“The boy!’ She cried. “Let me go out there! Maybe he’s all right!”
Burk was holding her against him, and Finn had hold of her arm. The woman struggled to be free.
“I’m so sorry,” Finn kept saying. “He’s not all right, but you are, and we’re here. You’re safe now.”
Burk added, “And those two men will never hurt anyone again. If only we’d been quicker.”
Finn said, “It is what it is. Hush now, let me take you upstairs and wash you up. I know this is awful, and you wish it had been you, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t your time. I’m so sorry.” He led the woman upstairs, and I have to add, I saw Finn as womanly as it was still possible for him to be. Caring, loving, as only a woman can, or as I was learning, a man can as well. Perhaps it was good, though, that, right now, Finn was still a blend, the best of both worlds.