“It’s me,” Eileen said with a laugh. “I taught all my kids to swim, didn’t I, Adrian?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed. “And now you’ve taught this one.” He lifted Caroline out of the water and twirled her around. “Ain’t that right, princess?”
Caroline laughed, her face lit like a candle. She even patted the side of Adrian’s face with affection. “I can swim, Mama!” She squirmed for Adrian to put her back in the water. “Watch how far I can swim.”
“Let’s show her.” Eileen backed up a few steps and held her arms out.
“Watch me, Mama,” Caroline yelled, her voice as loud and enthusiastic as Heather had ever heard it.
“I’m watching, sweetheart.” As Caroline paddled valiantly toward Eileen with her little chin barely above the water, Heather swallowed down the lump in her throat. Abby was right; Caroline hadn’t really seemed happy at all since Dale died. But now, because of Adrian and his mother, Caroline was happy and unafraid. In Adrian’s arms, Caroline felt safe.
At the thought, Heather realized for the first time that Caroline hadn’t just been sad after Dale’s death; she’d been fearful. A simple realization Heather should have snapped to long before now, but it rang in Heather’s mind, an undisputed truth. For all her trying, Heather hadn’t been able to make Caroline feel safe, but Adrian had.
Though Eileen had stepped away from Caroline before Adrian launched her into the water, she stepped forward to lift her up. Then, with a half twirl, she turned toward Heather. “Okay, Mama, ready to catch your girl?”
Heather held her arms out. “Swim to me, baby.”
Eileen propelled Caroline through the water so she only had to paddle a few strokes to get to Heather, but the shared sense of accomplishment still made Heather’s heart sing. “Whoo!” She hugged Caroline tight. “You can swim!”
Adrian waded forward and tucked a tendril of hair behind Caroline’s ear. “But no swimming in the river behind your house—or anywhere besides the bathtub—without your mama or me right there with you, right?”
“I promise,” Caroline said in an impatient tone that made it clear Adrian had already drilled the rule into her head. Then she leaned toward Adrian with her arms out.
He caught her up and held her close, smiling at Heather over Caroline’s wet blond head. “Did you see Erin ski out of here a few minutes ago?”
“Yes, I did.” Mack had been driving the speedboat, Reva had been spotting, and Sean had been sitting at the back of the boat, snapping pictures. “Thank you for that too.” It felt like everyone in Heather’s family had been existing in a state of suspended animation until Adrian came and woke them up.
Eileen waded past and patted Caroline’s back. “You’ve worn me out, sweetie pie. I’m gonna go see if there’s any lemonade left in one of those coolers on the beach.”
“Lemonade!” Caroline jumped from Adrian’s arms and went under for a second but popped back up undeterred. “I want lemonade,” she sputtered, flailing her arms in the general direction of the shore.
Eileen grinned at Heather and boosted Caroline forward a bit. “Let’s go then.” She kept an unobtrusive hand beneath Caroline’s belly to keep her from sinking. “Don’t forget to kick.”
As Eileen guided Caroline toward the beach, Heather and Adrian stood waist-deep in the water, close enough to touch but not daring to.
“Hey,” he said, swiping a water slider away as it paddled just under the tea-brown surface.
“Hey,” she answered, skimming her fingers through the gentle waves. She thought about saying that they could tell their secret now, get it over with. But something made her hold back. What if Adrian seduced them all into wanting him in their lives and then decided that country life in Magnolia Bay wasn’t for him? Could they relocate to New Orleans, with its narrow streets and party atmosphere, with its close-together buildings and touristy culture?
Her kids were used to having space to roam and people around who knew who they were and where they lived. Erin couldn’t make a wrong step without Heather knowing about it before nightfall. It wouldn’t be like that in New Orleans.
Adrian stepped closer, still not touching but close enough for her to feel the warmth of the sun radiating off his tanned skin. “Your kids love me,” he taunted, his voice soft, his gaze intense. He slipped a hand toward her, just under the surface of the water.
“I can tell.” She reached for his hand and threaded her fingers through his. Anyone watching wouldn’t know they were touching. She glanced toward the beach. No one seemed to be looking, but that didn’t mean they weren’t. “Thank you for making the effort.”
“I honestly enjoyed spending time with your kids today.” With the afternoon sun behind his head, his blue eyes looked dark, almost black. “I’m beginning to realize that this is about more than you and me.”
“That’s why it’s so scary,” she said. “I can fall in love with you and get over it if things don’t work out. But what if they fall in love with you?”
He gave her that heartbreakingly beautiful smile of his. “Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”
“It would, unless you decide you’re not up for taking our package deal.”
“I’ve already shown you that I’m willing to try, haven’t I?”
“But trying might not be good enough. And you can’t guarantee that you won’t change your mind, can you?”
He made a move toward her, but she took a step back. “My kids have already lost their dad. I don’t want to let them get used to having you in their lives only to lose you if you decide to leave.”
“I won’t do that. I wouldn’t.” His fingers squeezed hers under the water’s surface. “Just like with Charlie, no matter what happens between you and me, if your kids need me, I’ll show up.”
“I’d like to think that’s true,” she said. “I hope it is.”
Because this whole day had been like a fairy tale, complete with a handsome prince and fairy grandparents. But Heather couldn’t help waiting for the other shoe to drop out of the sky. Ever since Dale died, she’d been just as fearful as Caroline, expecting that her whole world could come crashing down if she made one wrong move. The carefree day they’d just shared almost made the waiting worse because the higher she let her spirits rise, the farther and faster they would plummet down to earth.
***
Hours later, Adrian paddled his two-person kayak up closer to Heather’s. Even though each of them had one of the twins up front, he knew they weren’t paying attention, so he reached out to take her hand. “It’s been a great day, hasn’t it?”
Heather linked her fingers through his for a brief squeeze before letting go. “Yes, it has.”
Adrian felt elated by a sense of accomplishment. He’d taught Erin how to ski, Caroline could dog-paddle without help, and he’d broken through the barrier of her extreme shyness. In fact, when they’d set out on this last adventure of the day, she had easily agreed to sit in Adrian’s kayak while Josh sat in Heather’s.
Sunburned despite the liberal application of sunscreen, sore from the day’s strenuous activity, he and Heather paddled back toward the beach in companionable silence. They beached the kayaks, and while the twins tossed the ball to Jasper and Georgia, the adults and the teenagers loaded the toys, the coolers, and the grill onto the pontoon boat.
Mack turned to Adrian with the slalom ski under one arm. “You didn’t get to ski yet, did you?”
“Nah, but that’s okay.” He had actually enjoyed spending most of the day getting to know Heather’s girls better. It seemed almost as if the universe had conspired to give him time with each of them. Sean had encouraged Erin to let Adrian teach her to ski, then spent the rest of the day helping her practice. Adrian’s dad had taught Josh to dive off the floating dock while Adrian and his mother stood waist-deep in the water and taught Caroline to swim.
“You can s
ki back to the landing if you want,” Mack said. “I’m taking the speedboat, and Reva’s riding with me, but there’s room for Heather and the twins, too, if they want to come along.”
Adrian looked at Heather.
She shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Okay, sure.” Adrian reached out for the ski. “Let’s do it.”
The speedboat was beached on the shore. Heather and Reva climbed in, and Adrian lifted the twins into the boat. Reva pulled the anchor in while Mack pushed the boat away from the bank, then he jumped in and sat in the ski boat’s captain chair and started the engine. Reva reached into one of the under-seat storage bins and tossed a life vest to Adrian.
“You want to do a beach start or a water start?” Mack yelled.
Adrian let the ski float beside him while he put the vest on. “Beach is fine.” He couldn’t help wanting to show off a bit for Heather.
“I’ll spot,” Reva offered.
“Thanks, Reva,” Adrian said. Heather might be too distracted by the twins to be able to watch out for dangers like other boaters or submerged logs. It was always necessary from a safety standpoint to have a designated person to be a line of communication between the skier and the boat’s driver. Reva would inform Mack if Adrian fell or if he decided to drop the rope and call it a day.
While the engine idled, Reva tossed the ski rope. Adrian caught it in midair, then waved to the twins as Mack backed the boat up and turned the bow toward the bay.
Adrian put the ski on and stood in knee-deep water with his right leg cocked to keep the ski’s tip sticking out of the water. He held the ski rope and watched the length play out. When only a few feet of slack snaked out across the surface of the water, Mack idled the boat and turned back to look. “Hit it?”
Adrian gave a thumbs-up, and Mack pushed the throttle wide-open. A second later, Adrian was skimming across the water with the wind in his face and the turbulence stirred up from the boat’s motor bumping under his ski. He pulled back on the double-handled rope and leaned right, jumping the wake onto smoother water. He rode that way for a while, waving to the twins who were both waving at him.
Then the real fun began. He zipped from left to right and back again, jumping the wake and using momentum to build speed on each end of the pendulum swing before crossing the wake again.
He did a few trick moves: a couple of turnarounds while jumping the wake, then skiing backward in the center of the wake. But when he turned back around after that one, he noticed that Heather was biting her pinkie nail and looking worried, so he decided from then on to enjoy a more sedate but still fun swing from one side to the other, over the wake and back again.
Reva stood and pointed out a good-sized stick bobbing in the water.
Adrian nodded and switched to the other side of the wake. Starting to get bored, he was thinking about dropping the rope and calling it a day when he noticed a twig sticking up in the water.
Then he hit the submerged log attached to the twig.
The rope ripped out of his hands, and the ski flew off his foot, wrenching his ankle and catapulting him up into the air. He cartwheeled down onto concrete-hard water, then somersaulted over the waves as a blinding spray of water went up his nose and down his throat.
He didn’t even see the ski spinning through the air until it smacked him in the face.
***
Heather screamed.
Reva pounded Mack on the back. “Stop! Stop. He’s down.”
Adrian floated, faceup at least but as limp and still as if he were dead. “Turn around, turn around,” Heather yelled at Mack.
“I am,” Mack yelled back. But he wasn’t turning, not yet. The boat had to slow down first. “Is he okay?” Concentrating on driving the boat, Mack couldn’t turn around to look.
“I don’t think so,” Reva answered. The fear in her voice ramped up Heather’s fear. She’d seen the ski hit Adrian in the face. It had hit him hard. So hard that it had spun off to land in the choppy waves fifteen feet away.
“Hurry, hurry,” Heather chanted. Adrian still hadn’t moved. At least he wasn’t facedown. If he had been, he would drown before they could get to him. And other boats were beginning to come in at the end of the day; someone not paying attention could run over him. “Oh my God, Mack. Hurry.”
Mack finally got the boat turned around and headed back to where Adrian floated, his head tilted back in the water, his chest held up by the flotation vest.
“Can’t you go any faster?”
“Mommy, Mommy,” Heather heard Caroline saying as if from a long way away. “Is Adrian dead?”
Heather’s mind flashed back to the scene of Dale’s death, when the kids had been gathered around him, screaming and crying out for Heather to do something.
Then, as now, she had been powerless.
The boat pulled even with Adrian’s lifeless body, and Mack cut the engine. “Reva. Drop the anchor.”
Heather looked over the side of the boat and felt her face and hands go numb. Adrian’s eyes were closed, his face a bloody mess.
Heather’s head seemed to be floating high above her body. She couldn’t go through this. Not again.
“Mommy,” Caroline screamed. Heather knew her daughter’s arms were wrapped around her, but she couldn’t feel them. “Help him, Mommy. Help him,” Caroline chanted, stringing more words together than she’d done in the last year. “Adrian’s not dying, is he? He’s not dying…?”
Joshua was uncharacteristically silent.
“Come here, baby.” Heather heard Reva’s soothing voice, felt her gentle hands breaking Caroline’s death grip on Heather’s legs. “You too, Joshua. We need to stay out of the way. Y’all come sit over here with me.”
Mack jumped over the side of the boat with a splash, then towed Adrian toward the ladder at the back of the boat.
“He’s breathing.” Mack swam with one arm supporting Adrian’s shoulders while he smacked Adrian’s blood-smeared cheek with his other hand. “Adrian. Wake up. I need you to help me.”
Adrian’s head lolled, but his eyelids fluttered, and his lips moved. Mack clung to the boat’s ladder with one hand and tried to lift Adrian’s shoulders up.
“Reva. Heather. Help me lift him into the boat. I can’t touch bottom here. I don’t have any leverage.”
“Yes,” Reva said immediately.
Heather wasn’t sure she could stand up without keeling over. She pulled herself together and leaned over the back of the boat and helped Reva grab Adrian by his upper arms.
Adrian’s skin was slippery wet and chilled from being in the water, but beneath the chill, she felt the warmth of his muscled flesh.
Heather’s rational mind tried to come online. This is Adrian. He’s hurt, but he’ll be okay. Ski accidents were rarely fatal.
The two women managed to lift Adrian up enough for Mack to get a foot onto the ladder.
Mack grabbed Adrian around the hips and powered up the ladder while Heather and Reva supported Adrian’s shoulders and walked backward until they had him in the boat.
Heather collapsed on the floor of the boat and dropped her head to her knees. Reva put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Heather shook her head no. “Trying not to faint.”
“Just breathe.” Reva’s voice sounded as if it was coming from a long way away. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks. He’s got a gash on his forehead and maybe a broken nose, so he won’t be so pretty for a while, but he’ll be okay.”
Heather could hear Caroline wailing in distress. Josh, always the loudest voice in the crowd, remained chillingly silent. She reached up to take Reva’s hand. “I’ll be okay. Please see to my kids.”
Heather pressed her forehead to the boat’s scratchy carpeting and gulped for air like a fish tossed up onto a bank. Reva’s calm voice soothed her children, and Mack’s strong, tak
e-charge tones talked to Adrian. “How many fingers am I holding up? Okay… What year is it?”
Mack’s tone changed when he talked to Reva. “I’m pretty sure he’s got a concussion, and he’s definitely gonna need stitches. Here. Put this…” His voice faded out, and Heather concentrated on breathing again. “…stop the bleeding, and…”
It wasn’t the sight of blood that was getting to Heather; it was the thought that she could so easily lose Adrian. Maybe not from this accident, but what would stop him from dying some other way? He could have a car accident driving from Magnolia Bay to New Orleans. He could get bitten by a snake while hiking or fall off a mountain while climbing or plunge off a precipice while snow skiing or fall out of the sky while riding in an airplane on a business trip. He could die a thousand different ways, and if he did, she would be unable to do anything to stop it from happening.
“Call 911,” she heard Mack say to Reva, “and get an ambulance to meet us…”
“Sit with him,” Mack told Reva. “I’m gonna get us to the dock.”
The boat started moving, and Heather eased upright slowly. Looking over the stern of the boat, she could see the slalom ski that had ruined Adrian’s face getting smaller in the distance, innocently bobbing in the reeds at the water’s edge.
“Heather.” She heard Adrian’s voice behind her.
“Don’t try to sit up,” Reva said.
“Heather,” Adrian said again. His voice sounded wrong—weak, nasal, and slurred, even though she knew he hadn’t been drinking at all today because he’d been so busy playing with her kids. And they had loved every minute of it. They were all falling in love with him, just as she was.
Just as she already had, God help her.
Magnolia Bay Memories Page 27