Page 173 of Vegas Duology

She spoke so softly, I almost didn’t hear her over the wind and storm.Lexi pointed into the water in the opposite direction of the resorts and houses.The far end of the lake.I moved closer to her and stood behind her.“What do you mean, Lex?Did you see it?”

She nodded and something inside me cracked.“This morning, while I was waiting for you to wake up, I noticed a boat headed that way.I thought it was strange, but now...”

“It’s the kids.”

She turned; tears streamed down her face.“It’s the kids,” she repeated.

I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms, but there was no time.The kids needed me more.I squeezed her arm in a way I hoped felt more reassuring to her than it did to me and turned to Keith.“Who monitors the lake?Who do we call?We have to get those kids out of there.”

Keith was already punching numbers into his phone.“The lake is privately owned.There are warnings posted all the time to keep something like this from happening.I don’t watch it very carefully yet because we don’t have the—yes, hello.”He shifted his attention to the phone and told whoever was on the other end of the line what was happening.I listened with half an ear and turned to Lexi at the same time, pulling her tight against my chest.She shivered violently.Whether from the wind or fear, I couldn’t be sure.

“We have to get you inside,” I said.“You’re freezing.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I’d expected as much.I wrapped my arms tighter, trying to infuse my warmth into her.

“Okay, they’re sending out a rescue boat.”Keith appeared next to me, his arm around Roxanne.“They’ll be okay.”The four of us nodded in turn, not taking our eyes off the churning water in front of us.The early day sky was so dark with storm clouds, we couldn’t see to the other side of the lake.The rain started just as we saw the bright light of a rescue boat move across the water, cutting through the waves, headed to the far end of the lake, and hopefully the children.Nobody moved, despite the sting of the rain.“They’ll be okay,” Keith said again.

I held Lexi closer.They had to be okay.They had to be.

~Lexi~

I watched the light move across the water until the storm swallowed it from my view.They needed to hurry.The boat needed to move faster.My baby was out there.Ben.

I felt as if I couldn’t breathe, but somehow oxygen kept filling my lungs.If Leo hadn’t been holding me up, I wouldn’t have been able to stand on my own.The stifling weight of helplessness covered me, weighing me down so I was frozen in place as I stared at the water.I barely felt the sting of the driving rain, and refused to look away from where I’d last seen the light of the rescue boat.

It was taking too long.They should have them by now.Something was wrong.

I squeezed my eyes shut.Just for a moment.Just long enough to force the negative thoughts from my mind.

“There!”

My eyes snapped open, just as Leo repeated himself.“There.I see the light.”

The boat was on its way back.Headed directly toward us.But did they have the kids?I dared not speak.Instead, I chanted a simple mantra in my head over and over again.

Be okay.Be okay.Be okay.

It took forever for the boat to make its way through the rough water.Finally, it was there.A crew member yelled and threw a rope to Keith, who caught it and hauled the boat closer to the dock.Leo unwrapped his arms from me to help bring in and tie up the boat.

“It’s nuts out there,” the crew man said.“Your dock was the closest one.We’ll ride it out until—”

“The kids?”Leo interrupted him.“Did you find them?”

Just then, another crew member, a female, appeared from inside the boat, with three smaller figures, all wrapped in blankets.

The kids!They were okay.

“We got them,” she said.“Lucky, too.The boat washed up on the far shore with the wind.”She helped the kids to the dock.First Evan and Ruby, who ran into Roxanne’s waiting arms, and then Ben.He was there in my arms, pressed against my chest.He was cold and wet and...whole.Wrapped tightly in my embrace, I didn’t plan on ever letting him go.

I vaguely heard the rescuer, still talking.Saying something about high winds, danger, capsizing.It didn’t matter.I had my baby.I had Ben in my arms and I was never letting him go.

“Ben, thank God.”Leo was there; his arms surrounded us in a cocoon that I happily could have stayed in forever.“Let’s get inside.This is insane.”

And then Ben was pulled from my arms, but only to be lifted into those of his father.Leo grabbed my hand and together we half walked, half jogged through the storm up to the main building.

Once I was in the warmth, and we were all wrapped in blankets on the couches in the lounge with cups of hot tea and hot chocolate in front of us, Leo and Keith sent Joanne to our individual suites to fetch dry clothing for everyone.It was unspoken that we weren’t going anywhere.Roxanne couldn’t stop kissing her kids’ heads, which had started to earn her dirty looks from each of them in turn.Ben suffered my attentions in silence, but I was pretty sure it was because he was as shaken up as I was about the whole experience.