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Landon Blake-struggling for his life, every breath an uncertainty.
    Kari ran her finger over Jessie’s tiny forehead, her mind wandering back to another time when she had waited for news about someone lying injured in a hospital bed. The years melted away, and Kari could hear the football game playing from the television in this very room, hear her father’s voice calling her.
    “Kari, quick! Ryan’s been hurt.”
    His words were as clear now as they’d been all those years ago when Ryan Taylor had been nearly paralyzed. She had been in 24
    love with him back then, and she could still picture him lying on the football field, still see his distraught mother at the hospital later that night.
    The memory faded, and a more recent one took its place. A memory of her and Ryan last year at Lake Monroe, where for the first time she had understood the truth about what happened so long ago, in the aftermath of his injury.
    Kari blinked.
    Since her husband, Tim, had been murdered, she’d done everything possible to avoid thoughts of Ryan Taylor. It simply wasn’t the time. She was still reeling from last year’s incredible sequence of events. First, Tim’s bombshell-his affair with a college student. Then finding out she and Tim were expecting a baby. After that came Tim’s refusal to talk with Kari or get counseling, all of which led to her rekindled closeness with Ryan Taylor.
    And ultimately her decision-and Tim’s-to do what was necessary to make their marriage work.
    She would forever remember Tim’s face, his tenderness toward her on the last morning of his life. They really had been growing close again, after all the hurt. Who would have thought it would all end so tragically, so senselessly? A stalker. A fanatical college kid on steroids bent on marrying Tim’s lover. How was it possible that he’d shot Tim outside her apartment-when the only reason Tim had stopped by was to tell her he couldn’t see her again, to assure her that he was in love with Kari and always would be? There’d been no tense hours of hospital waiting with Tim. He’d never had a chance; he was dead on arrival.
    Jessie stirred and flopped a small hand against Kari’s arm.
    “That’s right, sweetie. Mommy’s here.” Kari stared at her daughter, awed at the way the tiny baby in her arms had helped her through the past months.
    She knew better than to dwell on the awful memories of Tim’s death-or to let her mind camp too long on the shores of
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    all she once shared with Ryan Taylor. As always when it came to Ryan, the timing was wrong. Ryan was in New York coaching the Giants, fulfilling a longtime dream. And she was here in Bloomington, a grieving widow learning how to be a single mom.
    But now, with Landon in the hospital, Kari couldn’t help but remember. And maybe that was all right. If she never walked through the past, never allowed the painful areas in her heart to heal, she would never be able to move forward.
    The front door creaked. Kari’s father walked quickly into view. He scanned the room. “Where is she?”
    “Ashley hasn’t been home all day.” Elizabeth stood, and Kari watched her parents embrace. “How is he?”
    Her father’s gaze fell to the ground. When he looked up, Kari could see the weariness in his soul. “He might not make it through the night. His oxygen level is-“
    Before her father could go into any detail, they heard the front door open again. This time it was Ashley. Kari saw her sister’s eyes grow wide as she stopped short and took in the full house.
    She has no idea what’s happened, Kari thought. Then, without hesitating, Kari felt a prayer wind its way through the alleys of her mind. Whatever happens to Landon, use this, God, please. Use it to help Ashley believe again.
    Ashley slowly pulled off her jacket. “What’s going on?” She looked around the room, and her eyes settled on their father’s stricken face.
    Luke shifted forward, balancing himself on the edge of the sofa. Even