"Then I guess it really is a good thing you guys found him," Karen says, her voice just a little softer, though her smile doesn't fade. She might not know Harold well, but everything she's heard about him makes her certain that he's a good man. Besides, she does know John, enough to trust his judgment. Knowing what Harold means to him is enough for her. If Bear saved both of them, even in such different ways, then that definitely seems like something that's worked out for the best.

It's strange, really. She had spent a considerable amount of time here before the day she found John on the beach, and she knows she would have been fine if he'd never shown up here, but it's difficult now to imagine where she would be if that hadn't happened. Certainly not where she is now, with an offer like this on the table, so to speak.

"So I take it Bear is really part of the team, too?"