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He looked s man who’d been whittled down to fit in a child’s bed

“Nina ” His voice was so soft and breathy she hardly recognized it His skin was frighteningly pale

She forced herself to s it looked real Her father was a hter and joy She kneould hurt him to see her in pain

“Hey, Daddy ” The little-girl word slipped out; she hadn’t said it in years

He knew; he knew and he smiled It was a faded, tired version of his smile and Nina reached down to wipe the spittle from his lip “I love you, Daddy ”

“I want” He was breathing hard now “Gohome ”

She had to lean close to hear his quietly spoken words “You can’t go hoood care of you here ”

He reached for her hand, holding it tightly “Die home ”

This time she couldn’t will her tears away She felt theray petals on the white blanket “Don’t”

He stared up at her, still breathing hard; she saw the light go out of his eyes and the weakening of his will, and that hurt more than words had

“It won’t be easy,” she said “You know Meredith likes everything in its place She’ll want you here ”

The save her was so sad and sloppy it broke her heart “Youhate easy ”

“I do,” she said quietly, stung by the sudden thought that without him, no one would know her that well

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly For a second, Nina thought she’d lost him, that he’d simply fallen away from her and sunk into the darkness, but this ti

She sank into the chair beside hi why he’d asked this favor of her Mom could do it, of course, could force his move home, but Meredith would hate herto create love where none existed—between his wife and his daughters—and he couldn’t give up even now All he could do was hand his need to her and hope she could accomplish what he wanted She remembered how often he’d called her his rule-breaker, his spitfire, and how proud he’d been of her courage to go into battle