Page 6 of Once an Angel
End of London, they rushed her.
Barney caught one leg, Doreen the other. Emily balled up her fist and smashed it into Barney's face. Blood spewed, and she knew she had broken his nose. She enjoyed a fierce second of triumph. Then
the sky and water swapped places as they heaved her up and over the rail of the steamer into the darkening sea.
Chapter 2
You haunt my thoughts both day and night.
Emily sank like a stone. The narrow double skirts twined around her legs in serpentine cords, cutting
off her feeble kicks. The weight of the whalebone bustle dragged her down, deep into the murky depths until the shimmer of the sunset on the water faded to black.
God?Her voice was shy and hesitant, as it had been when her father was alive before she learned that swearing and stomping got more attention than tugging politely on someone's skirt.
No answer.
God? Are you there?Louder this time, more strident. The crushing pressure in her chest worsened.
I know I haven't been very nice the past few yean. Miss Winters says I'm quite a naughty girl,
especially after that sordid incident with the gardener's son.
Her skirt wrapped around her face in choking folds. Perhaps this was an inopportune moment to be reminding God of her sins.
She clawed the skirt from her face.I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd be very grateful if you
would let me live. Not really for myself sir. Just to spite Barney and Doreen. And Justin Connor,
that dirty, no-good, thieving wretch who stole my daddy's gold mine.
The familiar litany was a prayer all its own. She had breathed it, dreamed it, and feasted on its bitterness for seven years. Her legs pummeled the water with new ferocity. She tore at the buttons of her bodice, wrenched the bustle's tape from its mooring. Her head pounded. Tiny dots of light danced before her eyes. Still she clawed at the heavy garments, shedding each layer like musty skins. Finally, she was able to shoot toward the surface, strong and lithe in the simple cotton chemise issued each of the girls at the seminary.
Her hands pressed on with a life of their own, ripping the chemise as if they could somehow tear
asunder not only the garment, but all the drab, lonely, soot-stained years since she had sat in Miss Winters's library and been told her daddy was never coming back.
The buoyant water bore her upward. Her head split the surface with a splash. She sucked in a
shuddering breath. Life and air tingled through her blood all the way to the tips of her toes. The brilliant orb of the sun lay flat on the water, and for a dazzling instant Emily couldn't tell where the exploding rainbow of the sunset ended and she began. She dove beneath the waves and turned an exultant flip.
She emerged from the water, shaking sun-gilded drops from her hair. "Thank you, God," she whispered fiercely. "I shall try to be nicer. I swear I will."
At that moment she saw the steamer chugging toward the far horizon. A faint cry floated on the wind. Barney waved his arms and Emily knew he had spotted her.
Noble intentions forgotten, Emily thumbed her nose and wiggled her fingers at him in a gesture seldom practiced at the seminary. Blowing him a final taunting kiss she kicked herself around, rolling and
bobbing like a sleek seal. The silvery curve of the shoreline beckoned. She quenched a flare of trepidation. Before he'd gone off on his quest for gold, she and her father had rented a modest cottage
at Brighton each summer. She'd become a strong swimmer. It couldn't be as far to land as it looked. Could it?
The cool water caressed her bare skin. A wave of heady delight coursed through her. She drew in a
deep breath and struck for the shore with long, graceful strokes, free at last.
* * *
As Justin prowled the deserted beach, the bloated moon laved the peak of each swell in molten silver.
