Unfailing Love

by Kelsey MacBride

  “Please let her understand that, God. Speak to her heart and show her that you are her forever husband.”

  Tracy spoke softly and slowly, covering all of the events in her life. She felt like she was performing a final act of contrition of sorts, a final confession. She knew her condition was deteriorating quickly. The water was almost gone, and her breathing was shallow and labored. Tracy had no idea how quickly night would come but was uncertain if she would be alive in the morning. She let her spirit accept the inevitable – she might not make it. The confession seemed like the most natural thing in the world. If she wasn’t going to get out of the cave alive, she had to make sure she was alright with God before he took her home to heaven.

  Chapter 7

  Tracy awoke with a start at the sound of Paul’s voice.

  How long had he been calling for her?

  She sat straight up, unaware of the pain shooting through her lungs and her abdomen.

  “Paul? Paul! Is that you? I’m here!” Tracy shouted in a dry voice as her eyes searched the cave for glimmers of light.

  She looked frantically around the cave and focused on the tiny rays of light coming in through the chimney and the cave opening. The sun was barely up and cast soft, wet shadows across the opening. She felt her gaze steady and looked intently at the palms swaying outside the cave. She watched hopefully, certain she would see Paul’s face. But it didn’t appear.

  After several minutes of watching, she called out again. “Paul?” She waited, holding her breath, oblivious to the searing pain in her lungs. After several seconds, she heard it.

  “Tracy? Tracy! I’m coming!” The voice was far off, but Tracy knew it was Paul. She pulled herself upright, off of the pile of blankets and rocks that had supported her for days. She listened as Paul kept calling her name. But after several more minutes, his voice was no closer.

  She knew she had to move out of the cave so he could find her. In her delirious state, she had forgotten that Paul knew exactly where she was. She imagined she was lost and had to move closer to his voice to be rescued. All memories of the time in the cave, the fire, the talk they had as they held each other – all were lost. The only thing Tracy was sure of was that Paul was outside of the cave looking for her, and she had to go to him.

  Tracy scooted onto her side and swung her body around so that she was on her belly with her legs sprawled out behind her. She dragged her good leg up and pushed herself up on her knee. The voice continued to call as she pulled herself toward the cave opening. The dim early morning light welcomed her tired body as she made her way across the dirt floor and onto the wet, soft mossy earth of the cliff side.

  She looked around and tried to get her bearings. Tracy didn’t feel the pain in her leg or her ribs as she laid panting on the ground. She stopped and held her breath, listening for Paul’s voice to guide her. The only sound she heard was that of chirping birds and rustling leaves. The soft lull of the ocean waves hung below the edge of the cliff that the cave was nestled on. Tracy looked around and let her eyes adjust to the early light.

  A crackling sound caught her attention as she turned toward the thick brush off to the east.

  “Paul,” she whispered, unable to raise her voice any further.

  “Paul! I’m here!” Tracy thought she was shouting, but her soft whisper was barely audible over the morning sounds surrounding her. “I’m coming, Paul!”

  Tracy imagined herself running toward Paul and wondered why she couldn’t. She looked down at her dirty hands and tried to get to her feet. After struggling on one knee, she collapsed again to the wet ground.

  “Oh, forget it,” she said, exhausted and confused. The only thing Tracy was certain of was that she had to get to Paul, no matter what.

  Tracy continued to crawl her way across the ground, grabbing branches and shrubs along the way. She pulled herself through the thick grass, paying no attention to the scrapes and scratches she was getting as she edged ever closer to the sound of Paul’s voice and the cliff’s edge.

  “Paul!” she shouted softly as she neared the precipice like a blind woman about to slide off the roof of a two story building. “I’m coming!” Tracy made one final effort forward before collapsing into a heap mere inches from the edge of the cliff. The sound of the waves twenty feet below took her over and she let out an exhausted breath before succumbing to the cloud of darkness that enveloped her.

  Chapter 8

  “Okay, easy does it,” the doctor said as he unhooked all the tubes and wires from Paul. “I’m not happy about this.”

  “I know,” said Paul, understanding full well the risk he was taking by leaving the safety of the hospital and stopping the treatment. “I will take the oral antibiotic and re-admit myself as soon as we get Tracy. I promise.”

  As a paramedic, Paul would never have allowed a patient to do what he was doing. But he wasn’t the paramedic right now. He was the patient. And nothing was going to stop him from getting back to Tracy and keeping his promise to her.

  The doctor removed all of the apparatus from Paul and signed his discharge papers. “Be careful,” he said in his thick island accent.

  “Thank you. I will.”

  The doctor left as Paul got dressed. He slipped out of the hospital gown and put on the fresh clothes Kenneth had brought him, wincing in pain as he slid his wrapped leg through the opening in his shorts. When he was dressed, he grabbed the oral antibiotic the doctor had given him and threw the bottle in his shorts pocket.

  “Can we come in?” Margo’s voice rang from the other side of the closed door.

  “Yeah, come on in Mom,” said Paul. He sat on the bed, exhausted from the simple task of getting dressed. He thanked God that he didn’t have to climb the cliff again. All he had to do was ride in the chopper and show them where the cave was.

  Kenneth strolled in behind Margo. “Okay buddy. Let’s spring you.” He put an arm around his little brother’s waist and helped him to his feet as Margo handed Paul the crutches.

  “Now be careful, boys,” she said in her most motherly tone. “I will be right here with Charity and Courtney, waiting to hear from you.” She looked at Kenneth and then Paul. “And whatever you do, don’t get out of that chopper!”

  “I won’t,” said Paul, reassuring his mother.

  “You promise?” she asked, knowing her son too well.

  “Yes, Mom, I promise.” Paul kissed his mother on the cheek and hobbled out of the room to the elevator with Kenneth in tow.

  Randall, Howard, and the rest of the wedding party waited anxiously in the lobby of the hospital. When the elevator opened, the group flanked Kenneth and Paul.

  “Okay, here’s the plan,” barked Randall, all business. “First, we’re going to get in the chopper and scout the area where the Jeep went over. Once we locate the Jeep, we will have a coast guard rescue boat offshore waiting for our signal. Once we find the Jeep, the rescue team will go and get Tracy.”

  “But we can’t be on the coast guard boat,” said Kenneth. “I know, I know,” he said as Paul opened his mouth to speak. “So I got us another boat that will lead the coast guard boat to the general area of the wreck.”

  “Well, then I want to be in that boat,” said Paul. The room went silent. Everyone knew better than to argue with Paul. Kenneth looked at his brother and raised his eyebrows.

  “She said not to get out of the chopper,” Paul said, knowing exactly what Kenneth was thinking. “She didn’t say anything about a boat.”

  They continued discussing the plan as they piled into the van waiting outside the hospital entrance. Paul threw his crutches onto the seat next to him and tried to occupy his mind with positive thoughts. He hadn’t told anyone how bad Tracy was. He had only eluded to the severity of her condition. And that was based on what he knew when he left her.

  As they rode, Paul felt a wall of fear rise up in him. He tried to assess the situation. His memory was clear, and he recalled exactly how he had left her and how long her provisions should h
ave lasted. Based on his calculations, Tracy had to be in pretty bad respiratory shape, but there was a slim chance she could still be alive. That was, if she had made the provisions last and if nothing had gotten to her in the dark of the cave. He chose not to give up hope.

  Paul shook the negative images out of his head as they approached the dock. The group filed out of the van and headed toward the water. Beside the dock was a small helicopter pad and a rickety old helicopter. I’m glad I’m going in the boat, thought Paul. Then he saw the boat. It was older than the helicopter and was only big enough for four people. Howard handed Paul a two-way radio and turned it on.

  “Keep it on channel 3. The cell service is awful, and this is the only way we’ll be able to communicate with you.” He looked at Kenneth. “You come with me so we can show the pilot what road you took.”

  Paul nodded at them and flipped the radio on. Howard and Kenneth boarded the helicopter and the rest of the group ducked as the blades kicked up the grass and sand on the shore. Paul and Randall waved good-bye to the rest of the group and ran down the dock to the waiting boats. They hopped into the tiny hull of the lead boat and grabbed the rail as the captain started the engine and took off after the chopper with the coast guard boat right behind.

  The water smacked the side of the small boat as it sped along the surf. Paul watched as the shore went from smooth and sandy to rocky and treacherous. Randall stood at the front of the boat with a desperate look in his eye. He didn’t know where the Jeep had gone over or what it would look like and didn’t want to think about what they would find, but braced himself for the worst.

  The chopper blades spun loudly overhead and muted the sound of the boat motor. The captain pushed along, driving the boat further north until the last of the white sandy beach disappeared behind them. Paul and Randall watched as the gentle hills and scenic piles of rocks grew into steep ledges and rocky cliffs. Paul shuddered as the memory of the climb came back to him. He felt his leg throb, and the sting of the scorpion was as fresh as the moment it happened.

  “You okay?” yelled Randall from the front of the boat.

  “Yeah,” Paul replied over the drone of the motor. He tried brushing away the memory of the painful climb. “I’m fine. I think we might be getting close.”

  Paul focused intently on the cliffs, looking for anything familiar while Randall scoured the shore for any sign of the Jeep. Overhead, the chopper plodded along and Paul could see Kenneth’s arm as it pointed further north. Apparently, they were not at the fork in the road yet.

  The cool water hit Paul’s clean skin, and he felt a shiver run up his spine. He was instantly reminded of the day he proposed to Tracy. An image of her in her sundress, splashing in the surf, came rushing back to him, and he felt hot tears well up in his eyes.

  “God,” he said softly, under the sound of the motor and the chopper. “Please let her be okay. Please God, I’ll do anything if you just let her survive this. Anything ... even if that means never having a future with her. I know it’s in your hands, God. All I want is for her to survive this. Please.”

  He let the ocean spray mix with the salt from his tears as he swallowed the worst thoughts away. He couldn’t allow himself to think that she wasn’t okay. He couldn’t let his mind go there. He couldn’t imagine her not being alright, not being there, not being ... alive. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

  “There!” Paul yelled as he pointed up.

  Kenneth’s arm was waving frantically out of the side of the chopper. The captain pulled the boat sharply to the right and began hugging the shoreline, moving slower up the coast. The coast guard boat followed closely, staying far enough offshore to let the little boat maneuver the rocky shoreline. Paul gripped the side of the railing and bent his upper body over the edge to get a better look. But still, nothing looked familiar.

  The boat turned inward even further and rode past a large thicket of trees growing out of the side of the cliff. As they rounded the corner, Randall saw it.

  “The Jeep! I see it!” he screamed, pointing to the pile of wreckage that had once held Paul and Tracy. “Oh, my God!” he said, looking at the badly damaged vehicle. His eyes instinctively went up to the top of the cliff and then back to the Jeep again. He looked at Paul with fear and tears in his eyes.

  “How?” was all he could say. But he was thinking, how did you survive? How did you live?

  “It’s a miracle,” Paul shouted over the chopper that had settled in the sky above. “It threw us before it landed all the way!”

  Randall just nodded and wiped the tears out of his eyes. If the Jeep looked like that, he couldn’t imagine what his dear daughter looked like.

  “Here!” shouted Paul to the captain. “Pull in here!” Paul practically jumped out of the boat before it hit the shore. He threw his crutches over and hopped to the rocky ground, remembering the feel of the earth under his injured feet just days before. The coast guard boat puttered to an idle and waited as the men began the trek up the hilly terrain. Paul looked to the right and saw the Jeep, then tried to gauge where the cave was from there.

  Randall and the captain jumped out of the boat right behind Paul. “Wait,” shouted Randall. “Wait. Be careful!”

  Paul stopped and let Randall catch up. “Listen,” Paul said when Randall reached his side. “Let me go first.” Paul thought long and hard before he spoke again. He didn’t know what they would find in the cave. All he knew was that when he left Tracy, she had been in and out of consciousness. She could be hallucinating and in pretty bad shape. The last thing she could handle was getting scared. And since Paul was the last person she had seen, he knew he had to be the first one to see her again.

  “She’s in a very fragile mental state,” Paul said, putting his hand on Randall’s shoulder. “She’s probably in and out of consciousness and could be delirious. Since I was the last person she saw, I think I should be the first one she sees now.”

  Randall stood perfectly still and absorbed the words. He knew Paul was right. But he also knew Paul feared the worst and didn’t want Randall to be the first one to find Tracy if she was dead.

  “Okay,” Randall said. “But I’m going to be right behind you.”

  Paul nodded and turned toward the cave. He walked slowly, but with purpose, shouting Tracy’s name as he went. Even though he had exaggerated things to Randall, he also knew that if he snuck up on Tracy, he could scare her and seriously compromise her emotional state. He knew she was in shock, and he couldn’t afford having her suffer any more emotional trauma.

  “Tracy! Tracy!” he yelled as the captain and Randall followed behind in silence.

  Chapter 9

  Paul entered the dark cave with his eyes wide. He peered into the darkness, his gaze landing on the spot where he had left Tracy. His heart skipped a beat.

  “Tracy?” Paul ran to where he had left her, only to stumble upon a clump of blood-stained towels and scattered rocks. He looked to the pile of supplies and saw the water bottles spilled and dry.

  Paul ran his fingers through his hair as a chill ran up his spine.

  “Tracy, where are you?” he cried out in desperation, hoping to hear her soothing voice nearby. But all he heard was the high pitched voices of the rescue party outside the cave.

  He hopped quickly around the cave, checking every nook and cranny. When he was sure she was gone, he slowly emerged from the cave with a horrified look on his face.

  “What is it? Is she ...” Randall couldn’t finish his sentence. He had braced himself for the worst. But now that he was facing the reality that his daughter, his youngest baby girl could be dead, he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words out loud.

  Paul stood blinking in the bright afternoon light. He shook his head with a questioning look. “Wha ...” Then he realized what Randall was thinking.

  “Oh, oh Randall, no, no. I mean ... she’s not there!”

  Randall looked at Paul with a confused and anguished expression. “You mean not there? Like, not alive?
” He swallowed hard as he said the words. “Or not in the cave?” He was afraid to hold out hope, but hope was all he had left.

  “No,” Paul began moving quickly toward Randall. “She’s not in there. She must have tried to get out and get help.”

  Paul walked past Randall and began looking down at the ground, hoping to see signs of where she might have gone. Paul knew there was no way Tracy could have walked out of the cave. She might have been able to crawl, but even that would have been near impossible. The only rational explanation was that she crawled out or was dragged. The thought of someone coming in and taking Tracy out scared Paul to the core. But he knew very little about Mauritius and the native people. He didn’t know if tourists were prey or if anyone in Tracy’s vulnerable condition might have been taken advantage of.

  Paul kept his thoughts to himself and continued to hobble past Randall and the captain. “Let’s spread out. She couldn’t have gotten far,” he said with determination in his voice.

  “Tracy!” Paul began shouting her name as he walked along the ground heading around the other side of the cave toward the cliff edge that dropped to the ocean below. Since they had come up the hill on the north side of the cave, Paul headed toward the south to see if she might have gone that direction.

  “Tracy! Tracy! Where are you?” Randall shouted as he and the captain began working their way further inland.

  Chapter 10

  Tracy drifted in and out of consciousness, totally unaware that she was mere inches from the edge of the platform which plunged into the rough ocean waters below. She lay with her head on her arm and her face just inches from the dirt and moss. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw visions of her childhood, her parents, her sister and Paul. She began envisioning her wedding day and saw herself standing in front of her friends and family, saw herself standing in front of Paul, holding his hands in hers. She smiled as she heard the voice of the minister talking. Her heart melted when Paul opened his mouth to speak. He looked her in the eye and said her name.