darling,” Sarah said, and dropped to her knees beside Adam and threw her arms around him. “I’ve never seen anything braver in my life.”
She hugged him so fiercely the air whooshed out of his lungs, which started a coughing jag that felt as if daggers had been plunged into his chest.
“Careful, Mrs. O’Malley,” his captain said. “Your son’s just saved a baby, an elderly woman and a dog. Give him breathing room. There’s little enough oxygen at this altitude as it is.”
His mom drew back and cupped his cheek, making Adam feel like an eight-year-old instead. Why didn’t she do this to any of his other brothers? Being the youngest of five boys was a curse. Since he was about to turn thirty, you’d think she’d accept that he was an adult now.
His mother’s voice shook as she said, “I’ve never been prouder of any of my sons than I am today.” Then she burst into tears.
Adam didn’t know what to do. His mother rarely let her emotions show—except when she was really angry—but now she was in all-out blubbering mode.
Luckily, Martin was good at dealing with emotional women and led his mom away, shouting over his shoulder at his men, “Find out if there’s a veterinarian in the crowd to check out that dog.”
Adam rubbed his eyes, unsure if his vision was blurred by the smoke or by his reaction to his mom’s emotional display. Guaranteed, she’d be talking about this for a few years to come.
He’d been back in Spruce Lake less than a week and he’d had to fight his first big fire.
And then his mom had shown up. Great! Just great.
One of the reasons Adam had postponed returning to his hometown to fight fires was because of this very situation. He didn’t want any of his family seeing the risks he took. His brother Matt, the county sheriff, knew full well the dangers of firefighting, but Adam had always played down the risks when discussing his job with his family.
There was another reason he’d stayed away from Spruce Lake. The reason he’d spent half his life trying to run from his hometown. Someday soon, he needed to confront that.
Adam rubbed his eyes again and started to sit up. He needed to get out of there, but found himself pushed back down as the paramedic washed out his eyes again. “I’m fine,” he protested.
“I decide when you’re fine,” she said, placing the oxygen mask over his face again. “Breathe,” she commanded. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’ve got other firefighters to see. It’s not all about you, Adam—you dog-rescuer, you.” He could hear the gentle sarcasm in her voice.
“Don’t hurry back,” he muttered, and closed his eyes, breathing in the cool air, feeling it surge into his lungs, restoring the O2 levels to his bloodstream. He coughed again and sat up, then removed his mask and coughed up black goop that had gotten into his lungs. He spat it out.
Only it landed on a pair of white sneakers. He looked up into the pale blue eyes of the mother of all those children.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“No problem,” he gasped between more coughing. “Anything else you want me to spit on?”
“Do you always do that?” she asked.
“Do what?”
She crouched beside him. “Deflect a compliment. I was thanking you for saving my son. And Molly. What you did was extraordinarily brave. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
He gave her a tiny salute, muttered, “All in the line of work,” and lay back down. He didn’t want to talk to this woman. To anyone. He wanted a long shower and clean sheets. Cool, clean sheets.
CARLY SPENCER STOOD for a moment watching the firefighter who’d saved her son Charlie’s life, knowing he’d shut his eyes to get rid of her.
She’d wept as he carried Charlie out of the burning building. She’d been so sure he wouldn’t be found. Jessica, the babysitter she’d hired to care for her children after school, had been sick today and sent a friend to fill in for her.
Since today, the last day of school before the February break, had been declared a snow day, although the weather had turned unexpectedly mild, so it was actually more of a slush day, her three oldest children were home. And since Carly had back-to-back massage appointments booked at the Spruce Lodge spa—and God knew, she needed the money—she’d had to get moving and hadn’t taken enough time to run through the children’s routines with Tiffany. The girl had obviously panicked and forgotten all about eighteen-month-old Charlie sleeping in the bedroom that was farthest from the living room.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Spencer!” she’d cried as Carly pulled up in her vehicle in front of the burning building. “There was this huge explosion and all I could think about was getting the kids out…. But then when we got down here, I remembered the baby was sleeping in the back room.”
Her words had sliced into Carly’s heart. Without hesitating, she’d raced into the building and collided with a firefighter who was coming out with Mrs. Polinski in his arms.
He’d handed the old woman to a colleague and grabbed Carly by the arms.
“You’re not going in there!” he’d yelled through his mask.
“My baby’s inside!” she screamed. “I have to get him out!”
“Which floor?”
“Third. First door on your right!”
The words had scarcely left her mouth when he released her and ran back into the building as another firefighter carried Mr. Polinski outside.
Someone grasped her by the shoulders. “Come over here away from the danger, ma’am,” he said. “Adam will find your baby.”
The man seemed confident of Adam’s ability to find one tiny little boy in a huge inferno, but the sound of the building disintegrating and the amount of smoke billowing from the windows and doorways eroded her hope that the firefighter would get to Charlie in time.
Alex, Jake and Maddy had huddled around her, trembling with fear and shock. Carly hugged them close and waited.
She’d felt a prickle of apprehension go up her spine—as if someone was watching her. She glanced around at the crowd. Of course people are watching you, she chastised herself. Still, the sensation was so weird…. She searched the faces, but saw no one familiar. Shrugging it off, she put it down to her fears for Charlie.
When the firefighter returned, holding Charlie protectively beneath his coat, she’d rushed to take her son from him.
But then Alex had raced back toward the building to find Molly. Carly hadn’t had time to wonder about the Polinskis leaving her behind; maybe everything had happened too quickly for anyone to think rationally. The fact that her babysitter had left Charlie behind was evidence enough of that.
The firefighter had charged into the building to rescue Molly. Carly had held her breath, fearing for his and Molly’s lives. And then she’d heard the glass shattering as he’d kicked out the window. The smoke was so thick as it poured out of the window that she couldn’t see him clearly.
