Falling for the Single Dad (15 page)

Sharp, unrelenting pain stabbed Caroline's heart.

Caroline yanked the car off the road and into a gas station lot. “He's contacted the sheriff? And Braeden at the Coast Guard station?”

“Everybody's looking for her. Reverend Parks has organized a team of volunteers to help the sheriff's department comb the woods between the lighthouse and Kiptohanock.”

Her father's voice cracked. “Max is beyond distraught. What if somehow she's already slipped past them and hit open water?”

“There's a storm coming, Daddy,” she whispered into the phone.

He groaned. “Storm's already here.”

With a crackle of static, the call dropped. And the connection bridging the gap between Caroline and her father broke.

Chapter Seventeen

“Y
ou can't stop looking for her.” Weston grabbed hold of Braeden's arm. “We've got to find her. Suppose it was Max?”

Braeden's gaze never wavered. “I'd be going as crazy as you are right now, Wes. But we've done everything we can until this storm cell passes. The choppers from Air Station Elizabeth City are grounded and so are we for the duration. I'm sorry.”

Weston shook his head. “She's out there.” He gestured toward the sheets of rain pelting the Coast Guard station. “She's lost and alone. We have to do something.”

A flash of lightning lit the darkening sky. Weston jolted. Thunder boomed, shaking the building. The electricity flickered.

“No way we can risk venturing out in this until the worst is over, Wes.”

He pounded his fist on Braeden's desk. “By then, it could be too late.”

Seth touched Weston's arm. “Braeden's right. It's too dangerous for the search party to keep looking right now.”

Weston gritted his teeth. “I can't sit here doing nothing while my child is out there.”

“Izzie is more likely to head home since the storm has intensified. Somebody needs to be there for her.” Seth held up his gnarled hand at Weston's motion of protest. “Best thing you can do is wait it out at home.”

Braeden nodded. “I promise you as soon as it's humanly possible I'll have my guys back out there searching for her.”

Seth steered Weston to the station lobby. “I'll get the
Now I Sea
on the water, too. Lots of tidal creeks meander off the inlet. It wouldn't be hard for a youngster like her to get turned around.”

The waterman clamped a hand on Weston's shoulder. “She may be only a few miles, as the seagull flies, away from home right now. Hunkered somewhere safe. Taking shelter till the storm passes.”

Lightning crackled, splitting the sky open in a dizzying array of ozone-charged particles. Weston and Seth both flinched.

Weston gulped past the boulder lodged in his throat. “And if she hasn't beached the kayak? If she's on the water?”

Seth's eyes glimmered. “I was wrong before. Best thing you and anyone can do at a time like this is to pray. Pray hard.” He gripped Weston's forearm. “But none of us will give up looking. Not till she's safe in her bed this very night, son.”

* * *

Caroline did what she should've done fifteen years ago at the first sign of trouble—she went home. From Northampton County through Eastville, Nassawaddox and Exmore, she drove and prayed for Izzie to be found. Radio reports warned of flash flooding on the secondary roads off 13.

Home. Home. Home.

The rain beat the refrain onto the car roof. It took her entire focus to keep the car on the highway amid the torrential downpour. Wind gusts rocked the SUV from side to side.

As summer thunderstorms went, this was a bad one. Hands locked around the wheel, she cringed at the violent shotgun blasts of thunder overhead. When traffic snarled around Painter, she beat the wheel with the palm of her hand.

“Come on. Come on.” Vehicles ahead came to a halt. “Get out of the way and let me through.”

The windshield wipers worked at a frenzy. Creeping forward, finally, she reached the turnoff for home. Only to find the tiny bridge at Quinby washed out. Not a good idea to go through water in a car, but she had to get to Izzie. She had to get through. Izzie needed her.

Caroline clenched her jaw. Why hadn't she seen it earlier? Izzie needed her, but more importantly she needed Izzie in her life. Sending up a swift plea for mercy, she drove the car into the water. The rear tires spun, losing traction. Her heart raced.

The car lurched forward. Her breath hitched, but the car climbed out of the water to dry ground on the other side of the bridge. Bypassing Kiptohanock, she soon pulled into the Duer driveway. Yet the house lay dark and appeared deserted.

Her hands fell from the wheel, and she shrank into the seat. No one was home. She'd been so sure she was supposed to come here, but what now? The rain sounded upon the roof of the car like a hollow drum.

At the top of the driveway, headlights flashed. Momentarily blinded, she threw out a hand to shield her eyes. But to her overwhelming relief, her father's Silverado parked alongside.

The truck cab dinged. An interior light blazed as her dad thrust open the door. Slamming the door behind him, he tromped over to her car. Swathed from head to toe in his neon-yellow water slicker and black Wellington boots, he rapped his knuckle against the window. “Caroline?”

Catching the handle, she pushed open the door. “Have you found Izzie, Dad?”

“What're you doing here? You're supposed to be in Virginia Beach.”

Rivulets of rain drenched Caroline, soaking her T-shirt and waterlogging her jeans. “I had to be here, Dad. For Izzie.” She shivered.

He angled himself to shield her from as much of the rain as he could. “We haven't found her yet. The search was called off until the storm passes.”

“Where have you looked?”

He tugged Caroline toward the deep-planked porch of the inn. “Let's have this conversation out of the rain.”

Sheets of rain funneled off the eaves of the house. As her dad outlined the areas already searched, a growing certainty gripped Caroline.

“I know where she is, Dad.”

She clutched the sleeve of his coat. “I showed Izzie on the computer the track for Turtle Mama's PIT tag. Deep underwater, the turtle's gone stationary to recover her strength as is typical after egg laying.”

“Out to sea?” Her father shook his head. “If Izzie's out there... No one could survive out there on a night like this, Caroline. Especially not a nine-year-old 'come here in a kayak.”

“Not on the open water, Dad. There was a shoal. The last sandbar before the channel widens and spills into the ocean.”

“High tide's soon.” His mustache bristled. “That strip of land will disappear with the tide and beneath the storm waves if it hasn't already. She'll be trapped if she's taken shelter there.”

“I have to go.” Caroline lifted her chin. “I can't leave her out there.”

Her father seized hold of her hand. “You can't go out there. You won't make it.”

“I won't make it without you. Help me, Dad.” Rain lashed her face like a thousand stinging nettles. “Please.”

A half smile softened his weather-roughened features. “Never could resist a stray, could you, Ladybug?”

He raised his chin a fraction, too. “All right, daughter of mine.” Pulling her into a quick, fierce hug, her father kissed her forehead. “Let's go.”

Caroline slipped and slid down what had become a mud pit toward the dock. Discarding the flip-flops, she joined her surefooted father on board the
Now I Sea
. She untied the mooring lines as he cranked the engine. But the motor sputtered and failed. He exchanged a worried look with his daughter.

She steepled her hands under her chin. “Please. Please. Please.”

He tried again. The engine whined but sparked to life. And she released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

Not a pleasure boat, the tough little workhorse chugged away from the dock and into the tidal marsh. She stole a glance at her father behind the wheel. Seth Duer knew these waters like the back of his hand. If anyone could get them safely through these extreme conditions to rescue Izzie, it would be him.

The waves sluiced over the sides of the boat. She staggered and would've fallen except for her dad catching her arm.

“Sit down!” he shouted above the wind as the boat rocked. “Strap yourself in.”

Caroline sank onto a seat nearest the center mass of the boat and folded her arms around herself against the cold. Buffeted by the rain, he rummaged in a storage locker and tossed a rain slicker to her. “It'll keep the wind off you.”

She shuddered every time the lightning cracked across the sky. Struggling to make headway, nevertheless the
Now I Sea
chugged resolutely onward. Caroline kept lookout as the boat neared the location of the shoal.

“There.” Her father jabbed his finger at the upside-down kayak floating past the bow. “It's empty.”

She bit her lip. “Hurry, Dad. Hurry.”

Her father tightened his jaw. “Can't go much faster or we'll swamp the boat and flood the engine.”

They were running out of time, and she knew it. She prayed as hard as she'd ever prayed in her life they'd find Izzie on the shoal. Suppose the kayak had overturned in the water with Izzie inside?

Oh, God, please no. Help us find her safe. Help Izzie to be okay.

“Caroline!” Her dad nudged his chin toward a small elevation of land in the vastness of the raging water.

Arms wrapped around her updrawn knees, a tiny figure huddled in the middle of the rapidly diminishing sandbar. Her face hidden, the child's red hair reflected brown in the pouring rain.

The waterman cut the throttle and slowed the vessel. “I can't get any closer, or I risk grounding the boat.” He dropped anchor.

“Izzie!” Caroline clambered to the bow. “Isabelle.”

The wind caught and swallowed her words, but Izzie raised her head. Her mouth pulled down at the corners, she squinted into the watery horizon. Caroline waved frantically.

Izzie rose in one fluid motion. “Caroline!”

Stripping off the rain jacket, Caroline grabbed a life vest before jumping into the water. She flinched at the sudden cold. She sloshed through the waist-high water and fought her way toward the sandbank. The gravelly silt cut the bottom of her feet as she found a foothold onto dry land.

Caroline opened her arms wide as Izzie ran toward her. The child clasped Caroline in a stranglehold. “Are you okay, Ladybug?” She lifted Izzie's chin and examined her features.

“I thought you'd left me forever...” The little girl sobbed. “You didn't say goodbye. I couldn't find you.”

“I'm so sorry, Izzie. I'm here now. I'm so sorry I left you.” She peered at the worsening storm. “We've got to get you out of this, Ladybug.”

Kneeling, she helped Izzie into the life jacket. “We'll have to swim to the boat, honey.”

Izzie recoiled from the churning waves. “I can't.” She quivered. “I'm scared...”

“It's going to be okay, I promise.” Caroline clicked the buckle in place. “Climb onto my back, Monkey Girl.”

The child twined her legs around Caroline's torso and held on while Caroline staggered to her feet. Caroline struggled toward the water's edge. She prayed the water would help her carry Izzie's weight, and keep them buoyant.

Izzie gasped in shock as a wave washed over her bare legs. Her arms tightened around Caroline's neck.

Caroline lifted her chin and plowed forward. The water was already deeper and more treacherous since she'd reached the shoal.

She lost her footing.

“Caroline!” Izzie screamed.

They plunged underneath the water. Caroline scissor-kicked and jerked them skyward. Izzie had swallowed a mouthful of water and coughed. The child moaned.

“I won't let you go, Isabelle. Not ever,” she whispered in Izzie's ear.

Caroline's father threw a life ring out to them. In relief, she grasped hold. “We made it, Monkey Girl.” She shifted Izzie off her back, holding the little girl in her arms.

But when Caroline tried disentangling Izzie's death grip from around her neck, Izzie panicked and squeezed harder. “No, no, no...”

Caroline felt her strength ebbing. “I'm right here, Izzie. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. You have to let go, just for a second.”

Izzie cried and hung her head.

“Please, Ladybug...” Caroline breathed. “The special word, remember?”

Izzie's head snapped up. Her liquid blue eyes bored into Caroline's for a moment, searching Caroline's face. Then Izzie loosened her grip, allowing Caroline to insert the life preserver over her head.

Dog-paddling, Caroline shoved the ring through the waves toward the idling boat. Her father reeled in the lifeline, hand over hand, drawing them closer to the vessel.

He hauled Izzie onto the dive board and into the boat. Dripping water, the child stood trembling as he tugged Caroline on board. She'd no sooner found her footing than her father collapsed against the railing.

Reaching for him, she felt her heart staccato-step. “Dad? Are you all right? Dad?” He wasn't a young man. He'd already suffered one nearly catastrophic heart attack several years ago. Izzie held on to Caroline's shirttail as if holding on to life itself.

“I'm okay.” He scrubbed the pelting rain out of his face. Grasping the side of the boat, he leveraged himself upright. “Thank You, Lord,” he grunted. “Just in time.” He gestured.

Pivoting, she watched as the waves washed away all traces of the shoal. That could've been Izzie...

Her father enfolded Caroline and Izzie in a wet bear hug. “God's never early, but always just in time.” His beard shadow scraped Caroline's face as he kissed her cheek. “Ain't that so, Daughter?”

She closed her eyes and relished the feel of her father's embrace. “It is, Daddy. And thank you.”

He released her and patted Izzie's head. “Don't thank me yet. It's going to be harder to return home than it was to leave.”

With her arm around Izzie's shoulder, she followed her father to the wheel. “Isn't it always, Dad?”

Amid the pouring rain, her father's blue-green eyes—like the waters of the inlet on a blue-sky day—crinkled. “Not so hard when home is where the people you love, love you back.” He turned his attention toward the controls.

Warmth flooded the hollow places long empty in her heart. With Izzie on her lap, she sank onto the seat nearest her dad. She wrapped the raincoat around them both in an effort to share body heat and fend off the wind.