“If I'd known that two months ago,” he whispered finally, “I'd have taken you home with me the night of the accident,” he said, and she laughed with pleasure.

“You're silly …but oh how I love you.” The amazing thing was that she did. He was right for her in ways that Brad never had been and she'd refused to see it, not just sexually, but they were both so compatible, so artistic, so at ease, so in tune with each other and their children. They were both nurturers, and they nurtured each other now with the gratitude of people who know they have been lost for a long time, and are found at last. Trygve felt like a starving man who had been fed at last as he held her.

“Where were you twenty years ago when I needed you, Goldilocks?” he teased and she thought about it for a minute.

“Let's see, by then I was working off off-Broadway and going to art school when I could afford it.”

“I would have loved you.”

“I would have loved you too.” But she had still been very shaken by her experience with her father. “It's amazing, isn't it?” she mused. “We could have lived in the same community for years and never really known each other. And now, here we are, and our lives have changed completely.”

“Fate, my dear.” It blessed, and it destroyed, and it had done both to them. But at last, this was the blessing.

They lay talking for hours, and then finally, reluctantly, he got up. He had to go home to Bjorn and Chloe and send the sitter home. But it was too late for her to retrieve Andy at Jane's. It was three o'clock in the morning.

“You mean you'll be here all alone all night?” he asked, horrified, as she nodded. “What a waste! I can't stand it.” In the end, they made love again, and it was four in the morning as she kissed him in her bathrobe in the doorway.

“What time do you take Andy to school?” he asked between kisses. He looked sated and happy, and so did Page. They looked like passionate young lovers, barely able to tear themselves from each other.

“Eight o'clock.”

“What time do you get back here?” he asked, sounding desperate.

“About eight-fifteen.”

“I'll meet you here at eight-thirty.”

“My God, you're a sex fiend.” She laughed.

He pulled away from her for an instant, “Did I forget to warn you? That's why Dana left, you know, the poor thing was worn out.” They both laughed and he kissed her again. The truth was, of course, that he and Dana hadn't even slept with each other for the last two years, and he had begun to wonder if he had lost it. But whatever he had lost, he had just found again, and then some.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked more seriously.

“Going to the hospital.”

“I'll come have breakfast with you, and take you there.” She nodded, and he kissed her one more time, and then tore himself from her arms and forced himself to walk to his car. But he ran back for one more kiss as they both laughed, and then finally he went home. And true to his word, he was back at eight-thirty in the morning. She hadn't really thought he'd meant it. She had picked up Andy and taken him to school. She was doing laundry and singing to herself when Trygve arrived. And instantly, she found herself smiling.

“Good morning, my love,” he said, coming through the door with an armload of flowers. He was the most romantic man she'd ever known, and the kindest. “Ready for breakfast?” But they never made it to the kitchen. He started kissing her again, and five minutes later they were in her bed, still unmade from the night before, and just as inviting.

“Do you think we'll ever get anything done from now on?” he asked, lying on his side, admiring her for the thousandth time that morning.

“I doubt it. I'll have to give up doing murals.”

“I'll forget writing.” But their schedules were so flexible, their lives so free, their hunger for each other so enormous, it was fun to realize how much time they had to indulge it. “Do they have day care at Andy's school?” he continued to tease, and then kissed her again. But this time she chased him out of bed. It was eleven o'clock and she had to go see Allie. Now that she had started to show some improvement, however small, Page didn't want to miss a moment with her.

He stayed with her at the hospital for the first hour, and then went home to work, and to check on Chloe.

“What about tonight?” he asked hopefully, and she grinned at him in the ICU, and shook her head.

“Andy will be home.”

“Tomorrow?” he persisted.

“He'll be out with Brad for the day,” she giggled mischievously, and the nurse smiled. It was nice to see something pleasant happen for a change.

“Perfect,” he said in answer to her announcement that Andy was spending Saturday afternoon with Brad. “Lunch? Caviar? An omelet?”

She leaned close to him and whispered in his ear so no one would hear them. “How about a peanut butter sandwich and a roll in the hay?” She laughed and he smiled wickedly at her.

“Excellent, my dear, I'll arrange it at once. Chunky or plain?”

“You're crazy!” she said.

“I love you,” he answered, as he kissed her and left the ICU. It was utterly mad but she loved him too, and as Page turned her attention to Allie's lifeless form, she couldn't stop smiling.





CHAPTER 16

Brad told Andy about Stephanie on a Saturday in June. He had introduced them to each other over lunch, at Prego's on Union Street in the city. Andy looked her over suspiciously, and she chatted uneasily with him. She was wearing tight white jeans and a red T-shirt. And even he would have had to admit that she was pretty, with long dark hair and big green eyes, but it was obvious that Andy didn't like her from the moment he met her. He spoke to her in a surly tone, and he was rude to her several times over lunch, saying unflattering things to her, immediately followed by high praise of his mother's looks and virtues.