Page 86 of Totally Shipped
“Roger that, island! Returning to Samoa now, will be out of range shortly. Stand by for rescue party, over and out.”
****
It’s been twenty-four hours since the plane buzzed the island, and now we stand on the beach listening to the engine of a zodiac getting closer.
We are going to get home.
The boat cuts through the water, leaving a wake of white-topped waves.
Leander is sitting on the sand. Daisy is next to him, leaning into his body. Killian has Thea in his arms. She’s wailing—poor little thing. It’s not surprising that she’s not into all the weird noise. Rex and Key are cuddling together. And me? I’m just…frozen with shock. The engine noise is so jarring, and as it gets closer I can smell the gas from the engine. I’m having trouble comprehending it all.
A hand reached out and touches my shoulder.
Killian pulls me to him, and together we shield Thea. Our heads are close together and Killian presses his lips to my temple.
“It’s OK, babe.”
Finally the noise of the engine cuts.
Three men in American coast guard uniforms come striding out of the surf. It’s fucking wild. I wonder what they are thinking, what they are seeing.
Gaunt faces, shaggy beards, beautiful babies.
“Rex Malone?” says the first, in a rich Texan accent.
Rex raises his hand.
“Oh my God, you guys are actually alive!” say the second. “Harvey Bannister?”
The men are bubbling with excitement, but that fades when Rex shakes his head.
Thea starts to cry again and that gets their attention. “A baby?” The first man shakes his head, “Never mind about that now. I’m Commander Penny from the US Coastguard. Now let’s get y’all organized.”
Commander Penny turns to the two men beside him. “Let’s get life vests for everyone, please, and bring the drinks.”
“Sir.”
“We have rehydration fluids for ya’ll.” He looks at Daisy, smiling, “Ms. Jackson, I presume?”
Daisy nods, her eyes wide and blinking.
“And can I say, on behalf of the whole world, we are so very happy to see Brooke 'Action' Jackson still being completely amazing. Congratulations on the little one. We’ve a med-bay onboard and the board, so we’ll soon have you with a doctor.”
What?
He thinks this is Brooke?
So…
Everyone’s eyes meet. It’s so unimportant in the scheme of things, but weird nonetheless.
There is some chaos as we don lifejackets and get into the inflatable cutter boat.
“You know, a fishing trawler found a beat up raft. Pulled it in and saw a message from y’all attached to it. That was some smart thinking.”
“It's OK baby, it's OK,” I hear Rex saying to Keyara. The little girl is sobbing up a storm. I watch him stroke her hair. No wonder her head is spinning; everything is going to change very fast now.
The rescue team rush around yelling. Why are they yelling?
