A Distant Shore by Karen Kingsbury (books for students to read .txt) 📕

Jack Ryder had rescued her that day?

Finally when the resort was so far behind her she couldn’t see it, and when darkness spread across the shoreline ahead of her, Eliza stopped. She gasped for breath the way she had as a child that day. No! No, God, please. Not Jack. Not his brother.

She couldn’t take it, couldn’t stand the thought that he was telling the truth. He had lost his brother because of her, and if he’d only turned back… if he’d gone after Shane instead of her… they would all be so much better off today.

Her tears came and she dropped to her knees. She fell forward and wept like she’d never done in all her life. It was her fault Jack had lost his brother. How could she face him now? And if it was true… why hadn’t he told her?

Eliza could feel his presence even before he touched her. He didn’t say a word, just knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her. He waited until her crying eased, until her quiet sobs were all that remained. Then he whispered the words that would stay with her the rest of her life.

“I was supposed to save you that day, Eliza.” He pressed her head gently against his chest. “We’ll never… never understand God’s plans. But…” He took hold of her shoulders. “You’re here, Eliza. And I’m here.”

She hung her head and fresh tears streamed down her face. “Your brother…”

“He’s fine.” Jack’s eyes welled up. He could hear Beck’s voice again. “My brother is completely whole… my parents are with him.”

“No.” She leaned into him and slid her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry… it was my fault. I swam out too far and… I didn’t want to come back to the beach.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want you to rescue me.”

He held her so close, like they were one person, not two. Until finally he helped her to her feet and pulled her into his arms. Minutes passed and the ocean air dried her cheeks. Still she stayed in his embrace. “How can I look at you, Jack?” She stared at the sea. “How? When I’ve cost you so much?”

His answer didn’t come right away. He stroked her hair and her back and finally he stepped away enough so he could see her. “What if… I was supposed to save you? For this?”

In that same moment, the two men appeared again on the beach, walking toward them, looking at them. Without hesitating Jack’s hands were on her face, in her hair, and in a single breathless instant he was kissing her.

And she was kissing him.

His kiss was warm and safe and everything she’d never dreamed. She had never wanted to know a man’s love, she hadn’t believed in such a thing. And yet here, with his lips on hers, and her heart in his hands, Eliza knew.

Jack loved her. He did.

And no matter how terrible their past, no matter how great the losses they’d both suffered, she didn’t want to go a day without him. Not as long as she lived. Her tears came again and as the men walked past them, she searched his eyes. “It was really you? You saved me?”

“I did.” His eyes were clear now. “You were so little. I thought… I thought you needed me.”

Of course. How could he have known that she didn’t want to wake up in the Palace the next day or that the awful woman on the shore wasn’t her mother? She sniffed and closed her eyes for a long moment; when she opened them she noticed something. There was no regret or condemnation in Jack’s eyes.

He had chosen to save her. And now… now it was up to her to accept the fact. To be thankful for it and believe that maybe Jack was right. Maybe he was supposed to save her. So that at the end of her nightmare he might rescue her again.

“Don’t run from me, Eliza.” He looked deep into her soul. “You’re all I have on earth.”

His words touched her and healed her from the very great grief of knowing the truth. “And you… I have no one but you, Jack.”

And then, without either of them saying another word, they walked back to their hotel suite.

He kissed her forehead. Because neither of them could kiss here, the way they’d kissed down at the beach. Not with the fire between them. Jack touched her cheek. “Call me. If you need me.”

They said good night and went to their separate rooms. Work would come tomorrow, and they would do the surveillance. But for now they had this day.

A day of honesty and heartbreak and new beginnings.

ELIZA SAT ON her balcony alone until after midnight, staring at the water, replaying the scene in her mind again and again. Her little legs being dragged under and Betsy screaming at her from the shore.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want…

And there were Jack and his family on vacation. Playing football on the beach. Eliza had seen them, like any wonderful family. Like the family she had lost. Laughing and running on the sand, all of time ahead of them. Jack and Shane, two best friends.

She could see it all, like it was happening for the first time. Jack spotting her, seeing that she was drowning and running across the beach toward her. And his brother chasing after him. Because not another soul on the beach had done anything about it. Not cruel Betsy or some other tourist. Not the armed guards on the hillside.

Only Jack and Shane.

Again and again she played the scene over until she had no more tears, until the image of that teenage Jack became the man. The one who had baptized her and run after her and held her in his strong, safe arms. The one she loved.

And finally, fully, her sadness lifted and she