Private Lives

by Karen Young

  “I’m over here. I’m holding a big thing that’s sticking out of this pole.”

  A hook or cable thingy of some kind. Good. “Okay, hold on. I’m swimming over there. Say something else so I’ll go in the right direction.”

  “Like what?”

  “Just keep talking. Say a poem.”

  “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.”

  Good choice. Jennifer almost chuckled, except she was too cold. “Way to go, love bug. Did anybody ever tell you you’re the bravest little girl in the whole world?”

  “I’m really cold, Jennifer.”

  Jennifer guessed that from the unsteady way she was talking, but she was talking. Hallelujah. And from the sound, she knew she was getting closer. She gasped when something brushed her leg underwater and realized she’d bumped right into Jesse.

  She was so glad that she threw her arms around her, almost sinking herself. Jesse was hanging on to a large steel hook driven into the side of a barnacle-covered piling. She’d be all scratched up when they were finally out and dried off, but she couldn’t afford to think about that now. And she wasn’t going to sink as long as she didn’t get too cold to hang on to the hook while Jennifer tried to figure out how to get them out of the water and find a safe place without Austin spotting them. How she wished she’d been able to find those life jackets. They’d sure come in handy right about now.

  “He made my mommy have that accident,” Jesse whispered in her ear. “He ran right into the back of our car.”

  “Oh, baby…”

  “He told me not to say a word, but he was going to hurt you, too. So I jumped.”

  Jennifer held up a finger. “Shhh, I’m glad you’re talking again, but you need to save it for when we get home safe. Now, listen.” She put her lips next to Jesse’s ear. “We’re gonna have to get out of this cold water, love bug. Here’s the deal. Your daddy might see us if we try to climb up on the pier right here, so we need to move among the boats that’re docked until we’re sort of away from him. I guess you can swim, huh?”

  “Uh-huh. I had lessons. Aunt Lizzie made me.”

  Thank you, God, and thank you, Aunt Lizzie. “Okay. I’m going to help you as much as I can, but I need you to swim the best you ever have. Think you can do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good girl.” This kid deserved a medal if and when they managed to get out of this mess. Between Gina and that stupid Austin, they’d created an awesome little girl. Why he would put her at risk was a mystery. But no time now for figuring out mysteries or idiot fathers.

  They were still within earshot of Austin, but as they were under the pier, he couldn’t see them. She was getting ready to push off, to head away from the Bertram when she realized that he’d stopped yelling. What now? She strained, waiting to see, trying not to think what might be in the water getting ready to take a taste of them. Then, she heard a splash and saw a big cushion from the hatch floating a few yards from them.

  Oooh, she wanted that makeshift life raft. But not enough to show herself and somehow wind up a kidnap victim again. “Stay here, Jess.” She took a deep breath—it was going to be awful—and dived toward the cushion, planning to grab it from underneath and drag it back to where Jesse waited. Okay, she had it in her grip. She began to tug on it and realized he’d tied a rope to it. It was like the creep was fishing for them!

  Damn! Sorry, Dad. Just let me and Jesse get out of this alive and I’ll never cuss again.

  Abandoning the idea of the float, she swam back to Jesse. In a minute, she had her breath back. “No choice, love bug. We’ve gotta swim for it. Try not to swallow this nasty water. Ready?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Okay, you know the plan. Let’s roll!”

  The risky part was getting away, unseen, from the Bertram. Once they cleared that slip, it would be relatively easy to keep out of sight. She eased away from the piling and glanced back to see Jesse following in a respectable doggie paddle. Good girl. She had dark hair, which would be a little more difficult to spot if Austin had an eagle eye, but as for herself…

  “Blondes have more fun,” she muttered and took in a mouthful of water.

  But they were clear now, and in another minute or two, were hanging on to the line of another cabin cruiser, a big one. The trouble was, it was really cold. April was not the month to swim, not even on the subtropical Texas coast.

  “I’m really c-cold, J-Jen.” Jesse’s teeth were chattering.

  “Three more boats and I think we can get out, Jesse. Ready?” And when they did, she’d need something to dry this little girl off.

  Please let there be something.

  By the time they reached an area of the marina that Jennifer considered safe, she was using a life-saving technique to pull Jesse along. Say a thank-you for her own swimming lessons, she thought. When she had kids of her own, she’d have to remember. Swimming lessons. As soon as possible.

  She chose a boat that had a ladder left out. Her dad would never allow that, as it was an open invitation for someone to climb aboard. Okay, two uninvited guests, but she sure wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth. “Can you climb up, punkin-pie?”

  Jesse couldn’t. Jennifer cast an anxious look over the keel of the boat trying to spot Austin. From where they were, it didn’t seem as if they were visible to him, but movement of any kind once they cleared the keel and made it into the pit of this boat might change that. It was a chance she had to take. Jesse couldn’t stay in the water another minute.

  She pushed at the little girl’s tiny rump, literally shoving her up the steps. She was helpless to keep her from tumbling to the deck like a rag doll. Jennifer cleared the ladder herself in seconds. With Jesse lying still and spent on the deck, she searched the boat frantically for anything—anything!—to cover the little girl. The careless owner had left his hatch cover unlocked. Inside she found only life jackets. Not much warmth there, but better than nothing. Grabbing a couple, she draped them over Jesse until she could find something better. She’d lost her shoes; they both had, but she still wore her jeans and a skimpy little T-shirt. Jennifer wasn’t sure whether you should leave wet clothes on or take them off in a rescue situation. But without adequate covering, it seemed dumb to take them off.

  “Are you okay, Jesse?” she asked, gathering her up into her arms. Holding her close, she squeezed water from the dark curls, then took both small hands in hers, rubbing briskly and tucking them into her own armpits. She’d read somewhere that a person’s armpits were very warm. “Talk to me, Jess.”

  “C-cold.”

  “I know, baby. Jen’s gonna fix that.” But oh, Lord, how? She tucked the little girl back among the life jackets and sat back on her heels, shivering. They had to have something to cover themselves.

  Her own body was chilled to the bone. Rubbing her arms briskly, she tried to ward off the strength-sapping effect of the cold. Here on the Gulf, there was always a breeze. She’d known it to be worse, but any wind was too much when you were wet.

  Looking around, she searched for a blanket. But there was nothing. Only a pile of something that looked like a net. A fish net. She kicked it in her frustration and realized it was soft. Shaking it out, she found it holey and smelly, too, but it was better than nothing. She lay down beside Jesse, keeping the life jackets in place around and on top of her, donning one herself, then she draped the netting over them, folded over and over again. Fortunately, the thing was huge, and by the time she’d used it up, she realized they would soon be relatively warm. Not totally dry, but not cold enough to endanger Jesse, either. They were hidden, too, in case Austin started looking for them. Then she settled down with her arms around the love bug—body heat was good, she’d read that, too—and waited for daylight when there was bound to be somebody showing up. People who liked boats were early risers.

  Twenty-Nine

  Ryan made the trip to Galveston in record time. He was stopped for speeding by a highway patrolman and sat drumming his fingers with i
mpatience on the steering wheel counting the minutes while his story was verified in a call to Shepherd Steele.

  “I’m not surprised,” Elizabeth said, keeping a smile in check. “You can’t drive so much above the speed limit, no matter what excuse you have. Even in Texas.” Once, she’d glanced at the speedometer hovering at ninety-five miles an hour and had chosen not to look again. Galveston was less than fifty miles from Houston and traffic on I-45 was at a minimum at this hour. She couldn’t argue with his motive for wanting to reach the marina as soon as possible. But, according to Steele, Austin had already been prevented from taking the girls out on the Gulf in his father’s boat. So much speed was overkill. But, she wasn’t in the mood to argue with Ryan about anything, not after tonight.

  She had been right in thinking that Ryan would erase her doubts about herself as a desirable, sexual being. Everything about the hour they’d spent together was meant to tell her that he thought her feminine and exciting and appealing as a lover. Evan’s rejection had made her feel less of a woman, but she viewed that experience now with new insight. She wasn’t the one who’d failed to measure up; Evan was. And that was his problem, not hers. Carrying that burden for years had been crippling. She felt liberated now that it had been removed.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when the highway patrolman approached the SUV once again. He’d made the call and told Ryan that he would escort them. It was a safer ride from that point and, although they exceeded the speed limit, it was less than Ryan would have done if he hadn’t been stopped. He was anxious to get to the girls. They both were, but he was quiet to the point of testiness and he had a stern look about him. She would not want to be in Austin’s shoes when Ryan got hold of him.

  The sky was turning pink with the promise of a new day when they approached the marina in Galveston. They drove past the yacht club where Austin’s rental SUV was parked. Ryan had learned from Steele that there were lights and activity aboard Curtiss Leggett’s cruiser and that he had given no one permission to take it out. At the marina, no less than six patrol cars blocked the parking area, blue lights flashing. Boat owners, arriving early for a day’s fishing or for a simple pleasure run out in the Gulf were forced to jockey for space. Their escort patrol car pulled into the pack, adding to the congestion.

  Ryan’s door was open almost before he stopped. With her hands shaking and her heart in her throat, Elizabeth climbed out, too. “This time, Austin has gone too far,” he said, looking narrow-eyed toward the end of the marina dock where he knew Curtiss’s slip was located. Every light on the cruiser was lit. From this distance, they could see several people on the deck and in the pit. No doubt others were in the Bertram’s luxurious salon.

  “Do you see him?” she asked.

  “No, but Steele says he’s here.”

  They’d reached the pier now and Elizabeth picked up her pace, almost running in her eagerness to get to the end. She was still a few yards away when Ryan caught her arm and stopped her. “Wait, Liz.”

  She pulled to get away. “No, I want to see her. I need—”

  He took both her arms and forced her to look at him. “I didn’t tell you before, but Steele says the girls aren’t on the boat with Austin.”

  “Where are they?” Confused, she strained to catch a glimpse of them somewhere on the dock. Naturally, they wouldn’t want to stay on the boat a moment longer than they had to. With the police swarming onboard, they would gladly have seized the chance to get away from Austin.

  “According to Austin, they jumped overboard,” Ryan said.

  “What?”

  “He claims Jesse jumped and then Jennifer followed.”

  “But it’s too cold….” She waved a hand weakly. “That’s impossible. No, Ryan. No.”

  “They’re looking, sweetheart. They’re trying to find them.”

  “When?” She pressed her mouth with shaky fingers. “When did they—”

  “Two hours ago, according to Austin.”

  She was moving her head from side to side, denying it. Now she noticed diving equipment on the dock. A diver in full gear was hoisting himself up from the water. He made a negative gesture with his head. A black, painful despair rose in her chest, almost crushing her ability to breathe.

  “I want to talk to Austin,” she said, refusing to panic. “I want to hear him tell me to my face that he let Gina’s baby and your…and Jennifer jump into this filthy, black, bottomless hole.” They were nearing the Leggett yacht now. She slowed, spotting Austin sitting dockside on a chair, handcuffed, head hung low.

  Steele went to meet them a few feet short of Austin, but she had no thought for the detective. Her gaze was locked on Austin, who must have sensed her scrutiny. His head came up. “Liz, I—”

  “Where is that little girl?” she asked coldly. Her teeth clenched against the urge to fly at him and scratch his eyes out, to hurl at him all the rage and pain eating at her.

  He looked away, his gaze going to the black, oil-slick surface of the water. “I threw them a cushion. I couldn’t find the life jackets. She just jumped when I—” The handcuffs prevented the instinctive movement he made to bring his hands up.

  “She jumped when you what, Austin?” she asked, her voice rising.

  His gaze slid away from all eyes. “It was Jennifer. She wouldn’t shut up. She had a million questions. I was rattled. You know how it is when kids won’t shut up. Your head rings and you—”

  “You shut them up the way that comes naturally to you, right?”

  “You hit her?” Ryan made a lunge, but was blocked by Steele. “You son of a bitch! You hit Jennifer and then what? Did you shove those kids overboard, Austin?”

  “No, no! I—”

  “I swear, if they’re hurt I’ll kill you!” Ryan stood with his fists curling and uncurling at his side. “I thought I knew how low you could sink, but by God, this time—”

  “I didn’t push them overboard!” Austin surged to his feet. “Jesse jumped and then Jennifer went in after her. I swear it. I told you, I threw them a cushion from the hatch cover. I put a rope on it so they could grab it. I yelled for them, over and over.” His face crumpled into shapeless misery. “I kept calling and looking, but the water was so black….”

  “Too black and too deep and too cold for you to jump in and try to save them. Is that the way it was, Austin?” Ryan’s chest heaved with rage and disgust.

  “I didn’t mean it,” Austin said, shoulders now shaking with sobs.

  Ryan strained against Steele’s grip. “You never mean it when you attack a female smaller than you.” He shook free and reached for Elizabeth who stood with her hands on her face, tears running down her cheeks. “Get him out of my sight, Steele.”

  “Hey! Hey, over there!”

  Steele frowned and motioned for one of his men. “You know my orders! Keep those people back!”

  The policeman started toward a man who was now moving toward them at a fast trot. “I’ve got a couple of kids on my boat!” he yelled.

  “Oh, my God.” Elizabeth released a shaky sob, then broke away from Ryan. Her sneakers squeaked on the boards of the pier as she took off, heading for the fisherman. “Where? Where are they?”

  They were exactly where the man said they were—tangled in a nest of shrimp netting in the pit of his boat, bedraggled and damp and sleepy-eyed. “Wait, ma’am, it’s a little tricky, that step from the dock to the cockpit.” He put out a hand and she took it, literally leaping the distance. Arms wide, she swept both Jesse and Jennifer up in a desperate embrace and held them close.

  His daughter was fine. Safe. And thanks to Austin’s own idiocy, Jesse was freed forever from his screwed-up presence in her life. Ryan shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his windbreaker and scowled at the horizon. A few feet away—Ryan couldn’t bear Jennifer out of his sight just yet—Steele was taking her statement. A brief one, he’d promised, knowing Ryan was anxious to remove his daughter from the scene. There was so much he wanted to tell her, so many promises he
planned to make to her. God, his cup ran over this morning, he thought, thinking of Liz’s face when she knew the kids were safe. They’d both come close to an experience they might never have survived and both knew it.

  “Okay, Ryan, she’s done here.” Steele handed over his clipboard to a uniformed cop standing by. “I’ll want a more complete statement, but it can wait a day or so.” He flashed a smile at Jennifer. “This little lady is the hero of this event, no doubt about it.”

  “I know.” Ryan pulled her close, tucking her in the V of his shoulder. He was still weak in the knees from terror. “On the drive home, she can think up a suitable reward.”

  Jennifer grinned up at him. “A car would be a good start, Dad.”

  Steele laughed. “Way to go, Jen!” He walked off, shaking his head.

  “In your dreams, brat,” Ryan said and couldn’t resist another quick, fierce hug.

  Jennifer looked beyond him toward the Leggett yacht. “Where is he?”

  “Austin?” Ryan moved a strand of blond hair away from her eye. “He’s already on his way back to Houston in a patrol car. He won’t get another chance to cruise on his daddy’s yacht for a long time.” Frowning, he turned her face to get a better look. A dark bruise had blossomed on her cheekbone and there was a tiny cut near her eye. Rage simmered in his chest, but it could wait. He vowed to settle with Austin later, one way or another. “He admitted to hitting you. He won’t be doing any more of that, either.” He made an effort to ease his tight jaw.

  “I think he’s a mental case, Dad. He’s kinda pitiful, you know?”

  He looked at her, amazed that instead of exhibiting trauma, she expressed a sort of nonjudgmental understanding of Austin. Pride and a wave of pure fatherly love edged out some of the rage. “And you’re a psychiatrist, now, huh?”

  “No…” She gave him a playful punch on the arm, grinning.