“Who are they gonna believe?” Horton asked, a smirk twisting his lips. “A known arsonist, or one of their own? I’m on the town council. I’ve run their kids’ school without incident since I got rid of that trouble-makin’ boy twenty years ago.”
“Please, Mr. Horton, don’t make things worse for yourself. Think about your family, and what they—”
“My family!” Horton glared at her again, the vein at his temple throbbing with his fury. “My family will never find out. You and your bastard son will not ruin me, Claire. So don’t you threaten me.”
Claire. Oh God, he thought she was Claire again. Olivia pressed her lips together and focused on keeping her breathing under control. He continued to stare at her with a menacing glower, and she realized he wasn’t watching the road.
“Mr. H-Horton,” she rasped, turning to peer through the driving rain out the windshield. They’d crossed the center line, and she prayed that no other car came down the road at that moment. “The road, Mr. Horton. Watch the r—”
He jerked the wheel, and the car fishtailed before righting itself. Her heart thundered, and she slipped a protective hand over her belly. Knowing she could possibly be carrying Reyn’s child gave her strength. She would survive this if only for her baby’s sake. A baby she desperately wanted and would protect at all cost.
A thought occurred to her, gave her a ray of hope. “Mr. Horton, if you kill me, your grandchild will die too.”
His head whipped around to face her. He stared at her from under thick, furrowed eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
“Reyn’s baby would be your grandchild. I’m carrying your son’s baby.” She didn’t tell him that her pregnancy was still just a small possibility. An unconfirmed chance.
Again the man stared at her instead of the rainy road. She tore her gaze away to look ahead of them. “Mr. Horton, please watch the road.”
“You’re pregnant?” he roared. “How could you be so careless? You have to get rid of it. My wife cannot find out.”
Olivia gulped in a deep breath. He still thought she was Claire. Oh God. Peering through the gray mist ahead of them, she struggled to keep her voice calm. “I’m not Claire. I—”
Ahead of them, leaping out of the murkiness of the fog, a raging flood swamped the road. Clairmont Creek had overflowed its banks and swept across the highway.
“Mr. Horton, look out!”
Her cry came too late.
The car careened forward, into the rushing current of the rain-glutted creek. She braced herself as their momentum carried them forward and the force of the water pushed them sideways. The front end of the sedan ran up the sloped guardrail, and the wheels lost purchase at the edge of the bridge.
Olivia screamed. The car flipped and dove over the side of the bridge, propelled by the rushing water. They landed upside down in the swollen creek, brown water raging outside the car windows. Knowing they were going under, she unbuckled her seatbelt, lowering herself awkwardly to the roof of the car, which was now their floor. Slowly she rolled down her window a crack. The outside water poured in and began filling the car’s interior, equalizing the water pressure inside and out.
She glanced at Horton who hadn’t moved since they crashed. He lay crumpled at an odd angle on the roof. A trickle of red ran across his forehead into his hair. “Mr. Horton.”
She knew better than to move someone who could have a neck injury, but the other option was letting him drown. Grabbing his arm, she tugged, trying to move him upright so his head would stay above the water as long as possible. The man weighed a ton and barely budged. She tried again. “Come on, Vance. Help me.”
The car was filling quickly, water creeping upward, depleting their supply of air. Using every ounce of her strength, Olivia dragged Horton upright. She propped him against the driver’s side while she groped for the passenger-side door handle. Locked. Damn, she forgot. She’d tried it earlier.
With the passenger’s side downstream, it was the only option for escape. Opening Horton’s door against the current would be next to impossible. The passenger window was their only out.
The water had reached her chin and continued to rise. Groping in the dark, cold water, she found the window handle and rolled the window down the rest of the way. The water rose faster now. She fumbled to grab Horton again and choked on a mouthful of the water. Panic gripped her as she coughed and sputtered for a last precious breath of air.
Holding her breath and ducking under the water, she caught Horton under the arms and pulled hard. He moved slightly, but not enough. With a sinking sensation in her heart and the sting of oxygen depravation in her lungs, Olivia accepted that she couldn’t save both Horton and herself. She had to get out. Now.
Reyn drove as fast as he dared on the rain-puddled road, scanning the highway for any sign of the white sedan. Anxiety dried his mouth. The thought of Horton hurting Olivia made him crazy.
If anything happened to her, it would be his fault. He hadn’t protected her like he should, even knowing someone wanted to kill her. And the bastard had darn near succeeded twice.
Spurred by guilt and worry, Reyn pumped his Sierra with just a little more gas. Please, let her be all right.
He didn’t think he could stand losing someone else he loved. Because of his own screw up. Because of his failure to take care of them. Because of his cowardice.
When he felt the truck hydroplane for a moment, Reyn gripped the steering wheel tighter.
Yes, his cowardice was why he’d let Olivia walk out of his house this morning. His fear of what he saw happening between them. I’m falling in love with you, Reyn. He’d freaked. He’d let his demons convince him he couldn’t give her all that she deserved. That he couldn’t live up to the fantasy she’d created, the hero she believed him to be. Maybe the demon was right.
Why else would he have sent her away, knowing she could be carrying his child? But he’d needed some distance, some time to think, and he cruelly pushed her away. Coward.
If not for him, she wouldn’t be in danger now. If he hadn’t sent her away, she’d be safe. But he’d failed her. Oh God, he’d failed the woman he loved more than his next breath.
His pulse jumped as that thought reverberated in his head. Yes, he loved her. And it took the threat of losing her to wake him up to that fact. He wanted Olivia. And what’s more he wanted her baby. Their baby. He wanted the family he’d lost years ago.
But first he had to earn the right to have her, to have his family around him, to have their love and respect. Please don’t let me lose her. Please give me another chance, he prayed silently as he scanned the foggy road for the white car.
Overflow from the ditches along the side of the road crept onto the highway, making the driving even more treacherous. But he plowed on through the pouring rain, cursing the veil of water that hampered his view of the road ahead.
The mist stretched accusing fingers toward him as it roiled and swirled in his headlights. His windshield wipers hissed a condemning tsk-tsk in the stillness of his cab.
Coward. The demon laughed, and tears stung his eyes.
In the murky gray of the fog and rain, a flash of color caught his eye. He strained to see through the downpour and made out the rush of water where the Clairmont Creek bridge should have been. Then he saw the bottom side of the white car. Terror flooded his veins.
He stood on his brakes, and with a screech of tires on the wet pavement and a sideways slide, his truck stopped inches from the raging stream. Being the low point in the parish, the place where much of the rainfall from upstream collected, the creek was swollen many times larger than normal, to dangerous proportions.
Wiping his windshield with his arm, he scanned the swirling eddies and briskly flowing current for the color that had caught his eye. From under the rushing water, a head of flaming-orange hair rose out of the brown torrent. Olivia.
Throwing his door open, Reyn dashed out of his truck and to the edge of the water. “Olivia!”
; One arm flailed as she struggled against the current. With her other hand, she clung desperately to the overhanging limb of a willow tree at the edge of the rushing stream.
Stream? Hell, she was contending with a river. A death trap. A current stronger than a person could swim. Floating limbs and debris that could knock her unconscious.
Reyn flew into action.
As close as Olivia was to the edge of the water, he hoped he could reach her without going into the current himself. Sidling up to the bent willow, he grabbed the thin trunk and leaned out as far as he could toward Olivia. “Grab my hand!”
Her startled gaze found him, her eyes wide with fear. “Reyn!”
Between fighting the current and the din of the water and rain, she’d clearly not noticed his arrival.
“Grab my hand, and don’t let go for any reason.”
She tried, stretching her fingers as far as she could, but the current kept pushing her back.
“Damn it,” he growled, realizing this approach wouldn’t work. He straightened and whipped his shirt over his head. Twisting it, he tied a knot in each end. Rain dripped in his eyes as he stretched out over the water again, holding tight to the willow for support. Olivia batted at the shirt knot, narrowly missing each time. “Come on, Olivia. Grab it.”
Risking losing his balance, Reyn stretched another couple inches toward her. He heard the branch he clung to crack under his weight. Finally her fingers closed around the knot in his shirt, and he hauled her toward the bank of the swollen stream. She let go of the branch that had saved her life and wrapped that hand around his wrist. As soon as he could reach her armpit, he dragged her from the water. She half stumbled, half crawled onto higher ground, falling against him as he fell on his rear end.
“Reyn.” She burst into tears and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh, thank God. I was so scared!”
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, her silky wet hair brushing across his chest, and he knew he’d never felt a sweeter sensation in his life. Olivia was alive. Safe. He held her shivering body close and glanced back at the upended sedan. A prickle of dread washed through him.
“Where’s Horton?” he shouted over the din of rushing water and drumming rain.
She pulled back, blinking at him as rain drops splashed in her face. “How did you know—”
“I’ll explain later. Where is he?”
She turned to look at the mostly submerged car, and he knew. His sense of duty kicked in. Duty and something else. Something stronger and more compelling. A desperate need for redemption, for justice, for the chance to right a wrong. He pushed her away and hurried up the bank to assess the situation.
Olivia splashed through the wet grass to catch up with him.
“You’re not going in after him, are you?” Her voice reflected her horror.
“I have to.”
“Don’t be crazy! You can’t go out in that.” She flung her hand toward the swift, deadly water. “He’s probably already dead anyway. I tried to get him out, but he was unconscious and—”
Rope. He needed some kind of rope.
He turned and hurried back to his truck, not letting her finish her sentence. Every second counted.
“Reyn, listen to me! The current is too fast. Going in there is suicide.”
Opening the long tool box across the back of his truck bed, he scooped out a chain he’d left in the truck after he’d used it to help a buddy take down a dead tree in the guy’s yard. Not a rope, but close enough.
“Reyn, don’t do this. You could be killed. It’s just not worth the risk!”
“I have to try. It’s my responsibility to save lives, not sit back and do nothing.”
She dogged his steps as he wound the chain around a secure spot on the truck frame and secured the attached hook. He tugged hard to make sure it would hold. Then, untangling the chain, he stretched it upstream from the submerged car.
“Reyn!” Olivia screamed. The fear in her voice brought his head up. Her eyes were red, and she trembled as she stared at him, pleaded with him. “Please don’t do this. Think of Lila and what it would do to her if anything happened to you.”
He held her gaze as he wrapped the chain around his waist and fed it through the belt loops of his jeans. “When I was a kid, I stood in the door of our burning house and let fear decide my mother’s fate. I was too cowardly to save my mother when I had the chance, and I’ve lived with that on my conscience ever since. Now I have another chance. A chance to save my father.”
He kicked off his shoes and tossed them to her. “And once I save him, he can pay for murdering my mother. She’ll finally have justice. It’s the least I can do for her.”
Olivia stepped up to him, her gold eyes piercing his soul. “Please, Reyn. You don’t have to prove your courage to anyone.”
Emotion tightened his throat. “Yes, I do. I have to prove it to the demon.”
Her brow wrinkled with confusion, but he didn’t stick around to explain himself. He had work to do.
“The passenger’s window is open,” she called to him as he moved further upstream. Nodding to her, he took a deep breath.
And dove into the rushing water.
The current carried him downstream while he swam as hard as he could to move out toward the vehicle. The combination of current and manpower took him to the upended car in a matter of seconds. He grabbed the frame of the sedan and held on tightly, working his way, hand over hand, pulling himself to the level of the passenger’s window.
After filling his lungs with a deep breath, he ducked under the surface. Pulling on the frame of the car for leverage, he propelled himself, feet first through the open window and out of the main current. The water was murky and dark, but he made out the man in the driver’s seat. Seizing the front of Horton’s shirt, he pulled the man toward the window. His father’s limp body floated toward the tiny escape hatch, and quickly Reyn tugged the slack in the chain over Horton’s head and around his body. Clenching the ends of the chain in his fist, he held it in place under the other man’s armpits and pushed back through the car window.
While he battled to guide the large man out the small window, Reyn’s lungs screamed for air. The chain bit into his hand, and the current tried to sweep him downstream. But he refused to release either the lifeline to his father or his grasp on the car frame. And the real test was still to come.
The swiftly moving water would pull on Horton’s limp body, and he’d have twice the fight against the current to get the man to the creek bank. His hand burned where the chain cut into his skin, and his arm muscles strained to pull the deadweight through the water.
An image of his mother flickered in his mind. Summertime. Learning to ride his bike. Her smile. You can do it, honey. Don’t give up.
The memory sent a fresh flash of determination through him. He’d ridden his bike that night long ago, because he refused to let his mother down. And he wouldn’t let her down now either.
Finally he squeezed Horton through the car window, and the battle with the water began. He gasped for air as he broke the surface and began swimming for safety. They were floating downstream rapidly, and he felt the chain at his waist jerk when they reached the full length of the links. He tried to swim with one arm while he hung tightly to the chain wrapped around Horton.
It was a lost cause. The current was too strong. Horton was too heavy.
“You little brat. Didn’t your mother teach you respect for your elders?” The steely eyes of the elementary school principal focused on him, and he felt them drill into him like icy spikes.
Reyn shook his head, clearing the ancient memory from his mind. His muscles ached. The hand gripping the chain securing Horton grew weak, trembling with exertion.
Let go. Save yourself. No one would blame you, the demon taunted. Walk away. Just let go…
For a moment he considered giving in. The chain slipped in his hand, and he loosened his fingers a bit to ease the sting.
Suddenly brigh
t lights blinded him, and he heard a roar of an engine. Blinking, he glanced toward the bank. The headlights of his truck glared at him through the mist.
The truck tires spun in the mud and then slowly the Sierra rolled backward. He felt himself being pulled through the water toward the bank.
Olivia. Knowing she was there, helping him, working with him, sent warmth coursing through his water-chilled body.
Despite the pain of the chain cutting into his hand, the force of the current pulling against his arm as he dragged Horton with him, he held on tightly. He wouldn’t walk away. Not this time.
In a matter of seconds, they were pulled out of the current and onto the higher ground. Reyn coughed, clearing his lungs and catching his breath. He loosened the chain around Horton and rolled the man onto his side. Water flowed from Horton’s mouth and nose. When the water stopped trickling from Horton’s lips, Reyn flipped the man on his back and felt for a pulse. Finding none, he started chest compressions and tipped Horton’s head back to breathe into his mouth.
“Reyn.” Olivia scrambled up beside him. “Thank heavens! I never—”
“Do you know CPR?”
She nodded. “I learned it when Katy was born, and we thought we might have to—”
“Start chest compressions,” he interrupted.
She hesitated.
“Come on, go!” he shouted.
She inched into place, and together they worked on his father, fighting for his life. When he looked into Olivia’s eyes between breaths he saw her doubt, her concern.
“He can’t die,” he growled.
“Reyn…”
Just then Horton sputtered and coughed. Another mouthful of water gushed from his lips. Reyn pressed his fingers to his father’s neck. A faint pulse fluttered there. With another cough and a gasp, Horton opened his eyes and peered up at his rescuers.
“Welcome back, Dad, you sonofabitch,” Reyn muttered darkly. “Now you can spend the rest of your life rotting in prison for murdering my mother.”
Chapter Sixteen
Reyn stepped off the hospital elevator at the ground floor and headed back to the emergency room. He found Olivia sitting in a molded plastic chair in the waiting room. “Any word yet?”
Reyn's Redemption Page 20