The Deputy's New Family (15 page)

“This place is incredible,” Nick said softly.

Beth jumped at the chance to act normal. Even if it was only small talk about the area, it was something. Something to stop the noisy thoughts inside her head.

“Wait till you see the shipwreck. It’s sort of eerie but really neat and stands right out of the water. This whole area is a diving preserve because of all the sunken ships. Gerry and Julie have dived here before.”

“Really? I didn’t know. Lake Superior, sure, everyone’s heard that song.”

Beth chuckled despite the heaviness in her heart. Who hadn’t heard about the wreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald?
“There’s quite a seafaring history on Lake Michigan as well as Superior. Amazing how these lakes can turn deadly.”

Nick’s brow furrowed and his skin paled. “Ah, I didn’t need to hear that.”

Beth stopped walking and faced him. The noise was back in her brain. “That’s how I feel, Nick. Every time you go to work.”

He kicked a piece of driftwood. “I know it’s not easy. My parents may have split up because my mom couldn’t handle the demands of my dad’s job. But you’re strong, Beth. More so than you realize.”

She hadn’t planned on doing this today. She’d wanted to discuss it later, but the words seemed to bubble up and flow out of her before she could stop them. “I don’t know if I can handle it. If I can handle
us.
You can’t promise to come home unharmed.”

Nick looked at her. His eyes looked red-rimmed and lost. His nose was sunburned and his hair shone like burnished copper in the sun. He tipped his head back to look at the sky and then zeroed in on her. “Can anyone make that promise? Beth, we’re in God’s hands. Not our own.”

Looking into Nick’s somber eyes, she couldn’t say another word. What argument did she have for that one? Other than her lack of trust in God to see her through the heartache of losing Nick. And that’s what it all boiled down to. A matter of trust in the unseen and unknowable future. A strong person might be able to do that. But she wasn’t strong. Not at all.

“What about Corey?” Nick asked.

Beth nodded. She fought against the pounding headache that echoed deep in her heart.

Corey needed stability and like it or not she was part of that stability for now. “I’ll help through the summer as his tutor, but that’s all I can be. It might be best for you to find another care provider.”

Nick gave her that lopsided smile that wasn’t much of a smile at all. “Corey’s going to his grandparents’ for a couple weeks. They’ll keep up with Corey’s reading and I’ll look for someone else then.”

Beth fought for control and managed a clipped nod. Her mother knew from the get-go that Nick would find someone else through the summer months, but this still felt like a betrayal. An end.

She couldn’t hear any whispers from her heart now. Nothing came to her but a dull ache. She sighed. “Come on, let’s see that wreck.”

Nick looked at her with gloomy eyes, as though he’d lost his best friend. And maybe she had, too.

* * *

“I don’t like the look of those clouds.” Julie packed up what was left of dinner.

Nick overheard that muttered comment over the sound of the beach umbrella flapping furiously in the wind. Wind that had really picked up. He scanned the horizon, where those dark clouds Julie had mentioned hovered far away.

He’d hinted at leaving early a couple of times. It was pretty tough hanging out with Beth. Pretty tough to act normal when his heart had taken a beating. There was no getting her back from this one. No pushing for something more between them. Beth didn’t want to be the wife of a cop. End of story.

“Wind’s coming out of the west, southwest. I think we can outrun it.” Gerry gave his wife a wide grin.

It was a braggart kind of grin that didn’t give Nick much comfort. Great, this guy wanted to play cowboy.

They’d lingered too long over dinner, but Gerry wanted to wait and sail back by sunset. He said there was nothing like it. Well, Nick could have done without the added treat if it meant getting home safe and sound.

After an afternoon spent hiking and lounging on the beach, everyone was beat. But Gerry suddenly kicked into high gear. He and Julie moved quickly, getting their beach gear loaded onto the dinghy while the rest of them trudged along.

Nick remembered that kind of adrenaline rush. The anticipation of a challenge ahead. He could feel it bouncing off Gerry like a rubber ball. Only Nick wasn’t feeling up to a challenge today. And he had a bad feeling this day was about to get worse. Fast.

“Come on, everybody. Let’s go.” Gerry waved his arm, gesturing to load up.

Nick looked at his beautiful but cowardly Beth. She wanted to run away from what they had, thinking it’d be easier. For who? Her? But the reality of how right she was hit hard. As the daughter of an officer, Beth had seen what it was like to be married to a cop. Her eyes were wide-open. Maybe he was the naive one thinking that love and faith were enough to keep them together. All he knew was that he loved her. Blindly, deeply and forever.

And that’s why he’d let her go.

Beth didn’t seem the least bit concerned about the clouds as she helped the kids climb into the smaller boat they used to shuttle back to the
Showoff.

He thought about that wreck of the
Morazan
freighter they’d seen offshore sticking straight up out of the water. Gerry had explained that she’d run aground in the fall of 1960. There were a whole lot of shipwrecks littering this Manitou Passage. Big ships.

Bigger than the
Showoff.

Nick rubbed the back of his neck where the hairs felt prickly. He grabbed the life vest on the bench seat of the dinghy. “Corey. Put this on.”

His son’s eyes went wide at his sharp tone.

“Please,” Nick said softly.

He glanced at Beth.

She’d quieted, too, at his barked order.

Millie’s parents gusseted her up in a life vest, too. And the girl’s father kept staring toward the west and those clouds that were building.

The ride from shore was quick, but a distant rumble of thunder quieted the chatter as they climbed aboard the sailboat.

Nick looked around the cockpit and then asked Beth, “Where’s the adult vests?”

She patted the cushioned benches. “Under here.”

“Let’s get them on.”

“Dude.” Gerry slapped him on the back after securing the dinghy to the back of the boat. “We’re fine. We’ll stay ahead of it. Might even miss it entirely, according to radar.”

Nick reached under the bench anyway. “I’m used to wearing a different kind of life vest at work, so I’d feel better with one on.”

“Suit yourself.” Gerry ducked into the cabin.

“Beth?” He handed her one.

She narrowed her gaze and then slipped it over her T-shirt and secured it. She gave him a quick nod. Better to be safe.

The air hadn’t cooled in spite of the stiffer wind. Warm southwest wind, Gerry had said. Nick didn’t care where it came from. All he knew was that the chop on the water had increased by the time they had pulled out from the protection of the island’s harbor into the open waters of the Manitou Passage.

Nick tried to remain calm, but forty-five minutes later the sun had been swallowed whole by those clouds. The ones Julie didn’t like.

Nick didn’t like them, either.

Those clouds had made a dark bluish-gray wall. The wall was gaining on them. Moving fast. He spotted a fork of lightning, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know how to sail; what orders could he possibly give?

Wouldn’t have mattered if he’d spoken aloud—the wind would have stolen his words and thrown them away. He could barely hear himself think over the constant slapping of the wind against the sails and waves sloshing against the boat. Not to mention Gerry and his brother spouting out terms Nick had never heard.

They sort of tilted in the water. Nick held on tight and wedged himself in the corner where the cabin met the cockpit. When he spotted Gerry and his brother pulling on life vests, his stomach turned. They were in for a rough time ahead.

“Anything I can do?”

Gerry shook his head. “Go below for now with the women and children. It’s going to get a little dicey and wet up here.”

Nick swallowed a bruising retort.

“Wet and wild.” Gerry’s brother, on the right side deck, had a big grin on his face.

The two men enjoyed this a little too much. Nick understood the feelings from working undercover. Man against man, Nick knew his chances. Man against nature was something else entirely and completely unpredictable. He clenched his teeth as he slipped into the cabin. There were bigger reasons for this boat’s name and he’d not spout them here and now. But he prayed those reasons wouldn’t get them all into trouble.

In the cabin, Beth and Millie’s mom sat tucked in by the little galley table. Julie had stashed things in cupboards and compartments that locked with a click before they left South Manitou. But she kept finding things that might dislodge and fly across the cabin, like the card game the kids played earlier.

Right now those two kids stared wild-eyed out the little cabin windows while they huddled on that flat surface in the front.

Julie and Millie’s mom wore their life vests, too.

“This is so cool.” Corey watched the waves that were too close to the left side window for Nick’s comfort.

He didn’t care for the spray of water that occasionally came into the cabin, either. “Yeah, cool.”

Nick looked at Beth. She’d slipped on her windbreaker over her vest but still looked pretty calm. Maybe there was nothing to worry about. He was a novice at this kind of thing.

But when he sat down next to her and took her hand in his, she held on tighter than a death grip.

* * *

They were moving so fast. And the sound of distant thunder grew louder.

Closer.

Beth rethreaded her fingers through Nick’s, glad for his steely calm. If she held on tight enough, maybe some of that strength would seep into her, too. The rocking motion wasn’t treating her well. All of them looked as if dinner wasn’t getting along well with the waves. Except for Corey. The rough seas didn’t seem to bother the kid at all.

They kept the cabin door open for air. Spray from the waves spattered through. Occasionally water whooshed right over the side into the cockpit, soaking Gerry at the wheel. The cold water spit against her bare legs and she wished she’d thought to bring pants.

The wind had considerably increased. She thought she heard twenty-five knots, maybe even thirty, bandied about by the guys above. The boat heeled far to the side when hit by a sudden gust and Gerry yelled directions to his brother.

Millie squealed and her mom reached for her.

Beth had slipped from her seat, but Nick caught her and pulled her against him. He looked a little green, too.

“You kids okay?” he called out.

Corey’s eyes were huge as he lay on the bed in the V-shaped front of the boat. “What was that?”

“Hang on, bud.” Nick’s arms stayed locked around her.

Julie shrugged. “A hard gust of wind. We might have to go topside or we’ll all be sick down here.”

Beth glanced at the kids and shuddered. She felt safer in the cabin, where the water couldn’t pull them off the boat.

“Why can’t we use the engine to motor us home?” Nick asked.

“The engine is for calm days and maneuvering around a harbor or close to shore. Totally ineffective in wind like this. It’s okay—the storm will pass.”

Beth took a deep breath. Hunker down and wait it out. They were safe in the cabin and dry. Julie and her husband had sailed in storms before. They’d ride this one out.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall onto Nick’s shoulder. Helpless. She prayed they’d make it to shore soon, before she got sick. It’d been a long time since they’d left South Manitou. They had to be halfway across to Leland’s harbor by now.

The wind only increased, taunting them, laughing at the men’s attempts to harness it with sailcloth. Why had they done this, anyway? The sound of the wind was nothing compared to the roar of the rain. At first big drops hit the cabin roof with a
tap, tap, tap.
Then a deluge shrieked over the lake.

The boat heeled again, tipping farther this time. The kids screamed and even Julie looked concerned when a wave of water sloshed over the side of the stern into the cockpit.

“I’m going to get sick, Mama.” Millie started to cry.

Nick got up but had to hold on to the table to keep from falling back down. “I can’t stay in here.”

Beth watched him make his wobbly way out of the cabin, but he leaned in the corner of the cockpit, hanging on to the railing. The rain, the waves and the lake were one color. Gray. She could barely see where the edge of the white boat stopped and the lake started, it rained so hard.

No way was she going out there.

“Yeah, we should all go up top.” Julie tried to get up but slipped backward when the boat pitched again.

“No,” Beth whispered. She wouldn’t leave the cabin. “Corey, come sit by me, bud.”

The boy scooted close and Beth held him tight.

“What’s that?” Nick shouted.

“That’s the crib!” Gerry yelled above the roaring rain. “It was portside a moment ago. Come about!”

“I can’t see a thing,” his brother screamed back. “Gerry!”

“Come about now!”

More howling wind and roaring rain.

The boat heeled hard. Beth came off her seat and fell on the floor, taking Corey with her.

“Get to the high side!” Julie pulled herself along the table.

Beth tried to get up but spotted the windows along the low side of the boat. They were covered by water. Her stomach dropped and then it felt as if they’d been lifted and tossed. She felt a shuddering crunch that made her teeth chatter.

“What was that?” Millie’s mom whispered.

Turning her head, Beth saw that the young woman was on the floor, too. Millie had thrown up.

Beth’s stomach lurched, but the bile inching up her throat froze. She trembled, closed her eyes and prayed her belly would settle when she realized what they’d hit.

How could Gerry not have seen the North Manitou Shoal Lighthouse smack in the middle of the passage? They’d passed it on the way, but its red light had been doused then, not needed. But what about a few moments ago?