“Caddie,” she heard her father say, although his voice was muffled.

Leo looked at her and beckoned with his hand. “She’s right here, Ben,” he said. “She’s okay.”

Caddie went and knelt beside her father. Seeing her, he smiled and reached for her hand. She took it and held it, fighting back tears. He looked so pale and helpless. “Hi, Daddy,” she said.

Ben tried to say something, the words turning to coughs. Caddie shook her head. “Don’t talk,” she said. She looked up at Leo, whose dark eyes looked worried. “Where are the paramedics?” she asked him.

“They’ll be here in a minute,” he assured her. “They deal with this kind of thing all the time.” He smiled. “He’s going to be okay,” he said slowly.

The sound of a siren, faint but drawing nearer, followed the promise. Hearing them, Caddie felt a surge of hope. She squeezed her father’s hand and looked toward the road, waiting to see the flashing lights. Instead, she saw Hudson coming toward them. He was unsteady in the sand, and as he ran he lurched from side to side.

“What happened?” he asked, out of breath, when he finally reached them.

“He had an accident,” Caddie said. She didn’t know how Hudson had found out, or how she felt about him being there. She watched his face as he looked at her father. He was frightened, and she knew all too well how that felt. “He’s going to be okay,” she told him.

Hudson sat back, his hands at his sides. What was he thinking? she wondered. She felt her father stir and saw that he was looking at Hudson. For a moment she was jealous, but then she felt his hand in hers, holding on to her, and the feeling passed. He was what she needed to be worried about, not whatever was going on with him and Hudson.

The sirens stopped, and Caddie saw men in blue uniforms coming toward them. “They’re here now,” she told her father. Although she hated to let go of him, she allowed Leo to draw her back so that the paramedics could attend to her father.

They worked quietly and efficiently, asking questions—answered by Leo—about the details of the accident. Their calm assuredness eased Caddie’s worry somewhat, but still she felt that everything was not yet over. She stood beside Hudson, neither saying anything, and watched as her father was loaded onto a stretcher. As four men lifted it and began to walk through the sand, she heard someone call her name.

Turning, she saw Brian emerging from the water. He walked casually, as if he couldn’t see her father being taken away from her. “Hey,” he said. “What happened to you guys? I looked all over for you.”