Page 78 of Vanishing Legacy

“Twenty-nine…thirty.” Cash paused and Alana breathed air into Penny’s lungs.

Penny remained unresponsive. Alana began counting again.

“Come on, Penny,” Cash urged, his voice rising in pitch. “You can do this. Breathe for me!”

* * *

Cash wasn’t sure how long they’d been giving Penny CPR, but one thing was certain. He would not quit. There was no giving up on his little girl. But, okay. Time to clear his mind. Focus. No straddling the line of Dad and doctor. He couldn’t be her dad right now. Just doctor.

The chaos around him faded into the background.

“Twenty-eight…twenty-nine…thirty.” He stopped compressions so Alana could breathe rescue breaths.

“C’mon, God. Do your thing. Bring my baby girl back,” he whispered.

Penny’s body convulsed as she started to cough and splutter water. He tilted her over on her side. Alana sat beside Penny to keep her from rolling farther.

He waited as Penny cleared her own airway. Finally, she let out a shuddering breath as life came back into her body. Her chest rose and fell on its own. Cash caught himself breathing in and out with Penny and watching the blue drain from her lips.

“Thank you, Lord.” Cash lifted Penny into a sitting position and held her against his chest. Emotions he’d been holding back came rushing in, and tears pricked his eyes. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” He released a deep breath and let his shoulders sag.

“Daddy?” Penny rasped.

She started to cry. He tried to swallow the cotton in his throat and patted her back. Her crying was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. The sound of healthy lungs. The sound of life.

“It’s okay, baby. Daddy’s here. I’m tryin’ to keep you warm.”

Penny whimpered. “Where Ah-ah-lana?” Her breath shuttered pushing out Alana’s name.

Cash saw the tears on Alana’s face. Her red-rimmed eyes were swollen. She leaned in and kissed Penny’s forehead and stroked back her wet hair. “Right here, sweetie. I’m right here.”

Penny’s eyes fluttered and she smiled. “Pretty lights.”

Cash glanced over his shoulder to see the Coast Guard rescue boat approaching with flashing lights. A rescue chopper hovered in the distance.

“We’re safe. We’re going to be okay.” With every inch the rescue boat closed, the knot in his chest loosened, allowing him to breathe. He tried to stand with Penny in his arms, but his muscles were slow to respond, and he rocked back on his knees.

“Easy, there.” Alana squeezed his shoulder. “You might have a concussion.”

“You might be right.” His abdominal muscles burned, and his thoughts became fuzzy. There was something he should be doing. Somewhere he should go. He just couldn’t remember. His head pounded with the beat of his pulse.

The Coast Guard boat pulled alongside the sinking yacht. “Secure the lines!” The crew leader barked orders. A crew of men dressed in orange and black moved fast and fastened the lines to the yacht’s railing. The wind howled around them. “Steady, folks. One at a time. We’ll get you out of here.”

Two men approached Cash. He was still kneeling with Penny, who had started crying again. One man slipped a life jacket over Cash’s head and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. “It’s okay, Dad. We got her.”

Cash relinquished Penny to the experienced team. “She needs a hospital, stat. She experienced a near-drowning event but was resuscitated and stabilized. We need to keep her under close observation and monitor her respiratory and neurological functions closely.”

“Aye, aye.”

He watched as they put her life jacket on and secured it before wrapping her in a blanket. A man shielded her head and carried her to the waiting rescue boat.

Cash looked at Alana, who was lying on the deck shivering. The rescue worker had draped a blanket over her. The man had cut away the fabric of her pant leg and worked to immobilize it. He wanted to go to her, but two men lifted her onto a back board.

The crew leader helped Cash to his feet. “Let’s get you off this sinking ship.”

Cash’s legs turned to jelly. The adrenaline that had kept him going was beginning to fade, and the full impact of their ordeal hit him. The man guided him into the rescue boat. The two men carried Alana onboard behind him.

One officer wrapped another blanket over her, then around Cash, shielding them from the chilly breeze whipping across the water. He leaned over and kissed her on the head. “Are you okay? Your leg?—”

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