Survival Instinct Read online

  Her family arrived a few hours later, her mother and father and younger sister, all of them appalled to hear what had happened, and confused when Abby tried to explain the details. She wondered if she was having trouble keeping the story straight, or if there were too many details she hadn’t sorted through yet.

  Tracie visited that evening. “You gave us all quite a scare,” she said by way of greeting as she handed over the purse Abby had left on the Coast Guard boat.

  Abby smiled broadly at the sight of Tracie’s familiar face, and was glad she’d finally shooed her family off to get her some food. At least she and Tracie could talk alone.

  “You must have reached help in time.” Abby raised her hospital bed so she could sit up straight.

  “Yes. I ran to the keeper’s quarters and we brought out the copters. When we got around to the north side of the island, we spotted a yacht heading north toward Canada. One helicopter went after them, and the helicopter I was in pulled you out of the water.” Tracie sat in the visitor’s chair beside Abby’s hospital bed.

  “The yacht,” Abby said, remembering. “Did you catch it?”

  “Of course. We caught a bunch of bad guys and an amazing haul of diamonds. The initial inspection says they’re real, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion they’re the same kind as these clever fakes the FBI recently sent us a report on. They’re almost impossible to spot, but at the same time, they’re exactly the same.”

  “What about Captain Sal? Did he get away?”

  “That’s the best news of all. We picked him up paddling an inflatable life raft back toward the island. We’ve questioned him extensively. His story agrees with what Tim told you. Trevor had been working for these guys for years.”

  “I was afraid of that.” Abby pinched her eyes shut. “So why did they kill him?”

  “Apparently somebody was upset with Trevor for killing Mitch and taking his ring and phone. We’re assuming that somebody was Captain Sal himself, but of course he hasn’t admitted to that part.”

  Abby figured that only made sense. Then she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat in her doorway.

  Tracie looked over and smiled. “Oh, that’s right. And there’s someone here to see you.”

  “Scott?” Abby gasped without thinking.

  “Sorry, no.” Tim Price stepped into the room. He wore a hospital robe, and though his eyes were rimmed with tired circles, he looked far more lucid than he’d been at The Brick.

  “Oh, Tim.” Abby apologized and smiled a genuinely warm smile. “I’m glad to see you here. Are you-”

  “He turned himself in and is cooperating with the investigation,” Tracie explained.

  “I’m also getting detoxified.” Tim gestured to his hospital-issued clothes. “Getting my act together.” He looked at Tracie solemnly. “They killed my brother. I don’t want to end up the same way. I have to get clean so I can bring his killers to justice.”

  “Oh, Tim.” Abby’s throat swelled. She’d felt awful for having turned her back on him all those years, especially once she’d seen what had become of him. “I’m so glad you’re doing better. I should have looked you up sooner.”

  Tim nodded. “I missed you.” His voice sounded hoarse. “I missed going to church with you.”

  Abby opened her mouth to offer him to come to church with her that Sunday, but then she stopped. After everything she’d experienced in Bayfield, she wasn’t sure how safe she felt there. She’d been thinking of relocating-soon.

  Fortunately, Tracie stepped in. “You’ll be in treatment in Superior for the next twenty-eight days, but if you like, I’ll come up and go to church with you.”

  “Would you? Thanks. I guess I could always go by myself, too.” He pushed back his tousled hair. “I need to apologize to you, Abby.”

  “To me? What for?”

  “I’m the reason you and Trevor got engaged all those years ago.”

  Abby’s eyebrows shot up at his statement.

  “You were the nicest person I knew,” Tim explained. “I hated it when I heard Trevor was planning to break up with you. So, one day I was helping him go through some of the jewelry that had come in, and I came across a ring that was just your size, and I told him to carry it with him, to propose to you. I told him you were the best thing that ever happened to him. He wasn’t real excited about the idea, but he put it in his pocket. He told me later you came up on him just as he was watching a shipment head out. He didn’t want you to see, so he proposed to distract you.” Tim looked sheepish. “I know neither of you were really happy together. I felt awful once I realized what I’d done.”

  “It’s okay, Tim.” Abby reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I should have stayed friends with you even after I broke up with your brother. Our friendship should never have depended on anything else.”

  “We can be friends now, though, can’t we?” Tim asked.

  “Of course,” Abby assured him. She thought for a moment. “Can I ask you something-about the diamond smugglers?”

  “Sure. What?”

  “You said they wanted a piece of land, that Mitch was supposed to help them get it, but that they’d figured out a way that they didn’t need him anymore. I guess I never really understood how that could be.”

  Tim shrugged and leaned on the rail of her hospital bed. “The way I understand it, Scott’s name was never on the property. It all went to his mother, and would have gone straight to him if she would have died first. But Mitch got Marilyn to put the land in their name jointly. Then Sal and his guys had Mitch write his own will, leaving all the land to them if anything happened to him. They’d been business partners from way back.”

  “And that would work? Even though Mitch was killed while Scott and Marilyn were still alive?”

  “They figured they had an airtight case, but Sal still wasn’t too happy about Trevor getting rid of Mitch so soon. I figure that’s why he-” Tim’s voice gave out and he looked down.

  Abby still had hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Tim.”

  “I am, too.” Tim nodded. “I’m sorry all this had to happen to you and Marilyn and Scott.”

  At the mention of Scott’s name, Abby felt a bittersweet pain in her heart. She tried to remind herself that Scott had never been a part of her life, so she had no business missing him now. She had no right to feel heartbroken at the thought of him. But knowing that didn’t change the way she felt. “It’s okay. God was watching over us.”

  “You’re right,” Tim agreed, hope bringing a warm glow to his face. “I think God put you on that boat with Marilyn and Scott so you could save their lives.”

  Abby blushed. “I-I don’t know that I really saved them.”

  “I believe you did,” Tracie noted. “And Scott saved your life, too, you know. He pulled you out of the water and insisted we fly you straight here. He’d probably be here right now if he didn’t feel his proper place is with his mother.”

  Abby shook her head. “Scott and I aren’t really a couple,” she rushed to explain. “We hardly knew each other before this weekend. We probably won’t see each other anymore after this.”

  But Tracie just grinned that much more broadly. “That’s not what he told me.”

  Abby was alone again the next morning as she packed her things in preparation for her dismissal from the hospital. She didn’t have much, just some flowers and candy her folks had brought, along with a change of clothes. Her parents and sister would be returning from their hotel within the hour to drive her home. With a sigh, she pulled her cell phone from her purse and looked at the screen.

  She had plenty of signal and power remaining. It seemed strange that so much could happen within the time frame of a single cell phone charge. She absently scrolled down through her saved numbers, stopping when she came to Scott’s.

  Should she call him? She wanted to. She missed him already, and wished they could talk, if only to sort out the events of the weekend and find some closure from it all.


  Abby flipped her phone shut and placed it back in her purse. She’d call Scott, but not right now. Later, when she had more time to talk.

  A rap at the door caught her attention, and she looked up, expecting to see one of the nurses, or possibly her folks. Instead, Scott’s strong frame filled the doorway, an uncertain smile on his lips.

  “Scott.” Her voice sounded breathless to her own ears, and she wanted to run to him, to throw herself into his arms, but instead she held back. After all, she hadn’t heard from him in over a day. He apparently hadn’t been too eager to see her.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.” He stepped into the room. “I had to talk to the authorities, and take care of our cars, and explain to my mother about Mitch.”

  “Uh-huh.” Abby nodded dumbly. She’d almost forgotten about crashing her car, with everything else that had been happening.

  Scott continued. “And you wouldn’t believe how many jewelry stores I had to visit to find what I was looking for.”

  Abby watched him cross the room toward her. She couldn’t fathom what jewelry stores had to do with anything. After all the trouble the diamonds had caused, she didn’t care to ever see another one. “How many?” she asked, watching with curiosity as a smile toyed across his lips.

  “Seven,” he announced, pulling a small box from his pocket. “Practically every jewelry store in the Duluth-Superior metro area, I believe.”

  Though she still wasn’t sure what he was getting at, Abby couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from turning up in response to his smile. “What were you looking for?” she prompted him.

  “A sapphire ring,” he explained. “But not just any sapphire. It had to have tiny flecks of gold dancing in the field of blue. And the blue had to be just the right color.” Scott opened the jewelry box and held it up to her. His smile broadened. “Good. I got it right.”

  Abby’s mouth fell open. “Just the right color?” she repeated dumbly.

  “To match your eyes,” Scott explained. “That is what you said you wanted, isn’t it?”

  Nodding eagerly, Abby sniffed back the sudden tears that threatened to overwhelm her. “But I thought-” she started.

  “Thought what?” he asked. “Thought I wanted to spend the rest of my life alone? Maybe I used to think that, but not anymore. When I saw you floating facedown in the water, I felt fear like I’ve never felt before. Do you recall what I said yesterday, about how I was reluctant to care too much for someone, because the people I cared about almost always died?”

  “Yes.” Abby remembered him telling her about his father’s and grandparents’ deaths.

  “I’ve pushed away everyone but God, trying to insulate myself from caring too much for other people, trying to keep that kind of hurt from ever reaching me again. I even pushed away my mother-I’m afraid that may have contributed to her turning to Mitch for emotional support.” He shook his head regretfully. “I tried to push you away, too, but that didn’t change anything, because I still felt as though I’d had my heart ripped from my chest when I saw you floating there.”

  Abby squeezed her eyes shut, somehow knowing how he felt, feeling the same pain at the thought of never seeing him again.

  “I need you in my life, Abby. Pushing you away only makes it hurt worse, not less.” Scott got down on one knee. “Abby, I know you said you hadn’t met the right man yet, but I believe I’ve met the woman for me. You’re the one. I let you slip through my fingers nine years ago. I won’t make the same mistake again. Please, Abby, would you reconsider?”

  Abby’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Scott.” She cupped his face with one hand. “I didn’t mean you weren’t the man for me. I was trying to say I hadn’t met the right man at the right time, but then we got interrupted. I never meant to make you think I didn’t love you.”

  A relieved smile broke over Scott’s face. “So you love me then? You’d consider marrying me?”

  His words seemed almost too good for Abby to believe. “But how would that work? You live in the Twin Cities, and I live in Bayfield.”

  “You know, after all she’s been through, I think I need to move closer to my mother.”

  Abby looked at him quizzically.

  “But not too close,” Scott noted. “I was thinking of maybe moving to Bayfield.”

  “Ooh, that’s awfully remote,” Abby chided him. “And I don’t really feel safe there after everything that happened. I was thinking of moving farther south myself.”

  “Really?” Scott smiled. “Perhaps we could settle on someplace close together.”

  “Perhaps.” Abby looked back down at the ring in his hands. The color of the stone was remarkably similar to her eye color. Scott had clearly been paying very close attention.

  “Well, then, I guess there’s only one question left.” Scott pulled the ring from the box. “Abby Caldwell, will you marry me?”

  “I’d love to.”

  Scott stood and slid the ring onto her finger. Then he wrapped his arms around her and finally gave her the kiss she’d been longing for.

  Dear Reader,

  I’ve always loved survival stories. So when I moved to the remote village of Bayfield, Wisconsin, my imagination was quickly captured by the Apostle Islands, whose isolated wilderness seemed almost uninhabitable. After researching the islands, I started to write a story about a girl who was marooned on Devil’s Island and left to die. Long before I finished my story, life intervened, and my half-finished manuscript was pushed aside. But I never stopped wondering how the story would end.

  It has been a blessing to finally find the happy ending I always wanted the story to have. Scott and Abby have found their happy ending, but Devil’s Island holds many secrets, and more stories to come. Visit my Web site at www.rachellemccalla.com for more information about upcoming books!

  May all God’s blessings go with you!

  Rachelle McCalla

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  1. Abby buried the ring on Devil’s Island as a way of moving beyond a painful era in her life. What painful experiences have you had to move past? What helped you heal?

  2. Abby and Scott both liked each other during college, but neither knew the other felt the same. How might their relationship have been different if they’d gotten together sooner? How might they be better off for the delay? Have you ever missed out on a blessing by not sharing how you truly felt?

  3. Marilyn allowed Mitch to influence her in making decisions that would ultimately hurt her. Is there anyone in your life who has such a strong influence over you? Has this influence been helpful or hurtful? How can you protect yourself from harm?

  4. When Scott and Abby were marooned on Devil’s Island, their initial response was denial, then helplessness. However, with God’s help, they quickly strategized their escape. Have you ever felt stuck or left behind? How did you move past that?

  5. Abby and Scott quickly realized they had to trust one another in order to escape Devil’s Island. When have you had to make a “leap of trust” in order to achieve a common goal? How did it turn out for you? Have you ever felt as though you were making that same leap in trusting God? How did that turn out?

  6. Scott worked hard to protect his mother, Marilyn, from difficult situations, but he eventually learned she was stronger than he thought. Is there anyone in your life you’ve sheltered? Who has sheltered you? Has this been helpful or problematic?

  7. Abby observed that Trevor seemed driven to torture her. Have you ever known anyone who has acted this way? How did you respond to their behavior? Why do you think they acted that way?

  8. When Scott discovered Captain Sal and Mitch had been plotting for a long time to take the Frasier family land, Scott felt foolish for not recognizing what was happening. Abby told Scott he’d had no reason to suspect what was going on. Do you ever feel guilty about things you couldn’t realistically have prevented? How do you cope with your feelings of guilt? What have you learned from that experience?

&nb
sp; 9. Mitch may have been a villain at first, but he soon became a victim of the devious plot he was involved in. When people welcome evil deeds into their lives, the evil often backfires and can ultimately consume them. Have you experienced anything like this in your life? In the lives of people you know? How did you respond?

  10. In Abby’s desire to help Scott find his mother, Abby was willing to visit a frightening place (The Brick) and to revisit a person from her past (Tim). Have you ever gone somewhere frightening or faced a person from your past in order to help a friend? How did it turn out?

  11. Do you think it was foolish of Abby to go to The Brick alone? How could she have protected herself from danger?

  12. As Scott’s love for Abby grew, he tried to keep her from helping in order to shield her from harm, even though he was willing to take risks himself. How did Abby feel about Scott’s decision? What arrangement did they reach? How do you protect those you love?

  13. Scott had experienced many losses and was frightened about getting close to Abby for fear he would be hurt again. How did he overcome his fear? How have you dealt with loss in your life? What strategies have helped you love again?

  14. The pirate’s cave was well hidden under Devil’s Island, and the authorities had never realized it was there. Sometimes people in our lives hide things that turn out to be huge once discovered, and we wonder how we missed seeing their secret. What secrets have people hidden from you? What secrets are you hiding? Is it time to uncover your secret? See Psalm 32:3-5 for more insights on this topic.

  15. Though Scott and Abby both felt attracted to each other years before, they were reunited only a short time before becoming engaged. Do you think they should have taken their relationship more slowly? What aspects of their relationship do you think will help make their marriage successful? What might work against them? Do you believe they will live happily ever after?

  RACHELLE MCCALLA

  ate seventeen pounds of chocolate while writing this book. She also did 143 loads of laundry during that same time, and thinks folding towels is one of the best cures for writer’s block (the other best cures are exercise and insomnia).