The Boatman's Wife(9)

‘Oh, Lily.’ Her mom’s voice cracked as she gripped her daughter’s hand.

‘It’ll be okay, Mom,’ Lily heard herself saying, although she was far from believing it. ‘Come on, let’s go to Cherie.’

Ryan’s mom only lived another five minutes’ drive away, but Lily crawled along the deserted coast road. Debris blew in front of the vehicle, causing her to repeatedly slam on the brakes.

At last, they pulled up outside Cherie’s white board house. Lily grabbed her mom’s hand as they ran across the front yard, the gale tearing into them.

‘Have you heard any more?’ Lily’s mom asked Cherie as soon as they’d taken off their wet things.

‘Nope,’ said Cherie, her eyes wide with dread. ‘Sarah, I can’t lose Ryan, I just can’t.’ Tears started in her eyes.

‘It’ll be okay. Dad’ll get them back safe, Aunty Cherie,’ Lily said, though in her heart she, too, was fearing the worst. This weather was beyond any fisherman’s skill.

‘Shall I make some coffee, Cherie?’ her mom said.

‘Sure, Sarah.’ Cherie wrung her hands and walked over to the window, staring out in desperation.

They were praying for their men to return. But as the storm accelerated and the light began to fade, the room turned dark with despair.

Lily’s mom busied herself making sandwiches, which were left untouched to curl on the plate. Cherie smoked constantly, one cigarette after the other. Even Lily’s mother ended up having a cigarette.

‘I’m going to call the Coast Guard,’ Lily said. As she did so, her mom’s cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket as Lily and Cherie waited, the two of them still and tense as they tried to hear what the man on the end of the line was saying.

‘Okay, thank you, Ray, please let us know as soon as they’ve been picked up,’ her mom said.

Lily turned on her mom. ‘They found them?’

‘Your dad radioed emergency to the Coast Guard an hour ago,’ she said. ‘You know the boat is narrow, even with the three of them, and taking on too much water. He feared it was going to capsize.’

‘Did he mention Ryan?’ Cherie said, putting her hands to her chest.

‘Connor?’ Lily asked. ‘Are the boys okay?’

‘Yeah, they’re okay, I think,’ her mom said. ‘They’ve sent out a chopper. If the boys have to get into the life raft, they’ll deploy a rescue swimmer.’

‘Those guys are heroes,’ Cherie said in a shaky voice. ‘Wilfully being dropped down into the ocean to haul our men to safety.’

‘Where are they?’ Lily asked her mom.

‘About thirty miles out,’ her mom said. ‘Remember, your dad will have a satellite signal. They’ll find them quick.’

Lily glanced out of Cherie’s front window at the raging ocean. The winds must be at least forty knots, she thought, the waves reaching tremendous heights as they slammed against the shore. Trees bent over, big ones, so far it looked as if they might snap. Lily rubbed her wedding band, spinning it around her finger. As if by touching it, she could summon Connor, Ryan and her father to the door.

Her mom’s phone rang again. She couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end of the line, but she watched every movement of her mom’s face for clues. It looked like she had aged ten years in a day. The lines furrowed deep in her brow as she spoke.

‘They’ve sighted the boat,’ her mom said as she got off the phone. ‘It’s capsized.’

‘Oh God,’ Cherie moaned. Lily couldn’t speak as if all the air was being squeezed out of her.

‘It’s okay, the life raft’s been seen, it’s okay, they’ll be on it.’ Her mom just kept repeating ‘it’s okay’, as if by saying it, all would be well.

But Lily knew all it would take was one freak wave. A big crest of ocean to wipe out a person’s life.

Lily picked up her cell, tried ringing Connor’s phone, which of course was pointless. He would have no coverage, and anyway right now he was probably just trying to stay alive. The phone went straight to voicemail and she heard Connor’s cheerful voice telling her to speak after the tone. She listened to his message from this morning, feeling even worse. Shaken up from hearing him. Wanting him so badly to be there, putting his hand on her back and telling her he was just fine.

‘My boy, my boy,’ Cherie kept repeating. Lily went over and put her arm around her aunt. She was so small. Lily could see the snow white roots of her dark hair.

‘He’ll be okay, Aunty,’ Lily said to her, glancing at the large photograph of Ryan on the TV stand. His big cheesy grin. Her stomach lurched. It was too much to consider that they might lose all three of them.

‘Come on, Cherie,’ her mom said, taking another of her sister-in-law’s cigarettes and lighting it with trembling hands. ‘Jack will take care of Ryan; they’re made of tough stuff.’

‘But so was Joe, and then within a year he was gone,’ Cherie wailed. ‘What if Smyth men are cursed?’

‘No, Dad’s lucky, Aunty Cherie,’ Lily said. ‘Ryan, too.’

But even as she said it, she was thinking that she was her father’s lucky charm. And where was she? Back on land, not on the boat with him and Ryan, keeping them safe. Even worse, her husband was in terrible danger, all because she had wanted the appointment with the fertility specialist as soon as possible. Couldn’t wait for end of the lobstering season, when she would have had all the time in the world to go to Portland for the tests.