Authors: Elisabeth Naughton
Kate pushed against the back door, tried the windows. They wouldn’t budge. Shifting back to the front seat as water continued to spill into the vehicle, she found the windows there were stuck as well.
“They won’t open. They won’t open!” Julia shrieked.
Using her foot, Kate tried to bust the front windshield at the corner, but it wouldn’t move.
Darkness tried to draw her down. Kate shook her head, blinked and forced herself to stay awake. She was having trouble thinking and seeing clearly. Everything in front of her was blurry. “Okay, just relax, Julia. Listen to me.” She grasped Julia’s shoulders as the ice-cold water reached their bellies. “Listen. We have to wait for the water to fill the car. Once it does, it’ll equal out the pressure. We can’t open the doors right now because there’s too much pressure pushing on them. Once the car fills, the doors will open.”
“No, they won’t!” Julia hollered, cradling her arm against her stomach. “We’re going to drown!”
“Listen to me. They will. Trust me. Don’t panic, baby.”
“I’m scared,” Julia whispered, grasping Kate’s hand.
“I know. It’s okay. We’re not going to die in here, you hear me?” Julia nodded as the car continued to fill. “We’re going to make it. Just think good thoughts, okay? Think about Daddy and Reed and what you want to do tomorrow.” Kate’s vision blurred again, and she shook her head to clear it.
She had to stay awake. She had to stay coherent.
When the water level reached their necks, Julia’s fingers tightened.
“Just a little more, baby,” Kate murmured and lifted her chin. She took one last deep breath, gestured for Julia to do the same, then tried the door again. When it didn’t budge, her heart dropped.
Icy tentacles of fear wrapped around Kate’s throat.
Don’t panic. Try again
.
This time Kate put her back into it. With one good thrust of her body, the driver-side door opened. She grasped Julia’s hand and pulled her out of the sinking vehicle. Light flickered at the surface above. Kate kicked as hard as she could.
They broke the surface together, gasped for air. Kate treaded water, gripped Julia’s shoulders, and checked her face for signs of shock. “You’re okay,” she told her. “We’re okay. Kick your legs, Julia.”
Julia spit water and tried to breathe deep.
“Can you swim?” Kate asked.
With a shaky nod, Julia tried to kick for land. Kate wrapped an arm around her when she realized Julia was having trouble. Gentle waves lapped at the shore of the bay. Crashing water pounded rocks on the other side of the spit. Kate’s energy waned as she dragged Julia out of the water.
Sirens blared in the distance. Kate dropped to her knees next to Julia and sucked in air. Water dripped around her, sending shivers down her spine, but all she could focus on was her daughter.
Julia lay on her back, her eyes closed, her chest fighting for air as she cradled her arm against herself. Kate grabbed her hand. “Stay with me. Hold on, baby.”
Relief bubbled through Kate when voices echoed from the road above.
Help. They’d made it
.
Julia’s hand slipped out of hers.
Kate glanced down sharply only to realize Julia wasn’t moving anymore.
***
Thrusting bills at the cab driver, Ryan sprinted from the yellow taxi. The automatic emergency room doors opened, and he dashed into the reception area. A woman holding a sick baby stood in line at the front desk, rocking back and forth. A man with a blood-tinged bandage draped over his hand waited behind her.
Ryan pushed his way to the front of the line.
“Sir, you’re just going to have to wait your turn.” The receptionist sent him a wicked glare.
Fear clenched its icy hand around his heart. “My wife and daughter were in a car accident.”
The receptionist’s face softened. “Last name?”
“Harrison.” He shook his head. “And Alexander.”
Time ticked by second after miserably long second while she checked her computer. The baby behind him screamed. Ryan raked a frustrated hand through his hair and was ready to climb over the counter to check the screen himself when the receptionist finally said, “Room five. Go through the double doors—”
He turned and waited for her to buzz him though. Pungent institutional cleaners cut through the hallway air. A crash cart was pushed up against a wall. Medical staff chatted around the nurse’s station.
Terror clawed through him as he checked doors, frantically searching for room five. When he finally found it, the muscles in his chest tightened, and he whipped around, heading for the nurse’s station.
A blonde intern leaning against the counter looked up. “Can I help you, sir?”
“Room five’s empty.” Panic made his voice crack.
The blonde looked over at a redhead in blue hospital scrubs seated behind the counter. “Didn’t they take her up to surgery?”
Surgery? No, no, no. Ryan caught his breath.
The redhead checked a chart. “I think so. Car accident, right?”
“Where?”
“Um, let me see.” She flipped papers on a chart.
Good God, couldn’t they see he was dying here?
“Wait,” the redhead said. “That was the woman in six. Five’s in X-ray.”
Sweet Jesus, did they take classes on how to torture family members? “Where’s that?”
The blonde pointed down the hall. “Take the first left, go all the way to the end and turn right. You can’t miss it.”
He was already jogging down the hall before she finished talking.
The air choked in his throat when he rounded the last corner. Kate was seated on a chair in the hall, bent over at the waist, her head in her hands.
“Oh, my God, baby.” He dragged her out of the chair and pulled her tight against him. His heart thumped out of control when her hands slid around his waist.
Grasping her face, he pulled back enough to look down. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, her cheeks streaked with tears. A square bandage covered a wound above her left eyebrow.
He swallowed, his eyes locking on the bandage. “Are you…?”
“I’m okay,” she said, gripping his elbows. “It’s just a scratch. I hit my head. I’m okay.”
Her voice was weak, but her eyes were steady. On a relieved sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close again. “Thank you, God.”
She wasn’t hurt. But she was alone. Reality settled in. Followed by a gut wrenching shot of fear.
“Where’s Julia?”
Tears filled her eyes. “They’re X-raying her. Oh, Ryan, I told her to get in the backseat. I thought she’d be safer there.”
He took a calming breath. X-rays were no big deal. CT scans, MRI’s…those were the things to worry about. “You did the right thing. Tell me what happened.”
“The brakes weren’t working. I didn’t notice until we were on the coast highway. I wanted to get a few things from the house. I…I didn’t think anything would happen.”
“It’s okay. I’m just thankful you’re both okay.”
He pulled her tight again, drew in her sweet scent. When the police had called about the accident, his heart had all but stopped. Losing them was not an option.
“Ryan, your car,” she said against his shoulder.
“You think I’m worried about my goddamn car? That’s the last thing on my mind.”
“Oh, good,” she breathed against him. “Because I think the interior’s shot.”
She was cracking jokes. Jesus, he’d nearly had a heart attack at the thought of losing her again, and she was cracking jokes.
He held on tight, rocked her back and forth. Tried like hell to steady his racing pulse. “Locking you in the house is looking more and more appealing.”
“You don’t think this was an accident?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t want her worried any more than she already was. Swallowing the fear, he eased back and brushed a wet curl from her face. “I think it’s just a bad car. I never should have let Hannah talk me into getting it.”
The door behind them opened, and they both turned as a nurse wheeled Julia out.
Ryan let go of Kate and stepped up to the side of the bed. Her face was bruised, her right arm wrapped in towels, and exhaustion tugged on her little body. “Daddy.”
“Hi, baby.” He ran a hand over her curly head, fighting back the panic at seeing her so broken.
Her eyes closed. “I have a headache.”
“I bet you do.” He glanced up at the doctor and held his breath.
“Broken arm,” she said, lifting the X-ray. “Rib’s bruised but not broken, and she took a good knock on the head. But I think she’s going to be fine.”
“Thank you,” he whispered. Relief poured through him. With a hand that was still shaking, he stroked Julia’s hair. “You think this is gonna get you out of dish duty?”
A grin twisted her lips, but her eyes stayed closed. “I have to get a cast. I don’t think they let you get it wet.”
“No way,” the doctor said behind her. “You’re on the injured list, miss.”
Ryan reached for Julia’s good hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed her fingers. “Scared me, baby.”
“Scared me too,” she whispered. Her lashes fluttered open. “Mom drives a mean car.”
The muscles in his chest squeezed tight when he looked into the depths of her green eyes, so much like her mother’s. Hope sprang to life at the term of endearment. “She does?”
Julia nodded. “Where is she?”
“I’m right here,” Kate said behind Ryan.
He moved to the side, making room. With her hand still clutching Ryan’s, Julia reached for Kate, locking the three of them together.
Warmth encircled Ryan’s fingers. He watched emotions flow over Kate as she looked down at their daughter, hands clasping each other. This was what he wanted. Just this for the rest of his life. His family.
That tightness gripped his chest with the ferocity of a lion. He needed to tell Kate what he suspected about her disappearance. If she found out before he had a chance to tell her himself, he wasn’t sure what she’d say or do.
His eyes slid shut, and he tightened his hold on both of them. A few more days. If he didn’t hear from his private investigator by then, he’d tell her regardless.
No matter what, though, he had to keep them safe. For reasons he’d never understand, he’d been given a second chance. He wasn’t about to blow it now.
***
Kate flipped a page, made a mark with her pen, and rested her chin on her hand. Lifting her knees from where she was stretched out on the floor, she propped her elbow on her leg and kept reading.
Julia shifted on the couch behind her. “What are you looking at?”
“An article for work.” Kate pushed her glasses back up her nose.
“What’s it called?”
Julia’s curiosity brought Kate’s head up. The girl’s bruises had faded to yellow, but she was still obviously sore from the accident. At the moment, she was lying on the couch, reading a book. The fact she even wanted to be in the same room with Kate brought a smile to Kate’s lips.
“‘Microseismic Investigation of Rock Fracture and its Application in Rock and Petroleum Engineering.’” Kate raised her brows, a smirk tugging at her mouth. No way that would interest the girl.
“Petroleum’s like oil, right?”
“Yep.”
“Uncle Mitch would probably like that article.”
Kate smiled. “Yeah, he probably would.”
Julia levered herself off the couch.
“You need something?” Kate sat up to help her.
“No. I want to show you something.”
With a sigh, Kate set the papers on the coffee table. She slipped off her glasses and waited. Julia had opted to stay home with her today instead of going shopping with the grandmas, instead of going to a baseball game with Reed and the grandpas. Ryan was at the office for a few hours. It was just the two of them.
And that little fact made Kate shift nervously on the floor. She was probably foolish in getting her hopes up that she and Julia had finally found common ground. But she wanted to think that more than anything.
Julia stepped back into the room and handed Kate a magazine.
“What’s this?”
“Page seventeen. ‘Tertiary Western Cascade Magnetic Arc.’” With slow movements, Julia climbed up on the couch again and laid her hot-pink cast across her middle. When Kate lifted her brows, she shrugged. “The Cascade magnetic arc is the major structural element in the Juan de Fuca-North American plate boundary.”
“How do you know that?” Confusion ran through Kate, followed by amazement Julia would even know how to pronounce those words.
“I read it.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. My mom wrote it.”
Kate swallowed as she looked down at the journal in her hand. On page seventeen, the by-line read,
Anne Harrison, PhD
.
“Daddy said you drilled that definition into his brain when you were writing it.”
“Did he?” Tears stung Kate’s eyes. Had she really written the article? “I wish I remembered.”
Julia was silent behind her. And then she said, “I remember a lot of things.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Like how you used to take me to your office at the college and let me play on your computer. Or how you used to drag Daddy hiking with you in the mountains. He never liked that.”
Laughing, Kate glanced back down at the journal. Julia had saved it, all this time. She’d memorized the words, even though she probably didn’t understand what they meant. And today, she’d shared it. Emotions stirred in Kate. “Your dad’s kind of a city boy.”
A smile split Julia’s angelic face. “That’s just what Uncle Mitch says too.” Then her smile faded. “Maybe someday we could go hiking like we used to.”
Hope welled inside Kate’s soul. More than anything, she wanted to bridge the gap between them, but she didn’t want to do anything to make Julia pull back. This was a first step. A big step. So instead of reaching for her daughter and drawing her close like she wanted to do, she squeezed Julia’s ankle. “I’d like that, very much.”
The doorbell rang, and Julia looked up.
Kate pushed up from the floor. “You stay put, queen of the couch. I’ll get it.”
Two men dressed in suits stood on the other side of the door when Kate pulled it open. “Can I help you?” she asked.
The taller of the two pulled ID from his breast pocket. “Ma’am. I’m Detective Peterson. This is Detective Carson. SFPD. Are you Mrs. Harrison?”