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said, had been through hell and back, had found each other, and were then dragged right back into the flames.
    If anybody needed a quiet family life to heal their souls it was Shooter and Slick, Maria said.
    “Not shopping for baby today,” Sarah informed Abby.
    Abby frowned. “Aw. Come on. You need to start looking at cribs. And paint colors. You know how much you love painting.”
    But Sarah shook her head. “First things first.”
    “So what’s first?”
    “New panties.”
    Abby grinned. “Oh, yeah. I’m always up for new panties.”
    Several of the workmen chuckled. Abby waved her hand dismissively. “Drinks. For me, anyway. Lunch for both of us. And panties for the boys. Let’s go.”
     

Chapter 3
     
    At their favorite lingerie shop, Sarah picked up a corset off a display table. Abby wore a lot of them. Mostly under her tailored blazers when she was at work. Sarah had always liked them. And, in truth, a year ago they would’ve suited Sarah better than bras, but they were quite a bit more expensive and up until she’d gotten married, Sarah hadn’t been able to justify spending that much money.
    “What about this?” she asked Abby, holding it up.
    It was black with small white polka dots and a tiny strip of white lace trim along the bust line. It also had a cute little red bow at the cleavage.
    Abby looked at it. “I love it,” she declared. “But you’re not going backwards, are you?”
    Sarah shook her head. “No. Just this one, because it’s so cute.”
    “Try it on,” Abby suggested, nodding toward the fitting room located behind the sales counter. Megan, the woman who owned the shop, and who also made many of the pieces, smiled at them and led the way.
    When Sarah had first discovered the place, she’d been on a mission to repair her damaged relationship with Chris. They’d been having problems and their sex life had been the first casualty.
    So despite the fact that Sarah had always kept herself covered head to toe even though there was nothing wrong with her bottom half, she had gritted her teeth, marched into the shop, and faced a lingering fear that had plagued her since she awoke in a shallow grave in North Carolina.
    She got undressed .
    In a fit of what could only be described as temporary insanity, Sarah had gotten into an argument once with Easy, the youngest of the ex-Rangers who’d relocated to Rapid City. Easy had lost his leg in Iraq and along with it his will to live. Sarah had lost a friend, her sense of safety, and the ability to sleep through the night. But she had never lost her will to live. The man who’d brutalized her had never managed to take that. And so she’d tried to jolt Easy out of his depression by showing him (and incidentally the entire group of men) the jagged scars that marred her torso.
    No one had taken that well.
    But Megan the shopkeeper must have seen a lot of people, with all kinds of bodies, because when Sarah took off her shirt to be measured the other woman had only paused and then stoically reached for the tape measure.
    It had taken Sarah a long time to work up the nerve to show Chris her scars in a romantic setting. She feared rejection worse than anything. Because by the time she’d finally taken that last step, she was already in love with him.
    She might have lost her own will to live if he’d rejected her. Love, she had discovered, was so much more powerful than hate or fear or despair. Love could heal wounds you thought would never close. Love could give you the strength to facedown evil in its purest form. Love could also kill.
    The corset covered all but one small scar on her breast. Sarah loved the look and feel of it. But she wasn’t going backwards. She wouldn’t start covering herself again. She trusted Chris too much to have to worry that it was necessary.
    And besides Chris had scars of his own. And Sarah had kissed each on e in turn while telling him they mattered because they had brought him to the place where they