“No.” She shook her head again and her chin quivered as she said, “Its mommy is lost, too.”
Because Lexie had only known the security of one parent, and she had no other family besides Mae, Georgeanne had to carefully screen Lexie’s movies and videos to make sure that every child and animal had a mother or a father. On her last birthday Georgeanne had let Lexie convince her that she was old enough to watch the movie Babe. Major mistake. Lexie had cried for a week afterward. “Its mommy isn’t lost. When the tide comes back in, it can go home.”
“No, mommies don’t leave their babies unless they’re lost. The little fish can’t ever go home now.” She rested her forehead on her knee. “It’s gonna die without its mommy.” She squeezed her eyes shut and a tear ran down her nose.
Georgeanne gazed across Lexie’s bent head toward John. He stared back with a desperate look in his deep blue eyes. He clearly expected her to do something. “I’m sure its daddy is out there swimming around looking for it.”
Lexie wasn’t buying. “Daddies don’t take care of babies.”
“Sure they do,” John said. “If I were a daddy fish, I’d be out there looking for my baby.”
Turning her head, Lexie looked at John for a few moments, weighing his words in her mind. “Would you look until you found it?”
“Absolutely.” He glanced at Georgeanne, then back at Lexie. “If I knew I had a baby, I’d look forever.”
Lexie sniffed and stared back into the clear water. “What if it dies before the tide comes back?”
“Hmm.” John reached for Lexie’s bucket, dumped out her shells, and scooped the tiny fish inside.
“What are you doing?” Lexie asked as the three of them stood.
“Taking your little fish to its daddy,” he said, and turned toward the tide. “Stay here with your mother.”
Georgeanne and Lexie stood on a flat rock and watched John wade out into the surf. Gentle waves swept up his thighs, and she heard his gasp as the cold water soaked the bottom of his shorts. He looked about him, and after a few moments, he carefully lowered the pail into the ocean.
“Do you think it found the daddy fish?” Lexie asked anxiously.
Georgeanne stared at the big man with the little pink pail and said, “Oh, I’m certain he did.”
He walked back toward them. A smile on his face. John “The Wall” Kowalsky, big bad hockey player, hero of small girls and guardian of tiny fish, had just sneaked past Bad Hair Day on her likable scale.
“Did you find him?” Lexie jumped off the rock and waded in up to her knees.
“Yep, and boy, was he happy to see his baby.”
“How did you know it was the daddy?”
John gave Lexie her pail, then took her little hand in his. “Because they look alike.”
“Oh, yeah.” She nodded. “What did he do when he saw his baby?”
He stopped in front of the rock where Georgeanne stood and looked up at her. “Well, he jumped up in the air, and then he swam around and around his little fish just to make sure it was all right.”
“I saw him do that.”
John laughed and little lines appeared at the corners of his eyes. “Really? From clear over here?”
“Yep. I’m gettin‘ my towel ’cause I’m freezin‘,” she announced, then took off up the beach.
Georgeanne looked into his face and matched his smile with her own. “How does it feel to be a hero?” she asked.
John grabbed Georgeanne’s waist and easily lifted her from the rock. Her hands grasped his shoulders as he lowered her feet into the frigid surf. Waves swirled about her calves and the breeze tousled her hair. “Am I your hero?” he asked, his voice gone all low and silky. Dangerous.
“No.” She dropped her hands from his hard shoulders and took a step backward. He was a big, powerful man, and yet he was very gentle and caring with Lexie. He was slicker than an oil spill, and if she wasn’t careful, he could make her forget the painful past. “I don’t like you, remember?”
“Uh-huh.” His smile told her he didn’t believe her for a minute. “Do you remember the time we were together on the beach in Copalis?”
She turned toward shore and spotted Lexie bundled up on the beach. “What about it?”