The captain wiped a hand down his face. “It’s a first for me.”
He gazed out at the wreck, which was starting to break apart in the battering waves. He shook his head, then pressed the heels of both hands to his forehead. “You should have left me out there.”
Emma’s lips parted. “No, Captain. You can’t mean that.”
His angry eyes shot to hers. “I mean every word I speak.”
Feeling as if she’d been slapped by his tone, Emma couldn’t make her tongue work. All she could do was blink up at him.
“Forgive my daughter,” her father said uneasily. “She’s young.” He held an arm out to gesture toward the Jeep. “If you’ll come this way, Captain Harris, I’ll take you to Main Station, where you can have a hotmeal and a brandy. Then we can discuss arrangements to get you and your crew safely transported to the mainland.”
Without glancing back at Emma, Captain Harris walked with her father to the Jeep, where he climbed into the passenger seat.
Emma remained on the beach, feeling suddenly weak in the knees and woozy as she watched them drive off. It must have been the adrenaline wearing off, she thought.
Slowly, she made her way back to her horse, Willow, who was waiting patiently at the base of the dune. Emma reached Willow, placed her foot in the stirrup, and swung a leg up and over the saddle, but it took a moment for her to regain any semblance of calm. She took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes, and waited for her racing heart to decelerate.
When she opened her eyes, Willow’s head was turned. She was waiting for Emma to decide which way to go.
As Emma gathered up the reins, she welcomed the return of her composure.
“Did you see all that?” she said to Willow. “Quite an ordeal, I agree. And just now, I was only trying to be helpful with the captain, but Papa told him that I was young—as if I didn’t know the first thing about how to talk to people and he had to apologize for me.” She stroked Willow’s neck. “It was humiliating, to say the least. And that’s why I need to leave this island. I need to get educated. Although I’ll miss you terribly.”
Willow began to trot, and the ocean raged behind them as the rescue crew heaved lifeboat number one back onto the boat wagon.
By the time Emma returned to the house, Captain Harris was seated in the great room, in her father’s heavy leather armchair. He held a snifter of brandy in his hand, just as her father had promised. When she shut the door behind her, silencing the wind, her father rose from his chair to greet her.
“Where have you been?” he asked quietly, with a touch of annoyance.
“I had to take Willow back to the barn,” Emma explained as she lowered the hood on her rain slicker.
“Abigail needs your help preparing extra food,” he said. “She’s called twice now. But before you go over there, I need your help here. We have to feed Captain Harris.”
Emma peered into the great room, where the captain was taking a lavish swig of his brandy. “I can warm up the beef soup from last night,” she suggested.
“Good. He’ll need some bread and butter,” her father added, speaking in low tones. “The man must be famished. They were out there all night fighting the waves.”
Emma spoke softly as well while she removed her slicker and hung it on the coat-tree. “I can’t imagine what they went through.”
She followed her father into the kitchen, where he fetched the half-empty brandy bottle, then returned to the great room.
“Would you care for another?” he asked the captain.
Emma moved to the sink to wash her hands. She was just reaching for the towel to dry them when she heard a heavy thump that shook the floor under her feet.
“Emma! Come quickly!” her father shouted.
She dropped the towel and ran to the great room, where Captain Harris was on his back on the rug, thrashing about. She came to an abrupt stop, panting in terror. “He’s having a seizure!”
She’d read about such things but never witnessed them. All she could do was stare in shock.
“Call Abigail!” her father shouted.
In her younger days, Abigail had been a nurse during the First World War, and she was a great asset to Sable Island, which had no hospital or doctor.
Emma ran to the phone and rang the McKennas’ house.
“Hello,” Abigail answered snappishly.
