Heart On Fire

by A. L. Cook

  She got to her feet, resolute. She might not feel like it now, but she knew she could get past this, the same way she had before. Once again she was in a place crowded with memories, so she had to leave. Without haste, but with extreme precision, she went to her room and pulled a suitcase out of the closet. She began pulling clothes from her closet and folding them methodically before putting them in the suitcase, followed by her toiletries, her computer, and some other bits and pieces. She thought regretfully about her favourite coat, still at Miranda’s house, but let it go as she was attempting to do with all of her emotion.

  Her phone rang again, and again she ignored it. She sat down at the kitchen bench and began composing a note to Maggie to leave for her to find when she came checking after Erin didn’t show up for her next shift. In it she apologised for leaving without warning, for causing her the hassle of having to find another employee and renter. She explained that she simply couldn’t stay somewhere that had been a place of so much happiness, that she had tried to do it once and it had almost destroyed her.

  She finished her letter and got to her feet, fetching her suitcase to leave by the door as she had a shower and prepared to leave that night. Her phone rang again, and she ignored it for the third time, but sighed as someone knocked on the door as soon as it stopped. She had hoped to avoid seeing anyone before she left, but supposed that if Maggie had come to see her she would probably understand, so she went to the door and opened it.

  And thought she was hallucinating.

  Because there, wrapped in a white hospital blanket with pale eyes utterly stark in his soot-stained face, was Cameron.

  Before she realised she was moving, Erin was in his arms, sobbing and kissing every inch of him she could reach while her hands frantically ran over him, as though making sure he was actually there, and whole. “How?” she asked, disbelieving.

  Cam kissed her back, kicking the door closed behind himself and lifting her so her legs were around his waist. “I promised,” he murmured between kisses. “All I could think about was getting back to you, to hold you and kiss you again.”

  He carried her to the bedroom, stumbling on the way, until he fell with her onto the bed, both of them tearing their clothes off as quickly as possible.

  “Wait,” she gasped, even as she didn’t, “does your mom know?”

  “Yes,” Cam told her, sliding a hand between them to stroke gently over her, making sure she was ready for him. “I called her on my way here. Damn it, Erin, get a condom now, I need you.”

  “Just do it,” Erin gasped, tilting her hips up to his touch. “You’re mine, I’m yours, I want you, Cam, now and always.”

  “Oh hell,” he muttered, and glided inside her, wrapping his arms around her and cradling her body against his as his hips thrust involuntarily. “I love you,” he groaned against her ear. “I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you in every way.”

  “I love you too, Cam,” she sobbed. “I was so scared, please don’t leave me, I couldn’t survive that again.” She stroked her hands down the hard warmth of the muscles of his back as she kissed him, eyes open and drinking him in.

  “I’m here,” he whispered to her eventually. “I’ll always be here, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

  Erin arched up and rolled them over until Cam was on his back and she was riding him, rocking her hips back and forth as he caressed her, cupping her breasts and sliding down her belly before doing the same again in reverse. She grabbed his hands and held them against her breasts, kneading gently and tweaking her nipples as she sought her pleasure, eyes fixed on his beloved face.

  Cameron was suddenly overwhelmed, the reality of the last twenty-four hours slamming through him. He sat up and pulled her close, kissing her deeply. Their tongues slid silkily against each other, the scent of her surrounding him and the feel of him in her and around her making her heart ache.

  This was where they belonged. Together, in love, making love and perfectly in sync. Erin stroked his hair tenderly as the frantic pace of their lovemaking slowed, intensified and deepened. They rocked together, slowly and rhythmically, and she realised that Cam was chanting ‘I love yous’ into her ear with every breath, almost as if he didn’t even realise he was doing it.

  Her desire began to grow, beginning between her thighs where they were joined and spreading exponentially everywhere else until she could barely breathe.

  “Come for me,” Cam murmured, gently sucking on the side of her neck and she did as she was told, her orgasm tearing through her with enough force to cause her to lose all her rhythm, her hips grinding wildly against his. “Let me hear you.”

  “Ca-am,” she groaned. “Oh, oh, so good, Cam, I want to feel you come too.”

  It took Cam less than a minute to reach his own climax, pulsing so deeply within her he wasn’t sure they could ever come apart again. He gripped her so tightly his fingers cramped as he emptied himself within her, both of them breathing heavily, foreheads resting together.

  They eventually collapsed side by side onto the bed, Cam curling protectively around Erin, her head on his chest. “How are you here?” she asked. “Your mom called me and said you and another firefighter didn’t make it.”

  Cam told Erin everything that had happened up until the fire coming over the ravine and him telling Mike and Andy to leave. “Then Jesse and I are standing there, the fire is almost on us, and we have no hope of outrunning it. So I initiated both of our SCBA systems and dragged him into a large waterhole,” he said, giving an involuntary shiver. “I think we’re lucky the water was so cold,” he mused. “It wasn’t deep enough to keep us well protected, but the chill stopped us from boiling. With the SCBA gear working, we completely submerged ourselves as the fire passed straight over our heads and managed to breathe for long enough that the fire burned over us, but we were okay.”

  “Are you serious?” Erin asked, stunned. “That’s amazing, Cam. I can’t believe you survived! Is Jesse okay? How did Mike and Andy get out?”

  “Jesse’s fine, he has a pretty severe broken ankle. Mike and Andy did the same thing we did, but in a much deeper part of the creek. They made their way down one of the hiking trails and got a lift back to the camp, telling Rufus what had happened and where to find us. The chopper came over again, and because that part had burned away, they could see us.”

  Erin plastered herself along Cam’s side. “I was ready to go,” she told him after a while, her voice a whisper. “I have a bag packed and was going to fly out tonight. I couldn’t handle losing the only person I love all over again. I’m sorry, Cam; I should have had more faith in you.”

  “Don’t think that way,” Cam told her gently, stroking her hair back from her face. “I’m back with you now, where I belong, and we’re both okay. We’ll work through this, and spend the rest of forever together.”

  Erin kissed him, her heart singing. “I love you,” she whispered.

  “I love you right back,” Cam replied, drawing the blanket up over them both before they drifted off to sleep, bodies and hearts entwined.

  Epilogue

  Setting the last sugarpaste freesia onto the cake, Erin stood back and eyed it critically before nodding to herself. Perfect. Exactly as she had imagined it. She then placed the glass bride and groom figurines on top, double checked everything else was in place and smoothed over the dress she was wearing specially for today.

  She had always loved making wedding cakes, but this one was special. So special that she was going to be late to the chapel because she was too busy making sure it was perfect if she didn’t hurry. She left it to the new delivery driver to take, knowing it would be perfectly packaged and arrive unscathed, before getting into the car waiting for her outside and making sure her dress was carefully arranged around her.

  She soon arrived at the chapel where Cam was standing on the front steps, looking incredibly handsome in his suit, waiting for her. The way his eyes lit up when he saw her made butterflies dance in her s
tomach.

  “You are so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing her deeply when she drew level with him.

  “I am so in love with you,” she smiled, slightly breathless as they parted. “Shall we do this?”

  Cam grinned at her and kissed her briefly once more before entering the chapel, while Erin darted around the back to the small room that had been set aside for the bridal party. She entered to see Shelley, a vision in her creamy white gown, looking like she was about to pass out.

  “Calm down, before you fall down, girl,” Maggie was muttering as she fussed over Shelley’s hair.

  Erin laughed and went to stand in front of the younger woman, careful not to step on the hem of her own navy blue bridesmaid dress. She took Shelley’s hands in her own, smiling at the ruby and diamond engagement and wedding ring set that flashed on her own left hand.

  “Stop, and just breathe,” she said calmly. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Breathe.” Shelley’s wide eyes met hers and she smiled. “Mike is waiting for you,” she told her friend. “He loves you so much, and is so excited to marry you. You just need to breathe.”

  Shelley nodded and did as she was told, colour eventually returning to her face. “Thank you,” she muttered, throwing her arms around Erin. “For everything. For my luck,” she said, fiddling with the sapphire earrings Erin had given her for Christmas several years ago.

  “You are so welcome,” Erin smiled. “Now, shall we go and get you married?”

  They made their way to the chapel doors and waited for the music to start. The doors were drawn open and Erin entered first. A very nervous looking Mike stood at the front, waiting for his bride to appear, but all Erin could see was Cameron.

  The man she had loved for the last three years. Her husband of two years. And, as he was to find out when she told him later that night, the father of her child. She took slow, measured steps towards the front of the chapel, smiling as he winked at her. Oh, how she loved him!

  She took her place behind where Shelley would stand and met Cameron’s eyes once more. Her heart was split open again, but this time because it was so full. It was more happiness than she had ever dreamed of, and she couldn’t wait to tell him the good news.

  “I love you,” she mouthed to him.

  “I love you more,” he mouthed back.

  And as one, those assembled turned to the back of the chapel to watch the bride walk towards her groom, to live happily ever after.

  Want more?

  Want more?

  If you enjoyed reading about Erin, Cam, Mikey, Shelley and their friends and family, stick around for some bonus material in Heart On Fire Snapshots: Scenes From A Life...

  Miranda And Elliott Meet

  “Butter. Flour. Milk. Cinnamon. Vanilla. Apples. What else? What else… I know I’m forgetting something.”

  Miranda Coleman mentally kicked herself for forgetting her list, but in her hurry to get her groceries and have a pie baking in the oven by the time her six year old, Caroline, got home from school, she had left it on the bench. She could see it in her mind’s eye, lying right next to the phone, but couldn’t remember what the last item had been.

  As she rounded the end of the aisle, her ice blonde hair falling to caress her cheek from where she had tucked it behind one ear, she saw them and sighed in relief. Eggs. That had been the last thing, the essential thing she needed, and as she headed towards the refrigerated cabinet, she smiled as she realised there were only two cartons left. Just in time.

  Placing them in her cart, she was momentarily distracted by a nearby display of glistening white cheese in the deli case and thought through the recipe she had for cannelloni. Deciding she had everything else at home that she needed, she waited patiently to be served so she could pick up some ricotta, leaning forward against the handle of the cart as she did so.

  God she was tired. Being a single parent was so much more draining than she had anticipated, even with Caroline in school. But Miranda knew her weariness came from heartache; it had never been her choice to be alone, and she missed Joseph more with every day that passed. She knew she was spending more time than was healthy just staring out at the ocean, but was at a loss as to how to fix herself, how to make herself feel better.

  “Keep busy,” she had heard her best friend, Maggie Stanthorpe, say a thousand times. “Keep moving, and keep talking about it. You’re too still, Randa, it’s not healthy.”

  Easy for her to say, married to the love of her life and blazingly happy. Miranda would be forever grateful that their friendship had survived her withdrawal, unable to be around someone so in love and settled after the disappearance- death- of her own husband, but it was still like an arrow to the heart at times.

  Lost in her own musings as she was, it took a moment before she registered the scent of smoke, strong and close by, and she straightened in alarm. Was something burning?

  “Oh.”

  The word was sighed out, quiet, but infinitely disappointed, and as Miranda’s gaze snapped around the store to see if she could spot any flames or smoke, she understood. Standing right behind her facing the cabinet she had taken her eggs from, a very tall, utterly filthy firefighter stood looking into it dejectedly. He was the source of the smoke smell, and she suddenly realised he must have been part of the crew battling the factory fire down near the harbour that had been blazing for the better part of a week. She recalled hearing something on the radio about chemicals fuelling the blaze, but as the man sighed heavily and turned to face her, all rational thought fled from her head.

  He was beautiful. The sooty smudges on his face did nothing but enhance the storminess of his grey eyes, and his dirty honey-coloured hair complimented the tan of his skin. He glanced at her as he turned, then stopped and looked at her properly, the white creases free of soot at the corners of his eyes deepening as he smiled, the flash of white teeth almost glowing against the black that had been carelessly swiped across his mouth.

  He looked as tired as she felt, and her heart went out to him a little. “Long day?”

  “The longest,” he affirmed with a slow nod, his chin dipping down towards his chest, and Miranda was surprised to realise that he was taller than her. It wasn’t often that she found men taller than her own five eleven and a half, but she forgot all about that when he sighed and rolled his shoulders back, his stained shirt pulling tightly across a well-developed chest as he did so. “All I wanted was something to eat and to pass out for about eight hours, but someone forgot to restock the kitchen at the station, and I was sent for breakfast,” he explained, gesturing to his own cart, already half filled with packets of bacon, sausages, loaves of bread, tins of baked beans and bags of oats. “But there’s no eggs left, which means I’ll need to go to the market on my way back, and-”

  Before she even realised it, she had reached into her own cart and held out her two cartons for him to take. “Here. I don’t need them; well, not as much as you do. I can stop at the market on my way home.”

  “No,” he told her, shaking his head. “I couldn’t.”

  “Of course you can,” she told him, and put them on top of a pile of bacon. “I’m not the one that’s been risking my life for the last who-knows-how-long, so just say thank you and be on your way.”

  He focussed intently on her with those incredible grey eyes and smiled a crooked smile. “I’d like nothing better than to tell you how beautiful you are, and how glad I am that I drew the short straw to come get the groceries,” he began, making her blush a little, “but I’m tireder than I can ever remember being, and I want to get it right when I flirt with you. Come out with me tomorrow night, and let me thank you for the eggs.”

  Suddenly breathless, Miranda found herself nodding before she even realised it, and smoothed her hair back from her face with hands that trembled slightly. “I-”

  “Oh, sorry,” he said suddenly, his eyes dropping. “I didn’t mean to… Never mind. Thank you very much for the eggs, ma’am.” And with that, he turned away from her
and pushed his cart towards the front of the store, leaving Miranda watching his tall form stride away from her as she wondered what the hell she had done to scare him off like that. She wandered aimlessly once she had gotten the ricotta, adding one or two more things into the cart and going to pay for them.

  It wasn’t until she had loaded the groceries into the car and was driving out of the parking lot that she realised what had happened. The sun glinted off the narrow gold band on her left ring finger and for the first time in four years she considered taking her wedding ring off. There was a nervousness in her belly and a catch in her breath that she barely remembered, but she didn’t think twice when, seemingly of their own volition, her hands tightened on the wheel and steered the car into an abrupt left-hand turn to take the road down to the market.