"it's a little substation, but you can bet the sergeant has dealt with this before, ellie," noah said. "let him do his job."

"i'm worried about the kids," she said softly. "they've been in that back office awhile now."

"but it was the right thing to do," noah said. "giving permission for them to talk to the social worker alone-that was smart. arnie couldn't prevent that happening without bringing some suspicion on himself. danielle will tell her how it is at that house. and that whole business with the lock-that's sick. the guy is seriously twisted."

a giant tear ran down her cheek. "oh, noah, this is all my fault. what was i thinking, getting mixed up with him? look what i've done to my kids!"

"hang on, kiddo. this is a bad time for a meltdown."

she looked at him with such remorse, such despair, her eyes all liquid, her voice so soft, so unlike ellie. "it wasn't too much of a sacrifice for me, you know? i get by any way i can. if arnie could give them a good home, i could manage. i thought i was making a good decision for my family. i thought-"

"stop, baby," he said, pulling her against him, holding her. "it's going to be all right."

"noah, what's wrong with me? i shouldn't have-"

"ellie, stop. you were doing the best you could."

she was shaking her head. "i should have put more energy into keeping us independent. on our own. at least we could trust each other."

he lifted her chin and looked into her frightened, wet eyes. "nothing like this is ever going to happen to you again, ellie. i'll make sure of it. i don't know how yet, but i'll find a way."

"but, noah, that's not what-"

"ellie!"

she was cut off by her name being called. she turned to see jo fitch rushing toward her, nick close on her heels.

"what are you doing here?" ellie asked, giving the wet on her cheeks a nervous swipe.

"i knew you'd end up here. honey, are they all right?"

she nodded. "but i don't know what's going to happen next. arnie's with the sergeant and i'm out here and the kids are-"

the sergeant's office door opened and arnie came out. he walked toward the front door, paused to glare at ellie, then exited the building. "oh, god," ellie said. "was that a good sign? or bad?"

"he left without the kids," noah said, an arm around her shoulders. "so far, i'd call that good."

"noah," she said softly. "this is killing me."

the woman from child welfare services came from the room where she'd been interviewing the kids. she held a couple of thin files in her arms and approached ellie. "mrs. baldwin, i-"

"miss," ellie said. "miss baldwin. ellie would be even better. are they doing all right? the kids?"

"they seem to be holding up just fine-but after i make a couple of phone calls, i'll need your help to talk to them. they're not going back to mr. gunterson's house tonight, but because of the court order, i have to locate some emergency foster care for them. hopefully we can keep them together, depending on what's available. but i can't make any promises about that."

"please," she said pitifully. "can't i take them with me? at least until we can see the judge again? my lawyer filed something, asking for another court date. soon."

"i'm a licensed foster parent," jo fitch said abruptly. "i was a foster-care provider and kept up my license. it's been a few years, but i know these children. and what's more important, they know me."

"and your relationship to the family?"

"ellie has been renting the furnished room over our garage since she's been working for pastor kincaid. it's on the same property as the house, but it's not attached. and we have two extra bedrooms. on some of ellie's saturdays with the kids, they spent the day with nick and i, baking, painting, reading. i think they'd feel safe there-and their mother's nearby. listen," jo said to the social worker, "all custody orders aside, this is a fine young woman, a wonderful mother. believe me, i've been around the block with parents whose kids were in the system and i know what i'm talking about."

"we had a total of nineteen," nick said, stepping forward, slipping an arm around jo's shoulders.

"oh, god," ellie prayed. "please. i could tuck them in. i could have meals with them. and with jo, i know they'd be safe."

the social worker looked down while she considered this. she looked up and said, "you understand, the foster parent is in charge? even if they're right next door, even if you have access to them, the foster parent has the last word."

"that's not a problem," ellie assured her. "i won't interfere. as long as they're safe, i won't interfere."

"well, let's go back to the office and check your credentials," she said to jo. "just so we don't muck up the procedure and make it worse on these kids, i'll get a judge on the phone. it shouldn't take long. then if everything is in order, you can take them home. since you haven't provided foster care in a while, expect a few unscheduled visits."

"by all means," jo said, following behind the social worker.

a half hour later they were under way, herding the kids into the sheriff's substation parking lot. and there, leaning against his big black suv, was arnie. he was glowering at them. it brought ellie up short with a gasp.

noah grabbed her upper arm and whispered in her ear, "say nothing. absolute silence. let's get these kids away from here with jo and nick."

"right," she said. she quickly settled trevor into his seat belt while jo made sure danielle was fastened in. and as they pulled away, ellie leaned against noah and gave a huge sigh of relief.

ellie's relief was short-lived. noah took the keys from her hand and drove, despite her protest that she was just fine. and they'd no sooner cleared the parking lot of the sheriff's substation when the headlights of that big, black suv beamed through the pt cruiser's windows, nearly blinding noah as they hit the rearview mirror. the roar of the engine was loud; arnie was driving within inches of the back fender.

"what the hell is he doing?" ellie said, turning to look into the glare.

"harassing. don't turn around. don't look at him."

"noah, turn around. go back to the sheriff's department."

"uh-uh," he said, pulling up to a stop sign. "not yet. i want him with us, not with jo and nick and the kids." he sat at the stop sign for far longer than necessary while arnie revved his engine. then he pulled away slowly. "i thought maybe he'd get out, charge the car, pick a fight. i'm a little surprised. happy, but surprised."

"i'm not. noah, he's going to get us going up the mountain. he'll rear-end us right off the road, down the side."

"no, that's not going to happen." he adjusted the mirror to get rid of the glare. then he took a couple of turns, stopped a couple more times and lingered, staying in town. "eyes front, ellie. we're not going to engage him. um-does arnie have guns?"

"he said he did, but that they were locked up safe. i never saw them. he didn't take time to go in the house before following the deputy to the station. unless he has one in the car..." she slid down in the seat as noah drove through a motel parking lot, back out onto the main street, the suv close on his tail.

"are you sure he never hit you or the kids? while you were with him?"

she shook her head. "sometimes he looked like he was going to either explode or coldcock me, but he didn't. he brooded. pouted. grumbled and accused and demanded, but he was never physical."

"he's a powder keg," noah said.

"he's so close! how does he manage to keep from hitting us with his car?" she asked. "pray, noah. really."

noah laughed softly and thought-two boats and a helicopter, and made yet another right turn, that big suv inches from his bumper. there were only a few stop signs in town and he slowed down as he approached the only light while it was green. he purposely caught the end of the yellow and forced arnie to run a red light. "where's a cop when you need one?" he muttered.

"what are you doing? giving me a tour?"

"giving jo, nick and the kids a good head start," he said. he glanced at the console clock. "you know what? this is a good little car, ellie. she's got some zip."

"she doesn't have the zip of eight cylinders and all that weight. and she's got a lot of miles on her."

"yeah, but she's maneuverable. i like that in a car." he turned a couple more times, drove through an alley and a parking lot, then pulled right into the parking lot of the sheriff's substation again, right up to the front door, in a no parking zone. "you go in and ask for advice. i'll ask arnie what we can do to help him."

"oh, noah..."

"quick now," he said, putting the pt cruiser in park, and getting out.

but of course the second he approached the driver's door, arnie put his suv in reverse and left the parking lot. he left nice and easy.

twenty minutes later, noah and ellie had a highway patrol escort up highway 36 into the mountains and hadn't gone far when they passed a black suv parked by the side of the road, waiting. the suv was facing the direction of virgin river. when they passed en route to virgin river, the suv made a u-turn in the middle of the road and headed out.

ellie laughed and clapped her hands. "ha! that worked!"

noah was quiet for a long moment. "ellie, that guy is scaring me," noah finally said. "and i'm fearless."

by the time ellie and noah got to the fitch household, the kids were sitting at the kitchen table with nick, having ice cream. they both jumped up and ran to ellie, hugging her so hard she had to peel them off. "hey now," she said, laughing nervously. "looks like you have an ice-cream party going on here."

"they had a sandwich first," jo said. "i thought some ice cream, bath and bed, in that order. i think these two have had a little too much excitement for one night."

"i agree," ellie said. "how about it, you two? finish up here. would you like me to take care of baths?" she asked jo.

"mama, i have my own bath," danielle said.

"of course you do," jo agreed. "and guess what? there are two tubs in this house, one in the hall and one off my bedroom. while your mom makes sure trevor gets clean behind the ears, you'll have your own bath. we'll put bubbles in the tub..."

"i want bubbles," trevor said to ellie.

"bubbles for you, too," jo said. "then bed. you don't have to go right to sleep, but you have to get comfortable, quiet, and slow down a little. all right?"

while both kids agreed, ellie mouthed thank you to jo. and jo just smiled.

"nick, do you have a phone in your den that i could use for a private call?" noah asked.

"sure, pastor. you know the way?"

"i do, thanks. i won't be a minute."

twenty minutes later, while ellie was settling her kids in their beds, noah was having coffee in the kitchen with jo and nick. "okay, here's our situation. arnie followed ellie and i for a while after we left the station. he was dangerously close to her car, until i circled back to the station and they helped me out with a chp escort up the hill. i made a call to the california highway patrol and the sheriff's department from your den, nick. arnie's a loose cannon and i can't guess what he's thinking. be sure the doors are locked here tonight. you probably haven't bothered to do that in years...."