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“I spent the night in the ocean. Plenty of nausea.”
Dr. Julia pulled up Tia’s shirt, prodded her stomach. “Pain?”
“Hunger.”
She smiled and pulled out a penlight. “Dizziness?” The light flickered in Tia’s eyes.
Just when she remembered the way Doyle had pulled her up against him after she dragged him from the current. Yeah, she’d been plenty dizzy seeing the look in his eyes.
“Not... No.”
“Okay, you definitely have something going on in your lungs.” Dr. Julia motioned to someone—oh, Anita.The RA came over.
“Miss Tia—we were so worried!” She took Tia’s hand, crouched next to the bed.
“Let’s get some oxygen on her,” said Dr. Julia.
“I’m fine!” And then to prove it, she doubled over, coughing.Nice.Anita urged her back onto the cot.
“And a couple pillows to prop her up,” Dr. Julia added and looped the stethoscope around her neck.
Anita got up and disappeared, and Dr. Julia stood above Tia. “Getting some clean O2 into your lungs might clear them out, ease the irritation. Give it an hour, and I’ll come back to check on you.”
“I don’t have an hour. Kids are missing.” Tia made to sit up, but Dr. Julia put a hand on her shoulder.
“You have an hour if it means saving your life.”
Her eyes widened, and Anita showed up with the pillow and a portable oxygen tank. Tia took the pillow, then lay back down, and Anita fitted the mask over her mouth and nose as Dr. Julia moved on to the next patient.
Then the RA took Tia’s hand and knelt by the cot.
Wait—was she?—
“Dear Lord, thank you for bringing Miss Tia back to us. Please heal her from her trauma.”
Yes, yes she was.
Tia closed her eyes.
“And please be with Jaden, Gabriella, and Rohan, wherever they are. Help us all not to be afraid. You tell us not to fear, Lord, for You are with us. Give us that grace to believe today. And help us find them. You are a God of hope, and we need that now. In Jesus’ name.”
A God of hope.
And somehow, Doyle’s words came back to her, sifted into her heart even as the oxygen filled her lungs.
“I believe in hope and truth and love. Even when it feels impossible.”
Anita let go of her hand, but Tia kept her eyes closed, just breathing. Just hoping.
She didn’t mean to sleep. It simply caught her up, the exhaustion folding over her, the oxygen slowing her heartbeat, loosening her muscles, drawing her into shadow...
Maybe it was the breeze or a car horn or even the sound of rain on the tent, but she woke with a start, opened her eyes, tried to?—
Oh. The medical clinic.She still lay on the cot, but night had swept in around her, a light rain turning the sky pewter gray and shivering the palm trees.
She too shivered, and realized then that someone had put a blanket over her.
Aw,she’d slept through the tragedy that she should be solving. She pulled the oxygen mask off her nose, sat up.