Book 26 Hurricane After Dark #4
“Hey, Jules, what’s up?” her older brother asks.
“I’m worried about Deacon. He’s not in yet, and it’s dark. The seas are huge, and he’s in that little boat. I’m not sure if I should call Blaine or if he’d want me not to.”
When she tells Owen she’s at the dock, he says he’s coming there. Only because it’s so unlike Deacon to be out of touch with her for so long, she calls his brother.
“Hey, Julia.” Blaine sounds rushed and stressed. Who can blame him with a Category 2 hurricane bearing down on his island? “What’s up?”
“Um, so, Deacon isn’t in yet.”
“What?”
“I’m at the dock. There’s no sign of him or the boat, and he’s not answering his phone.”
“Let me try to raise him on the radio. Hang on.”
In the background, she can hear Blaine saying, “Base to harbor master. Come in, harbor master.” She hears him say the same thing three more times with no reply.
Julia tries not to panic, but it isn’t easy. Blaine is calling the Coast Guard to send a boat out to look for him. He tells her to try not to worry and to come to the station while they wait to hear from him.
Julia walks up the dock and meets Owen, who accompanies her to the station. Owen puts his arm around her, and she leans into him, taking comfort from him the way she has all her life. “I’m sure he’s fine. He knows what he’s doing out there.”
Julia nods so he knows she heard him, but again, her throat is too tight for words. The feeling reminds her of the many times in her life that panic has made it difficult for her to talk, eat or do anything other than wallow in fear.
Deacon is the brightest light in her world, the undisputed love of her life. If she loses him…
No, she can’t think about that. She simply cannot.
Blaine calls Tiffany and tells her about Deacon being overdue. She reassures him that Deacon will be okay. She offers to come wait with him at the station, but he doesn’t want to disturb their sleeping girls. He just needed to hear her voice. He will be home when he can.
Mason offers to send one of the firefighting boats out to look for Deacon.
Julia and Owen arrive, soaked to the bone.
Blaine gets them some coffee to warm up.
He tries to reassure Julia that they’re doing everything they can to find Deacon, but there’s nothing anyone can say that will make her not worry.
Blaine is worried, too, but he’d never say that to her. “Deacon is one of the most highly trained people on the water around here, and if anyone can get himself through a tricky situation, it’s him.”
“I know.” Julia wipes tears from her face. “It’s just so rough out there and about to get much worse. What’ll we do if we can’t find him?”
“We’re doing everything we can to find him,” Blaine assures her, but even that isn’t true.
If the storm weren’t a factor, Linc would have choppers and planes assisting in the search, but that isn’t possible in the current conditions.
He also doesn’t mention that time is critical at a moment like this.
The longer Deacon is missing, the less likely they are to find him. She doesn’t need to know any of that.
Hell, he wishes he didn’t know that stuff.
Blaine sends Julia and Owen home to wait for news. He also calls Seamus O’Grady because he heard Joe and Seamus took the ferries out. They promise to be on the lookout for Deacon and keep in touch by radio.
Evan and Grace flew in when they heard the hurricane was headed to Gansett.
Grant helps Evan bring in the heavy furniture from their porch, then goes to make sure his house is set.
Grace is still sick from the flight. Evan tells Grace he wants to stay home instead of touring for the next year or two.
Between the baby they’re expecting and both their businesses, he wants to be home for a while. Grace enthusiastically agrees.
Abby tries to find a comfortable spot, which is funny since she has four babies taking up all the room inside her.
Adam reports that the storm is still registering Category 2 and they’ll probably lose power overnight.
They’re grateful for the generator Mac convinced them to get but decide it’s best never to tell Mac that.
Luke comes home after a long day of making sure their businesses and properties are safe.
He’s filthy and his little girl, Lily, is crying.
His wife, Sydney, is trying to comfort her, but she wants Daddy.
After a quick shower, he’s able to calm Lily, who’s afraid of the loud storm.
She quickly falls asleep, and Sydney shares the news that she’s pregnant.
Piper feeds dinner to their guests, and they invite her to join them.
Oliver and Dara share that the death of their three-year-old son had brought them to the island.
And they’re expecting another baby, which is exciting and devastating at the same time.
Erin tells them her story about losing her twin brother, Toby, on 9/11, and how Jenny Martinez had been his fiancée when he died.
“Oh, Erin,” Dara says. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. It was rough after we lost Toby. But Jenny loved it so much here and talked me into taking over the lighthouse after she moved in with Alex.” She glances at Slim. “Best thing I ever did, for more reasons than I could possibly list.”
“We feel the same way,” Oliver says. “Like we’ve found ourselves again here, as crazy as that might sound.”
“I get that,” Erin says. “From the first day I arrived, I felt like I could breathe again.”
“Same,” Oliver says. “In many ways, this place has saved our lives—and our marriage.”
“I feel the same way about being here,” Piper says, sobered by their stories.
A broken engagement seems trivial compared to what they’ve been through.
“A bad breakup sent me looking for somewhere else to be. I came for a vacation and ended up staying when I found the same things you all did—a warm, welcoming place with the nicest people I’ve ever met. It felt like home right away.”
“Cheers to Gansett Island.” Erin raises her glass of water. “And prayers that Ethel goes easy on us.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Oliver says as they touch glasses again.
Piper is cleaning up the kitchen when Jack comes in, soaked and windblown but still sexy as can be.
She makes him a plate for dinner and sits with him while he eats. He tells her about Deacon Taylor being missing. Piper is upset for her friend, Julia, and for Deacon. Jack asks Piper if she looked him up after he told her about his late wife.
When she says maybe, he confirms that’s what he would have done, too.
“Your Ruby was beautiful and so courageous. Her posts touched me deeply.”
“She was incredible.”
“You must miss her so much.”
“I do. I had a rough couple of years after I lost her. Kind of went through the motions to stay employed. Otherwise, I was a mess, even though I’d had ample warning it was coming. Nothing can really prepare you…”
Piper leans across the counter and places her hand on top of his. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Thanks. I’m doing better now. They assigned me to Gansett to take some of the pressure off after everything happened. It’s been good for me to be here, to have a fresh start away from where everyone knows my sad story.”
“I’m so glad you’re doing better, and I know all about going somewhere that no one knows your story.”
“What are you running from?”
“Nothing quite like your story. Just a broken engagement and a canceled wedding.”
Maddie has five crying, scared children who only want Daddy. She’s desperate enough to call him and find out where he is and when he might be home. Mac is finishing at the alpaca farm and will be home soon.
“The storm has everyone on edge.”
“Mommy! The house is rocking! It’s gonna fall down!”
Thomas’s proclamation gets Hailey and Mac crying even harder than they’d been before.
“I won’t ask how it’s going there.”
“Thomas is afraid the house will fall down.”
“Tell him I said it won’t.”
“And you’re sure of this?”
“Sure-ish.”
“Mac…”
“I’m coming, babe. Getting in the truck now.”
“Mommy! The house is shaking again!”
She looks up at the top of the stairs, where Thomas is standing at the gate they use to keep little people from tumbling down the stairs if they get up during the night. “Daddy said the house is fine, and he’ll be home in a few minutes.”
“I want Daddy,” Hailey says on a sob when she joins Thomas at the top of the stairs.
“Everyone needs to get in bed if they want to see Daddy. He’s only coming to see kids in bed.”
The two of them go rushing back to their rooms.
That Daddy is their favorite is a constant source of amusement to him. Maddie spends all day every day with them, and he comes riding in like the conquering hero at the end of a long day and makes everyone happy. She doesn’t hold it against him, though, because he makes her happy, too.
Julia is trying to hold it together while waiting to hear anything about Deacon.
Her twin sister, Katie, and her husband, Shane, are taking care of her.
“I know you’re thinking the worst and probably trying to prepare yourself for it, but I’m betting on Deacon.
He loves you so much, Jules. He’d swim back to shore to get to you if that’s what it takes. ”
Thinking of him swimming in the turbulent ocean breaks her.
With Katie’s arms around her, she sobs her heart out.
Pupwell whines and nudges her leg.
Julia pulls back from Katie to tend to her sweet boy. “I’m okay, buddy.”
He licks the tears from her face.
“He’s trying to remind you that he was found swimming, and Daddy will be found, too,” Katie says.
For the first time in hours, Julia laughs. “Thanks for that, sweet boy. Mama needed to hear that.”