Tomahawk'd Part 7

"How's she doing?" Jackson yelled at Molly.

"She's doing great. She's bouncing off the waves like a pro." Molly was not pleased. Another point for the great Erin.

"Fantastic!" Jackson briefly looked back to see Erin's smiling face as she battled the water around her.

When the boat slowed on its next turn, the slack on the rope increased and Erin found herself slipping backward, very close to the water. As Jackson gunned the engine and the rope tightened again, Erin was jolted forward. The handle flew from her hands, wrapped around her right leg, and got caught on her binding. She fell onto her back. "Oh, s.h.i.+t!" With the rope caught on her ski, the boat continued to pull her, dragging her under the water.

Molly smiled. She figured she could let Erin bob around out there for a while. She leaned over and kissed Jackson's cheek and stuck her tongue in her ear. Jackson playfully batted her hand away, completely unaware of Erin's situation.

Erin held her breath as she was dragged below the surface. Help me! Stop the boat! Panic had set in a few long seconds ago. Erin's chest started to burn, and then everything went black.

When Molly looked back, waiting to see Erin bobbing far from the boat, she noticed that the rope was not bouncing off the water, but held a ski with a body still attached to it. Realizing she'd made a fatal mistake, she screamed, "Oh, s.h.i.+t, Jack, she's down! She's caught! Stop!"

Jackson immediately killed the engine and looked back at Erin's motionless body, still being pulled by the boat. The lack of speed and the buoyancy of her vest brought Erin above the water.

In total shock, she screamed, "Hawk!" Looking at Molly, she yelled, "Take the wheel but don't turn on the engines."

She threw off her sungla.s.ses, stepped one foot on the back end of the boat, and launched herself toward Erin. Jackson swam as fast as she could to her best friend. When she reached her, Erin's face was pale. She grabbed the ski and pulled it off her foot and then tugged on her vest.

"Hawk? Hawk, honey, can you hear me?" She felt for her mouth as she floated, not feeling any air coming out. "She's not breathing!" she screamed to Molly. She grabbed Erin by the vest and, keeping her head above water, dragged her back to the boat. "Hold her!" she yelled to the blonde as she climbed small ladder rungs to get aboard. "On three, we lift her in and lay her down. We need to do CPR on her now! One...two...three!" Both girls held on to Erin and pulled with all their might to get her over the side of the boat. Erin flopped gracelessly to the floor and Jackson immediately undid her vest and began CPR.

She tilted Erin's head back, pinched her nose, and leaned down to breathe twice into her mouth while watching her chest rise. She put her palm down in the middle of her chest between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, covered it with her other hand, and began to pump. "Come on, Hawk, breathe! Breathe, G.o.d d.a.m.n it!" She breathed again into her mouth twice and began to pump.

Molly looked on with frightened eyes, knowing that her jealousy and stupidity might have cost this girl her life.

On the fourth attempt with Jackson pumping on her chest, Erin's mouth filled with water and she coughed and spat it out. As another water-filled cough erupted, she finally took in a lungful of air, much to the relief of the other two. Jackson gently rolled Erin to her side.

"Hawk?" Jackson whispered through her tears, not knowing when she'd begun to cry. Erin's eyes opened, then shut when another round of coughing violently burst from her body. A little more water was released from her lungs and she took another few uneasy breaths.

Erin opened her eyes, not knowing where she was right away.

Jackson leaned on her side to face her. "Hawk, can you hear me?" She pushed the wet hair out of Erin's eyes.

Blinking and staring gla.s.sily into the mismatched eyes she loved so much, Erin finally answered, "Jack, is that really you?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she began to cry. Jackson immediately grabbed and held her as they both wept from their fear and facing their mortality for the first time in their young lives. Jackson and Erin clung to each other for several moments while Molly sat and watched.

"It's me, honey, it's me. I gotcha, you're going to be okay," Jackson choked out between sobs. She began to rock Erin back and forth as their hearts slowed to a normal cadence. "I'm right here, Hawk, I'm right here."

In disbelief of all that had just happened in such a short period of time, Molly digested her careless behavior, the accident, and after hearing Jack call to her, put Erin and Hawk together. Not used to being slow on the uptake, she decided to save that bit of information until a later time.

The boat ride back to sh.o.r.e was uneventful. As they pulled into the slip, Jackson saw her aunt and Erin's mother on the pier waiting. Cursing silently, she knew they must have seen at least some of what had happened. She docked the boat, killed the engine, and tied off the cleats.

Katie immediately ran to Erin as she unsteadily exited the boat. "Honey! Are you okay?" She held Erin out at arm's length to look her over. Outside of red-rimmed eyes, her daughter seemed fine, physically.

Erin nodded solemnly and briefly leaned against her mother before walking slowly down the pier. She sat heavily on one of the chairs and stared out into the water.

Katie walked over to Jackson as she was getting the last of the equipment out of the boat. "This is your fault! My daughter could have died out there! How reckless and stupid are you?" she shouted, inches from Jackson's astonished face.

"Mrs. Hawkins, I wasn't-"

"Don't you dare tell me what you were and were not doing. I saw her go down and I saw you dragging her without stopping!"

"Katie, please. I'm sure it didn't happen that way. Jack is very responsible." Jackie tried to defuse the situation, hoping she was right about her niece.

"Oh, really? And just how did it look to you?" She shot daggers at Jackie. "Clearly she isn't responsible or this wouldn't have happened. Do you always let her go boating unsupervised like this?"

Molly's soft voice interrupted from behind Jackson's shaking body. "Ma'am, it was my fault."

Katie's eyes s.h.i.+fted from Jackson to Molly. "Who are you?"

"Mm...Molly. I was on lookout and I didn't see her fall right away," she lied. "I told Jackson as soon as I realized she'd gone down. Jack stopped the boat immediately. I'm terribly sorry." She looked into unreadable eyes. "Jack saved her life, please believe that." Molly wasn't sure why she was saying all of this. Perhaps her guilt was winning out, or maybe she just wanted Jackson to hear her defending her.

Katie looked between the two girls then across the pier to Erin, who watched with wide, horrified eyes as her mother made an a.s.s out of herself. "Is that what happened, Erin?"

Erin looked at Jackson and knew without question she had saved her life. "Yes, Mother, Jack saved my life. If she hadn't given me mouth-to-mouth, I wouldn't be here right now." She started to get angry. "Please stop shouting at her like she did something wrong. I don't know what your problem is with her, but she's done...nothing! Leave her alone!" she shouted and ran off the pier to her cottage.

Face red with embarra.s.sment, Katie glanced at everyone around her. "I'm sorry." Looking to Jackson, she said a quick "thank you" and very briskly left the pier.

When she was out of earshot, Molly said, "What a b.i.t.c.h!"

Jackie whirled around to face her. "She saw her daughter almost drown. How do you think a mother would react?" Jackie put her hand out to Jackson. "I want the keys for a while."

Jackson nodded sadly and handed the boat keys to her aunt. She didn't want to touch them anytime soon anyway.

Jackie took the keys and stormed off to the main house, thanking everything holy that Erin hadn't been hurt or killed.

Not able to say much, Jackson turned to Molly. "Look, um, I don't think I'm gonna be very good company right now. You can go if you want."

Molly was not about to let Jackson get rid of her that easily. "No way, Jack. You need me right now. You've had a huge scare. Let me be the one you lean on now." The insinuation of her not being Erin wasn't lost on Jackson. She looked doubtfully at Molly, but her need won out and she nodded.

"I think I need to just relax and sit for a while, if that's okay." Jackson adjusted the skiing equipment in her arms. "Let's put this stuff away and we can go sit up on the roof. Okay?"

"Sounds good. I want to be here for you." Molly put her arm around Jackson's shoulder as they walked down the pier toward the boathouse.

Jackson noticed the unused inner tube and a wave of emotion flowed through her. Desperately aware of how close she was to losing it, she clenched her teeth and motioned to Molly. "Will you roll that in for me?"

Clueless of Jackson's distress, she squeezed her shoulder and smiled. "Of course."

When Joe arrived back from fis.h.i.+ng with his friends, he rested his poles on the side of cabin six and walked inside. The first thing he saw was Erin, wrapped in a blanket, sitting on one end of the couch, crying; his wife sat on the other end looking very angry.

"What did I miss?"

His voice penetrated Erin's funk, making her look up. "Oh, Dad!" She flew off the couch and against his body. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and looked to Katie. She glared at her daughter and his eyebrows rose in question.

"We're not coming back next year, Joe. Erin almost died out on the water today," she said tersely.

Joe looked astonished, but waited for more information. "Okay, slow down." He pulled Erin away from him so he could look at her. "What happened, Peanut?"

"She got in-"

"Katie, please; I'd like to hear it from Erin. She's the one who seems upset here."

"Oh, and I'm not upset? You know, maybe if you spent a little more time with her, this could have been prevented," Katie lashed out, needing to release her anger. "I'll be in the kitchen fixing dinner." She got up off the couch and stomped into the other room.

"Come on, Peanut, let's sit down and you can tell me all about it."

The two moved as one as they made their way to the couch to sit. Erin leaned against her father's strong shoulder as his arm wrapped around her. "We went water skiing and there was an accident." When he didn't comment, she continued. "I was doing really great. I got up and everything, Dad," she said proudly.

When she finished telling him what she remembered of the accident, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed the top of her head. "So, your friend Jack is a hero, then."

"Not to Mom. She thinks she's the devil herself," she spat looking toward the kitchen. "Daddy, I just don't get her. Jack is my best friend. Yeah, we had something bad happen today, but she saved my life and still Mom was mean to her."

His jaw muscles worked as Joe warred with conflicting emotions. Katie had become unreasonable when it came to Erin's friends.h.i.+p with Jackson. Anytime her name came up, Katie bristled and either said something rude or changed the subject. He was going to get to the bottom of it before the night was over. Her little tirades were getting very old.

"How are you feeling now? Are you having any trouble breathing? Should we have you looked at?"

"No, Daddy; I'm fine. I'm just wiped out. I think I'm gonna go to my room and take a nap."

He kissed her head again and nodded. "That's a good idea. You'll feel better after a little shut-eye." Erin stood. "I love you, Peanut. I'm glad you're okay."

"Love you, too, Daddy," she said, walking to her room and quietly closing the door.

Joe got up and stood outside of the kitchen giving himself a pep talk. No good will come of this if I just lay into her. From the doorway, he saw Katie chopping vegetables for dinner with a butcher knife. On second thought, maybe now isn't such a good time. Taking a deep breath, he entered the kitchen.

Katie heard his footsteps and turned, hand on hip. "I want to leave," she said firmly.

"No."

"No?" she asked, incredulous.

"No. d.a.m.n it, Katie, we're paid through the month, we're already here, and quite frankly, you're overreacting as usual."

"Overreact-"

"Yes! Okay, so there was an accident. Yes, but that's what it was, an accident. From what Erin told me, Jackson saved her life." When her body clearly stiffened at the mention of Jackson's name, Joe lowered his voice. "What is your problem with her? She's done absolutely nothing but befriend our little girl. h.e.l.l, they've been friends since they were kids. Tell me, what is your d.a.m.n problem?"

"She's not normal, Joe, okay? I've seen the way she is with Erin. It's not right!"

His face took on a look of disbelief. "What in G.o.d's name are you talking about?"

"She's a queer, I know it," she hissed. "The way she touches Erin's arm or some part of her when she talks to her. Last night, she had her arm around her on the pier. Oh, but silly me, Erin said she was simply drawing you a sunset."

"She did, Katie. It's on the table over there. That was the truth."

"That's not the point!"

Backing up and crossing his arms, he leaned against the counter. "Then tell me-what is the point of this?"

"Didn't you hear me? I think she's a lesbian." The last word came out as a whisper.

"So what, Katie? So what if she is. How does Jackson being a lesbian hurt our daughter? Did you see her force Erin to kiss her? Did you see her force Erin to do anything? She has done nothing to Erin but be her best friend. Nothing, Katie!"

Katie knew she was not going to win the argument, but she'd be d.a.m.ned if she wasn't going to protect her daughter. "Not yet, Joe, but it's coming. You mark my words."

"You're crazy, you know that? Sometimes you just push too d.a.m.ned far!" He pushed off of the counter. "You and Erin have been at each other's throats regarding Jackson for the last year and I'm really growing tired of it." He started out of the kitchen, but stopped and turned to his wife. "And if you think I'm leaving here because you have your head screwed on wrong, you are even more deluded. I came up here for some peace and relaxation, and I'll be d.a.m.ned if your ridiculous imagination will take that from me. If you don't want to stay, then I suggest you rent a car, because we're not leaving."

"We?"

"Yes. You don't think I'm gonna let you take Erin home, do you? She loves it here. The only time she doesn't talk about this place is when we're actually here. Jesus, would you lighten up?"

"No, Joe, I won't lighten up. If you want to see your little girl become the victim of a predator, that's not okay with me. It's not right or natural, what they do. It's not."

"But verbally abusing your daughter is right? Don't you see that you are alienating yourself from your daughter? I swear to you, Katie," he took a deep breath, "you need to change the way you treat her or we're going to be making a much bigger decision than where to vacation in the summer."

"Is that a threat?" Her voice was low with menace.

"No, Katie, it's a fact. I will not be able to live with a woman who purposely tries to demean her daughter on a daily basis, especially because of some ridiculous notion she has stuck in her brain!" Deciding to throw fuel on the fire, Joe added, "Let me ask you this, Katie. What if Erindid come out one day and say she was a lesbian? What would you do? Would you continue to crucify her? Would you throw her to the wolves? Or would you be supportive and comfort her while she was going through a horribly confusing time in her life? Ask yourself that and you let me know if my 'threat' is out of line."

He stomped into the living room, leaving a slack-jawed Katie to digest her husband's surprising words.

Chapter Six.

1990 The NorthwoodsIslandCity Jackson and Molly were tucked on the roof, sitting on a blanket. Jackson had been extremely quiet since they had climbed up there. A couple of hours had pa.s.sed, with Molly trying to make small chitchat just so she would talk to her. They had gone to get some dinner earlier when Molly got hungry. Jackson brooded in the car the entire trip and only spoke to say what she wanted in the drive-through lane. Other than that, Molly had done all the talking, much to Jackson's aggravation.

Molly had tried to get Jackson to play her recorder or something to take her mind off of what had happened. Jackson didn't want anything to do with anything at that moment.

"What are you feeling? Talk to me, sweetie." Molly stroked Jackson's back with her fingertips.

Jackson sighed for the millionth time, not wanting to talk to Molly. She was dying to talk to Erin about the accident, wanted to know how she was. Something. She felt numb and wanted the hurt she was feeling to go away. Her fear of Katie Hawkins had kept her away from cabin six.

"Look, I told you hours ago that I wasn't going to be good company. I really don't feel like talking." To you.

"I know, Jack, but you'll feel better."

Sighing with annoyance, Jackson said, "Hey, you've got that cooler in your trunk. What I'd really like is a cold beer. That just might make me feel better."

Finally having something to make her girlfriend happy, Molly jumped up to retrieve the small cooler from her car. Jackson watched her climb down the ladder as she looked out over the water. The sun had set and she just wanted the peace that she knew would come from sitting up there. Jackson's thoughts were filled with the memories of seeing Erin's lifeless body in the boat-images that would stay with her forever. It was the worst experience she'd ever had in her short life and one she didn't want to encounter ever again. The only thing setting her mind at ease was that it was she who had saved Erin's life. All of the lifeguard and CPR training her aunt made her go through had paid off. After many lectures about the liability of the resort, Jackson finally acquiesced to the training and now was so glad she had. Erin was alive. The alternative was something she couldn't even imagine. Nor did she want to.

Hearing Molly's footsteps on the ladder brought Jackson back to the present. A cold beer, that is definitely going to hit the spot. When Molly brought up the twelve-pack out of the cooler, Jackson's eyes lit up.

Molly plopped the wet cardboard box down between them. "The ice had melted and got this all soaked. I just grabbed this to make the climb easier. She pulled out a bottle and gave it to Jackson, who immediately twisted the cap off and downed a significant amount in one swallow.