Free Every Storm by Lori Wick Page A

mind
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    scrambled to make light of the fact that she was not the same girl he remembered. At least, not yet.
    "Commander Tyler is just guessing that you might not usually be this thin."
    Lorri looked into her grandfather's eyes and smiled at the smile she saw there. She had been through an ordeal, an ordeal so fierce that she had stopped trusting even those who loved her.
    "I'm sorry," she began, but the doctor put his hand up and flashed a smile of his own.
    "The apology should come from me," he said. "I need to let you finish your meal. How can you think clearly on an empty stomach?"
    Lorri went back to eating, and Dean was pleased to see the tension pass. He had not meant to plot against her or go on the attack. He'd seen men come back from battle in great need of care. He was swiftly learning that it was entirely different when it was his own granddaughter. He would stay close but let the doctor finish in his own way, not worrying about the details. Anything Lorri couldn't remember from the last week would surely be covered by Lieutenant Riggs.
    82 Seven,
    "I've got a meeting this morning," Dean told Lorri early the next day. "Will you be all right?"
    "I'll be fine. I'll probably lie here for a while and then take a bath."
    "Good. When I get back, we'll eat breakfast and try to find some other clothes for you to wear."
    Lorri agreed, thinking that might be a very good idea. She kept to her bed even after he left, and although she thought about getting up-a bath sounded wonderful-it wasn't long before she fell back to sleep.
    "What day and time did you get to the island?" Dean asked Rigg as soon as he thanked him for rescuing Lorri.
    "Saturday the fourteenth."
    "Just five days ago?" he confirmed quietly, not seeming anywhere near as fierce as all the rumors.
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    "Yes, we got to the island at about eight bells. We needed repairs. We found Miss Archer when we heard her singing."
    A heartfelt smile came to the admiral's lips.
    "Let me guess, a mixture of hymns and the latest songs hitting the airwaves."
    "That about sums it up."
    "She has all the words memorized the first time she hears a song. Put something to music and Lorri has it." The admiral paused for just a moment. "Josie was her biggest fan."
    Rigg watched the other man, whose attention had strayed to a place in his mind. Both of Rigg's parents were alive, as were both of his brothers. He had no reference point to losing someone as close as a granddaughter. Clearly the man was hurting."
    "Did you leave the island that day?"
    "No, the next. I put a man in charge of her, and we got some food to her as soon as we could. She had found an excellent water supply and was sleeping in the plane, which was in a small clearing."
    "And did she talk to you about what happened?"
    "Not until Tuesday"
    "What did she tell you?"
    "That Clarence Fuller, the pilot, did all he could. She described the rain as being all around them. They couldn't see a thing. She said the trees rushed up to meet them, and all was black with the rain still coming hard. Her sister wouldn't answer her." Rigg made
    himself tell the painful details. "It took her days to dig the holes. She buried the pilot first because she couldn't put Josie in the dirt at that point. She took Josie's locket and put it on.
    "It sounds like she ate what food she could find, which wasn't much, and had plenty of water. She was a little confused and
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    mmdisoriented from time to time, but until she saw you from the
    ||office window, she hadn't fainted.
    "We stopped again near Cooley, and she had an encounter with another boat crew. It was upsetting to her, but she handled herself well."
    "Did you report the men?"
    "No, sir. Miss Archer would not elaborate on what happened."
    "So she might have been hurt?"
    "No, sir. My men saw a sailor touch her hair and try to detain her by grabbing her wrist. My men were on hand a moment later, and Miss Archer was able to walk away."
    "Do you know what was said to her?"
    "No,