“I don’t see him!” She grabbed Danica’s arm. “He’s not here.”
Danica grasped Chaz’s arm in one hand, Kaylie’s in the other. “There was too much static to hear for sure, but it sounded like Max must have realized that he wasn’t here and she stayed back to find him. I don’t know for sure, but it sounded like Max and Treat were on their way here.”
Chaz broke free from her grasp. “They’re on the water? In this storm?” He ran to the edge of the woods, searching the raging sea. “Max!” he yelled against the wind.
“Oh no! What about the boat? They can’t come to get us?” Kaylie cried.
“They can’t. I think she said the storm’s too harsh.” Danica turned to look at Chaz, standing in the pounding rain, his tux whipping in the wind. “Treat will know what to do. He must pilot boats all the time.” She turned to the attendant, “Right? He can do this, right?”
“Mr. Braden is an excellent seaman,” the attendant confirmed, but the way his eyes flitted up toward the blackening clouds told of his silent concerns.
Kaylie ran to Chaz. Her wedding gown dropped from her body, the bottom thick with wet sand, torn in several places.
“Blake.” Danica tried to keep her voice quiet, but she had to talk loud enough so he could hear her. “Mom and Dad? Where are Mom and Dad?”
He surveyed the group, then brought his hand to his mouth, readying to shout.
Danica jumped up and grabbed his arm. “No! No!”
She dragged him out of the enclosure. “I saw them alone last night, outside.” She held his gaze until understanding dawned in his widening eyes. “Lacy saw them, too. They left the party before the rain. I don’t know where they went, but they went together—and I think Lacy must have trailed them.”
“Danica, we have to get the men to help find them. What if they’re lost?”
Blake was right. Why else wouldn’t they have come back when the rain started? As she looked at Madeline huddled with not just Elise, but also Blake’s father, she couldn’t imagine bringing a world of hurt down upon her shoulders, either.
“Take Weston and Jeff. No one else. Please.”
Blake took off in the direction of the facilities, and Danica stood motionless. Everything was falling apart.
She watched Kaylie clinging to Chaz out on the sand. She knew Kaylie was nearing a complete meltdown, and she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t fix this. She couldn’t swim out and find Max, or make sure she was safe. If anything happened to Max—
“Miss Danica?” the attendant asked.
“Yes.”
“There!” He pointed to bright spotlights coming in and out of focus, indicating a large boat in the distance.
“Is it Treat and Max?”
“No way to know, but it’s definitely one of ours.”
Danica watched the boat careen first to one side, then the other as it broke through the treacherous waves. The nose of the boat lifted so high she was sure it would tumble over backward. She grabbed the attendant’s arm with a gasp. The front of the boat slammed down against the water, sending sprays higher than the boat itself as it was swept to the side, keeling hard to the right.
“Make them go back. They’ll never make it!” Danica yelled.
“Nothing I can do. The captain will know what to do.”
The boat seemed to make no forward progress, and it was tossed like a toy in the hammering waves.
Kaylie appeared beside her. “I’m going to the kids. I can’t do anything here, and between Max and the ruined wedding, I need to know they’re okay.”
“I’m coming with you.”
The fronds of the trees cut most of the wind and rain, but gusts still found their way through. Carrying her bundled, soaked gown in her arms was like carrying dead weight—too much dead weight—while slogging through wet sand and mud.
“This is so messed up,” Kaylie complained.
“More than you know,” Danica muttered.
“Worst wedding ever!” Kaylie said. “Ow! These things kill my feet.”
Danica ignored the prickling pains in the bottoms of her bare feet as they hurried across the spiny roots and fallen leaves.
“At least it’ll be the most memorable wedding day ever.” Danica tried to see a bright side in their epic failure of a wedding.
“What if something really bad does happen to Max?”
What if something happened to Mom and Dad? “She’s with Treat. He’ll take care of her.” Even if it’s not how he prefers to be taking care of her.
“There!” Kaylie ran toward four small buildings in a clearing near the edge of the forest.
If Danica didn’t know better, she’d think they were secured to the ground with thick foundations and running water. They looked more substantial than temporary outhouses. Then again, this was all Treat’s doing, and from what Danica had seen so far, everything Treat did looked expensive and well put together.
Kaylie pulled open the first door. In the small enclosure, no bigger than eight by eight, there was a toilet, a cute little counter with elegant hand towels and bottles of hand sanitizer, and a small supply cabinet. Sitting in the middle of the clean floor, save for the wet footprints near the entrance, were Rusty, Chase, and Trevor.
“Mommy!” Trevor’s eyes lit up as he pushed from the floor and flew into her arms.
Kaylie melted into tears. “Baby, baby. It’s okay.” She rocked him from side to side, holding him so tight that Trevor tried to wiggle free just to breathe. Kaylie buried her face in his neck.
“We...we...we...” Trevor was too excited to speak.
Rusty stood with a halfhearted shrug. “We’re playing make-believe army. There’s a storm outside of our camp and we have to come up with plans to save the day.”
“You’re a godsend,” Danica said to him. “Are you guys okay? Has he been scared?”
“Nah.” Chase rose to his feet. “Trev’s so cool. He’s got the best plans of all of us.”
“Plans!” Trevor said with a beaming smile.
“Okay, honey.” Kaylie set him down and he ran between the teens. “The boat will be here soon to get us. There’s no need to be scared.”
Danica knew that Kaylie’s trembling could spark fear in Trevor faster than the rain pummeling the roof. She grabbed Kaylie’s hand and guided her back out into the rain. “You guys figure out the plans. We’ll go rally the troops.”
Once out in the rain, Danica dragged Kaylie to the next building. “Try not to scare Lexi. Don’t let her see your fear or she’ll feed off of it.”
“Right. Okay.” Kaylie took a deep breath and ran her hand along her matted hair.
They opened the next door, expecting Lexi to jump into Kaylie’s arms. They were met with an empty bathroom. Kaylie ran to the next building and opened the door. Another empty bathroom.
“Damn it! Where are they?” Kaylie yelled, holding her heavy dress up while she ran to the fourth and final facility. She sobbed as she tugged the heavy door against the wind and looked inside.
Kaylie stumbled backward into Danica’s arms at the sight of the empty room.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Where is she? What’s happened to her?” Kaylie cried.
Danica knew that Michelle was too responsible to go wandering away or to take Lexi anywhere dangerous. Danica realized that she and Kaylie had been the ones to take Lexi someplace dangerous—by bringing the children to the island—but she couldn’t thrash herself for that now. They had to find Lexi.
“Kaylie, look at me.” She pushed Kaylie back and made her look her in the eye. She shook her shoulders to be sure she had her attention. “Michelle probably took Lexi back to the group. Let’s go back and we’ll find her. I’m sure we’ll find her.”
Kaylie grabbed for the bathroom door one more time and stared into the empty room.
“Kaylie! We’re going back to the group.” Danica took her hand and slogged forward a few steps, then stopped. She lifted her bridal gown and tore away the bust
le from beneath, instantly feeling fifty pounds lighter. Kaylie’s satin dress had no bustle to remove, but she knew the weight of the soaked gown must be too much for her sister.
She knelt and grabbed the edges of a wide gash in the fabric. She tore with all her might until it found a path and opened along Kaylie’s leg, clear up to her thigh. Then she grabbed a sharp rock and used the edge to cut the fabric horizontally, until she was able to tear away the bottom half of the dress; it bunched at Kaylie’s feet like a forgotten mound of treasure.
“There!” Danica said triumphantly.
Kaylie looked down at her shivering legs and savagely ripped gown. “Great. How could I have ever thought this was a good idea? My daughter is lost, and the wedding is ruined.”
Danica then took the rock to her own gown and did the same island surgery, tearing away pieces of her gown until her legs were free, too. She ripped four shreds of materials and tied them on their feet.
“She’s not lost; she’s with Michelle. This may not do much, but it’ll help. It’ll be easier to walk without the dress dragging.”
Then she tossed the rock and took Kaylie’s hand. Without a word, she nodded at her sister and they pushed through the thick mass of palms, through the dense, wet sand and dirt. Danica held the fronds open for Kaylie to pass through, then ran ahead and cleared the way every few feet.
A few minutes later, Kaylie yelled, “I don’t remember seeing that!” as they passed a fallen palm tree.
“Me either. We must have been too focused on reaching the kids.” They weaved through trees and traipsed forward, but the beach that had seemed so close when they first took the trek was now nowhere in sight.
“This isn’t right! Danica, we’re lost.” Kaylie dropped her hand and looked frantically around the woods. “I don’t remember any of this, and look at that hill.” She pointed to a slight increase in the terrain.
Danica didn’t remember it either, but she couldn’t be sure that they hadn’t been too focused on finding Trevor and Lexi to see it. She remembered seeing higher trees in the middle of the island from the view from the boat.
“Okay, let’s think. We can’t be that lost.” The rain picked up, coming down in sheets between the palms. Danica shielded her eyes with her hand and yelled over the noise of the rain breaking through the thick fronds. “Which way did we come from?”
Kaylie looked to the left, then the right. “Everything looks the same,” she yelled. Her body trembled and shook.
“Hold on,” Danica hollered as she scanned the woods. She shook her head. “I can’t find the path, but it must be here.” She took a few steps forward, wiping the rain from her face with her arm. Each time she dried her eyes, new rain streaked her face again.
“We’re lost, Danica.” Kaylie sank to a crouch and buried her face in her hands. “I need Chaz. Where is he? Why isn’t he looking for me? This was the dumbest idea ever! Why did you let me plan an island wedding?”
“I...we...” Damn it. “Kaylie, we have to get to Lexi. Get up.”
Kaylie remained in her broken-down state, crouched and soaking wet as the rain pelted her.
Danica took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Get up. Now. Your daughter needs you, and you cannot fall apart right now.” She looked from side to side and realized that if they were at the center of the island, walking one direction or the other would have to take them back toward the beach on either side of the island, and they could just follow the beach around until they found the others.
“It’s the rain,” Danica proclaimed. “It just has us turned around. Come on.” She marched forward, in the direction where she believed they’d find the group.
Their feet sank into the mud as they trudged through the forest, weaving through thick groups of palm trees and bushes. Minutes passed in silence, broken only by Kaylie’s emotional outbursts of sobs.
“Why did this happen?” Kaylie cried. “If only we’d had the wedding in Colorado.”
“You didn’t want a Colorado wedding. Lexi will be fine, Kay. You’ll see.” Danica hoped she was right.
Kaylie stopped walking. She hiccupped as she sucked in deep breaths to control her sobs; then she turned to Danica with serious eyes and asked, “Don’t you wonder if this is a sign?”
Her voice startled Danica more than her words. She was serious. This wasn’t a frantic question, but a real concern.
“Not at all. Storms happen.” Danica stopped walking and searched Kaylie’s eyes. “A sign? Kaylie, is there something you want to talk about? I mean about you and Chaz? Are you unsure about getting married?” Go ahead; pile one more load of shit onto my day.
Kaylie shook her head. “No. I want to marry him, but between Max and Lexi and the storm, it seems like someone’s trying to give us a sign.”
Thank God. Danica put her arm around her sister’s trembling shoulders. Her skin was covered with goose bumps. “You know what I think? I think this is just a test of our strength, if it’s anything at all, and that we are gonna come out of it, along with Max and Lexi, just fine.”
As quickly as the storm had reared its ugly head, it began to taper off. The winds subsided and the rain now trickled from the fronds that sheltered them. They both lifted their eyes toward the sky.
“Another sign?” Danica joked.
Kaylie smiled; then her brows drew together. “Listen!”
Dripping rain tinkled against the palms, and beyond that, a voice. No, a laugh. A laugh!
Kaylie dashed toward the sound with Danica on her heels. “Michelle?” Kaylie yelled. “Lexi?”
They followed the laugh around the trees and up a slight incline. “Michelle? Lexi?” The laughter silenced with Kaylie’s shouts.
“Kaylie?” they heard.
“Mom?” Kaylie ran around the last group of trees and found her mother and father huddled against a small hillside. She fell into her mother’s arms. “Mom! Did you see Lexi and Michelle? I can’t find them. Lexi’s missing, Mom. She’s gone.”
“Oh no. We’ll find her, baby. Don’t you worry. Michelle’s very responsible. I’m sure she’s got her safely tucked away somewhere. Don’t you worry.”
Danica scanned the immediate area. She knew Lacy would be nearby. She walked a few feet in the other direction and listened as her mother explained to Kaylie why she was out in the woods.
“Your father and I were looking for the bathrooms and we got lost,” she said.
It was then, in that moment, that Danica spotted Lacy crouched behind two dense groupings of palm trees, and at that very same moment, she recognized the lie in her mother’s voice, the faltering confidence that she’d learned to pick up on during her years as a therapist.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Danica ignored the way Lacy flinched as she approached. Had she not been looking for her hiding among the trees, Danica would have missed her, huddled between two large groups of palm trees.
She knelt beside Lacy. “You okay?” she asked.
Lacy didn’t respond.
“I know you followed them. They said they got lost.”
Lacy’s eyes narrowed, and Danica knew in an instant that her instincts were right. She took Lacy’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get back to the group. We have to find Lexi and Michelle.”
Still staring at her father, Lacy said, “They’re with the group. I saw them pass behind me about fifteen minutes ago.”
“You know where we are? You’re not lost?”
Lacy pointed behind her and to the right with her thumb.
Danica followed the line of her thumb toward the noises of the group that she only now recognized.
“Blake?”
Lacy pointed toward the group.
“Jesus. What a mess.”
“Danica?” Kaylie was headed in their direction.
Danica popped around the trees, leaving Lacy to decide her own path. “I’m here. Lexi and Michelle are with the group. I heard them.” She purposefully walked Kaylie away from Lacy and pointed in the direction of t
he group.
“Oh, thank goodness. We should get Trevor now that the rain has let up.”
“No, you go back, see Lexi. I know the girls are probably frantic by now, wondering where we are. I’ll have Blake get Trevor and the boys.”
As her parents approached, Danica broke away. “I’ll be there in a minute.” She caught her mother’s eye and held it, hoping she’d read the disappointment Danica made no effort to mask.
Her father said something to her mother, and they followed Kaylie back toward the others.
When they were all out of sight, Danica went back to Lacy. “So, what now? Are you just going to hide out here?”
Lacy stood, wiping her dress and making no progress in looking presentable. Her hair was drenched and her legs were covered in mud and scratches. “Nope. I’m gonna ignore whatever it was that I just saw and go on with my life as if it were normal.” She headed toward the group.
What you saw? Danica held her tongue. Lacy was an adult, and the last thing she needed to do was start a long discussion about something that neither of them had answers to.
Blake ran across the wet sand. “I was so worried,” he said. He pulled her in close, his heart thundering against her chest. He took a step back and looked at her dress, then carefully moved a soggy curl from her cheek. “You okay, babe?”
She nodded, knowing he’d see the weight of the afternoon in her eyes.
He pulled her close again as Lacy walked past.
“I love you.” He held her cold cheeks in his warm hands. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.” She watched Lacy making a beeline for Madeline and pulled away from Blake. “Has there been any word about Max yet?”
“No word on Max yet. The boat we saw coming in turned back, but they’re sending a boat for us. We should be back at the hotel soon.”
“Oh, good. Blake, would you mind getting Chase and Rusty? They’re with Trevor in the restrooms.”
“Sure. Sorry about our wedding.”
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