A week came and went quickly and Emily was finally starting to think that maybe she and Wyatt were going to be okay. She had found a lawyer in town that she had graduated high school with and he had agreed to help her with her divorce and take payments from her to cover the charges.

She had sent divorce papers to John's law office in New York. She had not asked for any financial support for herself or for Wyatt but had requested full custody of their son and she had expected him to get in contact with her and be outraged but so far she had heard nothing.

Emily had not heard or seen from Parker in the last week either and she could not believe how badly that broke her heart. She had thought that he would at least want to talk to her after all this time. She knew he didn't love her anymore but they had been best friends for fourteen years and she was missing her friend.

Emily carried the coffee pot out of the kitchen to go refill Russell Hawke's coffee cup for the fifth time. She had been surprised that most people in town had remembered her. She had not expected them to after being gone for so long. And she was even more surprised that most of them had welcomed her with smiles and acceptance. She had been sad to learn that the two close girlfriends she'd had growing up had both moved away years ago.

"You're starting to look better." Russell said as she poured the coffee into his cup. Emily absently ran her hand over her lip which was still slightly swollen but getting better. She knew her eye still looked pretty bad. The black bruise had turned green and yellow.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

"Putting some meat back on them bones." Russell added. Emily nodded. John had wanted his wife to be stick thin and Emily had had to starve herself in order to stay that way for her husband. Now that she had left him she had been enjoying regular meals and could tell by how tight her jeans were getting that it was showing.

"Don't mean no offense of course." Russell added quickly as he took a drink of coffee. "You women today try to be too damn skinny.  A man likes meat." he said. Emily blushed and her eyes widened. Of course Russell had always been a very outspoken outrageous man so she should expect these statements from him.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. I'm just fine….." Russell's voice trailed off as he saw the panicked look on her face as she looked out the diner window. He followed her gaze and saw the black Mercedes driving slowly down main street. He jumped to his feet with a start as the coffee pot Emily had been holding fell to the ground and shattered, sending hot coffee and glass across the diner.

Russell grabbed her arm to try to calm her since she was shaking and clearly afraid but she jerked out of his grasp.

"Don't' hurt me!" she practically screamed. Russell took a step back and held his hands up.

"I ain't gonna hurt you girl. What's the matter?" he asked but she was already running out the door.

Emily had never been so afraid in her life. The Mercedes had sped up after passing the diner and was now gone from sight. John had bought himself a car just like that one a year ago. What if John had come for Wyatt? She had to get to her son! Make sure he was safe!

"Emily! What's the matter with you?" Russell asked following her out the door but Emily was deaf to his words. She pulled her keys from her pocket and jumped into her car. She started the engine and heard the tires squeal as she sped off toward Ed's house and her son.

888

Parker had been sitting on the toolbox eating a sandwich when he had seen Emily run from the diner across the street clearly in a panic. He had been stubbornly avoiding looking the direction of that diner for a week because he had not wanted to see her.

Every time he saw that damn woman his heart did a slow roll in his chest and became lost to her all over again and he knew he couldn't have her. She was a married woman, but every time he thought about her in his mind, she was still his.

But now seeing her looking so scared and panicked as she sped off down the road he knew he had to go after her. Without a word to Hank he jumped up and ran for his truck. He caught up with her quickly and stayed right on her back bumper following her into his dad's driveway.

"Oh my God, they're not here!" Emily yelled as she jumped out of the car and looked at the empty spot where Ed's truck usually sat. "Where is my baby!"

Emily couldn't seem to breath as she ran up to the house and threw the door open. Silence echoed loudly inside. John had her baby.. Her beautiful baby! She fell to her knees sobbing and  burying her face in her hands. She was sure she was going to die right here on the messy kitchen floor when suddenly she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

She turned her head and looked up and there was Parker. Her Parker. Without thinking about what she was doing she jumped to her feet and threw her arms tight around his neck burying her face against his chest.

"He has my baby, Parker. He has my baby!" Parker rubbed her back with his shaking hand.

"Who does, Em?" he asked gently. "What are you talking about?" Emily pulled out of his arms just as quickly as she had jumped in them and he could see the fear in her eyes. He could also see her swollen lip and her bruised face.

"John. I saw his car! He came for Wyatt. He has my baby!" Emily knew she was acting like a crazy woman as she threw her arms in the air and yelled but she couldn't stop herself.

"Em.. You have to calm down, honey. Why would John steal Wyatt?" he asked. He didn't understand where her panic and fear was coming from and he realized that maybe his father had been trying to tell him something a week ago when he had begged Parker to talk to Emily.

"I left John. Greg Stevens helped me send him divorce papers earlier in the week and I asked for full custody of Wyatt… Oh my god it's my fault! He took my son and it's my fault." Parker tried to reach out and touch her arm to comfort her but she flinched and he let his hand fall. Suddenly he knew he'd been wrong about her being happily married the last few years.

"Em, you have to listen to me for a minute." he said sternly. She stopped panicking and looked at him but he saw that her eyes wouldn't meet his. Instead she looked down at his feet.

"My dad isn't here either, Em, so I'm sure he just took Wyatt out for a while. What makes you think that John is even around?" he asked.

"I saw his car. The black Mercedes that drove past the diner" she replied but he could tell she was starting to calm down. Suddenly the sound of his dad's truck pulling in came to both their ears and Parker followed Emily as she ran out on the porch.

"What are you doing home from work?" Ed asked Emily. He didn't ask what Parker was doing here with her. He was hoping that maybe his son was finally coming to his senses.

"Where were you, dad? You scared Emily to death!" Parker demanded as Ed pulled Wyatt from his car seat and walked over to them. Emily quickly took her son into her arms and breathed in his scent while kissing his head. She turned and carried him into the house where it was warm.

"What is wrong with her?" Ed asked as he reached in the back of the truck and pulled out the baby swing he'd been out buying.

"She says she saw John and was scared to death that he'd come to steal Wyatt." Parker replied. Ed's eyes widened.

"That man can't come anywhere near Emily or the baby. She's scared to death of him." he said. Parker nodded.

"I kind of noticed." he replied. "I'll be back." Ed asked his son where he was going but he ignored him and climbed in his truck and pulled away.

Ed was just finishing setting up the baby swing when Parker walked back in the house.

"Where's Em?" he asked.

"In your old room with the baby." Ed replied. "She's been in there since you left."

Parker walked back to the closed door of his old bedroom and stood there for several long moments. The car she had seen go by the diner had simply been an old married couple passing through the small town searching for antique shops. Parker didn't know if Emily would want to talk to him after what he'd done to her six years ago but, by God, she had been his best friend for as long as he could remember and he was at least going to try.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in." she said from inside her voice barely more then a whisper. Parker walked in and he could see how surprised she was to see him. Clearly she'd been expecting his father.

Emily looked at Parker and couldn't believe how much he'd changed in six years. He no longer looked like the boy he had been. He looked very much like a man now. His dark hair was messy and too long and his face was covered with a thick beard. She remembered how strong and hard his muscles had felt when she had clung to him earlier…. No nothing about him was the same..

Except his eyes. His eyes were still the same eyes that she had always seemed to lose herself in as a girl.

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, Parker." she said as she stood up and laid the sound asleep baby on the bed covering him with a blue quilt.

"I tracked down that car. It was just an old man and woman looking for antiques." he said, suddenly feeling awkward. Emily was no longer the girl he remembered. Not much had changed about her looks othar then the fact that she was skinny as a rail.. No what was different was the way she acted. She wouldn't meet his eyes. Her green eyes which had at one time been full of laughter and love were now full of uncertainty and fear.

She looked very much like a puppy that had become so accustomed to being beaten that it had learned how to make itself as small and obedient as possible. Parker felt his blood beginning to boil…. He would kill the man that had taken the fire out of his Emily.

"Thank-you, Parker. You didn't have to do that." Emily replied. Parker nodded.

"Sure I did. You were scared to death." he said. "I want to talk to you but I don't want to wake the baby up can we go out in the living room and talk?" he asked. Emily nodded and walked out the door with Parker right behind her.

"Oh, Ed! You bought Wyatt a swing." Emily said happily when she saw Ed standing next to it proudly. "I get paid tomorrow, I'll pay you back." Ed looked insulted.

"I don't think you will. I bought it for me. Now the boy can sit right here next to me, while you're at work, and watch Gunsmoke." Ed saw the way that Parker was looking at him and could tell that he wanted privacy with Emily.

"Well if you two kids will excuse me I'm going to go out back and feed my dogs." Ed said. He walked to the door, pulled on his thick wool coat and left.

"So how have you been, Parker?" Emily asked quietly once they were alone.

'Miserable.' Parker thought to himself. But he didn't say that out loud.

"I've been alright." he lied. "How about you?" Emily shrugged and sat down on the couch folding her legs beneath her.

"I've been alright." she said. Parker sat down at the other end of the couch.

"You never were a good liar, Em." he said. Emily felt her heart skip a beat. Parker had always been the only person to ever call her Em. It had been his name for her and she wondered if he still cared about her after all this time or if the name just slipped out from habit.

Parker saw a strand of blond hair hanging in her face and acting out of habit he reached out quickly to push it back. Emily reacted out of habit as well and cringed throwing her hands in front of her face protectively.

Parker cursed under his breath, grabbed her wrists gently in one big hand and moved them away from her face.

"God, Em…." he said smoothing that strand of hair back with his free hand. "What did that man do to you?" Emily's eyes locked with Parker's. This didn't seem real to her… Him here with her after all this time. He had one big hand wrapped gently around her wrists, and the other resting on her cheek.

Parker just stared at her. Her lips were slightly parted, her face flushed and her eyes were full of uncertainty and something else.. Something that made his heart beat like he was sixteen and in the bed of his truck with her again…. Passion.

He couldn't seem to stop himself. He leaned in to kiss her and that's when she seemed to snap out of her daze and she jumped to her feet pulling her arms from his grasp.

"I can't do this." she said. Parker stood up and shook his head trying to clear the memories that were clouding it. Memories of her wrapped in his arms.. Memories of the love that they had shared. The love that he had thrown away after the accident on that rainy night so long ago.

"I'm sorry, Em. I shouldn't have done that." Parker said. Emily didn't want his apology for trying to kiss her… God knows she had wanted to feel his lips on hers just as badly. But they had too much history between them that hadn't been dealt with yet. Too many painful memories. And she still had John and Wyatt to worry about. She didn't have the strength to handle everything at once.

"I'm sorry, Parker. I've acted like a crazy person today." Parker shook his head.

"You've never been crazy, Em. Overly animated from time to time but never crazy." Emily was surprised when she smiled. She had not smiled at anyone but her son for so long.

"He hit you didn't he?" Parker asked. Emily sat back down but this time she sat on the loveseat across from the couch.

"Yes." she said. She knew it wouldn't do any good to lie to Parker. He knew her too well to fall for it and he was right when he said she'd never been a good liar.

"For how long?" Parker asked trying to keep his anger from showing in his voice.

"Never before we were married but as soon as we were on the honeymoon." she replied. Parker cursed and rubbed his hand over his beard.

"Why did you stay Em? You never seemed like the type of woman to stay with a man like that." Emily's eyes flashed and he could see the anger in them and he was glad. It was nice to see something other than that damn submissive puppy dog look.

"He was trying to teach me how to be a good wife." she said, knowing how ridiculous she sounded. Parker shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You don't really buy that bullshit, do you?" he asked. Emily looked down at her hands seeming suddenly interested in her fingernail.

"No." she said. "But I had nowhere to go. My parents were gone. I hadn't had any contact with anyone from home in years…"

"I'm sorry about your parents." he said. Emily looked at him and he could see something in her eyes. Anger again, he thought, but this time he didn't know why.

"Sometimes things happen I guess." she said quietly. Parker nodded. They both knew that was true all too well.

"Why didn't you call me when it started, Em? Why didn't you come to me for help?" Parker asked after several moments of silence. Suddenly everything Emily had been holding in for six years came pouring out of her mouth.

"Why would I, Parker? I waited here for you for a whole year and I never heard from you. I wrote you a letter when my parents died. I needed to hear from my best friend and you ignored it….."

"I would never ignore something like that, Em. I was in Iraq, the mail sucks over there and I never got any letters from you." he cut in. Emily continued as if he'd never spoken.

"So I moved away. I couldn't stay in this town anymore. Everything here just reminded me of you and of our baby, of everything we could have had. I had to move on with my life. I moved to New York. I got a job and an apartment and after a few years on my own I met John. I didn't love him the way that I had loved you but I still loved him and when he asked me to marry him, I said yes.

"I never expected to see you the day of my wedding… I never expected you to be sitting there in that truck watching me. Why were you there?" she asked. Parker's head was spinning. This was too much at once. He had had no idea that she had waited for him for a year after he'd left. He had never received any letters from her and had assumed that she had forgotten about him.

"I don't know." he answered finally. "I wanted to show you that I supported your decision to move on but once I got there I couldn't bring myself to come in."

"Did you still love me?" she asked. Parker looked down at the worn out brown carpet.

"Of course, Em. You are the only woman I have ever loved." he said. Emily felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Why didn't you stop me?" she demanded. "Why didn't you come bursting in like they do in the movies and declare your love for me?" Parker couldn't help but laugh.

"I didn't think that you would welcome me with open arms, Em. Not after what I had done to you." They both sat there in silence for several long minutes. Neither of them knowing what to say.

"So for two years you let him beat the crap out of you… What changed? What made you come to your senses?" Parker asked. Emily smiled as she thought of her sleeping angel in the other room.

"Wyatt happened." she replied. "When John and I first married I had a miscarriage once after he…. Well I miscarried. I was so scared when I got pregnant with Wyatt but John was more careful this time.  Never hit me in the stomach or the back."

Parker closed his eyes and bit back the curse that had nearly burst from his mouth. To him John definitely sounded like a man that needed a bullet in his head. Poor Emily. She had lost two children because of the men that she was supposed to be able to count on to keep her safe. At least now she had Wyatt.

"Do you really think that John will come here after you?" Parker asked. Emily sighed as she closed her eyes and laid her head back on the couch.

"I don't know. He is so controlling and arrogant that I would not put it past him. I can only imagine what his reaction was when he came home from work to find my ring on the front step and me and Wyatt gone."

Parker stood up. He wanted to go into town and have a talk with the cops and with her lawyer Greg. He wanted to make sure that Emily was protected and safe.

"I'm gonna go, Em. I'll see you around though." he said. Emily was disappointed. Why was he leaving now… She still felt like they had a lot to say to one another.

"Okay sure. I'll see you around, Parker." she said as she too stood up. Parker reached his hand out to her face and this time her flinch was barely noticeable as he laid his hand on her cheek. He ran his thumb over her swollen lip.

"I'm glad you came back." he said and then he turned and walked away. Emily stood there wondering what it all meant as she heard his truck pull out. Did he still love her now? Did he want to be with her? Or had she ruined that by marrying John? She would not apologize to him for marrying another man. If she hadn't she would never have given birth to Wyatt.

She started thinking about the little boy she had lost in that car accident six years ago. The little boy that had been her and Parkers. She wondered what he would look like today? Would he have had Parkers dark hair and her green eyes? Would he be quick to laugh and fun loving like both she and Parker had once been?

She was sitting on the couch crying as she thought about her lost son when Ed walked back in from outside.

"I saw Parker leave…" he said then he noticed her crying. "Did that stubborn boy hurt you?" he asked. Ed had always known how much Parker and Emily loved one another. Martha had been against them from the start and so had Emily's parents. There were days when Ed wished he had fought more with Martha over the kids. Tried to make her see what he could see but he knew that it would have been pointless. He had loved his late wife with all his heart but he knew that she had been the most stubborn woman in the world and very set in her ways.

"No, Ed." Emily said standing quickly and wiping her face. "No, Parker didn't do anything wrong."

"Why are you crying?" Ed asked. Emily smiled.

"You know he would have been six years old now.. He'd be in first grade." she said sitting back down. Ed didn't have to ask who he was. He already knew.

"Yeah he would, and if he had been anything like his daddy was at that age you'd already have a few gray hairs."

"I still miss him." she said softly. She had not talked about her son in six years. Not since Parker had screamed at her one day for mentioning him. At the time she had not understood Parker's anger but she was more grown up now. She knew that he had been young and had felt guilty over the accident. He hadn't known how to open up about that guilt.

He had not known how to open up and share his hurt and so he had held it in and lashed out with anger. And she had responded with anger instead of simply letting him work through things. If she had known then what she knew now things may have turned out differently for them.

"I think about him sometimes too." Ed admitted sitting down next to her on the couch. "But you know what, God must have known that that little angel boy was too good for this world. Besides you have Wyatt now.. You can't ever forget that." Ed said and he was proud of himself when he saw her smile. He had never been good with words but he knew he must have said the right thing.

"I guess I should get back to work." Emily said. "I kind of left without permission."

"All right. Don't you worry about the little one. I'll take care of him." Ed assured her. Emily left leaving Ed sitting on the couch alone.

"Martha, honey, I know you meant well but you were wrong my dear. Our son and that girl need each other. Maybe this time it'll work." he said out loud. Then he heard Wyatt fussing in the bedroom and with a big grin he went in to get the boy up. He knew Wyatt wasn't really his but if someone had asked him he would say that he already knew what it felt like to be a grandpa.