Jack had a sour look on his face. "She takes part of the blame." Carter was too exhausted to argue with his father.
"Don't," Harris warned Jack. "Allie has been nothing but high-class. More so than some people in this room."
"I hope you aren't implying me," Jack spat.
"You have been inhospitable and just plain rude!" Harris yelled at his oldest son.
"If you two are going to fight, go outside," Nancy said. "You're upsetting Carter."
Carter dozed on and off. He had a few meetings with physical therapists. The doctors wanted to make sure nothing was permanently damaged in his back before they would release him.
The high points of his hospital stay were when Allie snuck Margot into the room to see him.
"She's fine," Allie said as the little dog gingerly licked Carter's hand and curled up in his lap. "The vet gave her the all clear—just a few scrapes and bruises." She smoothed his hair. "Are you in a lot of pain?" she asked.
"Yes," he said with a grunt. "It's not like the movies, where you jump up and run a marathon after being shot. I feel like garbage."
He didn't feel much better when he was released from the hospital a few days later.
On the long car ride back to New Cardiff, he dozed fitfully. His head lay on Allie's shoulder, and she had a cool rag that she pressed against his forehead.
"This sucks," he mumbled.
Carter spent the next few weeks recuperating at the Holbrook estate. Allie stayed in his room, typing on her laptop, and stepping out periodically to take conference calls.
One time, he heard her and his mother talking about the upcoming funeral.
"Don't worry about it," Nancy said when he asked.
"Tell me," he snapped, and his mother sighed.
"The officials want to release Bryce and his brother to the Holbrooks," Allie said.
"Absolutely not. Find their families," Nancy stated.
The Holbrooks did end up taking Stacy's remains. Carter felt strong enough to attend the funeral, thought it was fairly small. She didn't have many friends or a family, according to Allie.
"I can't believe she's gone," Allie said, blowing her nose.
She seemed upset, and Carter wondered if she blamed him for not saving her friend.
"It's not your fault," Liz said to Allie, hugging her.
"I should have… I don't know."
Stacy was buried in the Holbrook plot next to Danielle and the children.
Along with her remains, the Holbrooks had received a copy of the medical examiner's report. Inside, it said that the baby was neither Carter's nor Harris's.
If he had had the energy, Carter would have yelled at his father over it, but he didn't, and his father didn't apologize.
Carter was feeling physically better the week after the funeral. He even rode with his grandfather to the airport.
"I'm going to a retreat in India. Going vegan, getting in touch with my spiritual side." Harris gave him a big hug. "Hang in there," he said then boarded the plane.
Carter was going a little stir-crazy at the estate by himself.
"I'm going back to work," he said stubbornly one evening over dinner.
