Chapter 27
Emma
Ilet out a happy sigh a week later as I relaxed in a lounge chair on the deck of Seth’s boat.
So much had changed between Colin and I over the last week.
As promised, we’d stayed at his place.
The two of us no longer hid the fact that we wanted to be together, and Wren had encouraged that by pushing us together as much and as often as possible.
I wasn’t blind to my daughter’s motivations.
She wanted her mother and father to be together, and she made no attempt to hide those not-so-subtle attempts to make that happen.
Wren completely adored and idolized her father.
I suspected this probably wouldn’t always be the case.
The two of them were too much alike, and there were bound to be times when they butted heads in the future.
But I had no doubt that Wren was always going to love Colin, whether they disagreed or not.
They got closer and closer every single day.
I was starting to dread the following week when Wren would have to go back to school.
Colin would have to leave for California.
I knew that he was determined to continue his relationship with Wren and me, and I was just as determined not to lose him, but I wondered how the distance would affect all of us.
My heart ached at the thought of being separated from Colin.
We’d spent the last week together almost constantly.
And I’d spent every night in his bed.
The three of us spent our days together, but Colin and I spent our nights indulging in very adult things.
I wished it could stay the same forever, but that just wasn’t possible for the two of us.
I was going to have to learn how to do a long-distance relationship.
We’d see each other as much as possible, and he’d spend as much time with Wren as he could.
It wasn’t what my heart wanted to happen, but it was the only thing we could do.
Colin couldn’t possibly move to Cherry Cove, even if he didn’t mind leaving San Diego. The Last Hope headquarters was in San Diego, and Colin had dedicated a lot of his life to helping those hostages and building that organization.
Wren had mentioned that she wouldn’t mind living in San Diego, but Colin had never even mentioned the possibility of us moving there.
It knew it was too soon to even think about that, and I had to keep my priorities straight.
I couldn’t afford a home in San Diego, so I hadn’t even brought up the possibility of moving.
I didn’t want to feel like I was pressuring Colin into more than what we had before we were both ready.
Maybe I was ready, but he was still adjusting to being a father, and he’d never been in a committed relationship before.
It wasn’t like I could just move into his place at this point in our relationship.
We’d have to rent, and the rents were pretty outrageous there compared to Michigan.
After living in our cottage in Cherry Cove, Wren would probably hate having an apartment in a big city.
We weren’t struggling anymore in Cherry Cove, but things would be tight for me in San Diego.
I didn’t want to do that to Wren.
Granted, Colin had already put an eye-popping amount of money into Wren’s educational savings. So much that I’d never have to worry about her educational expenses again.
However, I was her mother and I’d always paid for my daughter’s normal expenses.
I was fine with him paying for her college education because he’d insisted on it, and I was okay with him covering some of Wren’s expenses, but he’d had this fatherhood situation thrust on him unexpectedly.
I wasn’t about to take his money so I could live in San Diego.
We’d talked more extensively about finances, and Colin’s wealth had surprised me, but I wasn’t going to take advantage of the fact that he had a lot of money.
I didn’t want his money.
I just wanted…him.
I’d love him no matter what his financial circumstances might be.
“You look like you’re pretty deep in thought,” Brock observed from the captain’s chair of the boat.
I snapped out of my thoughts. “Sorry,” I said sheepishly.
I had been completely ignoring Brock’s presence for a while.
He was manning the boat while Seth, Colin, and Wren were diving.
I’d opted out of the diving today to stay on the boat.
We’d been running to fun places day after day, and I was little tired.
I liked to dive, but I knew that Wren was safe with Colin and Seth. I wasn’t the expert divers that they were anyway.
Seth had always been extremely safety conscious with Wren, but Colin had taken the pre-dive stuff to a whole different level.
He’d checked Wren’s gear several times after Seth had already done it, and he’d reminded our daughter of every safety rule in existence before they’d gone down a few minutes ago.
Wren had dived this particular shipwreck before.
It was shallow enough to stay within her depth limits as a junior diver, but Colin had fussed over her anyway, which I’d found completely adorable.
My daughter had patiently listened to everything that her father said even though Seth had gone over all of those things a million times before.
“Are you worried about Wren?” Brock asked.
I shook my head. I always worried a little about my daughter when she was diving, but I was used to that. “She’s safe with Colin and Seth.”
“Very safe,” he agreed. “They’re both instructors and Marshall was a SEAL. He’s been diving most of his life.”
“The waves are getting a little choppy,” I noticed.
It had been perfectly calm when they’d gone down a few minutes ago, but the waves were starting to kick up.
“Yeah,” he commented. “I noticed that. Things can change out here in a matter of moments. It doesn’t look like it’s about to storm, but the winds have shifted a little. Lake Michigan weather is a bitch sometimes.”
“You should be used to that by now,” I teased.
While Gage was the only native Michigander, the rest of the guys had been here for years. Long enough to know just how fast the weather could change on the Great Lakes.
“I’m used to it,” he grumbled. “But that doesn’t mean that I always like it.”
“You love it here,” I said. “Even the winters.”
All of the guys thrived during the Michigan winters because they loved winter sports just as much as they liked the summer ones.
“Most of the time,” he admitted. “But I could do without some of the crazy storms, especially if I already have plans to do something on the water.”
You had to learn to roll with the weather on the Great Lakes, and Grand Traverse Bay was part of Lake Michigan.
Cherry Cove had its fair share of nasty summer storms and lake-effect snow in the winter that seemed like it would never stop.
I was a Michigander so I was used to the fact that the weather could change quickly, especially when you lived on the lake.
“That’s Seth,” Brock said in a surprised voice as a head popped out of the water in the distance. “Why in the hell did he surface? I don’t see Wren or Marhsall.”
I stood up and leaned over the railing.
Seth was swimming like lightning toward his boat.
My eyes searched the water frantically for my daughter and Colin, but they were nowhere in sight.
When Seth pulled himself onto the boat, his expression was grim.
“Wren got caught up in a current. Marshall signaled for me to surface and call for help. He went after her,” he said solemnly as he sprinted to the captain’s area.
I watched as Seth called the authorities on the radio, my heart pounding inside my chest.
Wren was in trouble.
The currents in Lake Michigan could be brutal sometimes.
Wren knew what to do, but she was still a kid.
“I need to go down,” I said in a panic.
“No!” Brock said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I know your instinct is to go after your daughter, but you’re a novice diver, Emma. You going down there right now could cause even more problems.”
I looked up at Brock’s pleading gaze.
He was trying to make me see sense, but I was Wren’s mother.
I knew he was right, but I couldn’t let go of the instinct to rescue my child.
“Marshall is with her, Emma. He’ll bring her back,” Seth said firmly after he’d radioed for help.
“Wren is a junior diver, but she’s the most competent junior diver I’ve ever worked with.
Marshall’s diving skills blow every other diver out of the water.
He’ll find her. We need to try to figure out where they ended up and find his emergency surface marker buoy.
I imagine that the Coast Guard will be here to help us shortly.
Don’t panic on me now, Emma. You know what we have to do, and you know that Marshall would die himself before he’d let anything happen to his daughter. ”
I nodded slowly.
I had to pull myself together.
Freaking out wasn’t going to help my daughter or Colin right now.
“You drive,” I said. “Brock and I will search the water for the buoy.”
Brock squeezed my shoulders as Seth fired up the boat.
“You trust Marshall, Emma. Trust him to bring your daughter home.”
“I do trust him,” I said as tears rolled down my cheeks. “But he’s not superhuman. There are limits to what he can do against the currents.”
People died every year on Lake Michigan from the lake currents.
They could be brutal and deadly.
They weren’t static, and Seth could only make a guess as to where my daughter and Colin would eventually pop up.
“He’s probably as close to superhuman as you’re going to get,” Brock answered as we moved to get into position to search the surface.
The two of us moved apart so we could see different areas and get a good view.
My hands were shaking as I gripped the railing, but I kept reassuring myself that Colin would do everything possible to save our daughter.