paramedics cut through her coat and sweater in the ambulance.

Her bra was already bright red, but the paramedics said the wound was only superficial.

They used pressure on it on the way to the hospital, as Halley looked at Bart.

She said she felt dizzy as she held his hand.

“That was smart of you to create a distraction.” She smiled at him, still very pale.

“I forgot to tell you I was a Navy SEAL. That was a pretty smooth move on your part too. You landed a hell of a blow in the right place.” He was trying to keep her talking to distract her.

“He brought back some old memories for me,” she said, looking vague for a minute. She had been able to fight back and stop the attacks on her. She wasn’t a helpless child anymore, just as Dr. Thacker had said. It was finally over.

The sirens and flashing lights were on and they got to the hospital darting through the traffic, with a police escort ahead of them.

Bart went into the hospital with her, and she was brave when they sewed her up.

Being there reminded her of the countless emergency rooms she had been in as a child, and the many times she’d had stitches.

She couldn’t let it happen again, even if he had killed her, and luckily, he hadn’t.

She had reacted by reflex, with no thought for her life.

Bart looked as shaken as she did when they took her home. She had painkillers they’d given her to take with her, but she said she didn’t need them. They had numbed her shoulder at the hospital, and given her a tetanus shot so she wouldn’t catch anything from the blade that had injured her.

The police said they would come to her home later, with a statement for her to sign, and they had taken photographs of her shoulder before it was sewn up.

Henri Laurent saw them arrive with a police escort, scurried into his lodgings, and locked the door, closing the drapes a minute later.

Bart assisted Halley up the stairs to her bedroom and helped her lie down.

She looked exhausted, but she was smiling at him.

A door had closed on the past that she knew would never open again.

The years of abuse and pain had ended years ago, but the weight of them had finally been lifted off her heart.

No one would ever hurt her again. She wouldn’t let them. She could defend herself now.

“You shouldn’t have gone there, they told you not to. But I’m glad you did,” she said to Bart in a tired voice. The distraction he had created had saved her by giving her the chance to save herself.

“I’m glad I could be of some use. You’re a brave woman, Halley,” Bart said, admiring her courage again, still shaken at the thought of what could have happened.

“I had to be brave. I had a dangerous childhood, with no one to protect me,” she said simply. He realized that he had only just begun to know her.

“I’m sorry,” he said gently. “I’ve had a crazy feeling since I first saw you on the plane that we were destined to meet. I didn’t know why, and I don’t usually believe in those things.”

“Neither do I,” she admitted. “You make your own destiny, and you play the hand you’re dealt.

” In this case it was a good one. And she lived by what she said.

She had had the guts to strike out at her attacker, and had saved her own life in the end, in spite of the knife wound in her neck and shoulder when it was over.

“Whatever happened before, I won’t let it happen to you again,” Bart said. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” She believed him and she knew he meant it. He was an honest man.

Robert had been the right man for her at the time, and now Bart appeared to be.

He was the best person she had met in years, and they were so well suited to each other.

It was an incredible stroke of luck. She had known him for two weeks, they had already gone through a lot together, and he hadn’t let her down.

The past was what it was. It had been hard, but she had survived. She lay in bed a little while later, thinking about it, and what had happened at the flea market. It could have ended so differently. Bart had closed the shades in her bedroom, and came upstairs with a cup of tea a few minutes later.

He sat on the edge of her bed while she sipped it. He was afraid to get into bed with her, he didn’t want to hurt her injured shoulder. The memory of seeing her with the knife at her throat was terrifying.

“Why don’t you come to bed?” she said, setting the cup down on her night table. The bandages made it awkward to move.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said gently.

“I’m okay, really. He scared the hell out of me when he took out the knife,” she admitted. “I thought he’d kill me.”

“Me too,” he said, the vision still vivid in his mind.

“We have a few more days of our vacation here. We should make the best of it,” she said, lying back against her pillows and smiling at him, and he laughed.

“We’ve been pretty busy since we got here.

And you just helped capture a dangerous criminal.

” She could say anything to him, she felt totally comfortable with him, and trusted him completely.

He had held up to some pretty scary events and had been there for her, without fail.

He wasn’t afraid of the past or the present.

They were fine qualities in a man. And she wasn’t afraid of the past anymore either.

There was nothing left to be afraid of. She was free of the past. All the ghosts were gone.

Only she and Bart were left. Good had prevailed.

The police came with the statement for her to sign a few hours later, and brought her bag. She lay in bed afterward looking at it and touching it gently. Only a few of her belongings were still in it. He had thrown out the rest. It didn’t matter. She had everything she needed.

“What were you thinking?” Bart asked her gently, as he took the bag from her and set it down when the police left.

“I was thinking that I should call the twins.” She smiled at him.

“Later,” he said, getting into bed with her carefully, so as not to hurt her. And then he kissed her, and she dozed next to him, while he watched her. He fell asleep lying next to her, grateful that she was alive. They had found each other at just the right time.

Halley was grateful for what she had, her life, her twins, a man who loved her and had already proven he was there for her, and wanted to be.

What more could one ask? The ghosts of the past had been relegated to the distant history where they belonged, never to return, this time for good.

She had understood at last that the shame they carried with them was never hers.

She was free at last, to lead the good life she had always deserved. The future was theirs.