LITMIR.BIZ

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in a low murmur.

      He nodded, gathered his composure and stood, giving a short blast of his whistle. “Okay, everyone, back up and give the kid some room. You’re making him nervous staring at him this way.”

      Even as the spectators slowly moved away, Jamie could hear a siren approaching in the distance. She looked up at the frantic woman with the little girl on her hip. The woman couldn’t have been much more than twenty. Her face was pale, her eyes wide and horrified as she stared at the shivering boy. “Is he yours?” Jamie asked.

      “I’m their nanny. Oh, ma’am, is Sam all right? I’ll never forgive myself if—”

      “He’s fine,” Jamie broke in quickly, patting the boy’s back and speaking in a tone meant to calm both him and the overwrought nanny. “Sam’s going to be just fine.”

      “He was sitting on the side,” the nanny babbled. “He wouldn’t come in the water, so I told him to stay put while I played with Abbie. I checked on him a couple of times and he was fine. Then I looked at Abbie again, and the next thing I knew, you were pulling him out of the pool. Sam, why did you go in the water? You know you can’t swim.”

      “I slipped,” the child murmured into Jamie’s neck. “I was just going to stand up and I fell in the water.”

      “It’s okay,” Jamie said. “No one’s blaming you, Sam.” There was plenty of blame to spread around, she thought, but none of it was Sam’s.

      Two medics rushed into the fenced pool area. Sam’s arms had to be pried from around Jamie’s neck. Apparently painfully shy of strangers, he refused to respond when the medics tried to talk to him, and he cried when they told him they were going to take him to be checked out.

      “Go with me,” he begged Jamie.

      Startled by the request, she stroked his wet hair. “Your nanny and your little sister will go with you, Sam.”

      “He doesn’t like me much,” the young nanny said morosely. “I don’t know why.”

      Jamie had a few guesses, but she kept them to herself. “You’ll be fine, Sam,” she assured the frightened little boy. “These people are very nice and they’ll take good care of you.”

      “I’ll call your dad and have him meet us at the hospital,” his nanny promised. “You know he’ll drop everything and be there in no time.”

      That seemed to reassure him. “My daddy will be there?”

      “As soon as I call him.” She seemed to have no doubt about it.

      “Sam,” little Abbie said from the nanny’s hip, waving happily at her brother.

      Sam allowed himself to be taken away, though he looked soulfully over his shoulder at Jamie—as though he was leaving his only friend behind, she thought with an odd feeling.

      She scraped her fingers through her short, wet, red hair, pushing it away from her face as she watched them leave. The lifeguard turned sheepishly to Jamie. “I’m sure glad you were here, ma’am.”

      “Just keep your mind on your job from now on, okay?” Reaction had finally set in, leaving her weak-kneed and a bit shaky.

      “I will,” he said fervently, and dashed back to his post.

      The teenagers had gathered again at the other side, the incident already forgotten since it didn’t actually affect them. The three women who’d been sitting by the shallow end of the pool earlier were gathering their charges and their possessions, ready to leave as dinnertime approached. Susan, who had stayed back out of the way during the excitement, put her hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

      Jamie’s smile felt lopsided. “I’m fine.”

      “That was amazing, Jamie. You moved so fast, my head is still spinning. If you hadn’t been here…”

      Jamie didn’t even want to think about that. “I just happened to notice him. I guess old lifeguard habits die hard.”

      “At least someone around here benefited from rescue training.” Susan looked darkly at the lifeguard, who sat now watching the almost-empty pool with intense vigilance. “With all the people at the pool today, word will get out. I’m sure he’ll be reprimanded for what almost happened.”

      Jamie remembered the stricken look in the young man’s eyes. “I think he learned his lesson.”

      Susan held out Jamie’s sunglasses. “These are yours, I believe.”

      She took them and slid them onto her nose. “Thanks.”

      Making a production of wiping her forehead, Susan sighed gustily. “To think I came to the pool to relax for a few minutes. How could I have guessed it would be this exciting?”

      Almost shuddering as she recalled the moment she’d spotted little Sam at the bottom of the pool—and knowing she would be haunted by that image for some time—Jamie murmured, “Personally, I could have done without the excitement.”

      Susan turned serious again. “What you did was incredible, Jamie. Maybe someone else would have spotted him in time to save him, but there’s no guarantee. And by getting to him so quickly, you probably prevented him from having any lasting repercussions.”

      Jamie was becoming embarrassed by Susan’s praise. “I’m just glad I was here to help,” she said dismissively, matching her steps to her friend’s as they walked together toward the exit.

      “Not half as glad as Trevor McBride’s going to be,” Susan commented.

      Jamie stumbled. Trevor McBride? She steadied herself quickly. “What does Trevor McBride have to do with anything?”

      Susan’s eyebrows rose. “Didn’t you know? Sam is Trevor’s son.”

      “No,” Jamie murmured, turning her face to hide her expression. “I didn’t know.”

      Trevor’s son. The incident had just taken on a whole new significance for her.

      Had things turned out the way she had once fantasized, she would have been the mother of Trevor McBride’s children.

      “YOU’RE SURE he’s going to be okay? There’s nothing else I should watch for?” Trevor couldn’t seem to let go of his son, who had been clinging tightly to his neck for the past twenty minutes.

      The doctor who had examined the boy smiled reassuringly. “Sam’s going to be fine, Mr. McBride. He took in very little water and he was apparently conscious throughout the entire episode. According to your nanny, he was only underwater for a very short time. He was more terrified than anything. You should probably watch for emotional repercussions. Perhaps you should get him into swimming lessons soon to keep him from developing a permanent fear of water as a result of this.”

      “Thanks. I’ll keep your advice in mind.”

      Just the mention of swimming lessons had made Sam hide his face again. He’d never liked water, and didn’t trust strangers enough to take instructions easily from them—something Trevor was hoping they could change by the time he started kindergarten.

      Becky Rhodes, the nanny Trevor had hired only a month earlier, was sitting in the waiting room with Abbie, who’d fallen asleep on her lap. She looked up anxiously when Trevor carried Sam out of the examining room. “Is he okay?”

      “He’s fine,” Trevor answered shortly, resisting an impulse to add, No thanks to you.

      Becky sagged in relief. “I’m so glad. I’m really sorry about this, Mr. McBride. I was busy with Abbie and he just fell in. I never saw him.”

      Trevor’s arms tightened instinctively around his son. “Thank God the lifeguard saw him.”

      Becky snorted. “The lifeguard had nothing to do with it. He was too busy flirting with a bunch of girls. If that woman hadn’t noticed Sam in the pool…”

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