Page 13 of Born a Hero

“He’s my next customer,” Bryce teased and appreciated the duplicate grins he got from both his passengers.

Once they were safe with Sonja, he turned the raft around and headed back one more time. His legs felt like they were cement, and this trip took longer than the other two. Freezing now, his lips trembling from the cold, he forced himself past his endurance.

Thankfully, the man had been waiting for him and rather than lower himself onto the raft, he got into the water and with both men pushing and swimming, they got back to the house a lot quicker.

Lifting his arm to wave at Sonja, he turned to his partner and basically grunted his request. “Can you help them get you inside? Just lift your arms and once they grab your hands, lift your body as best you can. They’ll do the rest.”

“Right.” Following his directions, the fellow scrambled through the window as quickly as possible and then turned back so he could help bolster Bryce up next. Between the two of them, they hauled the raft in close enough to tie it to the windowsill and then collapsed in a heap, water spreading everywhere.

Sonja rushed forward with dry towels for each. In a fussy way, her voice filled with worry, she mothered them. “Thank goodness we brought so many of these up here, Bryce. You must dry off as much as possible.” Looking at Bryce’s companion, she added, “I’ll get a pile of warm clothes for you, Liam. Bryce, yours are over where you left them.”

Muttering, she pushed gently at Bryce’s shoulder and added, “I knew I was right to have you bring up those old clothes boxes for the Thrift stores. Most of its gear for men but there’s enough of my old stuff too. We can get everyone into dry things in no time.”

Before he could get dressed in the clothes he’d left behind, Dena stepped forward and using a small hand towel, she massaged his back, chest, and arms briskly to get the circulation working again. “You must be frozen, Bryce. You were in that horrible cold water the longest.”

Enjoying her mothering and liking the worry in her voice, which meant she cared, he let her carry on. When she held out his dry garments from earlier, he used the towel in front as a cover and wriggled out of the wet underwear. Then he gratefully slid on the warm sweatpants and shirt. He’d never felt so good as he did when he guided the warm socks over his ice-cold feet.

Seeing that the women and Justin were now fussing over the other man and his children, he made his way to where the woman still lay under the blankets given up by Justin, their earlier patient.

Between them, Sonja and Dena must have stripped her from her soaked garments, and she now wore old fleecy pants and socks like the ones he had. Sonja had given up her robe and it wrapped around her body. They’d covered her in Justin’s bed which was the best place for her now.

Bryce went over to kneel beside the poor woman. “I’m Doctor Bryce Kelly. I work here at the hospital, and I have a clinic in the Island Health Center. How far along are you with the pregnancy?” He reached to touch her forehead and then took her pulse.

Chattering from still being cold, her lips revealing a blue tinge, she answered slowly. “I’ve g-got fi-ive weeks to go, Doctor.”

“Call me Bryce. These last hours must have taken a toll on you. Have there been any contractions, any pain whatsoever?”

“Not until this morning. W-we pretty much just huddled together last night against the roof peak under the tarp and used our bodies to hold it over us. My husband, Liam, was diligent about us staying to-together. Poor kids were terrified, especially from the lightning and the wind.” Tired from talking now, she closed her eyes.

Bryce patted her shoulder and pulled the blankets up around her neck. “I’m in awe that you survived the way you did. At least we were inside.”

“Th-thank you for coming to get us. I was losing it there at the end.”

“No doubt. Not to worry. Everyone’s safe now. Try to get some sleep.”

Bryce saw Dena waving him her way, waiting to talk with him. Meanwhile, Sonja was playing hostess with the others, passing out sandwiches and cookies.

Once he and Dena were far enough away, she spoke with her voice low. “Sonja and I dried Rose as best we could. Poor thing was frozen and just sat there, hugging her tummy, and crying. She was soaked, Bryce, from her hair to the wrinkled skin on her feet. I doubt if she could have survived much longer.”

“That’s exactly what prompted me to make the rescue. I’m just glad it all worked out.”

“It was dangerous… truly dangerous for you. You know that.”

“Maybe. But what could I do? They were in the elements and freezing, and we were relatively warm and certainly dry, undercover from the winds that are picking up again. I couldn’t leave them there, could I?”

“No. I’m just so thankful you made it.” As if it was meant to be, he opened his arms, and she slid in, nestled close exactly the way he wanted. Thrilled, he just held her and rocked gently.

Chapter Fourteen

Through the hours of that day, most of the adults, except for Rose, took turns watching out the windows. They knew there could be others who might need assistance, and they had to be ready to help.

At times, Justin and Dena were huddled together near one window and Bryce could see their closeness was natural to them. He imagined they spent a lot of time together in such a way, joking and teasing each other… a family.

It made him happy to see such tenderness between a mother and her son, but it also saddened him to think he’d given up the option of having a family in his youth.

Following his dream of being a pediatrician had come before anything else. As a boy, he’d seen his little sister suffer from leukemia and struggle to stay alive and then lose the battle. And he’d also watched his parents die a little more each day with her… as did their marriage.

Going through his teenage years with a single mom who’s heart lay in the grave with her daughter had been sad and lonely. Eventually, she’d joined her daughter when lung cancer took her too. That’s when he’d made up his mind to do everything in his power to be the healer and not the victim.

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