Two medics rushed into the fenced pool area. Tom's arms had to be pried from around Jane's neck. Apparently painfully shy of strangers, he refused to respond when the medics tried to talk to him, and he cried when they told him they were going to take him to be checked out.
"Go with me," he begged Jane.
Startled by the request, she stroked his wet hair. "Your nanny and your little sister will go with you, Tom."
"He doesn't like me much," the young nanny said morosely. "I don't know why."
Jane has a few guesses, but she kept them to herself. "You'll be fine, Tom," she assured the frightened little boy. "These people are very nice and they'll take good care of you."
"I'll call your dad and have him meet us at the hospital," his nanny promised. "You know he'll drop everything and be there in no time."
That seemed to reassure him. "My daddy will be there?"
"As soon as I call him." She seemed to have no doubt about it.
"Tom," little Amy said from the nanny's hip, waving happily at her brother.
Tom allowed himself to be taken away, though he looked soulfully over his shoulder at Jane—as though he was leaving his only fried behind, she thought with an odd feeling.
She scraped her fingered through her short, wet, red hair, pushing it away from her face as she watched them leave. The lifeguard turned sheepishly to Jane. "I'm sure glad you were here, ma'am."
"Just keep your kind on your job from now on, okay?" Reaction has finally set in, leaving her weak kneed and a bit shaky.
"I will," he said fervently, and dashed back to his post. The teenagers had gathered again at the other side, the incident already forgotten since it didn't actually affect them. The three women who'd been sitting by the shallow end of the pool earlier were gathering their charges and their possessions, ready to leave as dinner time approached. Sandy, who had stayed back out of the way during the excitement, put her hand on Jane's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
Jane's smile felt lopsided. "I'm fine."
"That was amazing, Jane. You moved fast, my head is still spinning. If you hadn't been here..."
Jane didn't even want to think about that. "I just happened to notice him. I guess old lifeguard habits die hard."
"At least someone around here benefited from rescue training." Sandy looked darkly at the lifeguard, who sat now watching the almost-empty pool with intense vigilance. "With all the people at the pool today, word will get out. I'm sure he'll be reprimanded for what almost happened."
Jane remembered the stricken look in the young man's eyes. "I think he learned his lesson."
Sandy held out Jane's sunglasses. "These are yours, I believe."
She took them and slid them onto her nose. "Thanks."
Making a production of wiping her forehead, Sandy sighed gustily. "To think I came to the pool to relax for a few minutes. How could I have guessed it would be this exciting?"
Almost shuddering as she recalled the moment she'd spotted little Tom at the bottom of the pool—and knowing she would be haunted by the image for some time—Jane murmured, "Personally, I could have done without the excitement."
Sandy turned serious again. "What you did was incredible, Jane. Maybe someone else would have spotted him in time to save him, but there's no guarantee. And by getting to him quickly, you probably prevented him from having any lasting repercussions."
Jane was becoming embarrassed by Sandy's praise. "I'm just glad I was here to help," she said dismissively, matching her steps to her friend's as they walked together towards the exit.
"Not half as glad as Tyler Hamilton's going to be," Sandy commented.
Jane stumbled. Tyler Hamilton? She steadied herself quickly. "What does Tyler Hamilton have to do with anything?"
Sandy's eyebrows rose. "Didn't you know? Tom is Tyler's son."
"No," Jane murmured, turning her face to hide her expression. "I didn't know."
Tyler's son. The incident had just taken on a whole significance for her.
Had things turned out the way she had once fantasized, she would have been the mother of Tyler Hamilton's children.