Promise to a Boy

by Mary Brady

  Reed rested his elbows on his knees. When he did, Abby could see the tear and the darker stain of blood on the back of his shirt. The wound was in the middle of his back and to the right of midline.

  “How are you feeling, Reed?” Abby asked and she tried to examine the wound. If he was short of breath or had any loss of feeling or movement below the wound, he could be in real trouble.

  “I didn’t think it was much, but I can’t see back there, you know.” He gave her a strained smile.

  “He’s a quick study and a good second man on a hose, but he needs somebody to watch his back,” Baylor said and smiled.

  Baylor always made things feel safer.

  “How did this happen?” she asked as she pushed the wheelchair toward a treatment room. How it happened would also dictate how serious the wound might be. Every scrap of information could help save a trauma patient’s life. If the wound was deep, Reed might have to be stabilized and airlifted to the hospital in Kalispell.

  “He must have gotten hit during the explosion or when the debris fell.”

  “You were there during the explosion?”

  “Kyle’s fine. He’s with your neighbors Cora and Ethel.”

  “Now answer my question. How do you feel?”

  “It stung a bit when it happened,” Reed said as he turned his head and smiled to reassure her, “but it’s starting to hurt more now.”

  “Hi, Abby,” Dr. DeVane said from the doorway of the treatment room. “What do we have here?” She came forward and warmly greeted Reed.

  Abby quickly stepped aside and let the doctor look at Reed’s back. When she was finished, she spoke to Abby. “Abby, I’ll send a tech in to take some X-rays. Meanwhile, please check his vitals and we’ll go from there.” Dr. DeVane then turned to Baylor. “Let me see what you’ve got under that bandage, okay?”

  Baylor followed Dr. DeVane from the room and Abby turned to Reed.

  “I’m going to take your blood pressure and pulse while you’re sitting in the chair.”

  As she jotted down the vital signs, she observed him from where he couldn’t see her. If something dire happened to Reed, the world, her world, would be less bright, hold less promise. No other man in her life had ever made her feel that way.

  “So far, Reed, everything looks great. Do you think you can get up and sit on the exam table?”

  He agreed and she held his arm as he stood.

  “We went to see the tow truck,” he told her as he eased himself down to sit on the edge of the table. “Except for being scared out of his wits, Kyle’s fine.”

  “My mother will be with him by now.”

  She helped him to recline onto his stomach. “Better?”

  “Yeah. Thanks, Abby.”

  “Tell me about what happened.”

  “It’s true. That kind of thing happens so fast. Fred had Kyle and Angus and I were in the tow truck. They were pretending to tow a car. He’s a big old tame bear, Fred is.”

  “I’m going to cut your shirt off. You aren’t going to want it anyway. Are you?”

  “No. I was sitting on the bench in front of the shop. The building blunted most of the force of the explosion. Angus’s mother and baby sister were there with me. There were some men in the shop with the mechanic. The HVAC men were in the back doing something—I thought—with the furnace. Suddenly it felt like Armageddon and then there was almost a moment of quiet, but I’m sure I’m exaggerating. Then the smoke started pouring out of the building and people were running away. A second or two later the sirens started blaring.”

  They were lucky to be alive. Was everybody alive? she wondered, but didn’t ask. The answer to that would have to come at another time from another source.

  Abby pulled the shirt away. The injury to Reed’s perfect back seemed like a personal affront. He could be dead. If whatever hit him had been larger, moving faster… “I’m going to feel around here a bit, but go on.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “I’ll let you know soon. The X-rays will tell us more.” But after checking the wound, Abby was fairly certain Reed was going to be fine after a few stitches.

  “Anyway. Angus wasn’t hurt until he jumped down from the truck and then it was pretty clear he did something to his foot or ankle. I don’t think the baby was seriously injured. She was on her mother’s lap. The first firemen there convinced Fred to leave because they didn’t want him to have a heart attack while they were dealing with the fire. I don’t know who else was hurt.”

  “So you sent Kyle off and stayed.”

  “I was helping, like everybody else. It was an amazing thing.”

  “Amazing?”

  “Where I come from, most people relegate themselves to gawking. We use our mobile phones to make a call and consider our duty done. The people here ran from their homes and businesses toward the fire.”

  “They would.”

  “The chief put most of them to work guarding the perimeter well away from the building, but they were there with buckets of water, shovels and wet towels, anything they thought would keep the fire spreading to the trees.”

  “They were protecting the town and the forest. It’s just how the people here are.” Abby was never more proud of the residents of St. Adelbert than she was now, listening to Reed’s awestruck story. “They might gossip and squabble, but they love being a community.”

  The tech opened the curtain and pushed in the portable X-ray machine ahead of him.

  Abby put a hand on Reed’s shoulder. “I’m going to put a temporary bandage on for the X-rays.” She applied the bandage and hurried out of the treatment room.

  She took a couple big breaths to bring her emotions under control. Another minute or two and she thought her heart might actually break apart. Reed acted like one of the people of St. Adelbert, not an outsider.

  And yet, as it was, his life wasn’t here in this town.

  She refused the tears that wanted to form in her eyes.

  “Abby?”

  She turned to see Dr. DeVane watching her.

  ALONE IN THE ROOM AFTER the X-rays were complete, Reed had the time to wonder what the hell he had been doing. He wasn’t kidding about what he would have done if he had been in Chicago.

  After the debris had finished falling he’d helped drag, push and carry until everyone was away from the burning building. Cora and Ethel appeared as if out of nowhere and he sent Kyle with them, though the boy wanted to stay with Angus. The obvious thing for Reed to do then was to help the undermanned firefighters until their backup arrived. Second man on the hose took mostly muscle, and in a gym, even a city guy could get that. He didn’t have to do it long because the rest of the volunteer firefighters raced in from all directions.

  He didn’t feel like a hero. He felt like one of the town.

  He couldn’t say he had ever thought about feeling that way about any group of people before.

  Or any woman.

  No one he’d dated, courted, or seen for any length of time had made him feel as accepted as Abby Fairbanks had. She hadn’t hurled herself at whatever image she had conjured of him or tried to make him think he was the only man in the world for her. She had been real.

  He remembered the softness of her lips, the firmness of her body. She wasn’t afraid to have a little muscle on her either. She looked good in jeans, and he imagined she’d look equally good in a fancy dress, but he doubted the opportunity would come up in St. Adelbert.

  “Hi. How are you doing?”

  Abby stood in front of him. Seeing her there was like seeing her for the first time. If she lived in Chicago, she would be the kind of woman he thought he could grow to love.

  No, he loved her now, his heart told him.

  The thought stopped him from speaking and he stared mutely at her.

  “Reed, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I guess lying here with nothing to do leads to deep thoughts.”

  “Be careful not to hurt yourself.” She grinned at him.

&nb
sp; “Funny,” he said as he felt her grin down into his belly. Abby Fairbanks made him happy.

  Dangerous territory. It’d do him in if he ever hurt Abby again.

  “Dr. DeVane is putting a cast on someone.”

  “Angus?”

  “Yes, but I can’t tell you that.” As soon as she finished taking his blood pressure and pulse again, the curtain was pulled back by a tall, and Reed had to grudgingly admit, good-looking man.

  “Hello, Mr. Maxwell. I’m Dr. Daley. I’ll be reading your X-rays.” He then stepped over to look at Reed’s wound. “Nurse Fairbanks was just telling me about your exploits.”

  “I’m sure Nurse Fairbanks exaggerated. Everyone else did.”

  The doctor gave Abby a long, steady look and she grinned at the man. Reed wondered if that meant any thing and wondered if that was a buzz of jealousy he felt in response. That man would be a good catch for Abby. Heck, she’d hardly miss him when he was gone.

  “The X-rays are good news.”

  Reed was disappointed to see the man was better looking when he smiled.

  What the hell did he care about the man’s smile? “How soon can I get out of here?”

  Daley turned to Abby. “How soon, Abby?”

  “I’ll have him ready for stitches in ten minutes. If everything stays quiet out there.”

  Daley turned back to Reed. “Soon enough?” Then without waiting for an answer, he nodded to Abby. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” And he left.

  A FEW HOURS LATER, ABBY picked up debris in the last dirty treatment room. Once the doctor had confirmed Reed’s injury was superficial, Abby let herself relax a bit.

  Reed had refused pain medication but accepted a ride home from one of the EMTs whose job was finished for the day as long as things remained calm in St. Adelbert.

  By eleven-thirty, everyone had been assessed, treated, most had been sent home. They had been lucky. Only the two heating and air-conditioning workers were sent to Kalispell to be hospitalized, and probably just overnight.

  It wasn’t until the quiet aftermath that Abby realized she hadn’t even had a flash of panic. It was gone. Maybe the rest of Denver would fade like that.

  Twenty minutes later, Abby stepped into her own kitchen. As soon as she did, she spied a piece of paper on the table. A note. Her mother had taken Kyle home with her.

  Abby felt lonely in her own home. She wanted to rush over to her mother’s to reassure herself Kyle was all right, but they would be asleep. Instead she flicked on her computer. There was nothing from Lena and the virtual silence took a chunk out of her peace of mind.

  Happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. That’s what she told Kyle when he needed to learn how to give himself a boost.

  Sleep was out. Going to talk to Reed about Kyle was out. He would be tired after the ordeal and most likely asleep. Tomorrow would be soon enough. Besides, what was she going to say to him now? He was a town hero. Kyle couldn’t have a better role model than a man like Reed Maxwell.

  The night got a little darker and she got a little lonelier.

  She shook her head and pushed up from her chair. There must be some wash to be done. Sure enough, piled on the laundry room floor were Kyle’s dirty clothes. She smiled. Apparently, “Gramma” didn’t do laundry, either. She put dirty, grass-stained clothing into the washer, almost giddy that there was no blood on them or the smell of smoke.

  Light tapping on the back door told her she was not alone in the world. She dried her hands and went to the door.

  Through the curtain she could see Reed standing on her back porch. The sight of him upright and smiling had her heart doing unreasonable things, unreasonable especially since the man should be in bed resting.

  She pulled open the door.

  His hair was messy sexy and his feet were bare. He wore one of Jesse’s T-shirts with a rude saying, and she had to admit the rude words had probably never before been so well displayed. He looked like the grown-up version of the boy in the picture, adorable and strong and all man, and she just wanted to grab him and make him…

  “Hi,” she forced herself to say calmly as she stepped back so he could enter. “How are you feeling?”

  He stepped inside and closed the door. He stood looking at her, saying nothing.

  The nurse in her, not so long ago set aside for the day, sprang back to life. “Reed, are you okay?”

  “I don’t think so.” His low husky voice said things to Abby the woman, not the nurse.

  Before she could reply or ask him what he meant, he lowered his mouth to hers and drew her body against his.

  She pushed away. “Reed, what are you doing?”

  “Kissing you?”

  “You’re injured.”

  “It’s a ding on my back.”

  “It’s a bit more than a ding.”

  “Not to me it isn’t.” He pulled her against him again and the warmth of his kiss filled her with need. The need to be desirable, the need to feel pleasure, the pleasure a woman and a man could make together. She opened her mouth and let his insistent tongue inside to taste and tease hers.

  This time when she pushed away, it was to suggest they not stand in the middle of the kitchen and make out.

  “Where should we make out?” Reed demanded with a smirk.

  “Somewhere where my neighbors can’t see us through the window.”

  “Maybe they already know your mother bought condoms for us.”

  “But they don’t have to know when we use them.”

  “Are we going to use them?”

  “I hope so.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Come, I’ll show you.” She crooked a finger at him.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ABBY PLACED REED’S ARM around her, pretending he needed support, and placed his other hand on her hip. As they moved down the hallway toward the stairs, his hand began to rove and caress. The trepidation she had felt under the meteors should still be there, she knew it should, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. The fear that he was Kyle’s conniving uncle should be there, but it wasn’t.

  All she could feel was the excitement of being with him.

  At the foot of the stairs, he stopped and dipped his head for a lingering kiss that had her breathless. When she wanted more of him, she put her hand under his shirt and reveled in the firm planes of his pecs and the silkiness of his chest hair.

  The next she knew, Abby was plastered against the wall, pinned to it in a most delightful manner by Reed’s body.

  She broke her mouth away from his. “Are you sure you’re all right for this?”

  “Do I seem all right?”

  “You smell like smoke.”

  “Not me, just my pants. I’m going to see if I can get that nice landlady to do laundry for me like she did for my brother.”

  “I think she can do that, but that doesn’t really answer my question. Are you all right?”

  “And I ask again, do I seem all right?”

  “You—”

  He pressed harder until she could feel the full swell of his erection.

  “Um—yes,” she said, then grasped his roving hand and started up the stairs. A few steps up Reed stopped.

  She turned to see why.

  With him a step below, they were nose to nose and he had a serious look on his face. “So what was that between you and that doctor?”

  “Which one?”

  “Doctor tall and dark.”

  She laughed. “Dr. Daley. Ah, nothing.”

  “It seemed like something.”

  “Okay. So it was. Are you jealous?”

  “Should I be?”

  “Oh, let’s see. He is awfully handsome, smart, rich.”

  “Just like me.”

  “Ooh, you’re full of yourself, aren’t you?” She ran a fingertip along his jaw then around the neckline of his rude shirt. “Well, he lives here in St. Adelbert.”

  “I guess there is that.”

  “There’s something else.”

&nb
sp; “There’s more?”

  “He’s married to Dr. DeVane and she’s about to have his baby, and they are in the midstages of a tragic and beautiful happily-ever-after love story.”

  “Do you believe in that?”

  “Happily ever after? I think so. I’m just not too sure everyone gets to have it, though.” She nudged his nose with hers. “So were you jealous?”

  “I might have been.”

  “What else was between us was—”

  “Ah-ha.” He nudged back. “I knew there was more.”

  “Ah-ha yourself. What else was between us was I told him you’d act like one of us, and give him an ‘aw shucks’ when he talked about you helping people and fighting fires, and he’s—well, he’s also from Chicago and he said no way.” She stepped down until they were both jammed on the same step and pressed tightly against each other. “Anything else?”

  “Now that you asked. The undertaker.”

  She laughed at this. “He and I are through.”

  Reed drew his eyebrows together.

  “He and I know why we were there. We were an excuse to get Kenny and Delanna together. That’s all.”

  “Is there a man in the valley you haven’t seen?”

  “Hey, I’m their nurse.”

  He laughed this time. “I asked for that.”

  “You did. Now is that settled?”

  “Yes, but now I have something else that needs to be settled.”

  She pressed against him creating an unmistakable proposal. “The condoms are upstairs.”

  “Not all of them.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small packet.

  “You came over here with intent.” She jammed a fist on her hip in unconvincing outrage.

  “And your point is?” He kissed her again, his lips moving, searching, claiming, his hand roving again, caressing her.

  “Let’s go. Now!” She broke away and ran up the rest of the stairs.

  He followed her unhurriedly, his long lean legs flexing, his hand reaching toward her, beckoning. She shook her head slowly from side to side. He grinned at her with a luscious look of anticipation. His hair was getting less and less neat, the front lopped to one side in a casual style, more like the wild Montana mountain man he could be.