Part 17 (2/2)

In that case, she had to try. Now. She'd have backup once she was close enough to signal for help and let them know where she was. And she was a decent swimmer. She could stay afloat long enough for someone to get to her, even if she couldn't make it all the way to sh.o.r.e.

Ignoring the insistent dizziness and the pounding headache, Tessa cast a wary look at her father. He seemed to have forgotten about her already, lost in his fantasy of reuniting with his wife. For a moment, Tessa let herself experience the full weight of crus.h.i.+ng sadness that she would never be the son her father had always wanted-and he would never be the loving father she'd longed for.

Then she forced herself to wobble up to a half crouch, holding on to the side of the boat, and said a quick prayer. Then she took a deep breath and dove into the water.

Chapter 21.

Johnny scrambled down the hill above the sh.o.r.e, his boots skidding on the loose gravelly sand. He'd never seen any sight so welcome as the sheriff's department SUV parked at an angle behind the abandoned black truck just off Sh.o.r.eline Drive.

As he'd quartered the island, searching desperately for some sign of the truck that had tried to run Tessa and him off the road, the thought that haunted Johnny's mind was ... what if he was looking in the wrong place?

When he'd noticed Angie missing, all those years ago, he'd wasted precious minutes tearing the house apart from top to bottom, and it had cost him his sister. The most precious thing in his life ... until now.

So when he'd pulled in next to the sheriff's car and followed the tracks down toward the water, Johnny had been filled with relief. Not only had he managed to find the truck, but now he'd have backup with whatever went down.

He thought he was prepared, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when he reached the muddy edge of the sh.o.r.e and stared out across the water.

There was a boat floating in the ocean, rocked by the movement of the water, and completely empty of human life. Tessa was gone.

His heart stopped. It was his worst nightmare come to life. He staggered a few paces into the water, barely registering the frigid temperature, but a hand on his shoulder pulled him back.

”Coast Guard is coming.” A tall, serious-faced woman in a tan uniform with a gold star clipped to the belt pointed past him to the large boat steaming toward the smaller craft. ”She called from her phone, let us know exactly where to send them.”

”My wife,” Johnny gasped, the words tasting like ashes and brine. ”Tessa. I think she was in that boat. Did you see what happened to her?”

”She jumped in, and the man jumped in after her. No, sir- Wait!”

But Johnny couldn't wait. He'd caught a glimpse, only a flash, of movement on the far side of the empty boat. Tessa was out there. And she wasn't alone. She needed his help.

Tearing off his jacket and shoes, Johnny waded into the water and started slicing his way toward the boat with fast, clean strokes. His shoulder muscles warmed up, loosening and propelling him through water so cold, it felt like knives against his skin. Tessa was in this water, trying to stay afloat, trying to stay warm. He pushed himself harder until he was close enough to pause, treading water, to scan the water around him.

The Coast Guard had beaten him to the boat, and they were loading a gray-haired man in sodden flannels onto their deck, but Tessa was nowhere in sight. Johnny's vision dimmed, history repeating itself in the most sickening, soul-killing way possible, but he kept looking.

And there! A flash of pale, chilled skin, a waving hand behind him, closer to sh.o.r.e. Johnny threw himself toward the person he'd spotted. When he got to where he thought she'd been, he searched the murky depths with frantic eyes but saw nothing.

Swirling his hands through the water, he dove once, twice, three times, forcing his burning eyes open ... and on the fourth dive, his fingers caught on rough fabric.

He clamped down and hauled upward with all his strength, using great, scissoring kicks to shoot them up toward the sun-dappled waves above. Breaking the surface of the water, he dragged in a breath and pulled the sodden, limp form of his wife into his arms.

Tessa's head sagged toward him, her lips a terrifying shade of blue. He kissed her, shocked at the chill of her skin.

”Come on, honey, come on,” Johnny chanted as his fingers sought out her pulse. There-distinct and strong enough to make Johnny's legs momentarily go numb with relief.

He kicked them awake in time to keep him and Tessa from sinking.

”Johnny.” Her lashes tickled his cheek. ”You're here. What are you doing here?”

”I came to rescue you,” he said, unable to stop himself from nuzzling her cheek. ”But that turned out to be unnecessary, since you'd already rescued yourself. And called out the Coast Guard to capture your abductor.”

”My father!” She stiffened in his arms, trying to raise her head to peer around and simultaneously nearly drowning them both.

Once Johnny got both their mouths above water once more, he said, ”Your father? It was your dad who's been following us?”

She nodded miserably, tufts of wet hair sticking up all over her head and making her look like an angry owl. ”He said ... Oh, Johnny, it was awful. I guess after I ran away, my mom left him? And it seemed like he blamed me for it, even though from my memories of growing up in that house, I can tell you that Mom was never happy. But still, he wanted her back. And I guess he thought that if I came home, she would, too.”

”And he was willing to take you by force, if you wouldn't go with him willingly.” The rage filling Johnny's chest was more buoyant than a life jacket.

She s.h.i.+vered against him, her legs tangling briefly with his before floating away. ”I thought I was on my own, that you were gone and wouldn't be riding to the rescue this time.”

”And you got yourself free and called for help.” A pang shot through Johnny's belly but he forced himself to smile at her. ”You're an amazing woman, Tessa Alexander. You don't need me to save you. Maybe you never did.”

”I'm still glad you're here.” She whispered it like a secret, like a confession torn from the depths of her soul, and Johnny wasn't too proud to clutch her close. He savored the cold rub of her nose under his ear, the hot wash of her breath against his neck.

She was alive. She was safe. And she was no longer his.

Where the h.e.l.l did they go from here?

Tessa s.h.i.+vered in his arms, her teeth chattering lightly, and Johnny snapped out of it. He knew exactly where Tessa was going from here-to the hospital, to get checked out.

”Sheriff,” he called over Tessa's shoulder. ”Can you call the paramedics?”

”Already done,” the uniformed woman a.s.sured him. ”They're dropping Miss Patty off at the docks to get water-taxied over to Winter Harbor General, then they're on their way here.”

Tessa's fingers clutched at Johnny's shoulders. ”Miss Patty! What happened?”

Johnny glared at the sheriff, who grimaced and mouthed ”Sorry” before striding away to supervise her deputies as they cuffed Tessa's father and read him his rights.

”Miss Patty is going to be fine,” Johnny said soothingly. ”But she had a little run-in with your father while he was looking for you, and she got a b.u.mp on the head.”

As if unconsciously, Tessa's hand lifted to the side of her own head, just behind her left ear. ”Oh, no,” she moaned, swaying against him. ”This is all my fault.”

Alarmed, Johnny brushed her fingers aside to explore the spot behind her ear. He found some swelling, but no blood, and said a quick silent prayer to hurry the paramedics in their direction.

”It's not your fault,” he told Tessa firmly.

”How can you say that? If I had never come here, my father would never have followed me. He and Patty would never have even met, and he never would have done anything to her. Now she's hurt, maybe hurt really badly, and it's all because of me.”

”First of all, Miss Patty is a tough old bird, and it's going to take more than this to slow her down. And secondly, take it from someone who's spent a lot of his life shouldering the blame for every d.a.m.n thing that happens in his vicinity-it's no way to live, honey.”

”But if I'd just been home, with Patty,” Tessa fretted.

”He might have hurt her anyway,” Johnny pointed out. ”I can't see Miss Patty sitting quietly by and letting him haul you off. Can you?”

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