‘Breathe, Margot.Les sauveteursare here. Give her some space,’ Antoine said, and everyone who didn’t look official moved out of the way as I coughed again. And I don’t know how long I lay there and coughed, but eventually, with an aching chest and sore throat, someone helped me sit up.
A blanket was wrapped round my shoulders, and it was Antoine who hunched down beside me.
‘What happened?’ I asked Antoine when I’d finished another coughing fit.
‘You almost drowned,’ he said, and his voice cracked as he said it.
I found his hand in the sand and grabbed hold of it. ‘You saved me?’ I asked, looking up at him.
He shook his head. ‘I was too late.’ Antoine looked down the beach at something. He stopped to listen to the two guys in orange talking French.
Then one of them knelt down at my side.
‘Can you tell me your name?’ he asked.
‘Margot Ryan.’
‘And you know where you are?’
‘Biarritz. The beach.’
‘Good. Any pain anywhere? Your neck, back, head?’ He gently examined my head.
I shook it. ‘I don’t think so.’
He took my pulse and asked me questions about my breathing. When he was satisfied, he stood up.
‘There is an ambulance on its way.’
‘Was it you who saved me?’ I asked, my voice weak and cracked. Antoine had come back and was listening to our conversation.
The man shook his head. ‘We got the call, but by the time we got there you were on your way out of the ocean, so we took you from there.’ He smiled.
‘But who then?’ I looked at him for answers.
‘I don’t know, he disappeared when he realized you would be OK. Good swimmer. Probably a local who did not want to do the paperwork,’ he said. ‘But it was lucky that they were here.’
‘Margot! We were not at the beach this morning. Antoine, he phoned us.’ Sébastian held my hand and cried, like he just couldn’t help it.
‘It’s OK. I’m OK.’
Most of the spectators had disappeared after Antoine’s order, but Lili and Delphine were still there, just holding each other on the sand. Lili’s head was buried in Delphine’s shoulder.
The coughing fits had died down. ‘I need to find out who saved me. I need to thank him,’ I said, my throat sore.
‘Delphine,’ Sébastian choked out.
Delphine came to my other side, out of breath, and laid her hand gently on my shoulder.
‘Oh, Margot.’ Then she hugged me, and I could feel the shake of her body as she did. ‘I am so happy you are OK.’
‘Me too,’ said Lili quietly.
‘Ah, here is your family, I ran to get them,’ Delphine said and pointed down the beach. I saw Mum dashing towards me.
‘Margot, oh, Margot.’ Mum dropped to the sand as Sébastian, Delphine and Lili moved out of the way.
Tears were streaming down her face. She took my face in her hands and just looked into my eyes. ‘I love you so much, don’t ever do that again,’ she said, kissing my forehead.
