Spring Fling Kitty: The Hart Family (Have A Hart Book 3)

by Rachelle Ayala

  He dangled a key and dropped it into Elaine’s purse.

  “Uggghhh.” Nadine rolled herself off the sofa and flailed toward him, but he deftly stepped aside.

  Still chuckling, he said, “When all is said and done, Elaine was wracked with guilt and she killed herself. You were upset and wanted your mother to leave your father forever, so you offed yourself.”

  “Let me know when to hit send on these messages,” Emmeline said, sounding impatient at Michael’s grandiose ego. “We need to get out of here before this place blows.”

  “Sure, let’s turn on the gas, knock these two beauties out and untie them, then hit send.”

  “What about the cat and the dog?” Emmeline laid the two cell phones on the coffee table in front Nadine and Elaine.

  “Leave them. I don’t want them, do you?”

  Emmeline laughed. “Of course not. Mangy critters. Okay, let’s do it.”

  Nadine scooted up to Elaine and nudged her. They had to do something. If the two of them refused to hold still, maybe they could break free.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” Michael grabbed Nadine under her armpits and threw her to the other side of the room. “Time to go to sleep.”

  Nadine watched in horror as Emmeline extracted a syringe from her bag. “Ever heard of the drug that killed Michael Jackson? It leaves no trace. Unfortunately, when you wake up, you’ll die from the gas leak.”

  “Or the explosion,” Michael added. “See that can of linseed oil? A few soaked rags will take care of all the gas coming from the stovetop. Perfect way for an artist to commit suicide.”

  Nadine struggled as much as she could, but when the prick of the needle pierced her arm, she felt herself receding into the darkness. The poem she’d once improvised with Connor flowed across her dying mind.

  “Blue mud, hanging moss, lurk. Black pebble, gushing stream, awake. Green reeds, singing pines, behold. Orange sky, bleeding diamonds, weep.”

  Connor raced down the street, heedless of his mother and Cait chasing him. He had to get to Elaine’s. If what Cait said was true, Nadine was in grave danger. Even though he found it hard to believe Elaine could be so evil, someone out there had tried to kill him, Nadine, and Greyheart. He darted across a major thoroughfare and skirted along a row of parked cars, before dashing into an alley.

  With Cait’s footsteps behind him, he scrambled up to the apartment building and buzzed Elaine on the guest panel.

  “Come on. Come on. Answer it,” he muttered to himself as his bandaged finger pressed against the button.

  “Let me call Nadine,” Cait said. She tried, but there was no answer.

  “Maybe Elaine’s not home.” Cait said. “What if we just missed Nadine and she’s on her way back to the hospital. Connor, you’re overreacting. There’s no way Elaine would do anything to Nadine in her own apartment. That would be stupid, and if I know anything, Elaine isn’t stupid.”

  “I don’t care. I have to get into the building and check.” Connor started hitting the other residents’ buzzers. Most weren’t home, but one woman answered.

  “I’m Fire Chief Connor Hart. There’s an emergency in an upstairs unit. Can you let me in?”

  “How do I know you’re who you say you are?” the woman’s suspicious voice said through the intercom.

  “Please, buzz me through. This is an emergency.”

  The woman hung up.

  Connor buzzed another resident, and then another. “Come on, come on. Let me in.”

  By now, his actions had attracted the attention of a few people walking by.

  “Is there a problem here?” a man asked. “Are you hurt?”

  “Connor, let’s go. You look crazy.”

  Of course he did. He was covered with bandages, but he refused to budge. “I know something’s going on up there. Someone, please call the police.”

  “That man looks like he escaped from a mental hospital,” a woman said. “Maybe we should call the police.”

  “Yes, call the police,” Connor urged. “I need to get up to that apartment. Cait, call the fire station and tell them to bring the ladder truck.”

  “You can’t do that,” Cait said. “There’s no fire.”

  To the crowd, she said. “He’s just come out of the burn unit. He’s a little traumatized. I’ll get him back to the hospital.”

  “Stop it, Cait. Give me the phone.” Even if he had to dial 9-1-1 with his nose, he would.

  Cait refused, turning away from him. “Let’s go back to the hospital and see if Nadine showed up there. She’s probably mad that you didn’t wait for her.”

  Connor hated to give up, but what Cait said made sense. He had a bad feeling, but then again, he had been traumatized from the fire, and maybe he was overreacting.

  Hanging his head, he shrugged apologetically to the gathering crowd and turned away from the building.

  “Meow.” A small voice mewed from behind him, and Greyheart scampered between his legs. The cat had bandages over his paws and one side of his head. He yowled and yowled, stalking and turning like a lion in a cage, clearly anxious.

  “Cait, look.” Connor bent over and picked up the cat. “Greyheart’s here. That means Nadine’s somewhere around and she’s hurt. We have to call 9-1-1.”

  Cait was already across the street and couldn’t hear him. Meanwhile, the other people stared at him, and yes, they would call 9-1-1, but it would be to report him.

  Connor spotted one of the bright red antique street fire call boxes a half block away. He ran toward it. Thank God, San Francisco still kept these old boxes operational. He broke the plastic over the hook and pulled the alarm. Within minutes, his brothers from the fire station would respond.

  He’d rather take the chance that this was a false alarm and get written up, maybe even fired. He couldn’t lose Nadine, however. And all his instincts told him, Nadine was up in Elaine’s apartment and in danger.

  Cait ran back across the street, coming straight toward him. “What did you just do? You pulled the fire alarm.”

  “I did. It’s the only way to get up to Elaine’s apartment,” Connor said over the sounds of the sirens. Moments later, the fire alarm sounded on Elaine’s building and an explosion blew out the windows of the top floor apartment.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The firetrucks rolled in, and the men in Connor’s crew jumped off the truck.

  “Guys, guys,” Connor yelled. “Nadine and her sister are up there. It’s Elaine’s apartment.”

  He ran toward the ladder truck as it got into position, fully ready to scale it.

  “Stay back, Chief.” Brian pushed him aside. “You’re not going up there. Go stand next to Cait and stay out of our way.”

  Connor knew better than to interfere. Even though Nadine was up there, he was not equipped to go in and rescue her. It was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, but he stepped back, urging the crowd who’d gathered to move away from the scene.

  “Oh, Connor.” Cait ran up to him and took the cat from his arms. “This is horrible if Nadine’s up there. I’m so sorry.”

  Connor tugged her to a safe distance. He couldn’t keep his eyes from the fire above them. Streams of water were aimed at the flames, and people were being evacuated, shouting and wailing in panic.

  Two guys went up the ladder while others went into the building to haul out any people who were unable to leave on their own.

  Connor hugged Cait and prayed, asking God to spare his wife and all the people in the building. He’d never felt so helpless before, but all he could do was wait in agony, wondering if he would ever see his beautiful bride smile at him again.

  The water gradually drove the fire away from the window, and a firefighter entered the apartment. Connor strained to see through the smoke and steam. A cheer rang out from the crowd and people pointed at a person being brought down the ladder. Was it Nadine? Connor ran toward the waiting ambulance, even as policemen tried to restrain him.

  “I’m Fire Chief Hart, let me throu
gh,” he shouted, as Cait followed.

  He got a glimpse of the first victim, a petite woman with long, black hair. It was Elaine. That meant Nadine was still up there. Connor shouted at the men. “My wife. She’s still up there. She went to meet her sister. She’s inside the building.”

  He was sounding like a maniac, and he wasn’t sure if anyone heard him, so he resumed his nail-biting agony. If they saved Elaine, surely, they could also get to Nadine. Unless, unless, she was already dead. But Nadine couldn’t die. She couldn’t die. Not so young. Not when he’d only found her. Not when he’d barely lived his life with her.

  Her words kept crashing through his mind. Her words about being doomed to find him only to lose him and having to wait for another life to meet again.

  He thought he saw something through the smoke. That they’d brought down another body. It wasn’t moving. Just a limp form.

  No. No. No. I don’t believe that endless cycle of lost and found love. You’re staying with me here and now. You’re not leaving me. Never, you hear. Never leave me, Nadine.

  He didn’t realize he’d yelled everything aloud until Brian came to his side. “Connor, we found her.”

  “Alive? Is she alive?”

  “They’re working on her. She’s not responsive. Smoke inhalation.” His buddy cleared the way for Connor.

  Everything was a blur after that. Connor walked like a zombie toward the paramedics, dreading the sight of them pulling a sheet over her face. So far, so good, they were working on her. They strapped her onto the stretcher and held an IV above her, and an oxygen mask covered her face. He stumbled onto the ambulance, with Brian explaining who he was. The paramedics didn’t object, but their eyes told him more than he wanted to know.

  Smoke inhalation injury was actually worse than being burned on the body. He knew that but couldn’t accept it. The truth was, someone burned on sixty percent of their body had a better chance of surviving than being found in a burning building with smoke inhalation injury without a single square inch of burn on their body. The brain could die in four minutes without oxygen, and the heat from the smoke could also cause injury to lung tissue, making it hard for oxygen exchange to take place.

  Connor bowed his head in his hands as the ambulance screamed its way to the hospital. A cold, wet nose nudged his elbow, and a hot tongue licked him.

  “Cinder?” He picked up the soot-covered puppy and held her close. Closing his eyes, he prayed that God would spare Nadine and her sister, and forgive him for hurting Elaine when he chose Nadine to be his wife.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The ambulance rushed Nadine to the Emergency Room, and the paramedics hurried her through the double doors. In a daze, Connor handed Cinder to a guard standing at the door and ran after the gurney.

  His buddy, Rob, who was an emergency room doctor stopped him. “Let them work on her. It might be too hard to look.”

  “Out of my way.” Connor shoved his buddy back and barreled behind the curtained area.

  The sharp zaps of the defibrillator paddles on Nadine’s bare chest slammed his gut with panic. Her body bounced halfway out of the gurney. Another doctor or nurse stood at her face pumping oxygen down a tube in her mouth.

  He wasn’t sure if they were getting a pulse or if they were going to try again. Nadine was so pale and lifeless, stripped to the waist, looking for all the world like the petals of a wilted flower.

  He wrung his hands, not caring that his bandages were soaked with blood, that the pain he’d lived with the last week raged with unrelenting ferocity. He couldn’t lose Nadine, so soon, so quick. He’d walk through a wall of fire straight into the next life, it it meant getting there faster to find her again. He’d travel behind the veil of time to bring her back, crawl through pits of dark lava, swim through rivers of jagged thorns. Anything for his beautiful bride, his wildwood flower, the only person who could ever fill his heart with love.

  “We have a pulse,” someone shouted, and a team of doctors and nurses crowded around Nadine. Connor couldn’t see through the sea of activity, but the steady beating of the heart monitor was like every blessing in the universe converging to a single miracle.

  Thank you, God. He clasped his chest, unable to catch his gasping breath. A hand grasped his shoulder. It was Rob.

  “They’re going to stabilize her and send her upstairs. She’s going to make it. Why don’t you go to the waiting room and when she’s transferred, I’ll come get you.”

  Numb with relief, Connor staggered to the waiting area where his entire family gathered. Their eyes were wide and they stood silent, fearing the worst.

  “Oh, Connor!” His mother ran up to him and grabbed him in a bear hug. “How is she? Is she okay?”

  Connor nodded and burst into tears. Behind him, Rob told the family that Nadine had gone into cardiac arrest, but the doctors were able to revive her. They’d kept her airway open and were going to assess the damage to her lungs. Hopefully, her brain hadn’t been deprived of oxygen for long.

  “That’s good news, isn’t it?” Connor’s father’s voice boomed.

  “Yes and no,” Rob said. “We can’t figure out why she and Elaine were out cold. The fire had just started, so they should have been crawling on the floor trying to get to the door. Instead, they were found completely unconscious and unresponsive. They’re running toxicology tests right now.”

  “How’s Elaine doing?” Connor pushed away from his mother. “Where did they take her?”

  “I can’t let you go back in there,” Rob said. “We have to contact her next of kin.”

  “But tell me, is she alive?” Connor ran toward the entrance of the ER when he spotted Elaine’s father and Nadine’s mother.

  “Connor!” Nadine’s mother plunged toward him. “How’s my baby girl? She’s okay, isn’t she? Tell me she’s okay.”

  “She’s hanging in there. They’re taking her upstairs.” Connor steadied his mother-in-law.

  “How about Elaine?” her father shouted. He ran toward the emergency room doors. “I’m Dr. Gerald Woo. Where’s my daughter?”

  Behind him, Elaine and Nadine’s brother, Michael, wrung his hands. “My sisters. What’s happened to them? Are they going to be okay?”

  “Nadine’s being taken upstairs. She’s going to make it,” Connor said. “Your father’s checking on Elaine.”

  “I can’t believe what could have happened to them. I was in the area visiting a friend, and when I saw the fire trucks I had no clue anything was going on. Then Dad texts me to meet him here. This is horrible.”

  “We can only wait and pray,” Connor said. He hoped to God Elaine hadn’t tried to kill Nadine, because if she had anything to do with this fire and the fire at his house, it would be better for her to die now than face her crimes and rot in jail. In any case, he wasn’t in the mood to be charitable to Elaine’s brother, not with all the suspicions swirling in his mind.

  “Connor, you need to get some rest.” His mother barged in between him and Michael. “And look at you. You’re all dirty and your bandages are falling off. You’re going to get an infection. You should get in there and ask them to wash off your wounds.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Connor jerked away from his mother. His wife was in critical condition and he couldn’t care less about his burn wounds. He looped his arm around Nadine’s mother and bent over her. “She’s going to be okay. She’s a fighter. She has a lot of life left in her.”

  “Then why did she want to kill herself?” her mother said, wiping her eyes with a tissue.

  “Kill herself?” Connor’s entire body jolted as if hit by lightning. “Why would you think that?”

  His words seemed to silence the entire emergency room waiting room. All eyes turned his direction, but thankfully, a circle of Harts gathered around, walling them off from the lookie-loos.

  Nadine’s mother sniffled and held up her phone. “It’s all my fault. All my fault for going back to Gerald. Nadine was pissed off. Her father offered her the apartme
nt for her and Connor to live in, but she threw it in his face and ran away. I thought she was just letting off steam, going for a walk in the park with her cat, but when I got this text message …”

  Dolly Lee broke down, unable to continue.

  “Text message?” Cait grabbed the phone and stared at the message.

  “What does it say?”

  “Unbelievable.” Cait’s jaw dropped. “I thought Nadine only wanted to pick up Cinder. I had no idea she wanted to confront Elaine about setting the fire.”

  “What does the message say?” Connor’s father asked. “If it looks fishy, we need to call the police.”

  “It’s fishy all right,” Cait said.

  “Read the message,” Connor yelled.

  “Okay, here goes,” Cait said in a shaky voice.

  Dear Mom, you betrayed me when you took Dad back. He’s treated you badly all my life, and now, just because he’s decided to divorce Maggie for good and buy you a farm, you go to him like a pathetic puppy looking for handouts.

  “That doesn’t sound like Nadine,” Connor cut in. “She would never call a puppy pathetic.”

  Nadine’s mother sobbed. “She thinks I’m pathetic, and now look what she’s done.”

  “Cait, keep reading,” Connor’s mother said.

  No one understands what it’s like for me to grow up as the Woo Love Child. It was the most painful thing. While Elaine and Michael got birthday parties, I got nothing except for a sneaky visit where you two went and took naps. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?