Page 97 of Inevitable
I wasn’t about to see Wren in any kind of danger again.
“Whoa!” she said as she looked around us. “I think somebody called out the Coast Guard.”
I looked behind us and saw that there were several search boats nearby, but it was Seth’s boat that was closest.
He’d apparently seen the safety marker buoy.
“Seth called for help,” I told her as the boat approached.
“Mom’s going to be upset,” Wren said.
“Of course she’s going to be upset,” I said shortly. “She’s your mother.”
Seth stopped and I swam behind Wren as we breached the short distance to the boat.
Brock reached for Wren the moment she put her foot on the ladder.
By the time I got on deck, Wren was already in her mother’s arms.
It almost killed me when I saw that Emma was sobbing as she held our daughter tightly.
“You scared me,” Emma said tearfully to Wren as she hugged her.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Emma said as she hugged her mother back. “The current wasn’t bad, but I got tangled up in some rope. Dad found me and got me loose.”
I watched as Emma wrapped her daughter’s wet body in a towel and handed her some water.
Brock and Seth hugged Wren before Seth went to send a radio message to the Coast Guard to let them know that my daughter was safe.
Emma turned and suddenly threw herself into my arms. “I was worried about you, too,” she told me, her voice trembling with relief.
“I’m wet,” I told her, but held her against me anyway.
“I don’t care,” she said as she hugged me tighter. “You went after our daughter and made sure she was safe.”
“She’s my daughter, too,” I reminded her gruffly.
Emma pulled back and smiled at me. “I know. What happened down there? Brock and I noticed that the winds were starting to pick up, but we really weren’t worried about currents until we saw Seth.”
“It wasn’t horrible,” I admitted. “But it was enough to take Wren from my side. She did get tangled in some rope, and she was struggling. I never should have taken her down there.”
Emma stepped back and swiped the tears from her face. “This wasn’t your fault, Colin. It’s the first time anything weird has happened since the day she started diving.”
“Dad said I can’t dive anymore,” Wren said to her mother as she moved beside her. “He’s being completely irrational.”
“I don’t care,” I said grumpily. “There’s absolutely no reason to put you at risk by going back underwater.”
“I’m going to be a marine scientist. I can’t stop diving,” Wren said reasonably.
“You are being a little irrational,” Brock pointed out. “Diving is relatively safe. It’s just as safe as any other sport as long as you take all of the necessary precautions.”
“No sports of any kind,” I said hoarsely. “Nothing that’s going to put my daughter at risk. I think that incident just took ten years off my life.”
I saw Brock and Seth exchange surprised glances before Seth moved forward in the boat.
“I’ll get us back to shore,” Seth said carefully.
“We’ll discuss this later,” Emma said firmly. “This incident scared everyone, Wren. We’ll talk about it after everyone has a chance to calm down.”
