Love's Unfading Light by Naomi Rawlings

Author:Naomi Rawlings [Rawlings, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Naomi Rawlings Books
Published: 2024-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Mac curled his hand around the iron beam separating two of the lighthouse tower windows and stared through the rain-streaked glass. East of the harbor, a small sailboat tossed wildly in the waves, drifting closer and closer to the rock reef with each gust of wind.

“Tighten the sails.” He slammed his hand against the iron. The craft shouldn’t still be out there. It had plenty of time to make harbor before the worst of the storm hit, but instead had drifted listlessly in the water the entire time.

“Mac!”

Boots pounded on the staircase, and he glanced down through the grates to see Elijah bounding up the steps two at a time.

He lifted the trapdoor in the floor, and Elijah burst through the entrance and sprang onto the platform. “Rebekah…” He wheezed and sputtered for breath, turning to survey the thrashing lake below. “Is she still out there?”

Mac set the trapdoor back in place. “She was back before the wind even picked up.”

Elijah stared at the beach. “You’re certain?”

Mac pointed toward the sand, where a little dinghy had been turned upside-down. “Saw her with my own eyes.”

He let out a breath. “The storm came out of nowhere. One minute I was at the bakery apologizing to Mrs. Danell for Rebekah’s behavior, and then I heard thunder. Thank God she’s safe.”

“Rebekah is, yes.” Mac tapped the glass facing northeast. “But that sailboat isn’t faring so well.”

Elijah squinted through the window, though by now the driving rain and endless gray of water and sky nearly obliterated any glimpse of the single-masted vessel. “The wind’s going to take her straight into that rock reef.”

Mac turned away and rubbed at the ache starting at the back of his neck. Elijah might be able to watch, but he hadn’t the heart, not with Hiram’s death so fresh in his mind. “Those folks had plenty of time to make harbor, but they couldn’t seem to turn downwind.”

Elijah curled his fist helplessly around the same beam Mac had gripped just a few minutes ago. Minutes passed in silence as they stood staring at the floundering vessel, helpless to do anything but watch. “Was this what it was like for Rebekah and Isaac? For you?”

Maybe it was a good thing Elijah had been sailing the Atlantic when Hiram died. He’d be as crippled as the rest of them had he watched his pa perish. “Worse. I don’t think I know the people in the boat, but I knew your pa.”

Elijah slammed his hand into the iron again, and this time the window rattled. “I’m taking the dinghy and going for them.”

Mac stared at his friend. Elijah couldn’t be serious.

But Elijah stalked to the trapdoor and raised it.

Mac set his boot down on the iron, causing the door to drop back in place with a clank. “You’ll end up like your pa. Your family can’t handle another loss right now.” Neither can I.

Elijah’s eyes flashed as fierce as the lightning that rent the sky. “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t, but I refuse to stand here and watch.

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