shoulders.
She looked up at him, her bright smile gone. "I'm so sorry I ruined my new dress."
"Don't you be sorry, Lu. You just saved two little girls from drowning. You're a hero. We can replace the dress. Those little one's can't be replaced. You did the right thing."
Her sad smile said it all.
He turned, his arm around her waist and began walking them up to the parking lot. Two ambulances pulled into the lot and stopped at the edge of the marsh. Rescue workers jumped from the truck and asked people to step aside so they could help the victims. Once they reached the top of the marsh, alongside the parking lot, they both paused to watch and make sure the little girls were going to be okay.
A squad car pulled in behind the ambulances and an officer approached them.
"I'm going to need to ask you a few questions."
LuAnn nodded. "Okay."
She slowly recounted what had happened. Her shivering continued and the officer stopped taking her statement and opened his trunk. Coming back to them with a solar blanket, he opened it up and handed it to him. Chase happily wrapped it around LuAnn and pulled her close. As much for support as warmth.
The officer closed his notepad. "I'll need you to stay here for a moment while I talk to the family."
LuAnn nodded but turned her sad eyes to his. "Chase, I didn't try to hurt them. I don't want to go to jail. I didn't do anything wrong." Her lip quivered and tears sprung to her eyes.
"Hey, I know you didn't do anything to hurt them and you aren't going to go to jail."
"But...Dog...." She stopped talking as the sobs clogged her throat.
"LuAnn?"
JT's wife, Kayden's voice, had them both turning their heads.
"Dakota told me what happened. Thank you so much for saving my daughter." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked over at JT holding Dakota. "We have a sitter, but apparently she met a boy." Kayden wiped her eyes and JT walked over holding Dakota who was also wrapped in a solar blanket. His jaw was clenched but that could be the whole situation, LuAnn, or just the fear of what had happened. He wrapped his free arm around Kayden and pulled her close.
JT looked up at Dakota and nodded. Dakota turned her head, her hair looked much the same as LuAnn's except for the lighter color. Her sweet face was smudged with muck and dirt though you could see someone tried washing it.
"Thank you." Dakota sweetly said to LuAnn.
LuAnn burst out crying and hugged Dakota, which cause JT's jaw to tighten further.
"I'm so happy you're okay," LuAnn said between breaths. Kayden hugged LuAnn from the side and they had a brief but tender moment.
Kayden cleared her throat and stepped back. "I just want to thank you for saving them. I don't know what I would have done if..."
Unable to finish the sentence JT finally took a deep breath. "Thanks, LuAnn. We do appreciate what you've done for us. For our family."
They turned and walked away, and LuAnn stared after them in what appeared to be disbelief. She looked up at him again, her face now clean where the tears had streamed down and wiped the dirt away.
"LuAnn?" Dog's voice was gruff.
LuAnn turned to face him, her body shook, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her to show her support. He was still damn pissed at Dog for accusing her of drowning, so he'd better not say another word at this moment.
"I apologize about accusing you of drowning the girls. I'll work on not always expecting the worst from you. That's on me. And, thank you for saving my little Maddie. It would have killed us to lose her. She means the...world." His voice cracked with emotion but before waiting for a response, he turned and walked to Joci and Maddie, who was still being attended to by an EMT.
The police officer walked back over and nodded. "I don't have any other questions for you, Ms. Mason. You'll likely want to get home and clean up. Thank you for being here to help these girls out. You've done a hero’s work today and we thank you."
He walked toward his squad and LuAnn stared after him. Then she jerked from his arms and called to the officer. "I have your blanket."
"No, ma'am, you keep that."
He nodded and got into his squad car and pulled from the lot as they watched.
"Come on, sweetheart, let's get you home and