Amongst The Flames: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Embers and Ashes Book 1)

by T. K. Chapin

Leaning in, I quieted my voice. “Come on Tom, why would Mike lie about that? What else do you think they could have been doing?”

  He nodded. “I just don’t know what I did wrong in raising these girls. They are both moms… and just off going to bars and living selfishly… I thought I raised them better than that.”

  Unbeknownst to me, my heart swelled with empathy for Tom in that moment. “Don’t blame yourself. They’re adults and they make their own decisions.”

  “I can’t help but feel responsible, though,” he said, looking up at me. His soft blue eyes had a hint of worry and concern. The creases around his eyes were weighted like he hadn’t slept much the night before. He tilted his head back and forth a little as he said, “Maybe I should have spanked them more and not always only grounded them.”

  “What’s wrong with grounding kids?” I asked.

  “Well, I grounded them out of pure laziness I think. I didn’t want to deal with them or talk about what or why they were doing what they did wrong… I would just send them off to their room and say they were grounded. I don’t know… maybe I really shouldn’t have meddled with your and Megan’s marriage. I’m beginning to question everything.” He sighed heavily.

  I remained quiet in my response. The meddling he did in our relationship wasn’t right and I wasn’t about to condone that behavior.

  Looking up at me, his eyes looked to be a little watery as he said, “I thought giving them away was the worst days of my life… but hearing them carry on the way that they did trumped it by a long shot. I would feel embarrassed if one of my friends called me up and said they saw my daughters drunk at a bar!”

  “So it’s a pride thing?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.

  He shook his head. “It’s just not the way women should carry on… but I suppose times have changed. The Bible does talk about how women lose their way in the end times…”

  “Why are you saying all this stuff to me? We don’t talk like this.”

  “I’m worried about them and I know you were the last one to have Megan’s heart… maybe you can say something to her or talk to her? I just need my baby girls to get back on track.”

  “They’re full-grown women… I don’t see what I could do.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know… but something has to be done.”

  My curiosity couldn’t help but get the best of me. What were they up to, anyway? Why was my wife bar hopping? She rarely drank but on occasion and wouldn’t be caught in a bar for as long as I’ve known her.

  “Captain, the Chief needs to talk to you,” Brian said from the sliding glass door.

  “We gotta figure something out,” Tom said as he rose to his feet. Looking over at the rookie, he said, “I’m on my way.”

  As he left through the door my thoughts drifted to Megan again. Every day that passed it seemed that Megan was revealing more and more that she wasn’t the perfect little stay-at-home mother and wife that I once thought she was. I said a prayer for God to help me not worry and to bring peace over my mind.

  After my shift was over, I was on the way out to the parking lot and Tom was a few paces ahead of me when we suddenly heard the alarms sound off behind us in the station. He stopped and turned back to me, “They’re short-handed. Two of the guys are at a school teaching fire safety this morning for a couple hours.”

  Turning, I looked back and said, “Let’s go.”

  We rushed back into the station and began suiting up as the other crew slid down the fire pole. “Thank goodness you two hadn’t left yet,” Captain Hinley said. “There’s a big house fire on Assembly Road. Guess that’s what happens when you think it’ll be okay to be missing a couple guys for an hour or two.”

  “Glad to help,” I said. I slid my gloves on as I continued, “It’s been relatively slow on the B-shift. So a little action isn’t a bad thing.”

  He patted my shoulder. “You have a good son-in-law here, Sherwood.”

  Tom nodded, but remained silent as he finished putting on his gear. We loaded up into the trucks and headed down to the fire. My heart was pounding as adrenaline coursed through my veins. Since I had been back from leave, I hadn’t been to a real fire yet. There were a few burning popcorn calls and false alarms, but no real fires.

  As the truck began to slow down on the approach to the scene, my eyes widened as I watched the flames reaching out of the second story windows, dancing across the early morning’s sky.

  “Sherwood, take Gomer and get the ventilation cuts up top,” Captain Hinley said from up in the front passenger seat of the ladder truck. “McCormick, cut the power.”

  Coming to a complete stop, we got out of the truck and a woman was screaming at the cops who were holding her back from running towards the house. “Kelsey is in there still!” the woman cried out.

  “Ma’am,” I said, approaching her. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know! I thought she came with her father out the back, but she wasn’t with him when he came around the side of the house. And he thought she was with me!”

  I glanced up at the fire and then back to her. “How old is she?”

  “She’s twelve, please save my baby girl!” the woman screamed.

  “I will,” I replied. Going back over to Captain Hinley, I said, “We got a little girl in there, twelve-years-old.” Grabbing my axe and halligan off the truck, I turned and said, “I’m going in.”

  “No, I’ll go,” Tom said. “Go help the rookie on the roof.”

  Glancing over, I saw Brian setting up the ladder against the house. “I want to do the rescue. I can do it!”

  “Let me take this, Taylor,” Tom insisted.

  My jaw clenched as I nodded. I couldn’t be insubordinate to my captain. So I went over and began climbing the ladder to get on the roof. Looking back, I saw Tom strapping on his oxygen tank.

  Getting up top, Brian and I got the ventilation cuts made and black smoke billowed from the hole on the roof. Looking back down across the ground, I didn’t see Tom anywhere yet. He was still inside. I hurried down the ladder and over to captain Hinley. “Where’s Sherwood?” I asked.

  “He’s still in there looking for the girl,” he replied. The fire suddenly took a turn for the worse and part of the structure’s roof collapsed instantly. My heart skipped knowing that Tom was still there.

  Suddenly Sherwood came across on captain Hinley’s radio. “I’m trapped, I need help. Repeat—I’m trapped! I’m on the second level, in the first bedroom.”

  “I’ll go,” I said, darting over to the truck to grab my oxygen. Strapping on my air tank, I slid my mask on and darted for the burning house. Rick was outside, waiting with a fire hose in hand. He couldn’t start extinguishing the fire until everyone was out. Rushing by him, I went inside to find Tom.

  Finding the bedroom he was trapped in, flames were climbing up the walls on all sides and the smoke was thick. “Call out!” I shouted through the flames.

  “Over here!” Tom shouted.

  My eyes scanned the room. There he was, trapped under a burnt support beam. The little girl was right under his arm that seemed to be somehow holding up the beam. “Tom!” I shouted as I rushed over to him and dropped to my knees.

  “Grab the girl!” he demanded.

  I pulled the girl out from under his arm. The beam suddenly shifted again and pinned Tom to the ground even more than before. The flames grew overhead as I set her down behind me.

  “No! Get her out of here! Now!” he shouted. His eyes reflected the flames that were lingering nearby in the room.

  “But that other support beam from the room above us is about to collapse. You’ll die! No man left behind, ever!” I shouted as I began trying to dislodge the beam.

  “Get that girl to her mother right now, Taylor!”

  Shaking my head, I realized he already knew he was going to die. “I can’t leave you behind!” I cried out as I tried with all my might to shift the beam up.

  “You have to!” He said, shaking his head a
s he swatted over at me. “Don’t get the girl killed because of some stupid honor code!” I looked back at the little girl and let go of trying. He grabbed onto my coat and said, “Cole… Take care of my girls.”

  My lips tightened and tears welled in my eyes as the support beam in the room above shifted again, sprinkling soot down onto our heads.

  “Get out of here!” He yelled as loud as he could.

  Turning around, I scooped up the girl into my arms and I rushed out of the room. Getting out the front door just as the beam gave way and collapsing onto Tom, I could feel my throat clench shut. I brought the girl out to her mother, and then I turned to the fire and dropped to my knees in tears. Ripping my helmet and mask off, I lost all control of my emotions as the fire continued to burn and the black smoke billowed upwards into the sky.

  Captain Hinley, Rick, and Kane all rushed over to me in what felt like slow motion as I wept. Tom might have been a mean-spirited man, but I never wanted him to die. And as I grieved, the pain inside worsened as I thought of Megan and her losing her father like I did only four years ago. I couldn’t bear the pain of knowing the turmoil she was about to endure. And there was no way of stopping it.

  CHAPTER 13

  A calm and peaceful night sky lingered above my head as I sat on my front porch waiting for my taxi to pick me up later that same day. I was flying out to Seattle to go see Megan and break the news to her and Amanda. My world had flipped upside down with Megan leaving me and now backwards with my Captain and father-in-law passing. Yet the quietness of Benton Avenue didn’t give off any such impression. The world around me was fine and even peaceful, but inside a storm was raging on. How was I going to break the news to Megan that her father died? I hadn’t the slightest clue.

  All my ill feelings toward Tom had evaporated. I was eternally grateful for the conversation I just had with him earlier in the shift. He acted like a decent human being to me for the first time since I married his daughter. I didn’t care if it was only because of his worry about his kids, I was happy to have had the talk.

  As I prayed on the bench outside my house that evening, Micah pulled up alongside the curb. He shut off his car and made his way up the sidewalk to my porch.

  He shook his head as tears streamed down his cheeks. I stood up and met him at the edge of my porch for a hug. He patted my back on release and then wiped his eyes and sniffed as he asked, “How’d Megan take it?”

  I sighed, wiping my own eyes and I said, “My taxi will be here soon, I’m flying there to break the news to her and Amanda, tomorrow.”

  “She doesn’t know?” Micah asked as we walked over to the bench and sat down.

  I shook my head and dropped my face into my palms. Running my fingers through my hair, I looked over at Micah and said with broken words, “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do that to her… so I delayed it.”

  Micah set his hand on the back of my leather jacket and patted me. “I’m so sorry… I don’t know about not telling her, man. You should really call her.”

  I looked over at him and shook my head as I spoke, “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do…” I sniffed and caught myself before letting out another cry, “I don’t want to break her heart and this is going to do it. I can’t break it over the phone. I won’t.”

  “The Lord is with you, Cole. Every step you take, don’t forget that,” Micah said as he looked out into the darkness that filled the street. “I knew Sherwood for over a decade, and he was a firefighter for over three… It’s going to be a difficult loss for this whole city.”

  I wiped my eyes as I sat up straighter and took a deep breath. “I know.” Pausing for a moment, I recalled Micah’s comment about God. “Micah…” He looked over at me. “Where was God this morning when Tom was pinned under that beam?”

  He shook his head as he brought his hands together. “I don’t know man. But God didn’t kill him. It was just Tom’s time to go. These things happen. People are born and people die; that’s part of life.”

  “Not to Sherwood.”

  “Sherwood died doing what he loved, Brother.”

  My phone began ringing in my hand. It was Cindy. Seeing Tom’s wife’s name flash across my screen caused more tears to come. I felt so emotional, so vulnerable and so downright uncomfortable. I wanted to die. This emotional wreck wasn’t me. I was Cole Taylor, the hotshot fireman who was invincible. Not this wussy that gets injured and cries a bunch. “I can’t talk to her,” I said exasperated. “I am so sick of crying today.”

  “Crying is normal, even for us guys sometimes. Remember what I said? Jesus wept. Real men cry, Brother. As far as talking to your mother-in-law, you have to walk through that door, even if you don’t want to.” Micah stood up as the taxi’s headlights came into view. “Talk to her,” he said as he walked off my porch steps and down to the curb where his car was parked.

  Sliding to answer the call, I brought it to my ear as tears streamed down my cheek. “Hello?” I squeezed out as I stood up and grabbed my suitcase from next to the bench.

  There was nothing but crying on the other end of the phone as I made my way out to the taxi and got in. My throat felt clamped. Each sniffle from Cindy felt like my throat was closing more. Then, she finally was able to speak.

  “Did you talk to Megan?”

  “Not yet…” I said. I covered the phone and said to the cab driver, “I’m ready.”

  “Airport, right?” he asked, looking in the rearview mirror at me.

  I nodded.

  Cindy broke down again. “She has to know, Cole. She and Amanda have to find out about their dad. I was fine with you being the one to tell her, but it happened this morning and you still haven’t called!”

  I took a deep breath in and cleared my mind. “It’s okay, Cindy. I’m in a cab heading to the airport now. I’m flying out to break the news to them.”

  “Oh, that’s good of you… I’m sorry I yelled at you… I’m just so distraught.”

  “I understand,” I replied softly.

  “Thank you for going out there. I would have joined you but I have preparations I have to make here in Spokane.”

  “I know, and that’s why I didn’t bother asking. We will get through this Cindy, all of us, together. I’ll bring your girls home.”

  She broke down again. “I will talk to you later…” she said sobbing.

  Hanging up with Cindy, I stared out the window at the lights of the city as they played against the backdrop of the night sky. The task ahead wasn’t going to be easy and I knew I needed God more than ever. I had to remain strong, and I knew God was the only One who was going to make that happen.

  CHAPTER 14

  Tossing and turning for most of the night in my hotel room in Seattle, I gave up on sleep at about six o’clock that next morning. I pulled a sweater out of my duffle bag and put it on. Snatching my Bible off the nightstand next to my bed, I went out onto the balcony that overlooked the city of Seattle. Taking a deep breath in, I took in the city. The calm early morning traffic below my balcony was peaceful enough that I should be able to get a couple chapters of reading in before I hit the shower.

  Faint sirens suddenly sounded in the distance and created a longing inside of me for my station back home. They were all grieving over the loss of Tom, just like I was, and Megan was about to be in a couple hours. Last night when I stepped off the plane at about midnight, I discovered a voicemail on my phone from the Chief. His voice was heavy and dripped with sorrow as he gave me an update on the rest of the station. He was able to pull a few favors and got the whole crew time off to grieve. The below average fire season on the outskirts of Spokane allowed for guys out in Chattaroy and Nine Mile Falls stations to come cover shifts.

  After the sirens faded, I opened up my Bible. I was still lugging around the keepsake one I found on the bookcase that pivotal day I made a change in my life. The worn out leather that kept the brittle pages together reminded me of how important God’s word truly is to his followers. I didn’t wan
t to go back to my old Bible that still had pages that were stuck together.

  With the scriptures laid open, I bowed my head and I said a prayer to God. For Megan, Cindy, Amanda, and all firemen across the grief-stricken city. Then I prayed for myself, that God would strengthen me and provide me with the words needed to speak with my wife. Finishing my prayer, I started in on my reading for the morning that suited the events lately perfectly, James one.

  Checking out of the hotel later that morning, I hailed a cab to take me out to Everett, where Amanda lived. During the ride, I prepared for the conversation I would have when I saw Megan after such a long separation. I was nervous about seeing her again under such tragic circumstances. Again and again, I mentally rehearsed what I would say to her. Line after line I tried to piece together an understanding of how to come across to her. Then, I reminded myself of what Micah said about God being with me and the prayer I made back at the hotel about God giving me the words to speak.

  I gave it to God through prayer, and then I peered out my window as we sped along the Seattle freeway up to Everett. I saw a maroon-colored van with a family inside for what I presumed to be some sort of family vacation. I made this judgment by the crammed suitcases in the back and the teenager sleeping with headphones over his ears. He was drooling on a pillow that was pressed up against the window. I grinned as I recalled similar vacations as a child. As my cab driver sped up, I could see into the passenger seat up front and I saw a woman sobbing as she read a pamphlet of some sort. I was curious why she was crying, so I leaned closer to the window for a peek at the brochure. It was a funeral brochure. Relaxing back into my seat in the cab, I realized something that never had occurred to me prior to that moment. Every person in the world, even the driver in the front seat of my taxi, has a life going on that other people don’t know about. I knew other people had lives… but I never thought about how things could look different than they actually were. Just like the family in the van next to my cab.