Below us, Holloway rises and falls with the swell, his body drifting with the current.
He’s too still for my liking.
But he’s floating.
And right now that’s enough.
I grip the doorframe and take one last look at the water waiting below.
Right then, Holloway.
Just hang on a bit longer.
“I’m going in.”
The cable tightens.
The wind roars past my ears.
And as the helicopter steadies above the waves, I fix my eyes on the man drifting below.
Hold on, lad.
I’m coming for you.
Chapter 41
Cold presses in around me, heavy and endless. The sound of the ocean fades into the distance.
A whale surfaces nearby, the soft burst of her blow cutting through the wind before the dark curve of her back slips beneath the waves again.
My eyes drift closed.
I’m not ready yet, Mom.
I just found her.
Chapter 42
The heart monitor beeps steadily beside the bed, the soft rhythm filling the quiet hospital room while I watch the slow rise and fall of Aiden’s chest beneath the thick warming blankets.
It has been three hours since someone came running out of the command room to tell us they had found him.
Three hours since the world shifted from unbearable uncertainty into something that still feels terrifying, but at least carries the fragile promise of hope.
The drive to Newport only took twenty minutes, but I barely remember any of it. My hands were shaking on the steering wheel the entire time, my heart lodged somewhere high in my throat, while the same prayer repeated in my head over and over again.
Please let him be okay.
Please let him be alive.
By the time I reached the hospital, I felt like I was barely holding myself together.
The waiting after that was the worst part.
The medical team was already working on him, and there was nothing for me to do except sit in a quiet waiting room while the minutes stretched endlessly across the clock on the wall. A nurse came in a few times to reassure me that he was stable, but those brief updates somehow made the time pass even more slowly.
So I sat there gripping my hands together, hoping the people behind those doors were fast enough.
