Chapter 2 - She Called It a Safety Drill
Lily was physically unharmed.
That was the first thing the emergency physician in Newport told Daniel several hours later.
Cold.
Terrified.
Shaking badly.
But unharmed.
The rescue capsule had done exactly what it was designed to do.
It had kept Lily afloat and protected her from direct wave impact until the tender reached her.
Daniel sat beside the hospital bed holding both her hands.
Claire was not there.
He had told her to stay away.
Captain Owen had remained at the marina and provided the Coast Guard with the yacht’s safety information after the crew reported the incident.
Daniel still did not understand what had happened.
Neither did Owen.
Two days earlier, Claire had asked him about the yacht’s compact child-rescue capsule.
She said Daniel wanted Lily to become comfortable with emergency procedures.
Owen thought it was odd.
But Claire was Daniel’s wife.
She knew the yacht.
She had sailed with them for almost two years.
Owen demonstrated how the capsule worked.
He specifically told her it was for controlled emergency training under calm conditions.
Not in a storm.
Not over the side of a seventy-foot yacht.
And never without the captain supervising.
“Why didn’t you ask me?” Daniel demanded when they spoke by phone.
“I did.”
“When?”
“I texted.”
Daniel searched.
The message had gone to an old work number he rarely used.
Owen had written:
Claire asked about doing a safety exercise with Lily. Is that something you want?
Daniel had never seen it.
Claire apparently knew he had not.
That bothered him.
But something else bothered him more.
“Why was the tender already in the water?”
Owen hesitated.
“Claire asked us to lower it.”
“Before Lily went over?”
“Yes.”
Daniel went still.
“She said you wanted a surprise recovery drill. She told me you were coming up later.”
Daniel looked through the hospital-room window.
Claire had not thrown Lily blindly into the ocean.
She had prepared flotation.
She had prepared a rescue boat.
She had created something controlled enough that she apparently believed Lily would survive.
That did not make Daniel feel better.
It made the entire thing more deliberate.
Lily stirred beside him.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
She looked toward the door.
“Is Claire mad I told?”
Daniel leaned closer.
“Told what?”
May you like
Lily’s eyes filled again.
“She said I wasn’t supposed to tell you it was pretend.”
