Page 3 of Shaded Amethysts
My eyes widened in horror as I watched her run frantically in our direction. Fear for her son’s safety had obviously made her forget that she could easily make this already precarious situation much worse.
“Freeze!” The man behind me shouted.
His firm tone stopped Molly in her tracks. She blinked in our direction as he said, “The best way for you to help is to crawl behind me and help pull.”
Molly’s gaze darted to the hole. Her mother’s instinct to rush to her little boy was clearly at war with her rational side that said to listen to the wisdom of our helper.
The man seemed to sense her indecision, so he added, “If you run over there, the icewillbreak, putting us all in even more jeopardy.”
Making her decision, Molly lowered to all fours and shuffled quickly to make her way to the back of our human chain.
With a giant pull that had all three of us grunting and scooting backward, we yanked the drenched duo onto the surface of the ice.
Relief surged through my veins, until the man behind me said, “They’re not out of danger yet. We need to get them each to a medical treatment facility right away.”
3
Avery
Molly scurried forward on her hands and knees to grab her son. The dog relinquished the boy from her life-saving, clenched jaw to the woman’s care.
When Molly went to stand up with the shocked little boy in her arms, the man said in an urgent tone, “The ice can still give way. Scoot a good distance away from this spot before attempting to stand, then rush him to the emergency room. Change him out of those wet clothes on the way and wrap him in something dry.”
After nodding her acknowledgment, Molly began scooting away as quickly as she could. I watched her until she was able to safely stand and run toward shore with Scout cradled in her arms.
For the first time since the fall, I glanced at Grant. His pallor was as white as the snow surrounding him on the shore. I felt bad for the father being forced to watch this horror show from the sidelines, but it couldn’t be helped.
The man’s voice pulled my attention back to our immediate vicinity. “I’m a veterinarian. I’ll take the dog up to my office and make sure she gets the best medical care.”
He angled his head up toward the shore to indicate his home office. It must have been obvious that I was struggling to absorb everything that had happened in the past couple of minutes because the man continued, “Are you able to take care of the other children?”
I glanced at the wide eyes of my nieces and nephew standing on the shore. They must have been so frightened. After nodding, I moved to stand up.
“Roll away,” the man reminded me.
By the time I rolled a safe enough distance away, the man joined me with Pepper cradled in his arms inside his coat. It was my first glimpse of his face, and I gasped in an icy breath at the sight of it. He was very clean cut and handsome, like a masculine, life-sized version of a Ken doll.
The frigid air hit my lungs, making me cough awkwardly. He held the large dog with one arm as he used his other hand to pat my shoulder. “You okay?”
His startling, blue eyes locked onto mine as I nodded. For a brief moment, we stayed frozen there as he gauged the sincerity of my answer. He evidently decided that I truly was all right because he graced me with a wide, perfect smile before he said, “I better get this brave heroine up to my office. She deserves the best treatment available.”
I nodded again, having apparently been struck mute by the man’s stunning level of physical perfection. When he turned to leave, I quickly followed to retrieve my frightened nieces and nephew.
Once we reached the shore, I quickly changed out of my skates and said goodbye to the man who had helped save our day. As I hurried with the little ones back to my car, I removed my wet coat. Thankfully, my clothing had remained dry underneath it. After dropping the kids off with their parents and providing a brief explanation of what happened and where their dog was, I raced to the hospital to check on Scout and Molly.
The drawn looks on Molly and Grant’s faces as I approached had me fearing the worst. My voice came out in a frightened screech when I asked, “Is Scout going to be okay?”
They both nodded before Molly said in a hushed tone, “Yes, the doctors said he’s going to be fine. We got him out of the water before hypothermia set in. He went into shock, but they expect him to make a quick and full recovery. We’re very lucky.”
Her grim tone and their twin concerned expressions didn’t match the positive news she shared. My eyebrows pinched together as I asked, “What aren’t you telling me?”
Molly’s face crumpled as she wailed, “Scout’s birth mother is suing us for custody of him.”
The blood drained from my face as I stared at my best friend, unable to believe this dreadful turn of events. My head shook back and forth of its own accord as I tried to make sense of Molly’s words. Finally, I said, “She can’t do this. Can she?”
“I’m afraid so,” Grant said in a deep voice that was so familiar, even though he was practically a stranger to me.
My gaze darted to the handsome actor. I had almost managed to forget who he was. In the heat of the moment during our emergency this morning, he had merely been a frightened fellow human, but it was impossible not to remember he was a famous movie star when I was this close to him.
