Hallie ran out of the ship’s galley and again searched for Dagny, with Liv following right on her heels. They had just reached the upper deck when Hallie heard a cry for help. She looked up, and there were the twins, hanging from the ratlines just under the lookout nest.
“Oh, my God! Hang on!” Hallie ran to the mast and started to climb the rigging, Liv right behind her.
“No, Liv! You stay right here,” she ordered, gripping the wobbly ropes as tightly as she could.
Hallie climbed on, and on, taking in deep, calming breaths with each rung of rope. The higher she climbed, the more she swayed and that old familiar light-headed feeling resurged. But she had to go on. She heard a shout and looked down.
Kit stood far below, yelling, but she couldn’t understand him with her ears buzzing so loudly. She looked up. The boys were only about four feet higher. Knut was closest to the mast, and Gunnar hung from the end of the yardarm. She tried to grab at the next rope, but her hands were in a frozen grip. She willed them, and her feet, to move, but they wouldn’t. Her panic grew. She couldn’t do this! She looked down and Kit was right below her, scaling the ropes. He grabbed the lines on either side of her and climbed up until she felt the warmth of his body against her back.
“I’ve got you. Don’t worry.” His calm words helped. “Can you hang on? I’ll get the boys in the nest.”
Hallie nodded and watched him pluck Knut off the footage and drop him into the crow’s nest. Kit wrapped the rope around his wrists and leaned out at an angle so ungodly that Hallie’s stomach lurched. Instinctively, she clutched the rope tighter. He easily pulled Gunnar to safety.
“Hallie?”
At the sound of his deep voice, she looked up.
“I’m going to put you into the nest, too, and then take you each down one at a time. Okay?”
She nodded.
“Give me your hand.”
She stiffened. He wanted her to let go. Her hand wouldn’t budge. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I can’t,” she pleaded.
“All right, sweet. Just hang on.”
Hallie felt the ropes sway, and her hands gripped them so tight that she could feel her nails biting into her palms. His warm hand closed over her wrist, holding it firmly.
“I’ve got you now, Hallie. Grip my wrist and I’ll pull you up.”
“My hand won’t move.”
Kit pried her hand off the rope and lifted her up onto the lookout platform. Her arms wrapped around the security of his chest, and she wept sobs of relief. He tilted her face upward, and their eyes met. He searched her face. There was no censure in his expression, and no ridicule, just honest concern that calmed her.
Hallie took a deep breath, wiping at her eyes and said, “I’m all right. Go on. Take the boys down.” She leaned back against the wooden wall of the nest, her heart still pounding. “I’ll sit here and wait.”
He nodded, and then quietly explained to the twins exactly how he would get them down. He took Gunnar first, holding him to his chest, and Knut sat down in Hallie’s lap, waiting and watching as Kit showed Gunnar how to hold on. Placing Gunnar’s arms around his neck, he had the boy lock his small legs around his waist, and then the two disappeared over the side of the nest.
Hallie hugged Knut to her, brushing his hair off his forehead and rocking him in her lap. It soothed her just to hold him and feel his warm little body next to her own.
The fall would have killed them. This was not the first brush with danger they’d had. Since they’d moved onto theSea Haven, the children had had one close call after another. In a single short week Hallie understood that a ship was no place for small children, or for young girls. The scum of San Francisco hovered around the wharf area, so she refused to let any of her family run free. She and Dagny had argued over that very thing earlier, and now Dagny was nowhere to be found. Although a small bit of her hoped it wasn’t so, she had a feeling that her sister had traipsed off on her own to get the supplies they needed.
Kit climbed into the nest and spoke to Knut. “All right, son. It’s your turn. Can you hold onto me like your brother did?”
“Sure!” Knut hopped up, the danger from minutes before forgotten in the excitement of his new adventure.
Kit settled Knut on his chest and turned to Hallie. “I’ll be right back. Will you be all right?”
“Yes,” she lied, feeling anything but all right, and he disappeared again.She took deep gulps of air and stubbornly willed herself to stop shaking and sweating and when nothing worked she just closed her eyes very tightly.
In what seemed like no time, Kit climbed back onto the platform.
She looked up at him.
