Read Online Winds of Time by Sarah Woodbury - Free Book Online Page B

without my
lungs full of water. “Aaron!” I spun around, searching for him,
trying not to panic. Ideally, I hoped all survived the capsizing,
but in the last hours, Aaron and I had become friends. I wanted him
to be okay.
    “ I’m here.” He appeared
beside me, struggling out of his heavy robes. We had loosened the
ties on our cloaks in the dingy, knowing that if we ended up in the
water, they would drag us down. As I ripped off my cloak and shoved
it away from me, an abandoned oar floated past. I grabbed it. The
rain pounded so hard I could barely see Aaron through the water
streaming down my face, much less anyone else, or our lost
boat.
    “ We’re not as far from shore
as Morgan implied,” Aaron said.
    “ How do you know? I can’t
see anything.” But just then a wave lifted me up and I saw the
shore. It wasn’t close enough to touch, but it gave me
hope.
    “ Can you swim?” Aaron
said.
    “ Not well,” I said,
scissor-kicking my legs even as I spoke. It was true. But I could swim, and at this
point, I had no other choice. With one hand each on the oar, and
the other helping paddle, we stroked and kicked, each wave lifting
us and surging us closer to shore. The tide was bringing us
in.
    “ Wake up, Margaret!” Aaron’s
voice roused me. I hadn’t realized I was floating and no longer
swimming.
    “ Okay,” I said, though he
probably didn’t know what that meant. I began to kick
again.

     
    * * * * *
     
    When I woke up, the sun was
shining brightly in my face. I lay still a moment, feeling the heat
on my closed lids, and then opened them. As is often the case after
a storm in Wales, the sky above me was a bright blue, with a few
scattered clouds, and gave no sign of the horrors of a few hours
before. Experimentally, I moved a leg and then my arms.
Bruises? Check .
Aching muscles? Check . Seemingly nothing was broken, however. I eased into a
sitting position. It hurt to move so much I choked out a
laugh. I will never, ever set foot on a
boat again.
    Around me, the beach was littered with
refuse thrown up by the surf, mostly driftwood and seaweed, but
here and there was a wine cask or the remains of a boat. But no
Aaron.
    With legs aching, I got to my feet. My
clothes had dried in the sun but I could feel the salt and sand in
my hair and a pass through it with my fingers told me it stuck up
on end. I smoothed it the best I could. Llywelyn could be only a
short walk away, if only I knew where I was.
    And then I laughed at myself for my
foolishness in thinking that Llywelyn would be anywhere near here,
and that even if he were, he would want anything to do with me. I
had left him and taken his child with me, even if unintentionally.
That might not be something he could forgive.
    I started walking down the beach, angling
away from the water and towards the dunes in the distance. The
morning sun shone bright in my eyes and I put up a hand to shade
them. Some people had clustered on the edge of the beach and I
peered towards them, hoping one was Aaron.
    As I got closer, a man broke
away and my heart leapt. It was Aaron. He was alive!
    “ Meg!” he said.
    Aaron hiked up his robe and took off at a
run towards me. I waved and veered towards him to meet him half-way
between the dunes and the sea. Always wary of touching a gentile,
Aaron ducked the hug I was about to throw at him and took my
forearms decorously.
    Then Aaron turned me towards two of his
companions, who had followed him. The closer they came, the more my
eyes watered. By the time they had taken ten steps, tears poured
down my cheeks and blurred my vision.
    “ Oh, my God, it’s
Mom.”
    David stood before me,
saying those words. David!
    The sound of his voice
released Anna and she raced across the beach towards me, her boots
slipping in the sand. Sobbing, she threw herself into my arms and
knocked me backwards. I held her, my cheek against her hair,
rocking her as if she were a baby. She was my baby.
    “ Oh, my darling daughter.” I
repeated the