He mulled it over. “A fisherman could give you a bass for the wedding dinner after.”
“So practical.”
“But smelly.”
A huff of laughter escaped her. “To be sure.”
A piercing cry shattered the peace, followed by a sickening splash that sent ripples across the water. Screams erupted from the riverbank, a chorus of terrified children. Lizzy’s heart leapt to her throat as she saw a boy thrashing in the water, eyes wide in panic. The current’s hungry grasp pulled the small figure toward the shadow of the bridge, threatening to swallow him in darkness.
Lizzy’s gaze darted to her skirts; blast it, they were too heavy and would weigh her down, but she had to act. As she lurched toward the water’s edge, a strong hand clamped gently on her arm.
“Watch the others.” Tuck’s voice was raw with urgency. “Don’t let anyone else tumble in.” His gaze locked with hers, concern mixed with determination. “And, listen, if something happens to me and I disappear...” His lips pressed to the place where her mouth met her cheek, warm and fast; scruff seared her skin.
Then he was sprinting with purpose, throwing his jacket and kicking off his boots before diving into the churning waters. The current moved swiftly, and it took him only a few strokes to reach the boy, who was about to go under.
Lizzy felt her body go limp with relief. Tuck knew how to swim, thank God.
He locked the child under one big arm as he made his way back to the shallows, hauling him up onto the bank. “Grab him!”
Lizzy reached down and seized the sodden, crying child as his friends pressed in.
“Jamie! You all right, Jamie?”
Jamie coughed out river water and gagged, but a red flush returned to his freckled cheeks.
“Och, you are going to be in for it when Maw hears you got too close to the water,” said a girl whose red curls were identical to Jamie’s—more likely than not a sister.
Tucker climbed out. “Is he all right?”
“He will be, thanks to you.” She reached out and touched his chest. “You’re breathing hard.”
“I was scared,” he said simply. “Why the hell do kids in trouble keep crossing my path?”
She frowned, not understanding his cryptic comment.
“Never mind, I’m rambling.” He turned to the cluster of kids with a stern glare. “You. All of you. Unless you learn how to swim, you have no business playing near the river, got it?”
The kids all stared, eyes like dinner saucers, before scampering away.
“You were a hero,” she said, watching them flee. “Things could have gone much worse for our young friend Jamie if you hadn’t been here.” She tugged at his clothing. “But we need to get you dried off before you catch a cold.”
When they returned to the inn, Lizzy draped his sodden clothing across the furniture to dry. She avoided even a peek at Tuck changing with quick efficiency in the corner until he wasstanding beside her, clad in nothing but breeches and an untucked white shirt open at the neck.
His expression was stricken. “My phone—you know, the device with which I could take photos—it’s gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket in the water.”
“Shall we go back and look for it?”
He shook his head. “Nah. It’s the river’s now. And the battery—never mind. It’s just that it...”
“It was a connection to your life.”
“Yeah. It’s funny. I never took many pictures. My sister sent me a lot of them, though. Things about her day. What she had for breakfast or was reading. A museum. Even a tree she thought was pretty. I barely looked, at the time. But now I miss them.”
“Because you miss her.”
The casual dress, his bare feet. It unlocked her reserve somehow. Made it feel permitted to ask the questions that had been swirling in her mind since the river. “Before you dove in,” she said quietly. “You said in case you ‘disappear.’ At first, I thought maybe you couldn’t swim. But that wasn’t the case.”
“Right.” He hooked a hand on the back of his neck, a faraway expression settling on his features. “The night I disappeared? There’d been a little boy and a dog. I... I was driving a car—the point is, the road was icy. They ran in front of me and I didn’t want to hit them, so I swerved. I went off the road and ended up flipped over in the pond and getting trapped in the water. The ice blocked my exit when I tried to swim up. Then the world started to churn and everything went black. When I entered the river, I wasn’t sure if I’d—”
