Page 47 of SEAL'S Baby Surprise
“Ark’s a hero,” Julia announces. “Put me down, Daddy, so I can hug him.”
I set Julia on the sand, and she immediately goes to Ark and hugs him around the neck.
“I’m sorry,” Lee is sobbing, “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t think to check. It’s my fault.”
I had been thinking just that, but then I realize that I was just as culpable. I hadn’t checked on either Julia or Lee to make sure their ankle tethers were properly attached.
“No, no,” I say. “I’m the one with experience. I should have checked both of you. Did you fasten yours?”
Shame-faced, Lee shakes her head. “I don’t like to be tied to things,” she says. “I made swim champion twice when I was in high school.”
“But no one swims well if they are hit on the head,” I say gently.
“I know that,” Lee says irritably. “But it scares me to be tied to a board or a boat. What if it sinks? What if it gets swept out to sea like Julia’s board?”
We both look out into the water. Julia’s board is bobbing serenely along, and slowly drifting back toward shore.
“It’s coming back!” Julia exclaims. “My paddleboard likes me! Are we going to have to go home because I fell in?” Her face has a look on it that bodes ill if the answer is yes.
Ark, tired of being hugged in a near death grip, showers all of us with wet sand and plunges back into the water. Before I can think to stop him, he paddles out to the floating board and begins towing it back.
“Maybe we could go somewhere with a wading pool?” Lee suggests timidly. “I think I’ve had enough water for today, but Julia is still excited about it.”
Such a good solution! Why had I not thought of that?“There’s the family Y on the other side of the village,” I say. “I can tow us all back, and we can be there almost before you know it. What do you think, Julia?”
“It will be okay,” she says grandly, as if conferring a great favor upon all of us.
I fasten the two inflatables to my rigid board. Ark and Lee ride on the bigger of the two inflatable boards, and I keep Julia with me. We load the picnic things onto Julia’s little board.
None of us say much as we stow the paddleboards at the van, then walk on over to the Y. There, we run into the one snag of the day.
The receptionist looks at the four of us. “You can’t take the dog in,” she says. “Especially since he’s filthy.”
“He’s my ESA,” I say. “We can spray him off if you’ve got a shower area. I’m very much in need of him right now. My daughter fell off her paddleboard, but she is not ready to stop having water fun.”
“I could. . .” Lee starts to say.
I shake my head, pulling a folded piece of paper from my wallet. I’m a little ashamed of myself, because Ark is much more Julia’s ESA these days than he is mine.
But I’m not going to leave him outside in the heat while we have fun. And I’m not ready to take my eye off either Julia or Lee after our near disaster.
I hand the paper to the receptionist. “Oh,” she says. Then, “Oh! Thank you for your service. But…please hose him off in the men’s shower area, and don’t let him in the pool.”
I smile thinly at the woman. “If someone is drowning, I won’t be able to stop him. But I think Ark has had enough recreational swimming for today. Our plan is to let Julia, my daughter, play in the wading pool while the rest of us relax in the air conditioning.”
The receptionist laughs a little nervously. “I guess that will be all right.”
In a few minutes, Ark, Lee, and I are hanging out in the chairs provided for parents who have kids in the shallow pool.
“I didn’t mean . . .” Lee starts to say.
“I’m sorry,” I start.
Then we both laugh. “She’s safe,” I say. “In fact, I think you might have been in more danger than she was. Ark got her out of the water almost as soon as she fell in. But I’ll be honest. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if something happened to her. There were two of us, so I wasn’t paying as close attention as I should have.”
“I swim really well,” Lee says. “I was okay, really, I was. Can Julia swim?”
“Take a look,” I say, nodding to where my daughter is happily dog paddling in three feet of water. “She’s learning, but I don’t think she’s up to swimming where it’s deep just yet. Lee, I’ve been stupid and selfish today. I left you to entertain her all morning, and then I didn’t double check either of you. I’m so angry with myself. . .” And I am, too, I realize. The panic I had felt floods over me again.
