Like a bad dream, time froze. A child was going to die and Molly was the only one close enough to do anything.
Her heart accelerated into panic mode. Her throat constricted.
Another child was going to die. And it would be her fault—again.
Chapter Fifteen
“N
o!” she screamed and broke toward the lake, shedding her shoes and over-shirt as she ran.
She hit the water in a dead run. The icy cold sucked her breath away. Her pulse rattled wildly, threatening.
She would not, could not let the fear take over. A child’s life was at stake.
With a silent prayer for help, she plunged beneath the murky water. Her body rebelled against the cold. Her calves tightened at the unexpected temperature drop.
Molly ignored everything but the need to get to the child.
She fought through the incoming current, training her eyes on that distant spot. Then the orange shirt disappeared. Molly dove beneath the surface, eyes wide and stinging as she frantically searched.
All the while, she prayed. “Show me where he is. Help me get to him in time. Help me. Help me.”
An eternity seemed to pass while she thrashed beneath the waves. Her cold limbs grew heavy from exertion. Her chest felt as though it would explode.
Suddenly she glimpsed orange and, with one final burst of energy, lurched toward it.
Grabbing the loose shirt, she yanked the child’s head above the water.
Molly’s heart, already thundering from effort, nearly shattered.
He was nothing but a baby. A toddler, perhaps three years old. His eyes were closed. And his lips were blue.
“You’re okay, baby,” she said. But looking into his small, waxy white face she feared he was already dead.
Wrapping an arm around him, she lifted his limp body above the surface and, with every ounce of energy she could muster, raced toward shore. All the while,
she remembered the last lifeless body she’d held.
Don’t let another one die on me, Lord,
she prayed silently.
Not another one. He can’t die. He won’t die.
The words became an internal chant as she stroked hard and fast toward the crowd gathered along the bank. Long before her feet touched bottom, Ethan, grim-faced and determined, came wading toward her. He shoved the water aside with power and impatience—as if he controlled the very waves.
Exhausted, she drew on the last of her strength to thrust the child across the short distance that separated her from Ethan.
Ethan yanked the toddler into his arms and ran back toward land, whipping the water aside with his powerful strides.
Molly followed, relieved that Ethan was there to help. He’d know what to do. Numb and cold and terrified, she watched as his broad back bent over the boy and puffed a breath into the tiny nose and mouth.
Let him live. Let him live.
She wasn’t sure if she thought the words or spoke them.
When she stumbled ashore someone draped a tablecloth over her shoulders. She realized then that her body shook wildly. Water dripped from her hair into her eyes and mouth.
But she didn’t care. All that mattered was the boy.
She pushed through the ring of onlookers to where Ethan was performing CPR. She prayed. And begged.
Other than whispered prayers, a hush hung over the circle. The time seemed an eternity.
From somewhere nearby came a woman’s keening cry. Molly wished she would stop. Wailing meant they had given up. And they couldn’t give up. Not yet. Not ever.
Another eternity passed while Ethan pressed the narrow chest and breathed into a nose and mouth so small that the rescuer’s lips easily eclipsed them.
Shoulders tight as stretched leather, teeth chattering, Molly commanded, “Breathe, baby, breathe.”
As if her words were what he waited for, the toddler coughed. Ethan quickly turned him on his side and a gush of water spewed forth.
Then the most beautiful sound in the world filled the clearing. The little one began to cry. In seconds, he was calling for his mama.
Molly went limp, weeping with relief into her chilled palms.
“We got to him in time. He should be okay,” she heard Ethan say. “But you need to take him to the ER. Have him checked over to be sure.”
It was then that Molly saw her sister standing white-faced and horrified. Tears streaming from her eyes, she stood riveted to the scene.
“I only turned my back to get Tracy a drink,” Chloe said. “How did Corey get into the water so fast? How did…”
The keening noise issued from her lips, and Molly realized it was Chloe she’d heard before.
Her stricken gaze fell on Molly. “I nearly caused a child’s death. If you hadn’t seen him— If you hadn’t gone after him…”
Hysterical sobs broke loose and racked her thin body.
Regardless of what had gone on before, Molly couldn’t ignore her sister’s cries. No one understood the feeling of despair and remorse and horror any better than she did.
Gently, she touched her sister’s quaking shoulder.
“No, sis, don’t. Don’t blame yourself. Sometimes bad things just happen.”
Miraculously, as she comforted her sister, Molly, too, was comforted. The truth of her words soaked into the deepest part of her mind and blossomed there.
Sometimes bad things just happen.
A shudder rippled through Chloe. She lifted her teary face. “How can you be nice to me after the way I’ve treated you?”
“Easy.” Letting the tablecloth fall, Molly held out her arms. “I love you, sis.”
Chloe stumbled forward and fell against the much-shorter Molly. Her words, punctuated with sobs, were the redemption Molly had long prayed for.
“I’m sorry. So sorry for blaming you.” Molly realized she spoke of Zack. “It wasn’t your fault. I always knew that. Will you forgive me?”
Though she was tired to the core, Molly couldn’t remember when she’d felt such joy or release. She rubbed Chloe’s bony shoulder in comforting circles.
“There is nothing to forgive. All I want is to have my sister back again.”
Chloe pulled away and managed a damp and tremulous smile. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Most of the other people had wandered off, following the accident victim, murmuring in low, shocked tones. Chloe’s husband appeared at her side.
His own complexion, usually ruddy, was pale. “You girls all right?”
Her eyes were red, her face streaked with tears, but Chloe’s smile bloomed for real. “More than all right. Everything is going to work out now, James. I promise.”
“Thank God.” He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, Molly recognized her own hurt, confusion, and finally relief in him. James had suffered, too. Everyone suffered from unresolved bitterness.
“Yes,” Ethan said, moving up to stand beside Molly. “Thank God.”
James’s smile was gentle and loving as he slipped an arm around his wife. “Come on, honey. We could all use some rest. But first we need to round up these little tots and get them home.”
“I want to go to the hospital to make sure Corey’s all right.” Chloe’s tear-filled eyes followed a car streaking away with Corey inside.
“Then let’s get going.”
With a final hug and a promise to call tomorrow, Chloe and James started up the rise toward the dispersing crowd.
Molly’s emotions were a jumble as she watched her sister walk away. Fear, relief, joy and, most of all, hope swirled around inside her. As awful as it had been, the near-tragedy had given her hope that she and Chloe could be sisters again.
Shivering with reaction and cold, Molly bent
to retrieve the tablecloth. As her shaking fingers touched the vinyl, Ethan swooped it up. He placed the soft flannel backing around her shoulders, along with his strong arm.
“You were amazing.” He gazed down at her with an expression that almost made her forget how scared she’d been.
“So were you.”
“No. I mean you were more than amazing. You saved that little boy from a certain drowning. You didn’t panic, Molly. You took control and did what had to be done to save his life.”
The truth washed over her. She’d been scared, but she hadn’t panicked. She had faced a crisis with a child, and she had not crumbled into hysteria. She had not lost control.
Both she and the little boy were fine.
For the first time in two years, her thoughts became crystal-clear as the truth awakened within her. She turned her face into the warmth and protection that was Ethan’s chest. “I have been such an idiot.”
He said nothing, only rubbed his hands up and down her shivering arms. And then, as if he understood, he heaved a great sigh and enfolded her.
Burrowing close, Molly absorbed his wonderful warmth, the scent of his skin, the essence of him. “I’ve been scared for so long that I had forgotten how to live. Only an idiot would hold on to crippling fear and let go of you and Laney.”
His grip tightened.
“Are you saying what I hope you’re saying?” he asked, his voice a deep purr of hope against her ear.
“I need you in my life, Ethan. You and Laney. Will you forgive me?”
“Forgive you? All I ever wanted was to make you see yourself as I see you. A woman of compassion and love. Brave and strong.” He rocked her back and forth. “The past is the past. Let it stay there.”
The past is the past.
Yes, she could accept that now.
Tilting her head back, she contemplated his wonderful face. She was incredibly blessed to be loved by him. Why hadn’t she seen that before?
She raised a fingertip to tenderly trace the long scar over his eyebrow. “I love you, Ethan Hunter.”
“Scars and all?” he asked.
“Scars and all.”
The doubt lingering in his expression faded away. He rocked her back and forth and said, “I think you’ve seen the end of the panic attacks, don’t you?”
“Maybe. But even if I haven’t, I won’t let them interfere with us again. I’ll get through them and keep going. Someday they’ll only be a bad memory.”
A sigh of relief shuddered through him. She’d hurt him, and yet he was here, ready to give her another chance.
“We’ll get through them together,” he murmured, placing a kiss on her wet hair. “Marry us, Molly. Me and Laney.”
Her heart slammed into her ribcage. Her breath came in short puffs, but this time only happiness came along for the ride.
It wasn’t the kind of proposal she’d dreamed of, but somehow it was perfect. “Okay.”
Ethan tilted her away from him a little and stared into her eyes. “Did you just agree to be my wife? And Laney’s mom?”
“Yes, I did.”
With a whoop of joy, Ethan lifted her high into the air, twirling her round and round. In the distance, their friends turned startled faces in their direction.
Molly didn’t mind. Cold and wet and absolutely ecstatic, she laughed down at this man who’d helped her escape from her frozen prison and step into the warm sunlight that was life and love.
Slowly Ethan lowered her to the sand, pulled her close, and warmed her shivering lips with his.
From the rise a hundred yards away, Molly heard the sound of applause.
Epilogue
A
winter storm watch had been issued by the National Weather Service for the entire quadrant of southeastern Oklahoma. As yet, nothing fell in Winding Stair and the temperatures hovered above the freezing mark. None of this mattered one whit to Ethan. Like the postman, no amount of rain, sleet or snow could keep him from his appointed rounds. Not today. No way.
Heart thump-thumping like the blades of a chopper, he stood in front of the Winding Stair Chapel’s sanctuary wearing his Sunday best and waiting for a glimpse of his bride.
With his brother beside him as best man and
his parents beaming approval from the second pew on the left, he experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all that had transpired over the course of a year.
On the advice of family and pastor he and Molly had waited most of a year to take their vows. Time to know one another better, months of counseling and spiritual growth, months to confirm what they already knew: God had blessed them each with exactly the right helpmate.
He heard titters, saw the smiles of indulgent amusement, and followed the guests’ turned heads to see his baby girl, now over a year old, barreling toward him. Mouth wide open, her blue eyes danced with the thrill of spotting her daddy.
Ethan grinned. Since she’d learned to walk, Laney had one gear and it was stuck on run. An awkward, fall-down-at-any-moment run.
Dressed like an angel in some kind of white fluffy material Molly had chosen, she wore tiny gossamer wings and a head wreath of flowers and streaming purple ribbons.
She arrived in front of him with her arms stretched upward. He swooped her into his arms, planted a kiss on her nose, and hoped she continued to behave. But whether she did or not made no difference, really. Molly had insisted Laney be part of the ceremony. After all, when he’d proposed he asked her to marry both of them. And so she would.
His chest filled with happiness. Until Molly came along, other than raising his child, he’d had no plans, no dreams for his future. He’d been stuck in a rut
as surely as he’d been stuck in the ice on the night
they met.
Now, they had plans and dreams together. They would build a house, a big one with plenty of rooms. Someday they’d have more kids.
With his blessing, Molly and her sister had opened their dream craft store. And Molly had stolen his heart even more by insisting on caring for Laney while she worked. As a result, the bond was so strong between woman and child that he’d suffered a twinge of jealousy the first time Laney cried for Molly instead of him.
And because of Molly’s encouragement, he would be a full-time pilot again come spring. Truly he was a blessed man.
The music changed just then, and with a lurch, he recognized the chords announcing the bride’s entrance. She took his breath, did his Molly. Simple and elegant, she looked like a snow queen floating toward him.
Laney strained toward the beautiful apparition, babbling wildly. Ethan considered doing the same.
* * *
Molly had watched as her daughter-to-be raced toward Ethan and leaped into his arms. Her own excitement level on overdrive, she wanted to follow suit.
Instead, she took her time, gliding down the aisle, giving tiny waves and big smiles to all the friends and family gathered in the chapel. She stopped at the third pew to hug Aunt Patsy and at the second to kiss her mom.
Chloe, her matron of honor, waited beside the pastor, playing one-handed patty-cake with Laney.
So many things had changed for the better. Her faith was stronger. She had her family back. Fear no longer ruled her life.
All because of Ethan.
She glided into place and turned toward him, unable to keep her eyes off the man who would finally become her husband today. Movie-star handsome in his rented tux, he winked at her, his smile wide and white and jubilant as he handed Laney into Chloe’s waiting arms.
The soloist began to sing, “Make My Heart Your Home,” their promise to each other.
Molly leaned her head toward Ethan and whispered, “We may spend our honeymoon iced in.”
“Sounds good to me,” he murmured against her ear. “I know this perfect little farm outside of town. We could pop some popcorn. Play a little Scrabble. Snuggle in front of the fireplace.”
Suppressing a giggle, she whispered back, “Sounds good to me, too.”
And it did. It truly did. How fitting to return as husband and wife to the place where God had shaken their worlds and led them to each other. The place where both of them had begun to thaw.
The music ended and Pastor Cliff began to speak. Molly heard nothing except the singing in her heart.
Yes, the painful past seemed light years ago.
Ethan turned in her direction and smiled.
Lost in the blue eyes of her beloved, Molly placed her hand in his outstretched one and let the future begin.
* * * * *