Page 93 of Sheltering Instinct

And her return kiss told him that she was right beside him in their fight for a future.

The tree was only as wide as Mojo’s body, and Tess couldn’t put the puzzle together in her mind. But Levi had been a SEAL for decades. She was sure that his brain processed in ways that hers could not.

Levi rolled until his hips balanced on the edge of the beam, and he lowered himself. Hanging from one arm, he swung his foot out again and again until he was a pendulum. On the next swing, Tess covered her eyes with a guttural moan.

The children were whooping and clapping, telling Tess that Levi made it.

When she pulled her hands away, Levi had a leg on either side of the trunk and the root ball at his back. He looked over his shoulder and called, “Everyone sit very still. Mojo, to me.”

Mojo scrambled out from his little den. His jug attached to the handle of his vest flipped from side to side. He came to Tess first and caught her eye, checking on her.

“I’m okay, Mojo. I’ll be with you in a minute. Thank you, baby.” She took an extra moment to scrub behind his ears, lowering her forehead to his. “Okay, you need to go now.”

Levi called out again, “Mojo, to me.”

Mojo gathered himself in a tight ball, then, pressing his back paws against the beam, he leaped into Levi’s outstretched arms.

The children were clapping and whooping at Mojo’s success. Next, Levi commanded Mojo to go out.

Tess had seen this command the other day. Enrico showed off Mojo’s skills on the obstacle course. On command, Mojo walked a thin beam and lay down in the end, waiting.

This was a tree in flood waters, hardly the same thing other than the sequence of commands.

Soon, though, Mojo was lying in place.

Tess could see that the floatation jugs could be lifesaving or deadly. What if the water rose under the bridge, the tree didn’t release, and the jugs floated them to the top when they needed to dive beneath the apron? Everyone could be held in place until they drowned.

It was a balancing act in her brain as it always was in an emergency. What did she know? What could happen so she had a contingency plan? What was so terrifying was that she might be like the teacher, unable to move and, therefore, die.

Panic kills.

Pragmatism. Forward movement. Hope.

That was her new mantra.

“First child, Tess.”

Tess wrapped her hand around the child’s wrist. Like Levi, the girl rolled until her hips were on the beam. Grippingwith both hands, she lowered herself until she hung over the water. Tess clenched her abs and said, “Let go. I have you.”

And to Tess’s great surprise, she did. The weight was unexpected. And Tess was glad that her other hand had a tight grip on the rope. Leaning over and looking down, Tess could see that Levi gripped a root and leaned right as he reached out his left hand. He’d try to keep the tree from rolling with the dynamic shift.

“Let go, Tess!” he called.

The girl dropped straight for the water. Before she went completely in, Levi grabbed her arm and flung her up on the trunk. Levi instructed the girl to straddle the trunk and inch her way forward. “Move, Tess! Next, hurry!”

This was a change of plans.He must see something I don’t, Tess concluded, as she reached for the next child to move closer to her so they were above Levi. In Tess’s mind, having the children on the trunk made it less stable and upped the chance of rolling. But Tess also knew not to weigh in. Too many captains meant the ship went down.

One after the other, the children dropped, straddled, and moved forward.

Here was the girl that they pulled from the fire. She’d trust Levi.

Here was the boy that went over the edge of the roof. He’d trust Mojo.

Here was the brother from the fire. He didn’t hesitate.

But now, there was the teacher. Immobile. She was deadweight.

Tess knew she didn’t have the strength to help the teacher.

---