Christmas In The Cove. Carol Ross

been expecting. A girl. Maybe a teenager? What was she doing out here? And without a life jacket?

      She heard a weak shout as she neared the girl who had her arms gripped tightly around the small, circular life preserver. Aubrey realized why no one had immediately spotted her from above. She was completely entangled in a mass of netting, so much so that from the air she was sure they couldn’t make out the form of a person. She would likely appear to be a blob of debris.

      What a mess, Aubrey thought, removing the knife from her equipment bag. She swam closer, taking care not to become entangled herself. A bolt of concern went through her as she noted the bluish color of the girl’s lips. But she was shivering and holding on, which meant the final stages of hypothermia weren’t setting in yet. She must have managed to stay out of the water until the boat began to submerge. She speculated that as the girl abandoned ship and the vessel tipped, the loose pile of netting had slipped overboard along with her, essentially trapping her right there with the wreckage.

      Aubrey called loudly when she reached the girl, “I’m a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and I’m here to help you.”

      The girl’s response was incomprehensible.

      “What’s your name?”

      It was difficult to hear her over the ocean’s angry roar. She repeated what she thought she’d heard. “Danielle?” Something occurred to her and she asked, “Danny?”

      “Yes.” The answer came out along with a choked sob and Aubrey sent up a silent thank-you. She’d worry about what the girl was doing out here without a life jacket later. Much later. After they’d survived this ordeal. Both the wind and rain had let up somewhat, but the fog was regrouping and settling in again like gobs of grayish-tinted cotton candy.

      “I’m Aubrey. It’s kind of cold for a swim today, huh? What do you say we get out of here?”

      All of this was said as she evaluated the situation. There was too much net for her to lift it off. With her swim knife, she began cutting away the netting. She tamped down her despair as she realized the extent of her entanglement. If she didn’t get her out soon, the sinking boat would pull her under.

      “I... I...can’t swim.”

      “Don’t worry, Danny. You won’t need to. I’m here now and luckily I swim pretty well. Are you injured?”

      “My leg,” she said. “I hurt my leg when I slipped off the boat, but I can’t feel it now...”

      “We’ll get it fixed up as soon as we get in the helicopter.”

      She glanced at the helicopter, her airborne sentry serving to keep her calm. Just a couple more minutes, she thought as she continued clearing the net, thankful that sharpening her knife was a part of her personal equipment check ritual.

      She kept talking to the girl as she worked. “Hold on, Danny. I’m almost finished. We’ll be out of here soon.”

      As if in argument, a giant wave rolled over the boat, swamping everything in its path. It brought with it a piece of debris, smacking Aubrey hard in the shoulder and grazing her head. The force knocked her backward as the wave pulled her under. Even submerged and disoriented, she knew not to inhale. Lungs burning, she waited patiently for the force to let up as she knew it would. Grateful for the often-tortuous but invaluable training instilled in her during “A” school, she finally broke the surface, inhaling a breath. Looking around, she realized she’d ended up a few yards away from Danny.

      Swimming back, she was afraid she’d find her survivor entangled even worse. Instead she was relieved to see that the wave had done them a favor, taking the remaining vestiges of the nylon netting with it. Danny was free. She reached out and pulled the girl into her arms, kicking hard with her fins, propelling them away from the wreckage. It would be easy to become tangled in something else in the floating and rapidly spreading mass of boat debris.

      That’s when she realized the helo had deployed another swimmer. She saw the form slicing cleanly through the water and imagined the situation must have looked far worse from the air. Her fellow swimmer stopped when he approached them.

      “Aubrey?” a deep voice called out to her. “Are you okay?”

      Her heart nearly stopped. Even with a mask and swim hood, she knew exactly who was now treading water before her. Removal of his mask and snorkel confirmed it. Finding herself face to face with Lieutenant Commander Eli Pelletier, former friend and one-time love of her life, a current of shock went through her. Not that she had time to think past the reaction, though, because she had a life to save.

      Far enough away from the wreckage to avoid potentially flying debris from the rotor wash, she signaled for the basket. The helicopter moved over them.

      “We’re good,” she shouted back.

      Seconds later and the basket was lowering toward them. She watched as he repositioned his mask and, in his irritatingly Eli way, he moved as if to take over.

      “I told you we’re fine. I’ve got this.”

      He backed off while Aubrey kept talking, encouraging the terrified girl as she assisted her into the basket. “You’re doing great, Danny. You’re going to be all right.” She signaled to raise the basket. Danny’s terror-filled eyes remained locked on hers as she rose up out of the water. “Almost home.” A sense of satisfaction settled upon her as the basket headed toward the helo.

      “What are you doing here?” she called after she signaled for the hoist hook to be lowered for their retrieval.

      “Helping you out?” he returned hopefully.

      She narrowed her eyes menacingly. He wasn’t helping, he was saving. Or that’s what he’d thought he was going to do. The first time she’d seen him in twelve years and he was trying to save her? How annoying.

      She didn’t need help or anything else from him. She certainly didn’t need saving.

      As the cable came down she reached for the hoist hook and deftly secured it to his V-ring. She lifted an arm, holding a thumbs-up, signaling he was ready to be hoisted.

CHAPTER TWO

      “ARE YOU SURE you want to be here?” Aubrey’s sister Nina asked her again. Both she and their younger sister, Camile, kept looking at her like she might tip over at any second.

      “Yes, absolutely. I’m off duty, so I’ll take a nap later and be as good as new.” Aubrey studied one of the several lists she had attached to her clipboard. “We’ve got sixteen people signed up for this work party. I need to be here.”

      The three sisters were standing in the basement of the First Methodist Church surrounded by boxes, bags and baskets full of snacks, toys and children’s books. The items were ready to be stuffed into Christmas stockings for handing out at A Visit With Santa. It would be the second event in the DeBolt Realty Crazy About a Coast Christmas competition.

      Aubrey, along with the mayor, was co-chair of Pacific Cove’s Christmas Committee, which put them in charge of the town’s participation in the contest.

      Eligible beach towns up and down the Pacific Northwest coast had signed up for the competition. Back in July, each interested town had applied for entrance by submitting a proposal for four tourist-and/or community-friendly holiday events to be held the first three weeks of December. The categories included food, entertainment and fun for the family.

      “You’ve been awake for who knows how many hours, part of that time on a rescue in freezing cold water where you saved four people,” Camile said, crinkling her face skeptically. She tucked a blond, chin-length curl behind one ear and plopped a hand on one petite hip.

      Aubrey often marveled at how her little sister had ended up so...well, little. In comparison to her and Nina, anyway, who were both just a few inches shy of six feet. And while Nina was thin and willowy like their mother, Aubrey was curvier but athletic like their dad. Camile