by Debbie Mason
In the distance he heard the sirens as the emergency vehicles raced for Greystone Manor.
Five minutes later, when the searchlights cut across the water, Marco stopped swimming to raise his arm, glad of the light, as night had fallen, the moon and stars buried beneath the clouds.
Daniel lifted his head from the paddleboard, seemingly disoriented. “Where am I?”
“Mr. Gallagher—Daniel—don’t try to get up, okay? Just stay down on the board.” He didn’t want him falling off and into the water. “Can you tell me what happened, sir? Do you have any pain?” he asked as he treaded water to the front of the board. Like most of his crew, Marco was a certified paramedic.
“My heart, I think. I had an attack last fall, you know.” His Irish accent was thick. The older man had returned to Harmony Harbor last summer, after spending the majority of his adult life in Ireland. No one knew why he’d come home.
Marco refocused on his patient. Daniel’s color appeared to be good. His breathing wasn’t labored, nor were his words slurred. And other than that brief moment of disorientation, he seemed aware of the situation. All good signs. “I heard about your attack, sir. Are you in pain now? Any light-headedness?”
“No. Although it might be the chill keeping the pain at bay.”
Possibly. An archaeologist, Daniel regaled him with stories about his digs while Marco swam the older man and his board to shore. For someone who’d been in distress not more than twenty minutes before, he appeared to be doing remarkably well. No sooner had Marco had the thought than things took a turn for the worse.
As soon as he stood up to push the paddleboard the rest of the way to shore, Daniel began to moan. Callie, who’d been standing with the crowd gathered on the beach, lifted her wedding gown and waded out to meet them. She was a nurse.
Of all the things he could have said to her, “You look beautiful” shouldn’t have been one of them, but that’s exactly what he said.
She stared at him, her eyes glassy. “I wish…” she began, only to be cut off by a man wading out to them wearing a soaked tuxedo.
“Baby, what are you doing? You’re going to ruin your dress.” Johnny held Marco’s gaze as he lifted his wife into his arms and carried her back to shore.
There was a whining sound just before fireworks exploded in the night sky above them. Red, white, and blue starbursts twinkled down to earth.
Daniel moaned louder when Liam and his father, the fire chief, reached for the board, pulling him the rest of the way to shore. “I’m dying. Call my daughters. Tell them their da needs to see them to say goodbye.”
“Daniel, you’ll be fine.” The chief tried to reassure his brother as the paramedics moved him onto a stretcher with Liam’s and Marco’s help.
“I’m dying, I tell you. You need to call my daughters, and you need to call them now.”
“All right. We will. Just calm down. Here comes Mom, so stop saying you’re dying.”
An elegant older woman with white-blond hair clutched Rosa’s arm as they hurried down the grassy incline. Kitty Gallagher wore low heels and a light-blue pantsuit. The two women had been best friends since grade school.
After leaving Kitty with the chief, Rosa came to Marco’s side. She smiled up at him. “You see, mio bel ragazzo. Wishes do come true.”
He bent down to look her in the eyes. “What are you talking about? You didn’t wish Daniel dead, did you?”
She cuffed him on the arm. “Stupido. Kitty’s granddaughters, they’re coming home to Harmony Harbor.”
“What does that have to do with…?” It hit him then what she meant. “No, Ma. I’m serious. Don’t even think about setting me up with the Gallagher girls.” Looking into her shining eyes, he knew to protest was useless. He grabbed his shoes and jeans and chased down his boss. “Hey, Chief. Any chance I can take my vacation time next week?”
About the Author
Debbie Mason is the USA Today bestselling author of the Christmas, Colorado and the Harmony Harbor series. Her books have been praised for their “likable characters, clever dialogue, and juicy plots” (RTBookReviews.com). When she isn’t writing or reading, Debbie enjoys spending time with her very own real-life hero, their three wonderful children and son-in-law, and two adorable grandbabies in Ottawa, Canada.
You can learn more at:
AuthorDebbieMason.com
Twitter @AuthorDebMason
Facebook.com/DebbieMasonBooks/
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