Silent Fall

tortured seconds she watched the waves. Where were they? Dammit, she was not going to stand by and let Dylan die. Without any more thought she kicked off her shoes, threw off her sweater, and jumped into the water.
    The icy cold stole her breath away, but she dove under the next wave, searching for Dylan.
    It was so dark, so deep. She couldn’t see anyone. She had lost him. Her heart shattered. She wanted to die herself. But she couldn’t give up. It couldn’t end like this.
    She dove down again, swimming under the pier. Then she saw him sinking into the water facedown, his body limp. He wasn’t fighting. He wasn’t moving. She grabbed him around the neck and pulled him to the surface. It seemed to take forever to get to shore. She didn’t think he was breathing, and the thought terrified her.
    "Don’t die," she prayed. "Please don’t die."
    Finally her feet touched sand. She dragged his heavy body out of the water up on the rocks, and rolled him on his back. His lips were turning blue, his face white. She cupped his chin and tilted his head back, trying to remember what she’d ever learned about mouth-to-mouth. She squeezed his nostrils shut and then leaned over and breathed into his mouth -- once, twice, short, quick breaths. Pausing, she pulled back and put her finger on the pulse point on his neck. It was slow and weak, but it was there. She pressed on his chest, trying to keep his heart going, then breathed into his mouth again, rotating her movements, not sure whether she was doing it right but trying to find some rhythm.
    "Breathe, dammit!" she yelled. "I’m not going to lose you, too."
    She put her mouth over his again, willing him to live, focusing on the connection between them, breathing her life into his body.
    He jerked, then coughed. She pushed him over onto his side, pounding him on the back as seawater poured out of his mouth. When he finally seemed able to breathe on his own, she crawled around to face him.
    He was alive!
    She stared into his dazed eyes, noting the gash on his head. He must have hit the edge of the pier when they were fighting and been knocked unconscious.
    She sat on her knees and brushed the hair away from his eyes, delighting in the fact that he was alive. He was going to make it.
    She loved this man. She loved him more than she’d ever loved anyone in her life.
    "Where... where is he?" Dylan asked, choking out the words. "Did I kill him? I had my hands on his throat. And then my head must have hit something hard..." Dylan struggled to sit up and look around.
    For the first time she remembered her father, the man who’d been intent on killing her. "I don’t know. He disappeared under the water. I went after you. I didn’t see him anywhere."
    Dylan stared at the water for a long moment. She followed his gaze, searching for odd bubbles, a swirl of water, a shadowy monster coming out of the sea. Was he really gone? Was her father dead? Was the man who had haunted her for more than twenty years finally vanquished? She wanted to believe it was over, but she still felt uneasy, uncertain.
    Dylan turned his head to look at her, his eyes still conveying his shock. "You saved my life. I would have died if you hadn’t come after me."
    "You saved my life. He was going to kill me. If you hadn’t thrown that rock at his head I’d be dead now."
    "I never wanted to hit a target so badly in my life."
    Dylan grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her over to him, kissing her again and again, his mouth impatiently seeking hers, his need to reaffirm that they were both alive echoing through both of them. His fingers dug into her skin as if he were afraid that she’d slip through his fingers, but she wasn’t going anywhere. She was going to hold on to him as long as he held on to her. Eventually they had to come up for air. Catherine’s heart broke with emotion as she saw the tenderness in Dylan’s eyes. He cupped her face with his hands and just looked at her.
    "He didn’t hurt you, did he?" Dylan asked, his gaze searching.
    "No, not in a physical way. I don’t really know what happened. He came up behind me at the cemetery. I didn’t hear him. He put a cloth over my face. It knocked me out, I guess. The next thing I knew I was in the trunk of his car." She licked her lips. "I was really scared, Dylan. Not like in my dreams. This was real, way too real."
    "I know. I’ve never experienced such terror