Call It Destiny

seconds of heightened strain, Heather felt the second belt loop give way. The fabric of the fancy designer jeans simply wasn’t going to survive the strain being placed upon it.
    The force of the water was increasing by the minute. Every step Heather took seemed to be much harder than the last. By the time she thought they might be three-quarters of the way across, the last belt loop gave way.
    „Here, hold onto the end of the belt with your free hand. It’s not much but it’s something. Loop it around your wrist,“ Jake shouted over the thundering water.
    Heather obeyed. Hanging on to the end of the belt with one hand and clasping Jake’s fingers with the other, she salvaged what energy was left for breathing. Every time she was knocked down in the water the task of gasping for air got much harder.
    The sound of the raging waters seemed to escalate. The tightly confined waters in the upper canyon were surging powerfully as the rains increased. Heather clenched her teeth and fought for the next step. She knew that neither she nor Jake could battle much farther in this fashion.
    And then she sensed a slight rise in the streambed. Another few feet and they would be on the far side. But the roar of approaching water was deafening as tons of it came cascading down the canyon.
    She felt Jake come to a halt. Her own body was sent crashing into his as he braced himself in what was still waist-high water. His hands were suddenly under her arms, lifting her up toward the boulders that promised safety.
    Desperately Heather grasped, pulling herself up along the wet slippery surface. Her scrabbling shoes found purchase for a moment and then she was almost free of the pull of the water.
    The leather belt that she had been hanging on to for dear life started to slip through her fingers.
    „Jake,“ she cried, realizing what was happening. She grabbed for the end of the belt with both hands and, lying flat on the surface of the rock, held tight.
    „Let go, Heather. You’ll only get pulled back into the water,“ he yelled.
    She knew what was going to happen. She had made it up out of the waters and onto the relative safety of the rocks because she’d had someone to lift her up and out. There was no one behind Jake to provide that impetus. If she couldn’t pull him out, he would never make it. The force of the water was simply too powerful.
    „I’m going to pull you out, Jake!“ she shouted.
    „You can’t. You’re not strong enough. Let go of the belt, damn it!“ It was an order, delivered with all the force of a man who meant to be obeyed.
    Heather ignored it, wriggling backward along the rock until she was over a small ridge in the boulder. Angling the leather strap over the ridge, she looped it around her wrist and tugged with every ounce of her being.
    „Heather! Let go!“
    She didn’t bother to answer. It was a totally ridiculous suggestion; anyhow, there was literally no way she could release the belt unless it tore off her hand. Releasing it would be to give Jake over to the hurtling waters. Impossible.
    Arms stretched overhead, feeling as though they were about to be torn from their sockets, Heather used the ridge of the rock as a fulcrum for the leather. It provided a hard edge that would not give way. As long as she could hold on to the end of the belt and as long as the loops of Jake’s jeans did not give way she could hold on to the man she loved.
    With an intense grimness she began inching down the far side of the rock. The trip was made in increments of centimeters but it was slowly, painfully being accomplished. Apparently Jake had stopped trying to fight her and was assisting in his own rescue effort.
    Time became meaningless. All that mattered to Heather was gaining one more fraction of an inch. The leather strap bit into her wrist, the pain intense, but she ignored it. The weight of her body along with the pivot edge provided by the rock combined to give her the vital margin she needed.
    The rock curved sharply beneath her and Heather tried to throw herself down the far side, utilizing the full weight of her body to drag the leather a full three inches.
    Abruptly the bite of the leather around her wrist slackened. Heather jerked her head up, aware that something had given way. Either Jake had found a way to free himself and was being carried helplessly downstream or….
    „Lady, one of these days I’m going to teach you how to obey simple straightforward orders, if it’s the last thing I do