“He hit his head. We think on the boat’s swim platform. It looked pretty grim.” A shudder rippled through him. Knowing how close he was to Mr. McCarthy, Syd could imagine how concerned he was. “That drunken son of a bitch had no business running a boat, that’s for sure.”

“God,” Sydney said, shuddering. “You all could’ve been killed.”

With his index finger, he tilted her chin so he could see her face. He wiped away her tears and kissed her. “I’m not going to die, Syd. I promise.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Yes, I can.”

She smiled at him, appreciating what he was trying to do. “How’s your ankle?”

“It hurt like a mother until they gave me some good drugs.”

“I’ll take care of you,” she said, nuzzling his neck. “For as long as you need me, I’ll be there.”

He tightened his hold on her. “They said it could take forty to fifty years to heal.”

Sydney laughed through her tears and stayed with him until the X-ray technician arrived.

Janey had to get out of there. She couldn’t bear to sit in that room watching her father’s ashen face, hoping for some sign of life from one who was always so much larger than life. The waiting was simply unbearable.

She left her mother with Mac, Maddie and Stephanie and went outside to get some air. Joe had been on the mainland for the day, checking on his house over there, which they had closed up when they moved to Ohio for the school year. When she called to tell him about the accident, he said he’d be there as soon as he could. At times like this, living on an island truly sucked.

He’d made so many sacrifices to support her dream of attending veterinary school, and now with their wedding just over two weeks away, she might have to ask him to make another one.

No way could she get married without her dad there to give her away. They’d have to postpone it until he was able to be there with them. That was all there was to it. The thought of putting off a wedding they’d looked forward to for a year had new tears filling her eyes. One again her entire life had been upended in an instant, and she was reeling.

She thought she was seeing things when a Gansett Island Ferry Company truck came roaring into the parking lot, skidding into the final turn.

“Oh, Joe,” she said, running to him.

He met her halfway and lifted her right off her feet.

“How did you get here so soon? I only called an hour ago.”

“Slim flew me over,” he said, referring to one of the island’s pilots and a friend of the McCarthy family. “Faster than the ferry. How is he?”