"Then what?"
"I'll take care of the rest."
When the girl woke, Jackson went to the kitchen. Sarah made her forget the attack and think she had an accident. Her name was Lisa. She did not recover enough to move until 3:30a.m. Jackson took her home and influenced her to believe she had left the bar with him willingly and gone to the casino. As she left the car, he said, "Don't forget your winnings" and handed her a wad of thousand dollar bills. She smiled and blew him a kiss.
On the way home, Jackson cursed himself for his lack of self-control. He wanted to curse Elisabeth and blame her for the whole mess, though he knew it was entirely his fault. How did he let her get under his skin like that? How could he turn into such a monster?
Sarah was waiting when he returned home. As they sat on the sofa, he thought of the girl lying here just hours before, clinging to life because of him. He put his head in his hands. Sarah embraced him. "She's going to be fine, you know that."
"Yeah, but what if…"
She stopped him? "There is no 'what if'. She is fine and that's all there is."
"Thank you. You saved her."
"We saved her."
"Yeah, after I almost killed her."
"Almost only counts in horseshoes. We need to concentrate on reality, not what could have been."
He forced a thin smile. "This is quite a turn around, isn't it?"
"Never a dull moment in Transylvania," Sarah quipped. After a prolonged silence, she hugged him again. "It might help if you talk about it you know."
"I don't even know where to start."
"The beginning is always a good place."
Jackson slowly went through the whole story with her. There were no 'OMGs' or 'you're kiddings' today. Only quizzical and sad expressions. When he had finished, Sarah waited a moment then brought her hands together. "What's done is done. Lisa will be fine and there is nothing we can do about the past. I think we should concentrate on this Elisabeth. Something just doesn't add up here."
Her cell phone rang. It was Conner. Jackson stood close enough to hear both sides of the conversation. Connor said he would be by to pick her up in an hour. Sarah said, "Something's come up and I need to stay home today. Can I call you later?"
Jackson flapped his arms and mouthed, "Go… Go!"
She shook her head. "I'm fine. Jackson's had a rough night and I want to make sure he's ok."
Connor said, "That's funny. I didn't think he had rough nights, just gave them."