He heard the sob thicken her throat even as she pushed her words past it, valiantly holding herself together.
‘That’s what I thought.’ The words so sorrowful, so wispy, that he barely heard them before the wind whipped them away.
And when she stumbled away from him, he didn’t try to stop her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AS THE LIGHTWEIGHT, fast vessel powered its way through the churning waters, Tia held tightly to the grab-rail and scanned the expanse of water, along with the other three crew members.
There was no sign of their Mayday call-out—a young girl whose dinghy had apparently been swept out of the bay—and Tia’s last shout with Delburn Bay’s lifeboat crew.
With everything that had happened with Zeke, staying here was no longer an option. The place held almost as many memories for her as Westlake. It was time for a fresh start, in a completely new place. And even if her heart was breaking, she had no time to indulge it; her son needed her to be strong.
He needed her to be good enough to make up the role of two parents. And she wouldn’t let him down.
‘There, what’s that just off your bow?’ she yelled, suddenly spotting a movement on the jagged rocks below the towering cliffs that lined up either side of the bay. ‘Redheart’s Point.’
The crew all peered harder, the glare of the sun off the water hampering their efforts. But eventually Billy, the lifeguard she had met that first day in the office, bobbed his head in agreement.
‘There’s someone on those rocks and it looks like they’re trying to hail us. Have we got any more intel on the scenario?’
‘Nothing. I’m taking her in,’ the helmsman concurred, as he turned the boat and headed towards the cliffs.
Tia pursed her lips. This was a dangerous stretch of coast. The water was never very deep and the wrecks of multiple fishing boats posed an additional danger to the hull of their lifeboat. But there was no way down to, or up from, the beach at Redheart’s Point. And twice a day it got swallowed up by the tide. Whoever was waving to them would have no way off their rapidly shrinking beach if her lifeboat crew didn’t get in to them.
Dan, their helmsman, made several attempts, but the swell kept lifting and buffeting them, threatening to smash them against the small jagged rocks that occasionally tipped their sharp heads above the swirling water, like razor fish coming to the surface of the sand.
‘We could veer out?’ Billy suggested.
Dan shook his head.
‘There’s too much submerged just below the boat. It’s too great a risk.’
‘I don’t mind getting in and heading onto the beach,’ Tia suggested.
‘You stay here,’ Vinny, the third crew member, jumped in immediately. ‘It’s bad enough that you’re leaving. We can’t have anything happening to you, as well.’
‘Funny.’ Tia punched him lightly on the arm, but it was heartening to hear she would be missed. Her ego could do with a bit of massaging at the moment.
‘Wait, let these three waves go and then I’ll get you as close as possible.’ Dan delayed his crewman. ‘We’ll come in as soon as you radio us.’
‘Stay safe,’ Tia instructed as Vinny began to scramble over the side.
They watched as he braced himself and dropped into the water.
‘“Smoke me a kipper,”’ he quoted, taking the bag Billy was passing him and getting clear of the boat before a wave smashed him against it.
Tia watched, her heart racing, as he made slow progress through the swell, almost being knocked off his feet twice in the first minute alone.
As hairy as it was, though, Tia welcomed the challenge. It was better than being consumed with thoughts of Zeke, and how she and Seth hadn’t been enough to keep him home. Keep him safe.
Suddenly, Dan edged up in his seat.
‘I think there are two casualties.’
‘Say again?’ Moving across the boat, Tia put her head by his shoulder to follow the direction of his hand.
‘There. Beyond the girl who was signalling. Is that another figure on the rocks? Lying down?’
‘I see it.’ Tia nodded. ‘Definitely another person. Dan, I have to go with Vinny, and I’m going to take the spinal board.’
‘Then I’m going with you.’ Billy jerked upright so fast the boat rocked. ‘There’s no way you can get through that surf with a kit bag and a seven-foot board on your own.’
‘Fine.’ Tia nodded. ‘Okay, Dan? Good, let’s go.’
* * *
It took another twelve chilling minutes before she was grasping Vinny’s hand and he was hauling her and the spinal board onto the rocky beach. Billy was seconds behind.
‘Tread carefully,’ Vinny warned. ‘These rocks are particularly slippery. Okay, so casualties are Rebecca, eighteen, and her sixteen-year-old sister, Amy. They were both in the dinghy when it got caught by the wind and swept out of the bay. They ended up just off the shore here where the tide drove them to these rocks.’
Tia followed Vinny across the rocks as quickly and carefully as she could, with both Vinny and Billy carrying the board.
‘They got caught up in a swell just as they were coming in and the dinghy capsized. Amy was thrown cleanly into the water, but Rebecca was thrown onto something. She made it ashore but she’s complaining of severe pain in her neck. They’ve tried to lie her down as flat as they can, but it’s just not possible on the rocks.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Tia hurried over to the sisters. ‘Hi, Amy, is it? My colleague Billy is going to check you out. I’m Tia, I’m a doctor. I’m going to look after your sister. Rebecca, can you tell me where it hurts?’
Carefully, Tia carried out a check of Rebecca, ascertaining pain in the girl’s left buttock and leg and an inability to move her left leg.
‘Okay, Rebecca, flower, you’re doing really well. I’m going to give you something to help with the pain and then we’re going to try to get you onto a spinal board. I’m going to have to cut away your wet clothes as well.’
She glanced over to where Billy was holding up a blanket to afford the sister a degree of privacy whilst she also got out of her wet things and into the insulating bag that he had pulled out of his kit.
His signal reassured Tia that, other than treatment to prevent hypothermia, he was confident there were no other medical concerns with the younger girl.
She turned to Vinny. ‘I’m going to administer some pain relief and let Dan know to scramble the coastguard’s search and rescue heli. I don’t want to risk trying to transfer her via board and boat, with her paralysis and neurological deficit. Can you look after Rebecca here, and then we’ll get Billy to help us put her on a spinal board?’
‘Yeah. Guess your last day is going out with a bang, then.’ He lifted his eyebrows. ‘Not exactly what you had in mind when you came in this morning?’
‘Not at all.’ Tia exhaled. ‘But as long as we get them away safely, that’s all that matters.’
* * *
When the door opened, she didn’t even bother to turn around. It would only be another person asking why she was leaving, telling her that she should stay.
She didn’t want to hear either. There was only one person she’d ever wanted to hear from. And he hadn’t wanted to say the words.
‘I hear you’re leaving.’
Tia froze. The familiar, uncompromisingly male voice rooting her to the spot. It took her a few long moments to answer.
‘Yes.’
Another silence stretched between them.
‘You shouldn’t. You’re good here. You fit in.’
Each sentence was like a lash, whipping her with its polite evenness. Wholly unemotional.
‘I can be a medical advisor somewhere else. Coming back here was...a bad idea.’
‘Coming back here was brave,’ he corrected.
‘No, it was foolish.’
And desperate, not that she was about to add that last bit. Instead, she wondered if the silence that once again descended were a black cloak, would she be able to lose herself for good?
Instead, Tia forced herself to turn around. She wasn’t prepared for the way her heart slammed against her chest wall.
His voice might be inscrutable, collected, but his appearance was anything but.
Dark shadows ringed eyes that didn’t look as though they’d slept in days whilst an even darker shadow veiled his jaw; making it seem even more square, even more male, than ever. Irrationally, she ached to reach out and touch it, to let it graze her soft skin as though the abrasion could make her feel something, anything, after a month of feeling numb.
She had no idea how she pulled herself together.
‘If it wasn’t foolish, then tell me what it was, Zeke.’ She was proud of the way her voice didn’t crack and completely betray her. ‘What are you doing back here? I thought you were going for three months, not one. Or is this a couple of days’ break to check on your business?’
Without warning, he raked his hand through his hair. It was a gesture so unsure, so unfamiliar, so wholly un-Zeke-like that it made her breath catch in her throat.
‘I love you.’
‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘Just not enough.’
‘Enough that I’m not going back.’
It was so simple, so sure, so unexpected, that she felt as though she must be swaying, right there where she stood. And how she stayed upright defied belief. She had to caution her fickle heart.
‘This time. But what about next time, or the one after that?’
‘Enough that I will never leave you—or Seth—again. I will never go back into a conflict zone.’
The words tossed into the air, like the spray from the sea as it crashed wave after wave down on the shoreline outside the window, beyond where Zeke stood. And Tia found she was staring at it as though she were reading the words in the surf rather than hearing them coming from his mouth itself.
It was surreal. And perfect. And almost too much to hope for.
‘I want to believe you,’ she muttered softly, ‘so much.’
‘You should.’
Tia hesitated. She felt raw, scraped through. Emotionally wrung out like an exhausted swimmer caught in a riptide and barely able to keep their head above water whilst they prayed for help to arrive.
‘Why?’ she whispered at last.
‘Because you were right, I was pushing myself, trying to prove myself to a ghost of a man to whom I should never have even given a second thought. It gave me a battle to distract myself. Without it, I might have just given up.’
She couldn’t imagine Zeke, so ruthless, so strong, ever giving up on anything.
Except her.
And now he was telling her that he hadn’t even done that.
‘What changed?’
‘You. Telling me that I didn’t need all of that to feel alive. Showing me that I had you. And Seth. A family.’
‘I told you that a month ago. You left anyway.’
‘Because I was an idiot.’
‘You were,’ she agreed, then offered an unexpected, if weak, smile. ‘But you aren’t the only one. You were right, you know?’
‘I was right? I like the sound of that.’
‘Don’t get used to it,’ she tried to joke feebly. ‘But you accused me once of being just as closed off as you. There I was, blaming you for shutting me out and not trusting me. But I was doing exactly the same to you.’
‘Your mother.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded, trying to swallow down the painful lump currently wedged in her throat. ‘Her death devastated me, we were so close. I needed to talk about her and honour her, but my father found it too painful, and so I had to stay silent. I felt as though we were pretending she didn’t exist and I know I resented him for it.’
‘So dating me was a way to rebel.’ He didn’t sound sad, or angry, but that didn’t make her feel any better.
‘I suppose it was a bit of that. It was my way of getting my own back on him. But it was also a bit of the other thing you once said. The “running away from our pasts” bit.’
‘And are you still doing that?’
Taut lines radiated from his face. Her answer mattered to him.
It mattered to her, as well.
‘No, I’m not. At least, I’m trying not to. When I lost you, I knew I needed to make a change. I finally asked my father about my mother and he started to tell me. Only a little at first—it isn’t easy for him and after all this time it isn’t easy for me either—but enough. Then the next time I visited, he had a few photos and some little anecdotes to go with it.’
‘I’m so glad, Tia.’
‘Yes.’ His obvious care made her feel more cherished than he’d ever made her feel before. ‘It’s going to take time, but we’re getting there. Soon I can start sharing little memories with Seth. I think he should know a little about my mother and how much of a hero she was.’
‘I think he would like that.’
‘And...and I’d like to start sharing what I’ve learned with you, too. Maybe even work on getting a plaque dedicated to her and her crew.’
‘They want one, you know. At Westlake. There are a couple of old-timers there who even still remember working with her. But your father always shot the idea down.’
It was almost too much. She swallowed once. Twice. But the heavy ball of emotion was still there, lodged in her throat.
‘I didn’t know,’ she admitted. ‘But it sounds lovely.’
‘It is. But don’t rush at it, Tia. Go at your own pace. The crew will understand. Everyone will.’
‘Thank you, I...just thank you,’ she managed. ‘So you’ve really come home?’
‘For good. The only travelling I intend to do now is to the chateau. I’ve done my bit. I’ve laid down my life for people for years. Now the only people I’m prepared to give my life for are my wife and son.’
‘Do you really mean that?’
‘I spent five years buried beneath my despair, using my company and my charity to distract me from what I didn’t want to face. But this past month without you, or Seth, was worse than all of that put together. You make me a better version of myself, Tia. The kind of man I never knew I wanted to become.’
‘And it took you a month to realise that?’
‘Not quite. But I had to get a new guy out and bring him up to speed. He’s the new team leader now. The wait damn near killed me.’
‘If you’d listened to me in the first place, you wouldn’t have had to,’ she teased, scarcely able to believe what he was saying. ‘You are an idiot.’
‘But I seem to remember you telling me a few weeks ago that I could be your idiot.’
‘You remember that, huh?’ She laughed, a shaky but genuine sound.
Her eyes prickled and something inside her began to unfurl and warm her, the heat penetrating right through to her icy bones.
‘I will never forget it again,’ he promised her solemnly, finally closing the gap between them and taking her face in his hands. ‘Will you?’
‘Never,’ she breathed, placing her hands flat on Zeke’s solid chest to reassure herself that she wasn’t dreaming.
‘Kiss me,’ he commanded. ‘So I know this is real.’
As though he had read her mind.
And Tia was only too happy to oblige. She pushed herself up onto her toes, her hands gliding up the reassuringly hard ridges and planes and winding around Zeke’s neck. She shivered as their lips met, his mouth so demanding, crushing hers so that pleasure and pain intertwined. Finally she melted as he pulled her body to his, fitting it to him as though they had been handcrafted to be together.
For ever.
‘I only have one amendment to make to your promise to lay dow
n your life for no one else but Seth and me,’ she murmured softly when they finally resurfaced a lifetime later.
‘Really?’ he managed abstractly. His teeth nipped at her neck, his hands moving over her as though he was trying to assure himself he hadn’t forgotten a single detail whilst he’d been away. ‘And what’s that?’
‘That you’ll also protect any sister or brother Seth might have.’
Zeke stopped, his head lifting slowly and his eyes coming to meet hers. There was no doubting the love shining from them. So bright, so strong, it was almost blinding.
‘You want another baby with me?’ He sounded almost awed.
‘I do. Don’t you?’
‘More than anything,’ he assured her gruffly. ‘When do you want to start? This year? Next?’
‘How about now? Or at least...when we get home?’
‘Home?’
‘To Westlake. There’s a house on a plot overlooking the sea, where I always wanted to live.’
‘Convenient.’
‘I thought so.’
And then he groaned slightly with the effort of pulling away from her, enveloped her hand in his, and finally took her home.
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Charlotte Hawkes
Christmas with Her Bodyguard
The Surgeon’s One-Night Baby
A Bride to Redeem Him
Tempted by Dr. Off-Limits
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Saved by Their One-Night Baby by Louisa George.
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The Army Doc's Baby Secret Page 18
