When she reached Riley, she collapsed into her arms. She felt the door brush past her as it secluded them in the hall, away from the others’ eyes. Wracking sobs coursed through her body. Riley held her with a death grip and never said a word. She just held on to her until Laine’s legs gave way and they both slipped to their knees onto the carpet. As much as her heart was breaking, as much as questions blasted through her head in a desperate attempt for some kind of answers, some kind of logic to this ridiculous nightmare, there was something inside of her that was incredibly stable and unwavering. She finally let all the energy drain from her body as it became limp in Riley’s embrace.
Her body was drenched in sweat, and her face was covered with the brine of her tears. She wiped her face with the edge of her sweatshirt sleeve. Finally able to lift herself, she sat back and exhaled heavily. She was certain Riley’s face mirrored her own. “Can you tell me what happened?” Her words came out broken, soft, and unaccusing.
“I don’t know a great deal. Just that the plane went down and that Mitchell is gone, Laine. He . . . he didn’t survive.”
“Do you know where it went down?”
“That’s all I know.”
Winnie came bursting through the door. Her stockinged feet pounded heavily on the floor with each deliberate step. “Laine, baby. I’m so sorry.” Winnie fell at her side and wrapped Laine in her arms.
Laine laid her head on Winnie’s full chest like a baby would to its mother.
“I’m so sorry, Laine,” Riley said. “I’m so sorry. You stayed because of me and I’m so sorry.”
Laine leaned up. “Stop it. I don’t want to hear another word. That man loved me. That man died loving me.” Her words slowed. “And I would have never known he still loved me if you hadn’t helped me deal with my own shame. You may be why I stayed. But his love for me is why he was coming here at all. And no one can ever take that away from me. You hear me? Not ever.” Laine was amazed at the strength of her own voice. This peace resonated in her soul, somewhere deep and real. She knew that the things that had happened in her life this week had changed her to the core. And this woman sitting across from her was the main catalyst for all of it.
“Life is a painful journey,” Winnie said as she reached out and pulled Riley toward her too. “But good journeys have good companions. And we are each other’s companions for this journey. However long it lasts. There are no promises for tomorrow. Just today. And today we have each other.” Winnie raised Riley’s face. “Today we have each other.”
Both women fell into Winnie’s arms. And holding them there against her sequined bosom, Winnie hummed softly and rocked them gently in her arms. What had been tested in the hurricane of Laine’s life had now been proven by the hurricane that still taunted outside. Laine felt Winnie’s lips come down on the top of her head and kiss it, then go back to their humming. Laine reached over and took Riley’s hand. And there, on Paradise Island, in the middle of the worst of life’s hurricanes, she held on to the two women who had survived their own.
24
Sunday morning . . .
The beach was strewn with muck that had only two days ago lain at the bottom of the ocean. Hurricane Kate had stirred up all kinds of destruction, even though, from a property standpoint, it had been minimal to the island and gracious to the resort. Riley picked up a broken seashell and let the sharp, jagged edges prick her fingers as she rolled it over.
There had been so much brokenness here this week, so many sharp and jagged edges, that she had hardly even taken in this majestic sight that now stood as still as glass. Funny how life could pummel you with unexpected ferocity one moment and then swaddle you in childlike innocence the next.
She looked at the grounds behind her and saw limbs that lay strewn about the resort. Some things just couldn’t be protected from storms. Some things simply needed to be broken off. She had learned that in her own life. And she had also learned that once old things were broken off, amazingly beautiful things could grow in their place.
She knew the ladies who had impacted her life this week felt as scattered and broken as the debris that surrounded her. But she also knew that they would begin the cleanup of their lives just as she and the staff would begin the cleanup of all of this tomorrow. And while hurricanes might be no respecter of persons, she had become a huge respecter of hurricanes and how much they could change someone.
* * *
Riley turned off the light in her office. The winds had been strong enough through Saturday that it still felt too dangerous to release everyone back to their rooms. The staff had spent the day rescheduling flights for all the guests, and the airport was said to be resuming commercial flights by nine o’clock this morning. She walked out into the lobby of the offices and saw Christian standing at the door.
“You headed to the hospital?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said, walking through the door he held open. “We’re
