Waves of Passion (Wild Women Trilogy Book #1) (17 page)

My mind couldn’t process the men scattered along the beach where the helicopter had landed, I had only one thought in my mind and that was finding Jack, because wherever he was, Denna was and that wasn’t healthy for Jack.

I searched the house but couldn’t find them and I know I presented the very picture of a madman to the rescuers who approached me cautiously.

“My wife!” I gasped. “She’s gone— he took her!”

It took nearly an hour to get my story out and I was afraid they didn’t believe me, but the pilot who’d seen us was part of the team of rescuers and he corroborated my story, saying he had seen a pregnant woman with me up on the cliffs just two days ago.

I refused to leave without Denna and I refused to let the men who had come expecting to rescue a stranded couple, search for her without me. We scoured the island for three days but we couldn’t find them and it occurred to me that Jack might have taken her to one of the other islands to avoid being rescued.

I was prepared to scour the entire state of Alaska until we found them, but on the fifth day when several more search teams arrived, I saw my mother and Kelly and my son step onto the beach. I sobbed like a broken man as I tried to tell my mother the whole story but she just held me and listened, uttering words of comfort until I passed out from sheer exhaustion.

I felt soft hands caressing my body as I woke with a cool breeze blowing in through the open windows of the Amber Rose. When I opened my eyes I was alone in my cabin, the sun drenched everything in soft warm light.

I heard voices in the saloon and I followed the sound of their laughter and the cries of an infant. I knew what I would find when I stepped into the room and I felt my heart clench in fear. I wanted to see them again, but I didn’t want to say goodbye and I knew that’s what this was.

“Seth,” I heard her call and I stepped into the room, unable to resist the sound of Amber’s voice.

“I’m so sorry baby,” Denna said softly as I met her gaze. She and Amber were sitting together at the bar and Denna cuddled a tiny baby in her arms.

Tears streamed down my face as I approached the three women who were my
entire
world, I didn’t know how I would ever find the strength to go on without them. Losing Amber had almost killed me. Losing Denna and our child surely would. I wrapped my arms around all of them, and I couldn’t find the words to tell them how much they meant to me.

“You will survive this Captain Seth Derby,” Denna said gently but firmly. “Your daughter and I will be fine, but we will miss you. You have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and go home to the family that loves you. You are the strongest man I know, you will find the strength to move on without us.”

“I can’t do it Denna,” I cried, watching in awe as my daughter reached to hold my finger tightly in her grasp. My heart ached that I would never get to hold her or watch her grow up.

“Do it for me…do it for us,” she said gently as they began to fade and I thought I might just fade away with them.

I woke up from that beautiful dream and returned to the nightmare that had become my life and I knew without a doubt that Denna was gone and I would never know what happened to her.

It was time to go home and pick up the pieces of my life and be grateful that I still had my son and family to love, for I would never do this again. The pain of losing Denna and our child was unbearable.