“Okay, that’s as slow as we go. Let me take over.”
“All right.” She kept her hands on the wheel and slid her butt out of the chair. As she stood, she lifted her eyes to the window. “David!”
David swiveled to see the giant wave crest and slam over the starboard side of the boat. Water exploded into the wheelhouse. Duchess squawked and flapped her wings as the boat rocked violently back and forth. Bonnie lost her grip and went flying. David let go of the chair and grabbed for her, but she slammed shoulder first into the bulkhead. She hit the deck on all fours, but even as David reached for the wheel, he could see she was still moving. “Bonnie! You okay?”
“Yes.” But her voice wasn’t nearly as loud as it had been before.
“Stay there!” As he finally righted himself, he saw another wall of water heading right for them. He managed to grab and yank the wheel another thirty degrees east before he heard the deafening whumph.
Then everything went black.
—————
The world dropped into slow motion. Shoulder throbbing, Bonnie dragged her soggy self across the wheelhouse to grab hold of the railing above her head. David was lying prone on the deck, arms and legs splayed. He slid over the slick surface as the boat bobbed in the storm.
Duchess squawked loud enough to wake the dead but not loud enough to bring David around. Bonnie checked the console. He’d been steering away slightly, not parallel to the storm. The engine continued to rumble and for now the waves seemed to have gotten whatever anger they had out of their system.
They were back to the violent eddies she’d been riding earlier. Before she seized the wheel again, she braced her feet on either side of David’s hips and grabbed his arms. She wedged him into the corner of the pilot cabin. In the dim light, she saw blood pooling in the water. She couldn’t do anything about that now. She wouldn’t be any help to David if she couldn’t keep the boat moving safely forward. Bonnie threw herself into the chair and amped up the throttle just a bit. The engine roared, louder than the storm now, and she quickly resumed the course he’d set. The muscles in her arms strained. Her shoulder felt as if it was on fire. Strands of her hair came loose and stuck to her face. Her clothes were soaked completely through and the rain continued to pour. “Keep going,” she whispered to herself. “Just keep going. You know what you’re doing. Just. Keep. Going.”
“Squawk! Your shoulders are not earrings.”
“Not now, Duchess,” Bonnie snapped and threw every ounce of energy she had into keeping the boat as level as she could. The rain continued to fall. The waves continued to rise and fall. It was like being on an unending roller coaster, and not the good kind that made you scream with laughter.
“Come on, Blue Blood. You can do this. This storm isn’t going to beat you, is it?” Bonnie kept her tone light, encouraging, as she talked to the boat. She glimpsed the corner, saw David hadn’t moved. The blood on his head was more visible now, darker around the scalp where he’d taken that hit on the railing. Fear clawed through her, trying to get a hold of her. Whether her hands trembled from the strain, from the stress, or from the cold, she couldn’t be sure. All that mattered was getting them to a place where she could finally check on his injuries.
She considered dropping the bow anchor and killing the engine, but there had to have been a reason David hadn’t done that. She had to trust his judgment and push on with what she did know how to do
“Forty-five degrees and slow. That’s it.” She controlled the panic-she’d spent a life-time learning to manage it. She could freak out later, once she had them at least out of the storm. He’d wake up, she told herself. He’d wake up and be fine. A little dizzy, no doubt a bit cranky, but he’d be fine. He had to be.
She twisted around in her chair when she heard him groan. Bonnie nearly sobbed in relief. Maybe he’d heard her. Maybe he knew… She stopped herself from letting that train move too far along the track. Now wasn’t the time to think about how she felt about him; how she’d never felt more alive than when she was with him. More alive. More confident. And happy.
She hadn’t been happy since Grams died…and their night together… Oh, it had been amazing, although they had not talked about it.
“Oh, Grams. This was all your doing, wasn’t it?” Leave it to Bella Rimmer to have set her on course to meet someone like David Stewart right when she needed to. Bella had told her she’d always be watching over her. “How about more of your magic, Grams? I could really use your help with this storm.”
Struggling against the pull of the wheel, she thought to herself how she was never going to watch another nautical disaster movie. Never, ever, ever!
Blue Blood’s bow arched up and out of the water and slammed down with a thump. Bonnie’s stomach dropped, her insides churning as she willed the storm to stop, hoped for the strength to keep them all in one piece for just a little bit longer. She needed a distraction. And there was only one thing she could think of to accomplish that job.
“Duchess, how about a song?”
“Squawk! Driver picks the tunes. Shotgun sings along!”
Bonnie snorted. “Sing anything.”
“Anything!” The trill was amazing and made Bonnie laugh, which seemed to impress Duchess, who fluffed her feathers and broke out into an all-too-familiar show tune about favorite things. Amused and relieved, she sang back.
“Squawk.” Duchess clicked her beak as if offended at having a partner. But she continued singing. And so did Bonnie as they rode out the storm together.
——————-
David came to with the strangest desire to see a Broadway musical.
It took a good few seconds for the pain to hit, and when it did, he lifted a hand to his head, not surprised when it came away wet and bloodied. He righted himself, felt the bulkhead against his back and blinked his eyes open. The dim light of the boat was the only thing he saw. The lapping ocean waves were just about all he heard. Except for the singing.
Very distinctive two-voiced singing; one perfectly pitched and the other severely off-key.