A Christmas to Remember by Thomas Kinkade Read Free Book Online Page B

crashed down over her, pushing her down. She gasped and flailed her arms and legs, her lungs about to burst. She felt her body sucked under, swirling in the blue-green water. Finally, she felt herself making some progress. Up , she thought. Swim up!
    Then she felt the sand in her hands. She had been swimming in the wrong direction, to the bottom. She turned, feeling her lungs about to burst. She tried to head up toward the light, but the undertow gripped her, twisting her as if she were a bit of seaweed.
    I’m going to drown, Lillian realized. This is it. I can’t breathe. I’m being suffocated. I can’t get up. I’m not strong enough….
     
    W HEN SHE OPENED HER EYES AGAIN , O LIVER WAS STARING DOWN at her. His face was very close. He looked so serious. She hadn’t imagined he could ever look that serious.
    She felt his hand under her head, lifting it off the sand. “Thank God,” he said quietly. “Say something,” he prompted her.
    She swallowed and made a face. She had sand in her mouth and tried to spit it out. “I feel sick….”
    Unable to stop herself, she rolled away from him and spit up in the sand.
    She felt his hand rub her back in soothing circles. “You must have swallowed half the ocean out there.”
    “Here’s a towel,” she heard Charlotte say. “I put some fresh water on it.”
    Lillian quickly wiped her face and took a long, shaky breath. She felt as if she were going to cry and fought to hold it back.
    “Go ahead and cry if you want to,” he said quietly so that only she could hear. “I might feel better after a good cry myself.”
    Lillian glanced up at Oliver, his dark lashes spiked with water, his hair slicked back wet. She realized he must have jumped in and pulled her out. He had saved her life. Just narrowly.
    “I’m sorry,” she said awkwardly. Apologies had never come easily to her. “That’s never happened to me before. I’m a very strong swimmer….”
    “Of course you are.” He patted her shoulder, his hand lingering there. “You were knocked down. That could happen to anyone.”
    “You weren’t breathing, Lillian. You didn’t move. I thought…the worst.” Charlotte’s face was pale as paper, and Lillian realized she had scared her cousin half to death.
    Had Oliver given her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?
    Lillian was too embarrassed by the idea to even ask.
    “I’m all right now, Charlotte. Don’t worry.” She forced herself to sound much stronger than she felt and started to get up. She wasn’t about to lie there like a hospital patient.
    Charlotte moved toward her. “Here, let me help you.”
    “I’m fine,” Lillian insisted.
    Oliver didn’t ask permission and didn’t believe her either. As she tried to stand he hooked his arm around her waist, lifting her up off the sand as if she weighed nothing at all.
    “Come on, lean on me. Don’t be so stubborn, or I’ll toss you back in the ocean again.”
    Her legs did feel weak. Having no choice, she leaned on him for support. He kept his arm around her as she walked back to the blanket.
    Lillian managed to lower herself to the blanket, only to have Charlotte and her friends begin to fuss. They insisted she sit in the shade. They brought her a cold drink. They covered her shoulderswith a towel. Lillian wished they would just leave her be, so she could get her bearings and pretend the whole thing had never happened.
    She felt so embarrassed. So foolish. Oliver sat on the blanket in the sun, sipping a bottle of cola. He hadn’t put his shirt back on, and she saw now his physique was impressive, with heavy muscles in his shoulders and arms. Across one side of his back near his rib cage, jagged white scars crisscrossed his skin.
    After a few minutes, Bess, Penny, and Charlotte decided that the excitement had made them hungry. They were going to the snack bar for lunch.
    “I’ll just stay here,” Lillian said. “I’m not very hungry.”
    “Care to join us, Oliver?” Bess glanced at him over the top of