As though the Lord Himself had answered Robert’s prayers, when he reached out, he managed to grab a handful of cotton from Gina’s dress.
“I’ve got you,” he shouted.
Gina was caught, her dress tangled in some reeds on the riverbed.
Robert pulled her tiny body against his chest, terrified of the shivers wracking her body, oblivious to his own.
The rain lashed in earnest now, making it almost impossible to see, and the wind howled as though bemoaning the fate of the children by the riverside.
Gina was turning blue and gasping for breath.
“It’s alright, Gina. I have you.”
Robert repeated the litany over and over again even as he inwardly panicked.
How would he get her out of the water? How would he make sure she survived this waking nightmare?
“Robert!”
Robert looked up and saw James and Nicholas at the banks, mere feet above him.
Thank God.
Both boys lay down, their hands stretching toward Robert and Gina.
“Simon is gone for help,” James shouted.
“We need to get her out of the water,” Robert called back, not caring about anything else.
The others nodded their understanding.
Robert, with Herculean effort, tried to lift Gina toward James, but his little sister gripped desperately to his shoulders, her eyes wide with panic.
“Gina, you must let go,” Robert shouted above the wind, terror making his voice harsh.
“I-I c-can’t!” She shivered, and Robert felt his eyes fill with tears.
This was beyond any horror he could ever imagine.
“You must,” he insisted. “We need to get out of the water.”
Gina stared at him for a moment, tears or rainwater streaming down her little face.
Finally, eons later, she nodded her head.
“Good girl,” Robert said with relief as he felt her grip loosen.
But his fleeting relief was short-lived.
The second Gina’s hands left his person, the unforgiving current snatched her body, and she shot away from him, as though pulled by an invisible whipcord.
“No!” Robert screamed, his hand darting out after her.
He managed to grip her fingertips, though both his and hers were icy with cold, and the merciless water rushed over their clasped hands, desperately trying to drag them apart.
“Pull me up,” he yelled desperately.
He felt two pairs of hands on his jacket, as his cousin and his friend began the laborious task of pulling his drenched body from the water.
“Gina,” he called, “hold on.”
But he saw it then—the look that would haunt him for the rest of his miserable life. The look that no innocent child’s eyes should hold. The look of someone who knew her life was about to end.
“Please,” he sobbed. He couldn’t even try to grab her tighter, could gain no more purchase on the bank or with her hand.
“Please, Gina. Hold on.”
Though it should have been impossible with the cacophony of angry sounds the storm and river produced, Robert heard her whisper as clear as a bell. As clear as if she said it inside his very soul.
“Bobby, I’m scared.”
Robert’s heart clenched painfully. When Gina had been younger, she hadn’t been able to pronounce the letter R properly and had taken to calling him Bobby. The name had stuck and became Gina’s special name for him. She was the only one who used it and hearing it now from her blue, trembling lips was more painful than he could handle.
He couldn’t speak. Could offer no word of comfort.
He began to pull against the hands dragging him to safety.
If Gina was going to let go, he would follow her. He wasn’t going to watch her float away.
“Let go of me, James. She’s slipping.”
Perhaps they didn’t hear. Perhaps they thought it better to save him, even though it was the worst thing they could do.
But they held on.
And Gina’s grip loosened.
Within seconds, it was over.
Her tiny fingers slipped inevitably from his grasp.
Robert heard his own screams as though they came from someone else.
It was all so sudden.
One minute her tiny body floated, like a rag doll.
The next, it was gone, the river finally victorious in claiming a life.
Robert, on the bank now, fought with all his might to get away from the hands holding him back.
“Robert, she’s gone. She’s gone.”
James’ tearful voice sobbed in his ear as he clung furiously to his friend. But Robert wouldn’t believe it. He couldn’t.
Robert felt bile rise in his throat, and he turned toward the sodden ground, casting up his accounts.
Seconds or hours later, voices sounded all around him. Shouts of despair, screams of agony, yells of concern.
Someone threw a blanket around his shoulders and lifted him bodily into a cart.
Please, please, please don’t let it be real. Please. Don’t let it be real.
As the chills battered his body, Robert’s head swam, and he prayed for the darkness that threatened on the edge of his consciousness. Welcomed it like an old friend.
He wanted it to come. And he wanted to remain in it forever.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my wonderful readers first and foremost for continuing on this journey with me! It’s a wild ride and I never want it to stop.
Thanks to my husband and children who are the reason I do everything. Your support and pride in me is what keeps me going.
To my parents, my sisters, and all my friends and family who never fail to support me and keep my spirits up! And the authors who always have my back.
Finally a huge thank you to my editor, Julie – the best partner a girl could have, and everyone at Aurora Publicity for making something great from my chaos!
Also by Nadine Millard
International Best-Seller
The Royals of Aldonia Series
The Hidden Prince
Protecting the Princess
Redeeming A Royal
The Ranford Series
An Unlikely Duchess
Seeking Scandal
Mysterious Miss Channing
The Revenge Series
Highway Revenge
The Spy’s Revenge
The Captain’s Revenge
The Saints & Sinners Series
The Monster of Montvale Hall
The Angel of Avondale Abbey
The Devil of Dashford Manor
The Saint of St. Giles
Standalone Romances
A Winter Wish (Forbidden – A Regency Collection)
A Christmas Seduction
Christmas At Brentwood Abbey
Beauty and the Duke
The Hidden Prince
His Yuletide Bride
Fortune Favours Miss Gould
Her Accidental Groom
Coming Soon!
The Cowboy’s Wager
Lady Holly’s Jolly Christmas
A Country Christmas
A Lord For All Seasons
Springtime Scandal
Midsummer Madness
Forgotten Fall
A Winter Wedding
About Nadine Millard
Nadine Millard is a bestselling writer hailing from Dublin, Ireland.
When she’s not writing historical romance, she’s managing her chaotic household of three children, a husband and a very spoiled dog!
She’s a big fan of coffee and wine with a good book and will often be found at her laptop at 2am when a book idea strikes.
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