Chapter 42 Shipwrecked

"LUCAS!" Elizabeth said frantically. "What is happening?"

The ship was swaying back and forth, bouncing up and down with the rough waves of the ocean and powerful winds. The ship had sailed into a tropical storm. Lucas was looking all over for his lighter that he always kept in his pocket, he had set it down on the table and the bouncing of the ship had made it fall off. Meanwhile he could hear Jack screaming and Julie in the other room trying to find her way to the door. Elizabeth was also crying at this point. He felt his way around the dark room until he found the door knob, opening the door for Julie, who was holding Jack. Julie take Jack and join Elizabeth on the bed. I have to find my lighter to light these candles.

"Elizabeth we have hit a major storm system. Please try to stay calm sweetheart, everything will be fine." Lucas said reassuringly, only not quite believing it himself.

"Lucas I feel like I am going to be sick." Elizabeth said.

They could feel the ship drifting westward. Lucas found his lighter and lit the candles. He got the emergency life preservers out of the closets. "Put these on now." Lucas said adamantly.

"Is the ship going to sink?" Elizabeth asked panicking.

"Elizabeth! Please, I need you to try to stay calm."

"Stay calm?" She said with a frightened look on her face. "It feels like the ship is going to turn over how am I supposed to stay calm?" Elizabeth asked sarcastically.

"Lucas it feels like the ship is sinking." Julie screamed.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Jack was whaling at the top of his lungs and the tears were pouring out like waterfalls.

"Please we are not going to turn over or sink." Lucas reassured them.

Lucas had no idea what to say to his family at this point. He was about to lose his sanity. He was just trying to be the confident man that he is and maintain his composure for the sake of his family. He crawled up on the bed and wrapped his arms around them pulling them all close. As soon as he did there was a huge grinding on the base of the ship and it came to an abrupt stop throwing them off the bed and into the floor. It was obvious they had hit land. Lucas's head bounced off the wall of the ship causing him to let out a groan while holding his head.

"Is everyone okay?" Lucas asked trying to help them all up off the floor and back onto the bed. The sudden stop had put out the candles. The room was completely dark again. They were all still crying from the dramatic experience.

"Elizabeth, Are you okay?" He asked.

"Lucas, we are shipwrecked somewhere in the South Pacific. No I am not okay." She said as she got sick all over the floor.

"Daddy, I scared." Jack said sniffling.

"Jack we are going to be fine. Julie, Are you okay?" He asked.

"I am, now that the boat has stopped moving." Julie responded.

Using his lighter he looked around for the candles. Once he found them he relit them.

Elizabeth now had her knees pulled into her chest. Lucas surveyed the room to see how bad it was. He had Julie hold the candles while he turned the table back over and the chairs. "You guys go sit at the table." He rubbed Elizabeth's head taking her by the arm. "Let me help you darling, I will clean this up."

"Lucas I am so sorry!" Elizabeth said her eyes full of tears.

"For what?" He asked confused.

"For this mess I made." She said embarrassed.

"Love, you don't need to be sorry. I can't imagine what you are going through physically and emotionally right now. Just sit with Jack and Julie and I will clean this place up, who knows how long we are going to be stranded here. I will figure that out at daylight when I can see." He told her wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight.

Using the candlelight Lucas straightened up the room putting it back in order. Then he got some towels to clean up the vomit. Truth being, Lucas had a weak stomach for vomit and the smell liked to make him sick as well. He bit it back and cleaned it up like the loving husband that he is. "Oh boy what am I in for." He thought to himself while being excused to the restroom, where he proceeded to get sick as well, not wanting to give them any idea why he was in there. He did not want Elizabeth to feel the least bit uncomfortable or embarrassed about the situation. Secretly he was hoping it was just motion sickness from the boat and this was not going to be her entire pregnancy. The thought of cleaning up vomit all the time did not sit well on his stomach.

He made the bed back up for them. "The three of you lay down in here. I will take Julie's room. In the morning we will figure this out."

"Lucas don't leave us." Elizabeth insisted.

"Alright sweetheart, I'll be right here." He said as he kissed her gently on the top of the head.

He was exhausted from all the drama. All he wanted to do was lie down. He drug a mattress off of Julie's bed into their room and lay it on the floor. Then he lay down and let out a deep sigh of relief. It was short lived, Elizabeth was sick the entire night and had only made it to the bathroom a few times. Lucas kept telling himself he was living a bad dream and he would soon wake up in his bed at home. Then he would open his eyes and realize it was reality.

Morning came and being on the middle deck, there was not much light shining into the room, for the room only had small circular windows. It was more than what they had by candlelight though. He got up and dressed trying not to wake the others and then he was going to scope out the damage and see if he could tell where they were. He approached the upper deck, it was flooded with people. It was nice to see some daylight. The sun was shining again and the rain had ceased. He looked out over the edge of the ship he saw vegetation, sand, and water. Clearly they were on an island, but it did not look like it was inhabited. This entire situation was sending shivers up his spine. He had spotted the Captain of the ship walking around checking on everyone and decided he needed more information.

"Captain?" He asked shaking his hand.

"Yes, that is correct." He said returning Lucas's handshake.

"Do we happen to know the plan to get home?" Lucas asked anxiously.

"We have sent an SOS. They are sending a rescue ship, from the Hawaiian port which is about two days away from where we have ended up." The captain informed him.

"Is this island safe?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I would say we are safe if you would like to explore and get off the ship for a bit."

"Do you happen to know if there is a doctor on board? My wife is pregnant with triplets and she was sick all evening. I would like someone to check her out to make sure she is okay." He asked.

"Yes that man over there in the red shirt is a doctor." The Captain shook his hand and Lucas was on his way.