Silencing Eve

knocking Jane to the ground and covering her body with his own.
    “Good … That’s good … Caleb…” Trevor’s knees buckled, and he fell, his gun firing at Harriet.
    Blood blossomed on Harriet’s shoulder. Then she was gone, running toward the road.
    Jane didn’t even look at her as she struggled to get from beneath Caleb’s weight.
    Trevor …
    Agony tore through her.
    Three shots. Three bullets.
    She ran to him and fell to her knees.
    Blood. Dear God, so much blood. Stomach. Chest.
    So much blood.
    “She’s gone?” Trevor was looking up at her. He whispered, “You’re safe?”
    “She’s gone.” He was alive. She had to keep him alive. “I’ll call 911 and get someone out here. Don’t talk. I have to stop the blood, Trevor.” She was so scared. The tears were running down her cheeks. “You hold on, okay? I have to find a way to stop the blood.”
    “I’ll … hold on.” He smiled at her. “It’s not yet, Jane.”
    Not yet. Those two words scared her more than she had been before. “Not ever, Trevor.”
    “Ever … After,” he said. “You shouldn’t be afraid.”
    Today. Tomorrow. Ever After.
    “Of course, I’m afraid.” She started to unbutton his shirt. “I will be until I get you well. Be still. I don’t want to hurt you.” She pushed aside his shirt. “I hate that she did this. I want to—” She gasped as she saw his chest and abdomen. Three wounds and so much blood she couldn’t see where one ended and the next began.
    “Do you want me to try to help?” Caleb asked quietly. She hadn’t known he’d come to kneel beside her. “I don’t know how much of the blood flow I can stop, but I can try to direct it somewhere in his body.”
    “Yes, help him. Do something.” She grabbed her phone and called 911 while she watched Caleb place his hands carefully on the wounds.
    Was the flow slowing? Make it slow, she prayed. Caleb knew so much about blood. He had said he was no healer, but just this once let him be able to heal Trevor.
    She waited, holding her breath.
    And her prayers seemed to be answered. “See, it does seem to be slowing,” Jane said, relieved. “Thank you, Caleb.”
    “Don’t thank me,” he said harshly. “I couldn’t stop—” He took his hands away from Trevor. “Don’t thank me.”
    She looked at him in bewilderment.
    “Then I’ll thank you, Caleb,” Trevor whispered. “You gave me a little time, didn’t you? Precious gift…” His gaze was on Jane’s face. “Listen … I have to go away now. I don’t know much about this, but I don’t think it’s forever. But you have … to go on as if it is forever.”
    “Trevor?” She couldn’t understand what he was saying. She wouldn’t understand. Because if she did, it was the end of everything.
    “Caleb stopped everything but the internal bleeding.” His voice was unsteady. “He couldn’t … stop that. She … did too much damage.”
    “No.” She shook her head. The panic was rising. The darkness was moving closer. “Stop talking like that. You’re not going to die.”
    “I don’t know what death … is, but I’m mad as hell I’m not going to be able to be with you and Joe and Eve at the barbecue on the lake. Maybe the … second time around.” His voice seemed to be failing. “And I won’t be there to take care of you and make sure that you’re happy and safe and that everything—” He stopped. “That worries me.”
    This couldn’t be happening, Jane thought dazedly. Where the hell was that ambulance? Surely someone could save him. He was so good, so special, someone had to save him. “I can take care of myself,” she said brokenly. “But I want you here. You have to stay with me. Do you hear me?”
    “Shh, love. You’ll get through it. You’re so strong.” He reached up and touched her cheek. “My own love.” His glance went past her to Caleb. “You know … what’s necessary…”
    Caleb stiffened. “No,” he said emphatically. “I won’t do it. You can’t do this to me. I won’t be used.”
    Trevor smiled. “Yes, you know…” He turned back to Jane. “Now just hold my hand and tell … me you love me. Okay? I think that’s all we have … time for.”
    “I do love you.” She kissed him, the tears running down her cheeks. “And I’ll love you forever. You gave me … so much. I just wish you’d stay so that I could start giving back. Please. Please do that.”
    “Not this … time. I want to give you … anything you