Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
No time for fear, no bodily resources to waste over it either. I had to be as calm, collected, and decisive as Hudson.
“Allie!” Juniper shouted as I reached her.
“Swim!” I ordered, grabbing a fistful of the back of her dress in one hand and propelling us away from the boat as it passed.
We battled through the water until I counted to ten, and then turned back toward the yacht as the tail end of it went by.
“What are we going to do?” Juniper cried as I held on to her, kicking to stay at the surface while I searched the passing boat.
There. The setting sun cut through the windows of the cabin, silhouetting its occupants, and I barely made out a racing figure darting through the party—Eva. Two seconds later, Hudson and Gavin burst onto the back deck and ran toward the railing.
“Hudson!” I screamed, waving my left arm.
“Help!” Juniper shouted simultaneously.
Hudson lurched over the railing, and Gavin dragged him back, shouting something we couldn’t hear over the noise of the party and the engines as they pulled ahead of us.
“They’re leaving!” Juniper shrieked, her voice so high it threatened to pierce my eardrums.
“It’s okay,” I assured her as everyone on the back deck mobilized.
Hudson reappeared at the railing and threw up his hand, splaying his fingers and mouthing something that looked like five minutes.
“It’s okay,” I said to myself as the boat left us behind. “We’re about to hit the wake, so stay above the surface. Don’t fight the waves, just ride with them.” I turned all my attention to Juniper. “Understand?”
She nodded, and I tightened my grip on the back of her dress, treading water with my other three extremities. The water swelled from the opposite direction of what we’d been fighting, and I kept my eyes locked on hers as we rose and fell with the first wave, and then a second.
The horn blew on the boat, but it continued onward, sailing straight.
“They’re not coming back!” Juniper sputtered, water dripping off her forehead.
“They will,” I promised her as we rode far more gentle swells. “Your uncles aren’t going to leave us out here. We just have to make it five minutes treading water. Can you do that?”
Juniper nodded, treading water like she’d been taught by the best. “I lost my shoes.”
“Me too.” I forced a smile. “Gives us a reason to go shopping when we make it out of the water.”
“I wasn’t supposed to be on the boat,” she admitted.
“I know.” Cold seeped in my muscles, but I held tight to her dress. “And we’re going to have a very long talk about that.”
“That man . . .” Her lower lip trembled, and I hoped it was from emotion and not cold. “He’s my father, isn’t he?”
I nodded my head. It wouldn’t help to lie to her. “How much of that did you hear?”
“I was with some of the other kids on the bow. We’d just come down the stairs when I heard your voice, and when I listened at the door, you were asking him if Lina caught him off guard.” Water tracked down the little lines between her eyebrows.
My heart sank. “You heard it all.”
“Is that what I am?” Her teeth chattered. “A ticket into your company?”
“Not to me.” I shook my head vehemently. “There is no excuse for what other people have done, but I love you, Juniper.”
“Was that what you were doing? Using me to get your part back?” She recoiled, and I held fast, refusing to let her go and risk our separation out here.
“No.” Treading water with only three of my limbs was exhausting. “I went to get him to sign some paperwork that would protect you, that would make it so he couldn’t take you from your mom. My contract had already been printed when I went to confront him.” I left Eva out of the discussion and prayed Juniper hadn’t heard every detail.
Tears welled in her eyes. “They didn’t want me. They didn’t love me.”
My throat clogged. I was so ill-equipped to handle this discussion, but it wasn’t like I had the option of staying quiet out here. “I can’t speak for him, but Lina loved you,” I said, and prayed it wasn’t the wrong thing. “I know she loved you because she chose your mom and dad. She knew Uncle Gavin and Uncle Hudson. She chose your entire family, people she knew would love and protect you, and she placed you where she’d be able to check up on you. She put you in one of her favorite places in the world so you could grow up surrounded by the things and the people she loved too.”
Her tears mixed with the ocean. “You don’t know that.”
“I can’t imagine anyone knowing you and not loving you, Juniper. Your mom and dad, your grandparents, your uncles and your cousins, they all love you. Anne and I love you.” A high-pitched whine sounded from behind us. “And I know that might not be enough to soothe the hurt you’re feeling, and I’m so sorry.”