I felt useful and needed.
Then the radio crackled, startling us all.
“Cammie, this is Ramsay. Do you copy? Over.”
Cammie dove to pick up the handset, almost dropping it. “Ramsay, this is Cammie. Do you have news? Over.”
The kids scrambled up from their pillows, eagerly straining toward their aunt and the radio.
“Lifeboat and crew have returned safely to the station. Over.”
A sob stuck in my throat as the kids cried out happily.
“Aw, amazing news, Ramsay. Thank you. Over.”
Cammie dropped the radio and threw her arms around me. At the sound of her relieved, muffled tears, mine started to fallrapidly down my cheeks and I shuddered against Quinn’s sister, trying to contain the violence of my relief.
42.Quinn
My patience was wearing thin. We’d returned to the station over two hours ago and yet we still hadn’t departed back to our families. Forde, along with Isla, was one of only four first aiders on the island, so they’d called one of our two island doctors out to check us over. I’d bumped my head when the boat capsized and had a few bruises here and there from where it righted itself again. But Dr. Stornoway was fairly certain I hadn’t been concussed and told me to be vigilant if I had any symptoms.
The reason we hadn’t been able to go home yet was because the police needed us to secure the fishing boat for their arrival. It turned out the crew were claiming to be victims of human trafficking. We shouldn’t have known those details, but PC William let it slip. The crew said they were illegal immigrants who had been lured to the UK with promises of a job and a place to stay, and they’d been intimidated by criminals into crewing a fishing boat as a cover for drug trafficking.
They’d asked Leth Sholas Police to check the boat, and by the expression on DI Paul Young’s face when he strode back into the lifeboat station, they had found drugs. “No one touches it. Once the storm passes, a detective and his team from the mainland will be over with forensics to deal with it. All right?”
While it was concerning to know our waters were being used in such a way, I desperately wanted to get home. “Can we go now, Paul?”
“Aye. Brave job tonight, people. You saved three lives. In more ways than one.”
Exhausted, I bid Ramsay, Tierney, and Akiva good night as I followed Forde out of the lifeboat station. The worst of the wind had thankfully calmed, though the rain still fell in slanted sheets. We braced against it as we hurried to our respective vehicles. Forde pulled me into a hug, and I gave his nape a quick squeeze.
Maybe tomorrow we’d be able to talk about how fucking terrifying that experience was. We gave each other a knowing nod and left to go home and crash.
Except I couldn’t crash quite yet.
I drove slowly through the bad weather, not just because of the rain but because I was drained. If I’d had to drive farther than the twenty minutes to my house, I wouldn’t have done it for fear of falling asleep at the wheel.
The relief I felt parking at my house behind Cammie’s Defender was like nothing I’d ever felt before.
I’d barely opened the door when I was attacked by my children and sister. Angus and Heather clung to me, while Cammie peppered my cheeks with kisses. Tears streamed down all their faces, and remorse coursed through me for putting them through this. “I’m all right, I’m all right,” I murmured, brushing my thumbs over Heather’s, then Angus’s cheeks, and then Cammie’s. I met my sister’s watery gaze. “Please tell me you didn’t say anything to Mum.”
She shook her head. “Totally oblivious. Has no idea you were out in this.”
“Good.”
Movement behind Cammie had my attention moving past her.
Taran stood distant from us, a haunted look on her face that had me spinning back to one of my worst memories. The day I told her Kiera was pregnant. She’d worn a similar look then. “Mo luaidh,” I gasped out, winded by her expression.
She seemed to shake herself, her smile tremulous. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
The kids had eased away, freeing me to bridge the distance between myself and Taran. I hauled her against me, my embrace probably too tight as I breathed her in.
At first, she was tense but quite quickly, she melted against me, her fingers curling into my jacket, pulling on it as she quietly shook.
“Mo luaidh, I’m here. I’m okay. I’m not going anywhere.”
It was the sound of Heather and Angus arguing that woke me, followed by Cammie not so quietly telling them to hush because I was sleeping. I didn’t even need to open my eyes to know I was still absolutely exhausted. Groaning, I pried them open, the light piercing into the room through the cracks in my curtain stinging my tired eyeballs.
