Page 9 of Forever My Lass

The sailboat suddenly dropped downward in the water as a wave crashed into the hull. A second later, it rose up to land hard on the crest of another wave. The captain shouted something at one of his crew members and pointed toward the shoreline. Madeline’s gaze followed the direction of the man’s gesture and saw what looked like a small inlet. Was the man going to try to dock there?

No sooner had the thought flitted through her head when the sailor turned the boat’s spoked wheel. Relief streaked through her as the vessel changed direction for a second time. Almost as if the sea were angry at the captain’s attempt to evade the storm, an enormous wave of water flew up over the side of the boat onto the deck to soak her tennis shoes. Madeline grimaced at how cold the water was.

Overhead, the sails flapped, then bulged against the gusts of wind as the boat shifted its heading. Her gaze flitted back to study the captain’s weather-worn face. As a hospice nurse, she’d learned to read facial expressions and body language to know when her patients were in pain. Although the man behind the ship’s wheel smiled at her when he met her gaze, she knew he was a lot more worried than he was willing to let anyone see.

The captain barked an order at one of his crew as a wave slammed into the side of the sailboat. Madeline watched the sailor nod sharply, then scurry along the deck toward the bow. The shoreline was close now, and Madeline frowned as she studied the inlet they were heading toward. It looked familiar, but she couldn’t figure out why. She didn’t have time to think about it as a tall wall of water rose over her head, then crashed down on her and the other passengers.

Madeline gasped as the icy sea water drenched every inch of her. The vessel bounced up and over another wave, then downward, only to shoot upward again. Fear streaked through her as she double-checked to ensure the clasps on her life vest were properly secured. She was a strong swimmer, but no one, not even an Olympic medal holder, stood a chance of making it to shore from this far out. If the worst happened, at least she’d have enough buoyancy to stay afloat while trying to kick her way toward shore. If she could even do that, a voice of panic cried out inside her head.

Madeline raised her head and focused her gaze on the small cove they were headed toward. They were close now, and she could see the small beach in the center of a horseshoe of menacing rock formations. The majority of it looked like small pebbles and jagged rocks. If there was sand, she didn’t see any, and she didn’t care. It was solid ground. It offered safety and a guarantee she wouldn’t drown off the coast of Scotland.

Her breath caught in her throat as the water beneath the sailboat tossed them to one side. She whispered a small prayer that the captain could avoid the rocks. Madeline suddenly stiffened as she recognized the inlet and the rocks forming a gateway into the cove. It was the one she’d seen in her dreams over the years. Almost afraid to look, her gaze flew upward to the top of the cliffs to see the lone male figure standing on the precipice high above the inlet.

She drew in a sharp breath of surprise. Was it him? It was the first time she’d ever seen him from this angle. In her dreams, he was always on her left and too far away to see his features clearly. Unable to take her eyes off of him, she saw his long, dark coat fly outward and flap violently around his legs. Her heart skipped a beat. It was just like in her dreams. Only she wasn’t on the cliff now. She was on a boat heading toward the inlet.

A volley of harsh instructions roared out of the captain. Madeline jerked her gaze away from the man on the cliffs and looked back toward the helm. In quick succession, the helmsman rattled off orders as the ship bounced hard against the water and made its way past the outer edges of the rocks lining the cove. Staring at something over Madeline’s shoulder, the captain’s tanned skin became gray as the color drained from his face. Before she could turn her head to follow his gaze, a violent wave hit the side of the sailboat. The strength of it lifted the boat up on its side.

Screams filled the air as she tried to grab hold of the steel bar behind her, but her fingers slipped right off the wet metal. Arms flailing, she tried to find something to hold on to as she slid across the deck and into the water. An instant later, the ship rolled over. Pain slammed through her as her head hit something hard. A grunt escaped her and sea water flooded her mouth as she drifted downward into an ocean of black water.

§ § §

Dank air filled Madeline’s nostrils as her eyes fluttered open. It was pitch black, and her teeth were chattering from the icy water she was immersed in up to her neck. God, where was she? She fought to remember, and the soft tendril of a memory drifted through her head. The instant it reached the forefront of her brain, she gasped.

The sailboat. It had capsized. A pocket of air must have formed as the boat had hit the water, but she couldn’t remember how she’d found it. The last thing she remembered was something hitting her head, then trying to remain conscious as sea water flooded her mouth and choked the air from her lungs.

Oh God, was she dead?

Panic fanned its way through her, and she frantically dog paddled as she blindly searched the blackness for something to hold on to until her fingers brushed across a strip of wood. Desperately, she wrapped her stiff fingers around the edges and clung to it as she tried to control her fear. Fighting to remain calm, she focused on how unusual the wood felt beneath her fingers. It was roughhewn and slimy. The wood certainly didn’t feel like something on the sailboat. It reminded her of a wet piece of wood one might find on the beach after a storm.

For the first time, Madeline realized she was no longer wearing a life vest, she continued to cling to the wood with one hand, while wildly slapping the surface of the water in search of the floatation device. An explosive screech of wood and metal filled the air, and her heart slammed into her chest. She didn’t have a clue what had made the sound. Liar, you know exactly what it is, Madeline. The boat is on the rocks.

Fear slithered through her, and her heart pounded in her chest. A voice in the back of her head ordered her to relax. Panic wouldn’t help her escape, and she could easily die of shock before hypothermia set in completely. She tried to slow her breathing and succeeded a small fraction before she tried to form a plan of action.

“Think…Madeline. Think,” she said fiercely as her teeth chattered a loud noise in her ears. “Okay, the ship is…upside down, that means…the surface…air…is above me. Brilliant, Madeline. How…do…we get up there?”

Christ, if she had some light, she could figure out which way to go. What if she followed the hull of the ship upward? No, she might not have enough air for that, and if the boat was on the rocks then she—if? Don’t be an idiot, Madeline. That sound had to have been the hull scraping against the rocks. If she were to swim up along the bottom of the boat, she could easily be crushed between the rocks and the ship. Worst-case scenario, she swam in the wrong direction, and she might not find this pocket of air again.

“So what are you going to do, Madeline?”

The only answer that came back to her was the last thing she wanted to do. She needed to take a deep breath and go underwater to see if there was a source of light to show her the water’s surface. The question was whether she’d be able to see something, and if she did, could she reach it? One thing was certain. She sure as hell couldn’t stay here.

If she didn’t drown, at best she had an hour before she succumbed to hypothermia, and she was damn sure the air would run out long before that happened. The ship shifted slightly, accompanied by more sounds of metal and wood screeching against the rocks. It was a terrifying sound, and she gasped with fear.

“Oh God, please. I don’t want to die,” she whispered as she closed her eyes.

“Don’t be afraid, Maddie. Let go. He’ll be there.” The quiet reassurance in her grandmother’s voice made Madeline draw in a sharp breath.

“Grandma?” she whispered.

“Let go now, Maddie. Let go now, before it’s too late.”

Without questioning the voice, Madeline drew in a deep breath, then pushed herself down and outward, away from the ship. Above her head, a flash of light revealed a path upward to the surface. With a vicious kick of her legs, she swam as hard as she could. Seconds later, her head was above water. She took a breath only to have sea water rush into her mouth as a wave tossed her beneath the water before she kicked her way up again. Coughing, she twisted around in the water, trying to find the inlet’s beach. There was still light out, and she could see the dark hull of the ship outlined in the gray darkness.

For a moment, she stared at it in confusion. The vessel was tilted to one side, with her bottom impaled on top of the rocks. Lightning flashed, and her mouth filled with sea water again as she gasped at the sight of a large smokestack funnel with three masts sharply outlined in the near darkness.

“What the—”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence as a wave rolled over her head and pushed her downward. When she bobbed to the surface again, she saw lights a short distance away. Another flash of light overhead revealed people standing on the rocks near the shipwreck. Every muscle in her body was contracting, which made it difficult to stay afloat as her legs were beginning to stop doing what her brain was telling them to do. It was now or never. With as hard a kick as she could, she floundered her way toward the rocks. She’d gone only two strokes when another wave rolled over her and pushed her beneath the water.