Kate yfully tapped Allen Ramsey on the head. "What nonsense are you spouting? The lining can hold on for a while, and the Hilton family has every resource under the sun. Just keep nourishing it regrly, and it''ll be fine. Don''t listen to him, ire. What does a surgeon know about this anyway?"


    I chuckled softly.


    No wonder Max was so insistent that I stay away from alcohol and cold foods. Andtely, Helen had been making me oatmeal and breakfast smoothies with all sorts of nutritious ingredients.


    "It''s alright, don''t mention this to Max. He proposed to mest night."


    I shed the ring on my finger.


    Kate was even more excited than I was. "Does this mean we should go pick out a ring as a return gift?"


    I nodded. "That''s a great idea. Let''s go together."


    I had been nning to buy him a matching ring today anyway.


    Allen Ramsey didn''t say a word as we left; instead, he mmed his keyboard out of frustration. I had no idea why he was upset, but he really shouldn''t have been.


    "We''ve only got half an hour to pick a ring," I informed them. "Max wants to take me to city hall to get our marriage license afterward."


    I tried to suppress the news Allen Ramsey had given me. I wanted to get through this day, to do the things I had always dreamed of doing.


    Max wasn''t the perfect, confident guy everyone thought he was. His little gestures were his way of showing me he was insecure, that he needed reassurance about our rtionship.


    Even though he tried to hide the fact that I might have trouble having kids.


    No wonder we hadn''t been using protectiontely, and I still wasn''t pregnant.


    He must have known all along.


    "Kate, I..." My voice cracked.


    She hugged me tightly. "It''s going to be okay. Many people work through these things slowly. Everything will turn out fine, ire. You''re so kind-hearted. Even when I hurt you in the past, you were always there to save me again and again. just want to repay you in this lifetime."


    I felt lost as we walked into a designer jewelry store. Kate said "Every ring here is unique, and you can have his name engraved on it. Do you know Max''s ring size?"


    "I do. My middle finger is the same size as his ring finger. His pinky is about the


    size of my ring finger-we measured this morning."


    Kateughed. "You''ve been nning this all along. A match made in heaven! If his pinky fits your ring finger, then nothing cane between you two."


    Feeling a little embarrassed, I brushed my hair back and picked out a ring that matched mine.


    We were happily on our way back to


    the Evergreen Health Center when a ck van screeched to a halt in. front of us. Without a word, they grabbed us and hauled us inside.


    en


    "Let go!" Kate struggled and was silenced with a p and a gag.


    On any other day, Max''s security team would be nearby, but not today.


    They blindfolded me and taped my mouth shut. I had no idea where they were taking us.


    It felt eerily familiar, like a déjà vu of the time Kate and I were kidnapped before.


    For a split second, I wondered if this was another of Kate''s schemes. Could she really be staging this?


    After everything we had been through, all the times I had saved her, what more could she possibly want?


    Or maybe, just maybe, she had been after something else all along...