"What was all that about?" Harrison asked."I think she was just so relieved, dad. Before you came we both thought for sure you were going to give her ...ivorce papers." Oh honey, I'm sorry. I should have said more over the phone. I'll go up and talk to her." Let her go, dad. She's been trying to stay brave for me but she needs to let it out. Just give her a few minutes, okay."He looked at this daughter. This whole thing was causing her to grow up much faster than he wanted."Dad, do you really. ‘Another hour or two won’t matter much.’ ‘Here, dear,’ Steve’s wife said as she returned from the kitchen. ‘Here is a mug of hot chocolate and a few Christmas cookies. I called Doc Watson. He was at his daughter’s house, but he said he’d be over within a half hour. I’ll go call Joe Timberman now.’ ‘It looks worse than it is,’ Doc Watson said as he finished cleaning the gash on Nancy’s temple. ‘A butterfly bandage should do for now. But maybe you should go into the hospital in the morning to get. During the night, I woke up several times when the nurses came in to check on me. And that damned beep, beep, beep of those machines that they'd apparently hooked me up to got really up my nose.At one time I thought I heard raised voices. I believe they were Helen's and Jenny's and I got the distinct impression they were putting Gary Harris through the mill. But then I heard a female voice tell them to be quiet, and after that there was silence and I must have fallen into a deeper sleep.I had. On the walk back to my apartment I think we both were thinking about what was going to happen when we got there. Fred put his arm around me and I leaned in close to him as we walked. I enjoyed the way his strong body felt against me. With his arm around me I felt safe and very comfortable. Most of all I felt happy.When we got back to the apartment I asked Fred to opened a bottle of wine while I put on some music. For the next hour we sat on the sofa, sipped wine and kissed each other. My.