Huntington Family Series

by Rachel Ann Nunes

He looked down at her hand on his arm. Her fingers stilled. “There’s nothing wrong,” he said in a low voice. “I’m just remembering why I’m here, that’s all. I’m not a friend or a cousin, I’m Emily Jane’s guardian, and you want to take her away from me. Let’s not pretend this is anything else.”

  Cory felt the anger behind his words, but there was more, something she couldn’t pinpoint. He hadn’t been angry when they’d left Sandy that morning. Then she had it. He was jealous! Yes! That meant her plan was alive and strong. She might as well take advantage of it. “Mitch,” she said, looking at him earnestly. “Can’t you try to have fun?”

  His eyes searched hers for a long moment. When he spoke again, it was without any trace of anger. “Go and enjoy yourself, okay? You play with Emily Jane as much as you want, and when you’d like to go out on the water, I’ll watch her. You can even take her on that inflatable boat Gordon brought, if you’d like—I borrowed a little life jacket from Kerrianne. But don’t try to include me. We both know why I’m here.”

  “Is this because of Evan?”

  “You mean, am I jealous?” he asked, arching his brows. “Now that would imply that I had some claim on you, wouldn’t it?”

  The moment when he had almost kissed her came to mind, and Cory flushed. “You are so impossible!” she hissed, forgetting her flirtatious veneer.

  “Look in the mirror,” he retorted. “Then you’ll see the true meaning of impossible.” With that, he took Emily Jane from her arms. “They’re calling you. It’s your turn.”

  Cory whirled and stalked down to the water. Stupid, stupid plan, she thought. I can’t take being nice to him anymore! She decided then and there to flirt outrageously with Evan to show Mitch what he was missing.

  The rest of the morning and into the afternoon, Cory took turns with the others jet skiing. Only Mitch kept himself apart, though upon closer examination, it was only from her and Evan that he maintained a distance. He and Vikki were getting along well, and he spent a lot of time talking with Gordon and Roberta. He was as loving as ever to EmJay, and for some unexplained reason, Cory found herself jealous of her niece. She’d just decided the group had divided into Mormons and non-Mormons when she remembered that while Gordon and Roberta were members of the Church, Vikki certainly wasn’t.

  To make matters worse, Evan kept trying to hug or touch her when she least expected it—on her hand, her arm, her shoulder, her waist—until she wanted to scream at him to leave her alone. But how could she when he was only responding to her flirting? His conversation was worse. One magazine said this about his writing, another said that. He was sure National Geographic would accept him as a writer if someone recommended him.

  Her heart had leapt at seeing Evan that morning, a thing she felt portended good things for their relationship, but now Cory just wanted this day to be over. She knew that somehow she had been the one to ruin everything, but she was angry at Mitch, too. So what if she had flirted with him this week? It didn’t mean he owned her. Seeing her with Evan should make it clear that he could not control her life. Maybe it would make him appreciate her more. Yes, make him jealous!

  Unless . . . another thought came—an unwelcome one. Her playacting today might make Mitch believe she wasn’t a good guardian for EmJay. He could give me an F for parenting. He’ll think I’m . . . well, fickle, feckless, and flirty, she thought with despair. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She felt like an utter fool, prancing around in her bathing suit, laughing and giggling with Evan, but she didn’t know how to stop. She wanted to go home and cry.

  In the late afternoon, she stomped up the beach to where Mitch sat on the folding camp chairs with the others. Evan was still out on a jet ski, but she was tired of it. If she giggled one more time, she would throw up.

  “Are you doing fireworks tonight?” Mitch was saying to Gordon.

  “Wouldn’t be the Fourth without fireworks,” Gordon answered. “Some of the neighbors meet in the next cul-de-sac and set them off.”

  “My family has a big thing, too,” Mitch said. “Emily Jane and I are going there tonight.” He fell silent when Cory arrived and began tying her cover-up around her waist, but his words reminded her that he had given up a day with his family to come here. Right now she would give anything to be at his family party instead. Plopping into an empty chair, Cory brought a finger to her teeth and ripped off a sliver of nail.

  “Why don’t you take EmJay out on the boat?” Roberta said to Mitch. “She keeps looking at that water with the saddest eyes.”

  Mitch grinned. “Hey, I’ve already been down to the water with her a dozen times.”

  Cory had seen them from the jet ski, though he’d always gone back to the chairs when she’d come in. She had also taken EmJay down to the water, but the baby would stay for only a few minutes before running back to Mitch for another chip or a drink of water.

  “No, Emily Jane, keep the hat on.” Mitch replaced the pink-and-white checked hat on her head. “You’re getting too much sun.”

  “Yes, let’s take Emily Jane on a boat ride,” Cory surprised herself by saying. Why did she say that? She didn’t want to be anywhere alone with Mitch. Or did she? Maybe if she got him alone, he’d start to act normal instead of this cold, reserved stranger he’d become. Maybe she could act normal.

  Mitch’s eyes rested on her for a long, silent moment. Cory wriggled in her chair. She was deeply embarrassed—and angry, too, at herself. Why couldn’t she leave well enough alone? Why did she always have to push things to the limit? If she’d been herself today, he probably wouldn’t be so angry and aloof.

  “You can’t row and watch EmJay at the same time,” she said to hide her growing angst. “Neither can I.” She arose and picked up the baby. “No, darling, leave the hat on. Come on, we’re going on a boat.” She strode over the hard dirt and sparse vegetation to the water, hoping that any flush on her face would be attributed to heat exhaustion or sunburn—despite the massive amount of sunscreen she’d been applying all day.

  She had placed EmJay in the boat and was pushing it into the water when Mitch came loping down to the shore after them. His feet were bare, so she knew he’d taken time to slip off his sandals. “Get in,” he said, tossing in three life jackets he carried. “I’ll walk it out for us.”

  Relieved, Cory held up the edges of her cover-up and hopped in next to EmJay, drying her feet on the towel someone had left earlier. She put a life jacket on EmJay, and then she put on her own.

  “Wait!” called Vikki. She ran slowly toward them carrying a life jacket. “I’m coming, too. Someone’s got to stop you two from drowning each other.” Giving them a smirk, she splashed into the water and climbed aboard.

  Would Mitch still come along? Since now he wouldn’t be needed to row or tend EmJay, Cory had her doubts. Not that I really care, she added silently.

  Mitch pushed them out into the water until it was nearly up to his knees before climbing in. Cory tossed him the towel that Vikki had just used, letting out a long breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Whatever his feelings toward her, his devotion to EmJay had apparently forced him to come along.

  Mitch rubbed down his lower legs with more vigor than Cory thought necessary. She and Vikki locked eyes and shrugged. On Cory’s lap, EmJay was giggling and reaching for the water. Cory held onto her tightly but let her lean over the edge and splash around.

  With his legs dry, Mitch donned his life jacket and began rowing in healthy strokes that took them out to the middle of the lake. Cory couldn’t help comparing his efforts to the less effective ones Evan had used when they’d gone out earlier.

  “Can you show me how?” Vikki asked him after he had rowed them nearly to the far side.

  He handed her an oar and explained the process in detail. Vikki was a natural, surprising Cory, who had never thought her friend was athletically inclined. Maybe she should invite Vikki to visit her in the Amazon.

  So far Mitch hadn’t said a word to Cory, but neither did he appear to be
upset with her any longer. In fact, now that Evan and his cousins weren’t around, he seemed his old self. As if I know what his old self is like, she thought. In the end, she knew only what he let her see. Still, maybe her plan hadn’t gone completely awry.

  Mitch seemed to have something wrong with his right leg. A large, red, swollen patch was spreading over the front, and he was scratching at it absently. “Mitch, what happened to your leg?” Cory could have sworn the patch of red wasn’t there ten minutes ago. She looked at the other leg, but he had the towel draped over it, and she couldn’t tell if it was similarly affected.

  “Just a rash.” He stopped scratching. “Hey, Emily Jane. Look here, sweetie. There’s a whole bunch of fish. Hurry!” He reached past Vikki and pulled the baby away from Cory. “Fish,” he repeated, holding her so she could peer into the water.

  “Psh,” she said.

  “No, it’s fish. F—f—fish.”

  “Ish!” gurgled EmJay.

  “Good girl! Fish!”

  Cory watched this exchange with a smile, trying to imagine Evan teaching EmJay how to speak. Her smile faded.

  “Look who’s coming our way,” Vikki said as Evan waved at them. She returned the oars to Mitch and took EmJay onto her lap. Fascinated with the water around her, the baby didn’t appear to notice who held her.

  With continuous long strokes, Mitch made the inflatable boat skim rapidly over the water. They were in the middle of the lake when Evan passed them again, screaming something they couldn’t hear above the noise of the jet ski engine. Cory waved. Evan released his left hand from the jet ski and made a strong arm pose. Throwing back his head, he laughed, and for an instant, Cory thought he looked maniacal. He put his hands back on the jet ski and turned in their direction, bearing down upon them.

  Cory knew it was a joke, but she didn’t feel comfortable with such a prank in the middle of a lake—especially not with EmJay aboard. She felt more than saw Mitch hand the oars to Vikki and gather EmJay protectively in his arms. For a brief, terrible instant, she wondered if AshDee had known in the few seconds before her accident that she was going to die.

  Going onto her knees, she waved at Evan. “Turn away! Turn away!” More thoughts of AshDee flooded her mind. Had someone on another boat been fooling around like Evan was doing now? Was that why her sister was dead?

  “What an idiot,” Vikki snarled. “Can’t he see we have the baby with us?”

  Mitch’s face was tight with anger. “Get away!” he shouted.

  Grinning, Evan kept coming. At the last possible second, he smartly turned the jet ski, spraying them with cold lake water. EmJay sucked in a startled breath before she began to whimper. Immediately, Mitch wiped her off with the towel. “It’s okay, sweetie. Don’t cry.” EmJay quieted, but she looked tiny and sad with her red hair plastered to her head.

  Evan was still smiling. He made another strong arm motion, and that was when it happened. The jet ski jerked to the right with his sudden motion, tumbling him into the water with a loud yelp. The whine of the jet ski engine fell idle.

  Cory realized that Evan wasn’t wearing a life jacket, but she’d fallen off once that morning, and it had been easy to climb back on. She’d been shivering with shock from the cold water and embarrassed under Evan’s mocking stare, but it wasn’t that big a deal. “Ha!” she screamed at him. “That’s what you get!” Vikki and Mitch laughed.

  Evan’s arms flailed out, splashing water everywhere and making them laugh harder. The jet ski made a lazy circle just beyond his reach. “You’ll have to swim a bit!” Cory called.

  The smile suddenly left Mitch’s face. “I think something’s wrong. Doesn’t he know how to swim?” Evan was thrashing more furiously now, but the effort didn’t seem to be getting him far.

  “He knows how.” Cory saw that Evan had managed to move into the jet ski’s path. “There, he’ll get it now.”

  Evan screamed something Cory couldn’t catch, but Mitch thrust EmJay toward her. “He’s got a cramp.” Even as Mitch spoke, Evan sank below the water. He came up almost immediately—just in time to bang his head on the approaching jet ski. He disappeared under the water again.

  Vikki began to man the oars, but Mitch shook his head. “We’ll never reach him in time.” Taking a breath, he stood awkwardly and dived into the water—but not before Cory saw that his left leg was mottled a puffy red and white, much worse than his right one. Apparently unmindful of his swollen leg and the cold water, Mitch hurtled toward Evan.

  “What happened to the jet ski?” Vikki asked. “Sounds like the motor stopped.”

  “The jerk probably damaged it with his hard head.” Despite her callous response, Cory was worried about Evan. “Can you go any faster?” she asked. “Here, give me one of the oars. I can make EmJay sit here and hold her with my legs.”

  Silently, Vikki passed her an oar. Mitch was a fast swimmer and had reached Evan now. He pulled Evan to the jet ski, but after fiddling with the controls, he gave up and began to swim toward the shore.

  “Wait!” Cory shouted. “We can get him in here.” Mitch either didn’t hear her or didn’t think it was a good idea because he kept swimming.

  “They might dump us all out,” Vikki said. “Mitch looks like a strong swimmer. Let’s just follow in case they need us.”

  Cory had to admit that even dragging Evan along didn’t seem to slow Mitch’s progress. As they passed the jet ski, she tied the end of the now-soaked towel around a handle and the other end to the rope that surrounded the entire inflatable boat.

  With the added weight of the jet ski, they fell farther behind Mitch and Evan. After what seemed an interminable time, Mitch reached the shore, where Gordon and Roberta helped both men from the water. Mitch and Evan collapsed on the ground while Gordon and Roberta hovered over them anxiously.

  “I’m leaving this stupid thing,” Cory muttered, releasing the jet ski.

  At last they were close enough. With EmJay in her arms, Cory splashed up to the shore, leaving Vikki to bring in the boat the rest of the way alone. Already, Evan was sitting up at the edge of the water, moaning and holding his head, but other than his tormented expression, he appeared undamaged. She glanced toward Mitch, eager to thank him, but he was sprawled on the ground with his head back and eyes closed. His breaths came in sharp gasps. Her first thought was that swimming to shore with Evan must have exhausted him, but then she noticed that the rash on his legs now covered them completely. His arms, face, and neck were also a bright red and swelling rapidly.

  “Mitch?” she asked, her voice more shrill than she intended. “Are you okay?”

  His eyes opened and stared at her dully. His wheezing became worse.

  “Mitch?” She was really starting to worry now.

  “Looks like he’s in shock!” Roberta said. “Did he get stung with something?”

  Evan stood up shakily. “Definitely in shock. I’ve seen it before.”

  “What should we do?” Cory asked.

  “I don’t know.” Evan limped a few steps until he was next to Cory. “Take him to the hospital?”

  “Good idea,” Gordon said.

  Mitch took another tortured breath. “Backpack,” he wheezed. “Toothbrush holder.”

  What? Cory thought. He wants to brush his teeth now?

  His eyes held Cory’s for another few seconds before he added, “Hurry.”

  Gordon snapped his fingers. “His medicine must be in the backpack!”

  Cory thrust the baby at Roberta and ran back to the chairs, where she’d last seen Mitch’s backpack. Grabbing it, she opened the zipper and rifled through the contents as she ran back to the shore. Diapers, wipes, wallet, keys, a change of clothes for EmJay, a man’s thin jacket. In the bottom was an orange toothbrush holder. She pulled it out and let the backpack fall near Mitch’s head.

  “Here!” She tore the ends apart, and out popped a smaller tube made of transparent yellow plastic. It fell to the dirt, and Vikki scooped it up.

  “EpiPen,” she
read. “Epinephrine auto-injector.” She looked up. “It’s a shot of some sort.”

  “Well, give it to him,” Cory said.

  “I don’t know how.” Vikki handed it back to her.

  “Neither do I.” Cory looked helplessly at the others, but they all shook their heads.

  “Ask him,” Roberta said.

  Gordon bent down near Mitch. “I think he’s fainted.”

  Cold fear fell over Cory, freezing her insides and making her feel like vomiting. Mitch was sounding worse by the second, and it came to her with startling clarity how much she cared for him.

  Don’t die! she pleaded. There’s more we have to say. There’s more . . . I think that I . . . well, EmJay needs you . . . Oh, just please don’t die!

  Chapter Nineteen

  Hands shaking, Cory tore off the top of the yellow tube and shook the EpiPen into her hands. “There’s instructions,” she said with a rush of hope. The first line said how to hold the auto-injector. The second directed her to removed the gray cap. The rest described how she was supposed to jab it in to his thigh. She knelt down beside him and took a deep breath.

  “Does it work through jeans?” Vikki asked.

  Cory hesitated. Should she push up his shorts? His lower legs had large ugly welts all over them and so did his face, neck, and arms.

  “Pull them up, I guess,” she ordered the men.

  Before they could act, Mitch opened his eyes, groaning slightly. With a lunge he grabbed the EpiPen from her, checked with his thumb for the cap, then plunged it onto his jean-covered thigh with aggressive force. Everyone heard a loud click. Mitch fell back and shuddered. “Towels,” he said after a minute. Already his breathing was better, though his skin was still swollen with patchy white and red welts. “Need to get warm. Drug won’t last . . . fifteen minutes or so.”

  Roberta returned a whimpering EmJay to Cory and went with the others to get their towels. Vikki was the first one back, bringing Roberta’s picnic blanket that had covered the table. As she tucked it around Mitch, he struggled to sit up. After several failed attempts, he gave up, moaning and holding his stomach.