by Sable Hunter
Hurrying as fast as she could, Seren came to the point where the steps led below deck. Only there were no steps to be seen, there was only water. “Oh, please, no. No.” Without thinking twice, Seren held onto the side of the wall and started down the steps. She didn’t have far to go until she saw a body in the water – floating face down. There was no mistaking Canyon. She would’ve recognized his broad shoulders anywhere. Seeing him so helpless…maybe… “Canyon! Help! Help!” Pushing forward, she grabbed his arm and began to pull him toward the top of the stairs. When she did, Seren happened to glance back to see another man floating in the dark water. “Oh, no.” He needed help also. “Hold on, sir,” she called.
As soon as her feet could touch bottom, she began to maneuver Canyon out on the deck. Unfortunately, the water there had risen to at least six inches deep. “Help! I need help!” Moving behind him, she grasped Canyon under the arms and began to pull. When she had him at a point where he could lie flat and his face and chest be clear of the water, she stopped to check for his pulse. “No!” she screamed when she couldn’t find one. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she started CPR – compressions on his chest, breaths into his mouth – repeat and repeat. As she pressed on his chest, Seren screamed to the top of her lungs, “Jacob!”
…Putting one foot ahead of the other, Jacob forced himself to be thorough. He didn’t intend to leave one person on this damn boat to drown. Greg Houseman was nowhere to be seen. All of the lifeboats were gone and if help didn’t arrive soon, he’d be swimming to shore. How long this thing could stay afloat – he had no idea.
Expecting Canyon to be safe on shore by now, he called his cell. No answer. The call went straight to voicemail. “Hell.” In the next heartbeat, his phone buzzed in his hand with an incoming call. Seeing the ID reflected his wife’s name, he jumped on it. “How’s my baby?”
“Fine. I’m on the dock. Look, I don’t know what happened – but Seren’s not here.”
“What?” Jacob turned and glanced all around him. “How about Canyon? Do you see him?”
“No. Everyone’s accounted for except the three of you.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Greg Houseman arrived here right after I did. So much for the captain going down with the ship.”
“Hell. That bastard.” Concern for his friends put Jacob’s feet into motion. “I’d better find them. I’ll keep looking.”
“Be careful.”
“Will do.”
…Over and over Seren pushed on Canyon’s chest, stopping only long enough to breathe air into his lungs. She simply refused to give up. She couldn’t.
“Seren?”
The sound of Jacob’s voice caused all the strength to flow from her. “He’s not breathing, Jacob! He’s not breathing!”
Jacob stopped only long enough to send out another May Day call for a helicopter, then he was at her side. “Here. Let me try. How long has it been?”
How long? “Not long, but I’m not sure.” She shook her head in confusion. “A couple of minutes maybe.” Scared to death, Seren moved to the side and began to pray. “Please don’t take him from me. Please,” As she whispered in desperation, she felt the weight of her mistakes pressing her down. “Don’t let him pay for my sins. I learned my lesson. I learned.” As she said the words, an image came into her head.
The other man. There was still another man to save.
Rising to her feet, she set a course to return to the flooded section of the boat. In the same moment, she heard the most beautiful sound in the world. Canyon coughed and gasped a mouthful of air. With his next breath, he said her name, “Seren.”
With a grateful heart, she spared him one glance to make sure he was really awake. Seeing him respond to Jacob’s care, Seren hurried away before their friend could stop her. Once she arrived at the stairs, she jumped back in, looking for the other man. “Where are you?” He wasn’t where she’d seen him initially. The water seemed to be flowing in faster now. Debris had shifted and Seren couldn’t see him anywhere. Holding her breath, she dove down, coming up on the other side of a large chunk of siding. When she did, Seren saw the victim. He wasn’t floating face down the way she found Canyon, he was on his back, wedged against an instrument cabinet. “Hey. Hey!” She swam forward and when she came near enough to see his face, Seren almost sank to the bottom. “Diego.” Without being told, she knew he was responsible for all of this destruction. For all she knew, he’d tried to kill Canyon. She reached across and placed a finger on his throat. There was a pulse, but it was thready and uneven. There was also a lot of blood on his skull. If she left him here, he would surely die.
An eternity passed in a microsecond.
Without further hesitation, she looped her arm around his neck and began to tow him to safety. “Jacob! Jacob! I have someone else who needs help.”
…Canyon rolled to his side and coughed again. “Where’s Seren, Jacob?”
“Just rest easy, she’s right…”
“Jacob! Jacob!”
“I hear her!” Canyon tried to get up. “I’ll…”
“Stay right there,” Jacob ordered him. “Don’t you dare move. I’ll go.”
Canyon ignored Jacob and pulled himself upright. Hearing Seren’s voice made him feel better. “The water’s rising. We’ll all be in the drink soon enough.”
Jacob didn’t take time to argue. He set out to find Seren. “Where are you?” he yelled.
“Here! Help!” Seren called from the other side of the debris. “I can’t bring him under without help. He’s too big.”
Jacob dove in and within a few seconds, he found them. “Damn, is this…”
“Yea, the same guy who burned down the trailer.”
“All right. Let’s get out of here.” Holding onto Diego, Jacob dove, towing the man along with him. Seren took a deep breath and was about to follow when a loud splash sounded behind her and something heavy hit her in the back of the head. The last thought she had…was of Canyon.
…Canyon sat up, his breathing coming easier. When he saw Jacob carrying Diego, he frowned. “Where’s Seren?”
“She’s coming. She saved this bastard.” He looked Canyon in the face. “She saved you too.”
Canyon staggered to his feet, his eyes riveted on the hall that led to the lower deck stairs. “I don’t see her.”
Tending to Diego, Jacob didn’t look around. “He’s alive. Listen for the helicopter.”
At the moment, Canyon couldn’t care less about Diego or the helicopter. His whole being was focused on the fact that Seren was still down there somewhere. Still in danger. Going into the water, he slogged to the point where he had to dive beneath the debris. When he came up on the other side, she was the first thing he saw. “What did you do, baby?”
She didn’t answer and he gathered her into his arms, trying to tell how badly she was hurt. Placing an ear to her mouth, he was thankful to feel a soft breath. Her forehead appeared to be bruised and there was a gash on her cheek. Where else she might be injured, he didn’t know. “Seren? Seren?”
From faraway, Seren heard a voice. She tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. With great effort, she opened her eyes. Everything seemed so bright. Blinking, she tried to make out the form above her. When her focus cleared, she saw Gregori. His stern face was unreadable. She thought she might be dead. Forcing her lips to move, she begged him for mercy.
“My baby. Please. Don’t let my baby die.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A baby?
Canyon didn’t let himself process the information. He was too worried about Seren. “I can’t believe you did this,” he whispered as he worked to get her out of the flooded room and up to where Jacob was working on Diego Valencia. When he came to the point where he had to take Seren beneath the water, Canyon held her nose and prayed he could bring her safely through the deluge.
Once they were on the other side, he carried her from the water just in time to hear a helicopter hovering overhead. The next few minutes were tens
e as he and Jacob worked with the first responders to get them all onboard and off the sinking boat.
Aboard the helicopter, Canyon knelt by Seren as Jacob looked on. “You said she saved me?” he asked his friend as he moved a lock of hair from her forehead.
“Yea, she did,” Jacob spoke lowly, wiping his face with a towel their rescuer had given him. “When I found the two of you, she was giving you CPR. You were dead, man. Not breathing. No heartbeat. I took over and brought you around, but if she hadn’t pulled you out and kept your heart pumping…I don’t know…”
“Yet, she went back after Diego.” Anger lanced through Canyon at the risk she took. “Why wasn’t she off the boat?”
“I left her and Jessie at the lifeboats. Seren didn’t stay. She refused to leave you.”
Canyon’s heart clenched in his chest. “Why would she do this?”
“Looks pretty simple to me. She loves you.”
The possibility rocked Canyon. “Why would she go back after Diego?”
Jacob didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know. She’s a good person. You were her priority, but she couldn’t walk away and let him die.”
Love for her welled up within Canyon. “If something happens to her, I wouldn’t be able to stand it.”
As they made their way across the lake via helicopter, he considered what she’d said right before he pulled her from the flood waters.
My baby. Please. Don’t let my baby die.
Canyon struggled with the implication. Could she have been so out of it she hadn’t recognized him? Was she using a pet name to refer to him as her baby? Or…was it something else?
Canyon felt weak with the possibility.
A few moments later, the rescue helicopter landed and they were met by an ambulance. Jacob found Jessie and immediately went to confront Greg Houseman. The authorities were there to ask questions and give Diego a police escort to the hospital where he would be placed under arrest once he regained consciousness.
Canyon pushed aside an EMT who wanted to check him out, insisting Seren be their priority. “Someone is working on her, Mr. Brady,” he was assured.
With shaking hand, he held the man’s shoulder. “She might be pregnant.”
The EMT nodded. “We’ll take care of her.”
Amid the confusion, Canyon stepped back in the shadows to get his bearings. Red and blue lights flashed in the darkness. People were milling around and officers were questioning the passengers about their experience. Denver’s warning came to mind and knowing Diego was on the loose, Canyon wondered if he’d been naïve. But how would he have known to connect him to this mess? Bowing his head, he admitted there was no way he could’ve stopped this. He recalled Diego’s raving about wanting to die and losing his family to another accident. Maybe this explained his radical behavior at the club. Raising his hand, Canyon rubbed his palm over his face, trying to make sense of the madness.
On the heels of that quandary, the words Seren had whispered about a baby came flooding back again. He’d said what he did to the EMT just to be safe. Could she be pregnant with his child? “Hell yeah.” It wasn’t like he’d been taking precautions. Did he just assume she was on the pill? Or was he subconsciously hoping to tie her to him in the most basic way? “Christ,” he muttered, feeling weak. Knowing he was running on pure adrenaline, Canyon squatted down, his breath coming in shallow pants.
“So, Seren could be pregnant,” he whispered to himself, waiting for the misgivings and guilt to rise. He’d always felt loving another child would be a betrayal to Matty. Would it? He’d never love Matty less, no matter what. He’d also vowed to never make himself vulnerable to the pain of losing someone ever again. “Well, that ship has sailed,” he muttered.
Because he was vulnerable.
He loved Seren with every fiber of his being and if something happened to her…he couldn’t go on. Hell, he couldn’t go on without her – period. If she was pregnant, he’d welcome his child with open arms. Why had he changed his mind? What made the difference?
Love. Love made all the difference in the world.
“Mr. Brady.”
“Yea.” He rose to face the EMT. “Is something wrong?”
“No. We’re about to transport your friend to the hospital? Mr. McCoy gave us some information on your condition. I’m sure you’ll want to be checked out also. Do you want to ride in the ambulance with Miss Whitewing?”
“Yea, I do.” He wasn’t surprised at Jacob’s action. The man was a masculine mother hen.
Once they loaded up, Canyon sat near Seren, his eyes eating her up. “How is she?”
“Her vitals are good. When she wakes up, the doctors will be able to tell more.”
As the ambulance ate up the miles, Canyon moved to kneel by Seren. Uncaring what the EMT thought, he held her hand and kissed her face repeatedly. “Wake up, baby girl, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
…Once they arrived at the hospital and Seren was wheeled away to be checked out, a very determined nurse set out to convince Canyon to be looked over also. His “I’m fine, I’m strong” argument only went so far when she showed equal determination to do her job. Finally, he agreed to a cursory exam in the light of the whole dying thing.
After he passed all their tests with flying colors, Canyon insisted he be taken to Seren. When questioned about being family, he dryly informed them, “She’s my fiancé.” He’d deal with the fallout of that lie later.
“This way, Mr. Brady.” Another nurse led him to Seren’s room and he held his breath as he stepped inside. She looked so small in the bed. He immediately wanted to gather her in his arms and dare anyone else to touch her. They’d cleaned her up, but she was still almost as pale as the white sheets she lay upon. Moving slowly to the bed, he yanked a chair close so he could be as near to her as possible. “I need to speak to the doctor.”
“He’ll be with you in a moment.”
Hearing the door being pulled shut, Canyon took Seren’s hand in his and laid his head on the bed by her side. “I can’t believe this stunt you pulled. What am I going to do with you? Charging in where angels fear to tread.” The truth was…if Seren hadn’t found him, he’d probably be dead.
A slight tap on the door alerted him to a visitor. “Come in.”
“Hello, I’m Dr. Taub.”
Canyon stood and offered his hand to a balding, bespectacled gentleman with kind eyes. “Canyon Brady. How is she?”
“Well, considering what she went through, she’s doing well.”
“Why isn’t she awake?”
“We’ve checked her brain activity and everything is normal. She should be waking up soon. There are no broken bones. Her lungs are clear. She was very lucky. If all is well in the morning, we’ll release her.”
“Okay. What about the baby?” Canyon held his breath awaiting the verdict.
“The baby is fine.”
Canyon felt his stomach drop to his feet.
There was a baby.
He stiffened his stance to keep from dropping to his knees. “Good,” he managed to say.
“She appears to be about twelve weeks pregnant.”
The world stopped spinning. Canyon couldn’t breathe.
“Twelve weeks? Are you sure?”
“Not to the day, but she’s definitely close to the end of the first trimester.”
“Twelve weeks,” Canyon repeated softly. He hadn’t known her for twelve weeks.
The baby wasn’t his.
The baby wasn’t his.
…Outside, the night was black dark, but as Canyon stared into the window all he could see was a reflection of the room. The whole room. He could see Seren lying in the bed behind him. Returning his gaze to his own eyes, Canyon leaned closer until all he could see was his own face. Just him. Alone. A lone figure. One step back. Seren was in the picture again. One step forward, just him once more. From this vantage point, his world was smaller.
He didn’t want smaller.
Seren was the first woman h
e’d let into his life since the loss of his family. She made him happy. After his work day was done, he didn’t have to go home alone. He didn’t have to sleep alone. Or get up alone. She made him laugh and he loved making love to her. Seren was different from anyone he’d ever met. He’d never been more content than when it was just the two of them.
Only…it wasn’t going to be just the two of them.
Leaving the window, he went to the bed, taking her hand. Canyon thought about his plan to learn everything about her, to woo her – to make her his. Well, he’d certainly learned something critical about her tonight.
She was pregnant.
Why hadn’t she told him? Even as he asked the question, he knew the answer. He’d told her he couldn’t love anyone. That he’d never want another child. He’d given Seren every indication that their time together had an expiration date. Casual. Temporary. Now, he knew none of those things were even close to being true.
Did he wish the baby was his?
God, yes.
Did knowing the baby existed change his feelings for her?
God, no.
Jacob thought she loved him – but did she? Did she want him in her life? To help her raise this child?
Or did her heart still belong to this other man? The father of her child.
He needed the answer to that question, but more than that – he needed Seren.
…Seren shifted restlessly, fighting to gain consciousness. She felt as if she was swimming against the current, unable to grasp onto a thought. When she tried to open her eyes, the light was too bright and she shut them gratefully.
“Hey.”
Hearing his voice was like being hit with an electric surge bringing her back to life. She gasped and jerked, turning her head toward him. He was so close, she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes. “Hey.”