Water Lily in July (13 page)

Dawn. How long had he been down there?

He looked over his shoulder. The lighthouse was gone. The black base still stood there, maybe seven feet high, the ladder attached to the side leading to nowhere. Fear and panic speared him and his stomach pitted.

“Kaylie!”

Twisting around, shuffling, pain stabbing upwards, he called her name over and over as his frantic gaze took in the ever restless sea. The waves, though calmer than the night before, were still high, caught in the throes of the morning tide.

How far inland could she have been carried by the storm surge? Would he ever see her again this side of Glory? Had he lost her before he'd ever really had her, before she'd been truly his? Spray splattered his face, mixing with the salt already blurring his vision. Grief filled him. There was no way she could have survived this.

Rob sank to the ground, the pain making standing any longer impossible. On the rocks beside him lay a duck and the top half of a garden gnome. The ones he'd bought Kaylie and sent over on the launch. A few petals from the water lilies bobbed on the surface of the water.

A battered envelope with part of an address on it floated past him. He reached out and grabbed it. …
Lighthouse, twelve miles off the coast…

“God,” he began. “Your Word says ask and ye shall receive. Well, I'm asking. I just want to be able to take her home, to say goodbye and tell her I love her one last time.”

The light increased as the rising sun peaked from a gap in the clouds. A beam of light burst forth and illuminated something yellowing floating in the water about two hundred yards off the port side.

Kaylie was wearing a yellow jacket.

“Please, God, let it be her.”

Shedding his jacket, Rob hit the emergency beacon on the collar. That would send a mayday to the coastguard. He crawled to the edge of the helipad and slid into the icy water. He gasped as cold and pain made the grey spots in the corner of his vision encroach farther. For a long moment he thought he was going to pass out.
Not yet
.
A few more moments, but I need Your help to do this.

Somehow, he found the strength to swim to the yellow object floating on the surface of the water. As he grew closer, it was apparent it was a figure floating face down, the long hair suggesting it was a woman. Kaylie…

Reaching her, Rob trod water and turned her over. Her face, blue-grey with cold, was covered in scratches and bruises. Her jacket was torn. Gripping her tightly, he made his way back to the helipad and managed to pull both himself and her up on to it. He checked for a pulse. There wasn't one.

Exhausted and struggling to stay conscious, Rob started CPR, praying desperately. She didn't respond. Tears ran down his face. “Come on, breathe.” He pumped her chest and breathed for her again. He rubbed her arms trying to warm her and covered her with his jacket. “Please, Kaylie, don't leave me now.”

Chopper blades whirled overhead, the downdraft sending his hair into his eyes. A yellow RAF search and rescue helicopter circled overhead before making a smooth landing a couple of feet from him. Two crew members ran over to him.

“She's not breathing,” he said.

“What's her name?” one of the flight suited officers asked as they both knelt beside her.

“Kaylie Wells. She's one of the keepers here.” Rob sat back and clutched his ankle tightly. The grey was encroaching on his sight again and he fought to keep it at bay. He shivered.

“And your name?”

“Rob Peacock.”

The medics tossed his jacket to one side and cut Kaylie's sweater open. Attaching the defibrillator pads, they worked swiftly. “Clear.”

Rob reached for his jacket as Kaylie's body arched into the air. The sound it made was nothing like on the TV.

“Again. Clear.”

Current surged and again Kaylie's body arched.

Rob shivered and he slid into his jacket, hissing with pain. He closed his eyes.

“How you doing over there, Rob?” a voice asked.

“Just worry about Kaylie…” Everything faded as something to his left began beeping, rather than a long continuous whine. When he opened his eyes he was lying on his back, looking up into the face of a uniformed medic.

“Just lie still for me.”

“Kaylie…”

“She's on the chopper waiting for you. She's breathing again. You did a good job with her. Now we'll take care of you. Where does it hurt?”

“Ankle.” Red hot pain surged as the medic touched his leg.

“OK, Rob. I'll secure this leg for the flight back to the mainland. Not allergic to anything are you?”

“No…” His vision dimmed again as the medic moved his leg to fasten an orange box splint around it. Something jabbed his arm and cold fluid pushed into his veins. The medics moved him to a stretcher and strapped him down. “Where… Where you taking me?”

“We're taking you both to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. OK, lift on three. One, two, three.” The medics lifted the stretcher and slotted it into the helicopter.

Rob glanced to his left. Kaylie lay, her eyes closed, with a mask over her mouth. She was covered in foil. Something rustled above him and he raised his eyes in time to see a silver covering over himself as well. “What's this for?”

“Raise your temperature a bit. How long were you both out there?”

“I don't know. Since the lighthouse fell, I guess.”

The medic checked his straps were secure. “OK, Steve, we're good to go.”

Rob turned his head to the window as the chopper lifted into the air. Rocks covered the helipad apart from the small section where he, Kaylie, and the helicopter had been. There was no sign of the door he'd climbed out of. The chopper dipped slightly, giving him a glimpse of the debris filling the remains of the lighthouse base. The sea seemed to go on forever.

Whatever meds the officer had given him was making his senses slide. Rob closed his eyes, listening to the machines beep, rotors thud and the medics chatter. They were safe and Kaylie was alive. He just prayed they could keep her that way.

~*~

Three hours later, Rob sat in the reception area of the busy ED and waited for news of Kaylie. His leg was plastered from toes to knee as his ankle was broken. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to walk so far on it, never mind swim and climb up and down ladders. Neither were the doctors. Crutches leaned against his good leg. Every time a nurse came into reception, he hoped it would be his name she'd call. But it wasn't.

Crispin dropped into the seat beside him. “Rob…I just heard. How is she?”

“I don't know. She wasn't breathing when I found her.”

“Is it true the lighthouse is gone?”

Rob nodded. “Yeah. Nothing left beyond the base. How's your son?”

Crispin looked amazed. “All you've been through and you're asking about Mickey? He's going to be fine. The doctor says we can go home in a day or two. If there's a home to go back to.”

“That final wave was huge. Much bigger than anyone thought it would be. I tried to get Kaylie to leave, but she wouldn't. She sent me on ahead because of my stupid ankle, said she'd be right behind me.”

“What about Angus? Is he here?”

“I'm sorry. Angus is dead. Something hit the lantern room about fifteen minutes before the last wave and smashed all the glass. He was gone by the time we got up there.”

Crispin frowned. “We?”

“I shipwrecked my boat on the rocks. That's how I busted my ankle. Kaylie rescued me.”

“She saved the entire town with that warning of hers. We got everyone out thanks to her.”

A nurse came over and stood in front of them. “Mr. Peacock? You can see your fiancée now.”

“Thanks.” Rob grabbed the crutches, slowly easing himself to stand.

“You and Kaylie are engaged?” Crispin asked.

“She hasn't exactly said yes yet, but we started courting with that understanding.”

“I need to get back to Mickey. We're up on Castleton ward. Can you let me know how she is?”

“Sure.” Rob swung himself slowly and awkwardly after the nurse.

“You can have a few minutes before we take her to surgery to set her arm. The doctor wants her to stay in overnight because of the head injury. Aside from that and the broken arm, it's just cuts and bruises. She's a very lucky girl.”

“We don't do luck.” He lowered himself into the chair next to Kaylie's bed in the busy resus ward.

She slowly opened the one eye that wasn't swollen shut. “Rob?”

He smiled, salt burning his eyes. “Hi.”

“You made it. I thought…”

Rob grabbed her non-injured hand and kissed it. “I was sure I'd lost you. When I got out the lighthouse was gone. All that's left is the base with the outside ladder attached, no more than about six or seven feet. The rubble filled the shaft, covering the exit hatch.”

She frowned. “Then how did you get out?”

“The tunnel at the base of the foundation shaft. It leads out to the helipad.”

“There isn't a tunnel…”

“Yeah there is. I walked down it.”

“Trust me, there isn't. I've been there three years and know every inch of that foundation shaft. It's a dead end.”

“Then how—?”

“I'm sorry,” the nurse interrupted. “We need to take Ms. Wells to theatre now.”

Rob moved out of the way. “I'll see you when you get out. I love you.”

“Love you too.” Kaylie raised a hand as they wheeled her bed from the room.

Rob stood still. It wasn't possible. The tunnel
was
there. Someone had guided him out. Reaching into his jacket pocket, his fingers touched the watches and the book.

He wasn't imagining things. He'd really been there.

15

Kaylie laid in bed, propped up on pillows, watching the news on the TV.

Rob sat on the bed beside her, his leg on a pillow.

“The entire town of Wolf Point is submerged under several feet of water,”
the reporter said.
“No one is being allowed anywhere near the area until the flood waters have receded and the area has been made safe.”

Kaylie's cheeks burned as he went on to describe the heroic actions of the lighthouse keepers.

“…without whom thousands of lives would have been lost both here and up and down the coast. In particular Kaylie Wells, who sent colleague Lucas Denning ashore with the data which resulted in the entire coastline being evacuated. She and fellow keeper, Angus McTavish, stayed behind to keep the light going as long as possible. Mr. McTavish lost his life in the disaster. Mrs. Wells herself was almost killed when the lighthouse fell; her life was saved by local fisherman Rob Peacock.”

“You're famous,” she said.

Rob shook his head. “You saved me first,” he muttered. “They failed to mention that.”

The TV pictures changed to an aerial view and then zoomed in on the remains of the lighthouse.
“Yesterday was the one hundredth anniversary of the mystery of the Wolf Point Lighthouse—the disappearance of the three keepers at the time. Edward Stebbings, Peter Hawes, and Sebastian Mainwaring. A lightship will be anchored off the reef until a new lighthouse can be constructed.”

Rob pulled the book and watches from his jacket pocket. “Got something to show you.”

“What's that?”

“I was trapped in that foundation shaft by all the debris on the hatch.” He nodded to the TV. “See how it fills the base. There was no way I could get out of that. I knew I had to find you, so I prayed that the Lord would help me find a way. You know that passage in Psalm 107:28-30?”

Kaylie nodded. “
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven
,” she quoted.

“That's the one. I saw a light several feet below me. So I climbed down, not sure how on a broken ankle, but anyway I did it. There was a tunnel stretching both ways, and a figure standing there. He led me through the tunnel into a cavern where I found these.” He handed her the watches and the book.

“Old fashioned pocket watches. Look, they even have the chains attached still.”

He nodded. “And look at the initials. PH, SM, and ES.”

“Coincidence, maybe?” Kaylie ran her fingers over them, and then opened the book, flicking through it. A photograph fell out and she picked it up. “The three keepers,” she said. “We had one of the four of us taken just after I started working there.”

Rob took the photo from her, his eyes widening. He pointed to the middle figure. “That's him. He led me out. At the end of the cavern was a short ladder leading to a hatch. It came out on the helipad.”

Kaylie shook her head. “Not possible. I told you, there isn't a tunnel.”

“Not anymore.” Crispin moved away from the door and over to the bed. “Hey, you.” He hugged her.

Kaylie hugged him back. “How are you? How's Mickey?”

“He's doing really well. What about you? You don't look so good.”

She touched her right eye, which was still swollen shut. “It looks worse than it is. You should see the other guy.”

Rob rolled his eyes. “Yeah, he's in ruins. So this tunnel was there?”

Crispin sat next to the bed. “When the lighthouse was originally constructed it was built over a network of tunnels with an escape hatch out onto the rocks. There was a rock fall about a hundred years or so ago at the base of the foundation shaft, which blocked the tunnels in both directions. The helipad was constructed over the escape hatch because the tunnels weren't useable.”

“So how did I get out?”

“Ghosts?” Crispin suggested.

Kaylie shook her head. “No, an answer to prayer—God and His mysterious ways.”