As he worked to cut the rope that held Rev in place, I brought my hands to Rev’s face. “I’m so, so sorry, my love,” I murmured.

“Not your fault,” he gasped. He tried to lean closer to me, but he couldn’t reach. I leaned in and brought my lips to his. “Thank God you’re okay.”

With a smile, I said, “I feel the same way about you.”

Agent Hollis eased the rope so that Rev’s arms could come slowly down at his side. I started working at getting his hands free of the rope. Suddenly, one of the agents shouted in alarm. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Mendoza push out of one of the agents’ reach and grab the agent’s extra gun from his chest holster.

Mendoza then whirled around toward me and Rev and pointed the gun. As the blast went off, Rev shoved me out of the way. After I fell to the ground, I glanced back to see Rev’s body contort in pain as blood spewed out of a wound in his stomach. “No, no, NO!” I screamed.

Rev collapsed on the ground at the same moment the agents tackled Mendoza. I crawled over to Rev, cradling his head in my lap. He stared up at me, his eyes glassy.

“Been gut-shot,” he gasped. “Not good.”

“Don’t say that!”

“I love you, Annabel.”

I shook my head. “Don’t you dare act like you’re saying good-bye. You’re going to marry me, remember? We’re a team—you and me against the world.” Tears streamed down my cheeks and fell onto his face.

One of the agents dropped down beside us and started working on compressing Rev’s wound. “Ambulance is on the way,” he said to me.

“You hear that, Rev? The ambulance is coming, so you have to hold on until it gets here.”

With a weak smile, he reached up to cup my cheek. “My beautiful Annabel Lee.” Then he closed his eyes.

“Rev, stay with me. Please . . . please stay with me.” I buried my face against his, unable to stop the sobs that overtook me.

TWENTY-SIX

REV

A pulsing white light filled with peaceful energy enveloped me from head to toe. As I gazed around, I realized the light was filling me up and healing me. I no longer felt any pain from the gunshot wound. I brought my hands up to pat around on my gut. No blood. No wound.

“What the . . .” I muttered.

In the distance, a figure began walking toward me. As it got closer, I blinked several times to make sure I was seeing clearly. When I still saw the person in front of me, I decided I must be hallucinating because it simply couldn’t be possible. “Pop?” I questioned.

Preacher Man smiled at me. “Hello, son.”

“What are you . . .? What am I . . .?” I questioned lamely.

“I’m here to tell you that it isn’t your time, and you have to go back.”

I frowned in confusion as everything floated along in this trippy consciousness. “Are you trying to say this is heaven?” I swallowed hard. “Like I’m dead or something?”

“Maybe it is or maybe you’re just hallucinating this from a temporary lack of oxygen,” Preacher Man suggested with a sly smile. He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Just know I’m proud of you, son. Regardless of what happened to you, it never broke you; it only made you stronger.” He squeezed my arm. “You’re the man I wish I could have been.”

Although breaking down was the most unmanly thing I could do, I let the tears flow freely. “Thank you, Pop.”

“No—thank you, son.”

As he faded away, a jolt of electricity rocketed through my body, sucking me out of the white light and slamming me back onto a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. A paramedic held the crash cart paddles in his hands and I heard him say, “He’s back. We have sinus rhythm.”

I gulped in the oxygen from the mask on my face, trying to still my out-of-control heart rate. I started to bring my hand to my gut to see if my wound was real again, but the other paramedic grabbed my arm. “Easy there.”

Once he released me, I moved my hand up to my face. At the feel of moisture on my cheeks, the world grew dark around me again.

When I came to, I was in a bed at the hospital. Blinking my eyes, I took in my surroundings. Machines beeped on and off, but I was grateful to find I just had an oxygen mask, rather than a breathing tube. It felt like there was some sort of cool sheeting on my back—it must’ve been something to deal with my burns. They must’ve been giving me some good drugs because I wasn’t in any pain.

As I looked around the room again, I saw that one entire wall was covered with balloons, flowers, and cards. Jesus, how long had I been out of it? Turning my head, I saw something that made my heartbeat speed up on the monitor. Annabel slept in one of the uncomfortable chairs next to my bed. Her disheveled hair and the dark circles under her eyes told me she hadn’t left my side. Not that there was any doubt about my feelings for her, but her true devotion made me fall in love with her all over again.

I eased the mask off my face. “Annabel?” I croaked.

At the sound of my voice, she shot upright and almost fell out of the chair. “Rev! Rev, you’re awake!” she cried as she dove for the bedside. She bent over to bestow kisses on my cheeks and then my lips. Just when I could barely catch my breath, she pulled away, tears flowing. “I love you. I love you so, so much.”

Smiling up at her, I replied, “I love you, too.”

She pushed my hair back from my face. “I thought I had lost you. You came so close to dying.”

An uneasy feeling prickled over my skin. “I did?”