Unfailing Love
A Grand Bay Series: Book Two
By Kelsey MacBride
Contents
Book Description
Unfailing Love is Book #2 of 2 Christian Romance books and is the conclusion to the Grand Bay Story. The story begins with Tracy Moore’s fight for survival in a hidden cave on a tropical island while her injured ex-fiancé Paul makes a heroic attempt to find help before she succumbs to her critical injuries. To complicate matters further, Tracy’s ration of food and water is almost depleted and she has no ability to replenish her supplies. This story highlights Tracy’s journey of faith to trust God with her life and death circumstances, her determination to resolve her fears of commitment, and her ability to share her deepest feelings with her ex-fiancé.
In this second book, Tracy Moore has suffered critical injuries sustained from a tragic auto accident during a sightseeing excursion on a tropical island days before her sister’s wedding. Helpless and alone in a cliff side cave, she comes to grip with the fact she must do everything in her power to survive until Paul brings back a rescue team. But when her food and water supply are nearly depleted, the only thing that can help her is a miracle from God. Tracy holds on to the belief that Paul will come back soon. But as the days pass, she slips in between states of delirium and consciousness and begins to lose hope, accepting the reality that her life may end.
Battling crippling injuries of his own, Paul Myers makes a heroic attempt to save the woman he loves the most. With Tracy’s health rapidly declining, he races against the clock to make it back in time to rescue her before she dies from her injuries. But a major setback occurs when he is found unconscious on the road near the accident and days pass before a rescue team is dispatched off to the cave. What will they find when they reach the cave? Will Paul lose the love of his life? Find out what happens in this dramatic conclusion to the Grand Bay Series!
AVAILABLE TITLES BY KELSEY MACBRIDE
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Book Description
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Unfailing Love is Book #2 of 2 Christian Romance books and is the conclusion to the Grand Bay Story. The story begins with Tracy Moore’s fight for survival in a hidden cave on a tropical island while her injured ex-fiancé Paul makes a heroic attempt to find help before she succumbs to her critical injuries. To complicate matters further, Tracy’s ration of food and water is almost depleted and she has no ability to replenish her supplies. This story highlights Tracy’s journey of faith to trust God with her life and death circumstances, her determination to resolve her fears of commitment, and her ability to share her deepest feelings with her ex-fiancé.
In this second book, Tracy Moore has suffered critical injuries sustained from a tragic auto accident during a sightseeing excursion on a tropical island days before her sister’s wedding. Helpless and alone in a cliff side cave, she comes to grip with the fact she must do everything in her power to survive until Paul brings back a rescue team. But when her food and water supply are nearly depleted, the only thing that can help her is a miracle from God. Tracy holds on to the belief that Paul will come back soon. But as the days pass, she slips in between states of delirium and consciousness and begins to lose hope, accepting the reality that her life may end.
Battling crippling injuries of his own, Paul Myers makes a heroic attempt to save the woman he loves the most. With Tracy’s health rapidly declining, he races against the clock to make it back in time to rescue her before she dies from her injuries. But a major setback occurs when he is found unconscious on the road near the accident and days pass before a rescue team is dispatched off to the cave. What will they find when they reach the cave? Will Paul lose the love of his life? Find out what happens in this dramatic conclusion to the Grand Bay Series!
AVAILABLE TITLES BY KELSEY MACBRIDE
The Grand Bay Series
Second Chance Love – Book 1
The Colorado Springs Series
Dreams of Gold – Book 1
Heart of a Champion – Book 2
The Hawaii Love Series
Courageous Love
Perfect Love
Inspiration Point Series
Free to Love
Unforgettable Love
Glen Ellen Series
Fall From Grace
Saving Grace
Bradley Sister Series
Choices of the Heart: Lauren’s story (Free)
Desires of the Heart: Megan’s story
Passions of the Heart: Tiffany’s story
Redemption of the Heart: Katie’s story
Please visit www.KelseyMacBride.com for release dates of future books and to find out how to join my community of followers.
Copyright © 2016 by Kelsey MacBride
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Jimmy Gibbs.
Book design by Kelsey MacBride
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Kelsey MacBride
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: April 2016
New Prosperity Publishing, Inc.
ASIN-
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This is book 2 in The Grand Bay Series. There are storylines that started in book 1 and will follow through to book 2. If this is the first book you’ve picked up in the series, and you want to enjoy this series to the fullest, please begin with book 1.
Second Chance Love
Chapter 1
Paul Myers walked out into the light and made his way toward the place he had been the day before. He looked up and remembered the exact path he planned to take up to the road. The sun was hot on his bare skin, and he wondered if he should go get the shirt to protect his already injured chest. He decided to forge ahead and quickly checked to make sure he had everything he needed for the climb. He patted his pockets and felt the cell phone, the water bottle and a few berries.
Paul grabbed hold of a pointy rock with his good hand and began making his way up the cliff. The incline was just steep enough to make it treacherous, but still doable. He worked slowly, placing his feet in small footholds of dirt and rock as he reached for any sturdy vine or stone to hold onto. It was a grueling job and he felt the sweat pour off his head and back.
After what seemed like an hour, Paul stopped and rested on a small ledge of rock. He turned to see how far he’d come and was disappointed to find he was only about thirty feet up. He turned back to the rock, knowing he needed to get moving. He reached out for the next vine, and as he moved his foot to the next patch of earth, he felt the vine give way. Paul swung his hands wildly in the air, trying
to grab hold of anything to stop his fall. But it was too late. He careened down the side of the cliff, hitting branches and thick brush before crashing into a pile of thickets at the bottom.
He laid there for a moment, shaking the scare of the fall off him. Even though he was mad he had fallen, he said a silent prayer thanking God for putting those brushes there to slow his fall. Thirty feet was a long drop, and without them, things could have been worse. Paul groaned as he moved to get up. But as he tried to get to his feet, a razor sharp pain shot up from his ankle.
“Great,” he said, looking down at his foot. The ankle that had only been sprained and healing had been twisted and mangled. Paul could see the hot blood flowing to the top of the remains of skin on the side and knew he had probably broken it this time. He tried to walk and gritted his teeth as the pain shot through him. Broken ankle or not, he had to make it to the road.
Paul hobbled his way back over to the cliff before checking to ensure the phone and water were still with him. They were. He took a small sip from the water bottle and then, with renewed determination, began making his way back up the cliff, following the same path he had taken before. He moved more quickly this time, despite the agonizing pain rising up with each step. He didn’t look at the phone but knew he had already lost valuable time. When he got to his resting place, he moved past it, focusing on checking the security of each vine and rock he grabbed before he put his weight on them. He couldn’t afford to fall again. For Tracy’s sake.
He looked up and noticed that the steepest part of the cliff was still ahead of him.
Don’t think about it. Just keep moving.
Paul reached and grabbed another sturdy vine and pulled himself across the jagged face of the cliff. He worked slowly and purposefully, ignoring the burning pain radiating up through his leg. The sharp edges of the thickets and brush scraped his chest and arms as he moved.
Thoughts of Tracy spun through his mind with every step. Would she be alright? Was she safe in the cave? He worried that she would lose consciousness, that her breathing would become more labored. He hoped the wound in her leg had clotted and that she wouldn’t lose any more blood. She couldn’t afford to lose any more blood. As he climbed, he pictured her in his head. He pictured her happy, healthy, running along the beach with her golden blonde hair streaming out behind her. He saw her tanned face, her bright smile and the playfulness in her eyes. He wanted to get that Tracy back. He had to get that Tracy back.
Paul climbed, thinking only of the future he would have with Tracy. He thought about the future he had hoped to have before the wedding. He knew that was fantasy. All the things they had dreamed of doing were gone. Too much time had passed, too many feelings had been felt. Their future together would be a new future, built on the forgiveness of hurt, the honesty of their truths, the vulnerability of their exposed fears.
This was the future Paul thought about as he grabbed and pulled. Memories of their talk in the cave flooded his mind. Scared, she had said. She had been so scared. He wondered what he might have done differently. Had he been that oblivious to her fear before the wedding? How had he not noticed that she was terrified of commitment?
Paul remembered the day he proposed to Tracy. The weather was perfect, the tide was perfect, the sun was perfect. But they were nothing compared to Tracy. She had been radiant, glowing with a contentment he had never seen before. And so he thought, it was the perfect time to propose. What he realized now was that he had taken that contentment, that peace, and thrown it all out the window by asking her to marry him.
He believed her when she said, “Yes, I will marry you.” Maybe he was being selfish, he thought. Maybe he was too blinded by his own need for happiness, for commitment; too blinded to see the doubt in her eyes and sense the hesitation in her voice. He picked his brain for clues as he had done so many times in the past four years. Even though she told him she loved him now, how could he be sure? He had heard that before.
Lingering fear grew up inside him. Paul wedged his foot into a small hole in the rock. His teeth clamped tightly together as he felt the excruciating pain of his broken ankle as he moved gingerly into position. He kept his eyes focused on the task at hand as his mind spun with doubt and confusion. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her that he still loved her. Maybe she wasn’t being honest when she said it to him. She had told him that before and look what had happened.
Paul wondered what this meant for their future. When they finally got rescued because Paul was certain they would, would they get back together? Would they date like they had before? Would they pick up where they left off?
“God,” Paul said out loud, “God.” He huffed the word as he heaved himself up to another small shelf on the cliff face. “I don’t know if that is you in my head or the Devil. I know that I want to believe what she told me, but I’m afraid.”
Paul moved slowly, looking at every object before he grabbed it. The branches and rocks were drier as he got further up the cliff. The morning sun had baked them early, and the dirt beneath was loose and dusty. “I want to put my hope in a future with her. I want to know that she is the one, the one you’ve handpicked for me.” He grabbed another rock with his good hand and worked his bad arm across the earth.
“But I believed that before. It’s just that I don’t think I can handle another hurt like that. I don’t want to go through that type of pain again.” Pain, he thought as his ankle throbbed below the weight of his body. Paul tasted the salty sweat as it dripped down his face.
He looked up and saw he was nearing the top of the cliff. The road had to be close. He shook the thoughts of Tracy out of his head. He couldn’t get distracted. He had to make it and get help for Tracy, no matter what was to be of their future together.
“Okay God,” he said loudly. “I’m putting this one in your hands. I might not be able to trust her yet, but I trust you completely.”
Paul was within arm’s reach of the top of the cliff. He could make out the trees growing on the side of the road. His resolve rose and with a sudden burst of energy, he sped up his climb. He grabbed again, pulling himself off of the rock and onto a soft bed of earth. It was slippery, but it was the only place to stand. He wrapped his hands around another branch and shifted his weight. He lifted his good foot to move and swayed to the side as his bad ankle buckled beneath him. Paul tightened his grip on the branch but it slid through his hands, ripping the skin off as he fell to the ledge below.
He collapsed on the rock in agony, grabbing his ankle as tears mixed with the sweat on his dirty face. Paul rocked back and forth, breathing heavy as he tried to quell the pain. He was so close. He had only two more good steps, and he would be at the road.
“Again?” he said out loud. “Really, God? I asked you for good weather yesterday, or was it the day before?” Paul tried to remember what day it was.
“Whatever,” he said angrily. “I ask you for good weather and I get rain.” He massaged his angry ankle. “I tell you I’m going to trust you, then you let me fall?”
Paul winced with pain as he spoke. “What do you want from me? What more do you want? I gave you my heart with Tracy and that was a disaster. I gave you my will by turning my life over to you when I accepted Jesus as my savior. And then I wind up here. I bared my soul, my fears and my heart to her in that cave, and I still am unsure. And now, now I try to climb this mountain to get help and you keep beating me down!”
Paul sat there, wanting to curse God. He knew that he was saying those things because he was angry at the current situation. He knew God wasn’t to blame for any of it. But Paul wanted to blame someone. He wanted to blame Tracy for the pain he had felt for so long. He wanted to blame Kenneth and Courtney for bringing them to this stupid island. He wanted to blame God for the car accident.
After a few minutes, Paul stood, letting himself get used to the dull throb of pain before he continued. “Okay, I’m sorry,” he said, starting the climb again. “But really, I think I’m a pretty dec
ent guy. I think I do pretty good things. How much more are you gonna throw at me?” His hand wrapped tightly around another vine as he scaled closer to the top, unaware of the black shelled creature approaching to meet him.
A sharp sting caught him off guard, and Paul almost let go of the vine he was gripping.
“Good answer,” he said angrily as he brushed the scorpion off with his broken wrist. “Great,” Paul said out loud. He ignored the piercing pain in his hand and pulled himself up the last few feet of the cliff face, still unsure if he had been bit or not.
Paul crawled on his belly onto the empty road, exhausted from the climb. His cheek rested into the cool dirt as pain filled every nerve ending in his body. His ankle hurt, his hands hurt, even the healing scars on his chest barked with pain. The air was clear and fresh, and Paul took it in with deep gulps until his breathing returned to normal.
I made it. Thank you God.
He was finally at the road. He sat back on his heels for a minute before standing up. Paul’s gaze drifted to the spot where the Jeep had careened off. The trees were broken and brush was disturbed. But there were no skid marks on the side of the road. There was no way anyone would have known a car had gone over there.
That’s why no one came, thought Paul. Then he remembered the phone. He quickly grabbed it from his pocket and saw that it was about to die. He looked at the cell service signal as it fluctuated between showing bars and then no bars. Finding Courtney’s number, he pressed send, but it didn’t connect.
What was the purpose of having a cell phone on the island when there was no reception?
He put the phone back into his pocket and took a quick survey of his body. He really did look like something out of a horror movie. His ankles were bloody and bruised, his legs, arms and chest were scratched and black with dirt. His hands were swollen and misshapen, and he had a bright red mark on one hand.
Paul looked up and down the road. There were no cars in sight. The only sound was that of the ocean crashing against the rocks below. He struggled over to the edge of the road and looked down to where the cave was. From where he was standing, he couldn’t see the Jeep at first. It was hidden behind a bank of rocks and trees. When he looked more closely, he could make out the edge of the bumper. But even in the bright daylight, it was difficult to spot.
Unfailing Love Page 1
