Chapter 2 - The Hand That Almost Let Go
“Junie, look at me!”
Adrian dropped to his stomach so hard that the deck scraped through his linen shirt.
His daughter hung below him, her arms trembling.
“Daddy?”
“I'm here. I've got you.”
He didn't have her.
Not yet.
That was the terrible part.
He reached over the metal lip, stretching until his shoulder burned.
“Give me your hand, sweetheart.”
“I can't.”
“Yes, you can.”
“If I let go, I'll fall.”
Her voice was small and horribly reasonable.
Adrian's heart hammered against his ribs.
“Okay. Don't let go. I'm coming to you.”
He extended himself farther.
His fingertips brushed her wrist.
Behind him, Corinne screamed for help.
For a second, Adrian thought she sounded genuinely terrified.
“Somebody get over here!”
Footsteps pounded across the deck.
“Mr. Whitmore, don't lean any farther!”
It was Mara Bennett, one of the yacht's deckhands.
She was thirty-two, strong-shouldered, and wearing navy crew shorts and a white polo. She dropped beside Adrian and immediately assessed the situation.
“Her grip's failing. I can get a line around you.”
“No time.”
“Then I hold you. Tomas! Get forward!”
Mara flattened herself beside Adrian, bracing her knees against a fixed deck fitting. She caught the waistband and back of his trousers and pulled him into a more stable position.
“Now,” she said. “Reach.”
Adrian stretched down.
His hand closed around Junie's left wrist.
She screamed as her right hand slipped.
“I've got you!”
He caught her other forearm.
Mara leaned back, anchoring his weight.
“Pull toward me. Slowly. Don't jerk.”
Adrian drew his daughter upward.
Junie's shoes struck the hull.
She cried out.
“I'm sorry!”
“Don't apologize. Just hold on.”
Tomas Reyes, the captain, arrived with a second crew member. Together they secured Adrian and helped lift Junie high enough to clear the lip.
Mara caught the little girl under her arms.
And suddenly Junie was on the deck.
Alive.
Adrian pulled her into his chest.
She shook so violently that her teeth chattered.
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy—”
“I'm here.”
He kissed her hair.
“I'm right here.”
“I almost fell.”
“I know.”
“I didn't mean to.”
His eyes filled.
“Baby, you didn't do anything wrong.”
Corinne dropped to her knees beside them.
“Oh my God. Junie, sweetheart!”
Junie recoiled.
It was a tiny movement.
But Adrian felt it.
“Don't,” Junie whispered.
Corinne froze.
“Honey?”
Junie buried her face against Adrian.
“Don't let her.”
Adrian looked up.
“Don't let her what?”
Corinne answered before Junie could.
“She was leaning over the edge. I told her to move away, but she wouldn't listen.”
Mara's head turned.
Junie began shaking harder.
“No.”
Corinne's expression tightened.
“What?”
“I wasn't.”
“Junie, darling, you're frightened. It's okay.”
“You pushed me.”
Silence settled around them.
Even the approaching guests seemed to understand that something had changed.
Adrian stared at his daughter.
“What did you say?”
Junie lifted her tear-streaked face.
“She pushed me, Daddy.”
Corinne inhaled sharply.
“Adrian.”
He looked at his wife.
“Tell me that's not true.”
“Of course it isn't.”
Junie clutched his shirt.
“She did.”
“Sweetheart,” Corinne said softly, “I tried to catch you.”
Junie shook her head violently.
“No!”
“Junie, please. You're making it sound—”
“She put her hands on me!”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Corinne. Stop talking.”
His wife stared at him.
For perhaps the first time since their wedding, he wasn't looking at her with admiration.
He was looking at her like a stranger.
Tomas crouched nearby.
“Mr. Whitmore, we need to get your daughter checked. She may have wrist injuries, and she's in shock.”
Adrian nodded.
“Call the Coast Guard and arrange medical evaluation at shore. We turn around now.”
“Already doing it.”
Mara touched Junie's shoulder gently.
“You were really brave up there.”
Junie looked at her.
“Was I?”
“Bravest person on this boat.”
“Even braver than Daddy?”
Mara glanced at Adrian.
“Don't tell him, but yes.”
For the first time since the fall, Junie's mouth twitched.
Adrian almost broke.
Corinne rose unsteadily.
“Adrian, can we please talk privately?”
He didn't answer.
“Please.”
He finally looked at her.
“My daughter was hanging over the Atlantic. There is nothing private about that.”
“You can't seriously believe I—”
“I said we'll talk later.”
He carried Junie toward the interior.
As he passed Mara, she leaned closer.
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“I need you to know something.”
Adrian stopped.
Mara glanced toward Corinne, making certain she couldn't hear.
“When I came forward, your wife was standing several feet away from the edge.”
Adrian waited.
Mara swallowed.
“She wasn't reaching for Junie.”
“Maybe she'd already tried.”
“Maybe.”
But Mara didn't look convinced.
May you like
Then she added the part that made Adrian's stomach turn.
“And when she saw me coming, she took her phone out of her pocket and put it underneath one of the loungers.”
