Taking on Twins

by Mollie Campbell

  The town’s residents worked into the night. But it wasn’t until the flames reached a wide break in the row of buildings that the fire could be controlled. The crews moved to the gap and stamped out every spark that tried to ignite on the ground. Finally the flames were put out. Overcome by emotion, Coralee didn’t even want to count how many businesses had burned to the ground.

  Those who didn’t have reason to stay trudged home to clean up and rest. Others remained to sift through what they could, sorting out rescued items and taking inventory of the damage. All around, people speculated on what had caused the fire to start. They bemoaned the dry summer that had made it so easy for the blaze to spread.

  Coralee could only sit on the ground in front of Holbrook’s, now reduced to a smoldering pile of ash and melted glass.

  Through the numbness of loss and exhaustion, she waited for the reality of her failure to come crashing down on her. She had pulled Papa’s shop through losing customers and a tarnished reputation, only to see it physically destroyed right before her eyes. There was nothing left. None of Papa’s notes. None of the remedies he had worked so hard to bring to their town. His entire legacy had just gone up in flames.

  * * *

  Fire shot up all around Coralee. She tried to scream for help, but no sound would come out. Standing in the middle of Holbrook’s, the flames were licking the floor close by her feet and blocking her from the doors. Shadowy faces leered at her from the other side of the blaze. As she scrambled to find a way out, sharp voices cut through the crackling, creaking sounds of the fire. A shout nearby brought her out of sleep with a jerk. It had only been a nightmare.

  But what was the shouting about? Awareness started to return and she realized she was not snug in her bed at home. Why was she outside on the ground? The terrifying night came back in a rush as she climbed to her feet, every inch of her body sore and stiff. The man in the shop. The horrible fire. She remembered sitting in the rubble and waiting for the usual flood of guilt over her failure, but it never came. She must have fallen asleep. Pushing to her feet, she did her best not to look at the destruction she knew was behind her.

  “Here’s Coralee! She’s alive!” Cat was the one doing the shouting that had woken her up. Her youngest sister ran over and grabbed her in a hug so tight she started to see stars. Pushing back from Cat, Coralee sucked in a deep breath.

  “Oh, Coralee, we were all so worried about you.” Cecilia and Aunt Lily hurried to join them as Cat spoke in a rush. “We heard the fire bell and tried to help, but there was nothing anyone could do. It spread so fast. And then when morning came and we realized you weren’t home, we had to come out searching for you.”

  Cecilia chimed in, sniffling as she tried to hold back sobs. “I’m just so glad you’re safe.” The four women embraced, tears flowing as they rejoiced and mourned at the same time. Seeing her sisters’ faces as they surveyed the wreckage, sadness washed over Coralee. She realized for the first time that even though they didn’t love working in the shop, Papa’s business had meant just as much to them as it had to her. They had lost their father’s legacy, just as she had. If their pain felt anything like the hole that had been ripped open in her heart, she wished desperately that she had a way to heal it for them.

  Practical Cat was the first to pull away. “What happened, Coralee? We’ve heard that it started here in the shop, but how?”

  Coralee finally turned and stared at the ruins of Holbrook’s. Her stomach dropped, hard as a rock as she told the story. “Alyssa’s father had a severe headache and they needed more of our medication right away. I didn’t have my travel case so I came here to get some. When I entered the shop, there was a man running out the back and I smelled the smoke. It started in the workroom, although I couldn’t see what caused it. I ran to get...” Her voice trailed off as the world started to spin around her. “Jake. He came with me, but I didn’t see him again after we joined in fighting the fire. Where is he?” She glanced frantically at her family.

  Aunt Lily rested a calming hand on her arm. “He breathed in too much smoke and collapsed. They took him out to the farm until Dr. Jay could examine him. I took the twins out to Beth as soon as we heard, but Dr. Jay hadn’t arrived, yet. We don’t know any more than that.”

  Coralee grasped her sisters’ hands to keep from falling. Not Jake, too. Lord, haven’t I lost enough? Alan. Papa. The shop. And now Jake? It’s too much.

  “Do you want me to saddle the horse for you? There isn’t much we can do here, so you may as well go sit with Jake.”

  Cat’s suggestion caused a chill to wash over Coralee. She looked at the circle of well-meaning faces and it felt like the very sky was closing in on her. She started backing away. “No. I... I need some time. I’m sorry.” She turned and ran as the tears started to fall again.

  When she reached the creek, Coralee checked behind her, relieved that no one had followed. She realized she had blindly run to the same spot where she and Jake had come with the twins weeks before, the day she’d discovered the ingredient for Papa’s medicine. She dropped to her knees underneath the willow tree Jake had cut bark from, staring out at the narrow band of water as it rippled softly.

  The turmoil in her heart strangled any appreciation she might have felt for the peaceful landscape. The shop was gone. Papa’s dream—her dream—up in smoke. And Jake. The ache in her chest spread. Jake was hurt and no one knew if he would recover. If his throat or lungs had been scalded too much by the hot smoke, he might not survive.

  She leaned forward, forcing her body to pull in air so she wouldn’t faint. How had this happened again? She had tried so hard to keep from relying on another man after losing Alan and Papa. She couldn’t withstand another loss. The shop was bad enough. But she had come to care for Jake again, to rely on his friendship, and maybe to hope for more than that. And now he was being ripped from her life, just like the other men she had cared for.

  Her spine straightened with purpose as the panic subsided. She wasn’t going to let this happen without doing something. Maybe she couldn’t help Jake, but she could go back and be there for her sisters. Standing, Coralee looked down at her rumpled, soot-covered clothing. Since she was already a mess, she might as well help the others dig through what was left. Until she figured out what to do without Holbrook’s, she would keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing whatever was right in front of her.

  When she walked down Second Street, stepping around piles of items that had been pulled from the path of the fire, her sisters and aunt all stopped working. They stood in the ruins of her hopes and dreams, waiting for her to respond. She stopped in the middle of the street, wondering if she had the strength to go on.

  Cecilia stepped close, eyes full of concern. “Are you all right? We didn’t mean to upset you. You seemed so worried about Jake that we thought you’d want to see for yourself how he’s doing. We weren’t trying to push you.”

  Coralee blanched at the mention of his name but forced herself to stay in control. “I understand and I’m fine. We need to see if there’s anything that can be saved. Each of us can take a corner and we’ll meet in the middle.” She saw the concerned looks the other women were exchanging, but she chose to ignore them. Some good, hard work would make everything look better. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the rubble, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. “Let’s salvage what we can of Papa’s dream.”

  But the work wasn’t as easy as that. Every recognizable item she pulled out of the ashes made tears well up in her eyes. There was next to nothing that they could save. And to top it all off, Aunt Lily refused to stop hinting that Coralee should go see Jake.

  When the others stopped for lunch, she decided enough was enough. The thought of food turned her stomach anyway, so she would go to the Hadley farm. Just to keep Aunt Lily from making any more pointed remarks.

  The ride out to the Hadley farm gave Coralee to
o much time to worry. But at the same time she almost wished the ride took longer, just to put off the pain of seeing Jake hurt. Relief and fear warred within her as the house came into view. What would she find when she got there? Why had she agreed to come?

  She almost turned around and rode right back to town when her heeled boots hit the floorboards of the porch. The panic was returning. It would be too much like when Alan was ill. All the hours she had spent at his bedside flooded her mind. Hours of watching him waste away, unable to do anything for him. Her breath was coming in gasps when Beth opened the door.

  “Oh, my dear. I’m glad to see you’re all right.” The older woman pulled Coralee into a hug, holding tight. She sank into the embrace as it calmed her spirit. But she wasn’t here for comfort. Pulling away, she scanned Beth’s face for any sign of Jake’s condition. She looked worried but not grieved.

  “I heard Jake was injured last night. How is he, Beth?”

  One corner of her mouth lifted in a sad half smile. “He hasn’t woken up yet. Dr. Jay was here soon after they brought Jake in. Said he couldn’t tell yet how much damage there is. He’s returning soon to see if we can wake Jake up.” She rested a hand on Coralee’s shoulder. “You can go up and look in on him.”

  Coralee swallowed hard as her throat went dry. This was silly. She had been at dozens of bedsides since losing Alan. Why was this so different?

  Because you love him.

  Her hands shook. No. She wasn’t going to think like that. Jake was her friend. Squaring her shoulders, she forced the thought away and marched up the stairs, determined to prove her own mind wrong. Beth went ahead of her and opened the door quietly, peeking in, then gesturing Coralee to the doorway. With a deep breath, she looked into Jake’s bedroom.

  Her eyes scanned the room before settling on the bed. She had been there several times when they were younger and the room looked much the same as she remembered. A few childhood mementos and family photographs. A lamp on the table by his bed. Stacks of books. Her heart lifted the tiniest bit when she saw several of the twins’ toys in one corner.

  But Jake’s still form finally drew her attention. He was too pale. Her eyes snapped shut, squeezing so tightly that she saw stars behind her eyelids. Pulling in another deep breath, she followed Beth to the bedside. With a will of its own, her hand reached out and brushed his where it rested on the quilt. A memory flashed in her mind of holding Alan’s hand in his final moments. The air sucked out of the room. She had to go. Barely waving to Beth, she rushed from the room and left the Hadley house as fast as she could.

  Chapter Ten

  Jake woke to searing pain in his throat, disoriented. The events of the night before came back to him in pieces. Coralee insisting on going to Holbrook’s alone. The paralyzing fear when she’d stumbled into the Price home crying. Fighting the fire for what felt like an eternity. But no matter how hard he tried, after the hours spent passing buckets in the line, he didn’t remember anything.

  He was in his own bed at the farm but wasn’t sure how he’d gotten there. He took inventory of his body as he lay still. The painful swelling in his throat and the pounding headache must mean he had succumbed to smoke while at the scene of the fire.

  A quiet conversation outside the open door drew his attention. “Doc, how will we know if he’s going to recover?” Ma’s voice was hushed, but Jake could still hear the strain of worry in her tone.

  Samuel’s low voice answered her. “We’ll have to watch him closely for several days. He may seem fine now but worsen later. We just won’t know how severe his injuries are until some time has passed.”

  The doctor appeared in the doorway. “Ah, our patient is awake.” Samuel set his bag on the end of the bed and opened it, digging for the tools he needed as Ma followed him into the room.

  “Jake, my dear, how do you feel?” His mother perched on the edge of a chair that was pulled up next to his bed, twisting the corner of her apron in her fingers.

  But Samuel stepped in. “Don’t try to talk, Hadley.” The older doctor explained the situation as he checked Jake’s vitals. “You collapsed while fighting the fire last night. I believe you have some damage to your throat from the smoke. My recommendation is rest and no speaking for several days. I was just explaining to your mother that it will take at least that long for the full extent of your injuries to become clear.”

  Samuel finished his examination and busied himself with putting his tools back in his bag. “You know how this can go. We’re watching for infection or delayed symptoms. If anything starts to feel worse, let someone know right away. I’ve told your mother what to watch for.”

  Jake nodded, but Samuel didn’t look his way again before hurrying from the room. Jake turned and examined his mother, noting her red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes. She was still twisting the corner of her apron in her fingers. He reached his arms out for her, nearly breaking apart himself when she fell into his embrace and burst out in tears. His condition must be serious for his strong ma to be this distraught.

  “Oh, Jake. I’m sorry for acting so emotional. Dr. Jay couldn’t tell us for sure that you would survive the night. We’ve been so worried.”

  Jake couldn’t reassure her with words, so he tried to communicate his understanding by squeezing her hand tight. She stood and helped him get a drink from the glass on his bedside table. He winced as the water raked down his throat and she sniffed back more tears. But she just tucked him into bed and kissed his forehead like she always had when he was a child. He was asleep before she left the room.

  Nightmares haunted Jake’s fitful sleep. He kept hearing the crackling flames as they consumed Holbrook’s. He dreamed he could see Coralee through the smoke, but when he tried to reach for her, the fire shot up between them. When it died back down, she was gone. But there were his parents and the twins, standing in the shadow of a building as the fire licked at the walls. Jake could see that it was going to collapse on them and he tried to warn them. But he couldn’t move, couldn’t scream a warning.

  He woke with a jerk, just as the wall started to fall on his family. There were no flames, just his room, darkened with the falling dusk. Letting his pounding head fall back onto the pillow, he focused on the image of Coralee from his nightmare. Was she all right? Fear made his breath come faster, in painful spurts. What if she was injured, too? What if she needed him?

  The worst part was knowing that he had put off apologizing to her, saying the words she needed to hear. And now he may never get the chance to tell her how wrong he’d been. She deserved so much more than he had given her. He prayed that if he got the chance to apologize to her, he could do it right. That somehow he could show her he understood all the pain he had caused her in the past and convince her that he wanted more than anything to make up for it.

  His impulse was to jump right out of that bed and find her, no matter the state of his health. The nightmare had stirred up all the feelings he had wanted to ignore for weeks. He could no longer deny that he loved Coralee. He wasn’t sure when he had let that happen again, but he had. And now it might be too late to do anything about it.

  Ma peeked into the room, fear on her face. He wondered what kind of noises he had made in his sleep to bring her to his bedside so quickly. As she got him a drink and rearranged his blankets, Jake tried to pantomime to her. It took several frustrating tries at communicating before she jumped up and found paper and a pencil on his desk. Relieved, Jake wrote out his questions.

  How is Coralee? And how bad was the fire?

  Ma smiled tiredly. “I don’t believe there were any other injuries. Coralee stopped by this morning. She was...rather upset when she saw you. As for the shop, well, it’s gone. And the rest of the buildings to the north of it. Some property was recovered, but we’re all just thankful no lives were lost.”

  Yet.

  The word remained unspoken, but Jake knew it wa
s in Ma’s mind. He felt like he would recover. He imagined he could feel his body healing. But effects from breathing in smoke like this could be tricky. Samuel was right: it would be several days before they knew for sure if Jake was out of danger.

  Ma patted his hand and left the room. Jake lay still in bed as his thoughts raced. If he took a turn for the worse, what would happen to his parents? And the twins? Ma couldn’t raise them for long, not with Pa’s injury and the farm to handle. He worried about Coralee. She must be devastated after losing the shop. Was anyone there to comfort her? Jake’s hands clenched into fists. He hated that he was stuck there in bed, doing nothing while Coralee suffered.

  He closed his eyes, deliberately taking slow breaths in an effort to relax. Getting upset about things he couldn’t control would only hinder the healing process. For several minutes Jake let all his frustrated, helpless thoughts spin into prayers. He couldn’t handle anything on his own right now, but he was learning that God could handle everything better than he ever could.

  Rustling in the hall drew his attention and he watched as two little blond heads peeked around the door frame. With a grin, he gestured Louisa and Phillip to his side. They ran straight to him and clambered up onto the bed on either side of him. But then they just sat and stared. Jake’s eyes slid closed. These precious children hadn’t seen their parents ill, but they’d known they had lost something important. The many tears they had shed in the first few weeks he’d had them were evidence of that. And now the person they had come to rely on most was hurt. Ignoring the pain in his arms, Jake pulled their small bodies close.

  Looking into their trusting, love-filled faces, realization hit him with sudden intensity. He wanted to keep them with him forever. In that moment Jake knew that he couldn’t give Louisa and Phillip up to anyone else. He loved them. They were a family now and he couldn’t force them to give that up again. He squeezed the children—his children—closer still.