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“He’s in the house. He’s still breathing, but he won’t wake up. I don’t know what to do!”
The three of us hurry back to the lighthouse, where Mr. Monroe is lying helpless on the kitchen floor. I kneel beside him, saying his name and trying to get him to respond. Orca watches with wide eyes.
“Mr. Monroe,” I say, gently shaking his shoulder. “Lawrence, can you hear me?” I press two fingers to the side of his throat, reading his pulse. “Has he had any heart problems in the past?”
Orca shakes her head frantically. “I don’t know… If he did, he never told me.”
Jack watches me, a thousand questions in his eyes. “What do you think, Adam?”
“I think he must’ve had some kind of cardiac episode, maybe a heart attack.”
“A heart attack?” Orca bursts out.
“He’s breathing, Orca. He’s alive. But we need to get him to the hospital right away. Jack, help me carry him.”
Jack jumps to attention, taking Mr. Monroe’s other arm. Together, we carefully hoist him off the floor. Orca remains calm, focusing on the task at hand—opening doors as we carry her father out of the lighthouse and down the beach, where my Beaver is waiting. Orca follows us, and Lucius follows her—undaunted by the rain and thunder. When we reach the plane, Orca scrambles up the ladder and opens the door for us, reaching down to help guide her father’s limp body into the backseat. She settles on the bench with his head in her lap.
“Wait!” she bursts out. “We can’t leave Lucius!”
While I start the engine, Jack climbs back down the ladder, grabs the dog, and shoves him into the backseat.
Orca thanks him and loops her arm around the dog’s neck. “Come here, Lucius. It’s okay…”
Outside, the rain is pouring down more violently than before. Jack and I work together to push my plane back toward the angry tide. It takes a lot of heaving and yelling, waves crashing around us until we’re both soaking wet—but we successfully thrust the floats off the sand and into the sloshing whitewater.
“Quick, Jack! Get in!” I climb onto the portside float, waiting for Jack to make it to the ladder before I climb up myself and plunge into the cockpit.
Jack slams the hatch door shut behind him, shivering violently, water dripping into his eyes. “You okay, Orca?”
“Yes,” she manages, cradling her father’s head in her lap. “But we’d better hurry.”
57
Promises
ORCA
The flight to Whidbey is turbulent and frightening, but Adam manages it well. He remains calm even when the rain smothers us in chaotic torrents and when a flash of lightning jumps out of a nearby cloud, as though seeking to strike us out of the sky.
Thunderstorms have always frightened me, even from the safety of the lighthouse. Never did I imagine I would one day find myself inside a thunderstorm. It is both surreal and terrifying—it feels like the storm is happening to the whole world.
When we finally land in the harbor at Whidbey Island, Papa has regained a bit of consciousness. He doesn’t open his eyes or speak, but he murmurs indistinctly and flinches in pain when Jack and Adam hoist him out of the plane and into the backseat of Adam’s truck. I speak to him the whole drive to the hospital, telling him It’s all right. You’ll be all right.
The hospital is a large, sprawling edifice of red brick and tall glass windows that reflect the darkened skies overhead. Adam jolts to a stop outside a door marked EMERGENCY in big red letters. Someone rushes out to assist us, and my heart breaks to leave Lucius behind in the truck, looking so forlorn. I plant a kiss on his head and tell him to be good. Adam drives off to find a parking space, and Jack follows me as I rush after Papa, into the hospital.
Inside, I run into a flock of straight-faced men and women in starchy uniforms. They lay Papa out on a gurney, barking orders to each other. A tall, dark-haired woman with gentle eyes tells me not to worry.
“I’m Dr. Reed,” she says. “We’re going to do whatever we can to help your father. I just need to know if he has any pre-existing conditions.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know… He never told me about any.”
The doctor looks from me to Jack, who stands at my side. “Are you family?”
Jack stiffens. “No, I’m… just a friend.”
“Well, why don’t you two have a seat and take some deep breaths,” Dr. Reed says, gesturing towards an adjacent waiting room lined with stiff-looking chairs. “I’ll check back with you really soon, all right?”
I nod slowly, disoriented by the adrenaline now rushing out of me like a fast-receding tide. When Dr. Reed disappears down the hallway, I let out a trembling sigh.
