sight of the tears streaking down his cheeks was almost her undoing. There was no doubt in her mind now that something truly terrible had happened to Sharon Lynn and Kyle. What else could create such despair in such a strong man?
She reached up and touched his face. “Come with me, please,” she begged.
For the longest time, she wasn’t sure he would agree. He seemed torn between anger and a distress so deep and heart wrenching, she could only fear its cause. At last, he turned away and went with her.
He got into the car and leaned forward, his head resting on the steering wheel. Quiet sobs shook his shoulders. Patsy scrambled across the seat and put her arms around him. As desperately as she wanted to know what had happened, how badly Kyle and Sharon Lynn were injured, she kept silent, letting Justin do his grieving in silence while she fought her own fears.
It seemed they remained like that forever, but in truth it was no more than a minute or two, she realized, before he drew in a shuddering breath and faced her.
“We have to go to the hospital.”
“Sharon Lynn and Kyle are there?”
He shook his head. “Only Sharon Lynn.”
The implication of that tore through her. “Oh, my God. Kyle?”
“Didn’t make it.” He looked so shattered that all she wanted to do was reach over and hold him again, but he was already starting the engine. The grim set of his mouth told her he wouldn’t appreciate a show of sympathy right now, that he’d only tolerated the first display because he’d been nearly oblivious to it. All she could do was stay with him, be there when he needed someone and be there for Sharon Lynn, whose world had just come crashing down around her head. She thought of Sharon Lynn’s terrible premonition that her future with Kyle was jinxed and realized the enormity of what lay ahead for her.
* * *
At the hospital, they found the rest of the family already gathered, most of them still in the clothes they’d worn to the wedding. Patsy faded into the background once she was certain that Justin was being taken care of by his family.
She wandered from the emergency room waiting area and went in search of a chapel. When she found it off the main lobby, she went inside and found Janet Adams already there, her face damp with tears.
Patsy started to tiptoe out again, but the older woman spotted her and held out her hand. “Come, sit with me. I just came to tell God how grateful we are for sparing Sharon Lynn.”
“What about how angry we are that Kyle was taken from her?” Patsy asked, unable to hide her own bitterness on her friend’s behalf. “How could this happen to someone as decent and kind as Sharon Lynn?”
“God never gives us any pain he doesn’t think will make us stronger.”
Patsy wondered about that. Then she thought of her own life up until now. When she’d been caught up in Will’s web of snide remarks and psychological abuse, she’d thought only about the terrible sense of failure he was instilling in her. When she’d run, she’d felt more like a victim than ever and she’d cursed him for that, hating him every bit as much as if he’d hit her.
But she was stronger now and her strength had come out of that pain. Would the same be true for Sharon Lynn? She could only pray that Janet was right.
They sat quietly side by side, lost in their own thoughts, taking comfort from each other’s presence. It was a long time before she looked up and saw Justin standing hesitantly in the doorway. “I heard this was where you’d gone,” he said, still not coming into the quiet, dimly lit chapel.
Janet regarded him with sympathy. “I’m sorry you had to be there tonight. It must have been terrible for you.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “I’m not the one who needs your pity. Save it for Sharon Lynn. I only wish I could have killed the man responsible when I had the chance.”
“You don’t mean that,” Janet said gently. “The courts will hand down justice. It wasn’t up to you. You know that’s the way it has to be.”
“Do I?” he asked bitterly. His gaze shifted to Patsy. “There’s nothing more we can do here tonight. I’ll take you home.”
She nodded and squeezed Janet’s hand. “Thank you for what you said. It meant a lot to me. If