by Dana Corbit
He might have said “amen” then, but a sound ahead of him—a call for help or maybe a moan of pain—had him rushing forward and dragging Cory along with him. He touched a closed door that had to be a restroom, and after checking it for heat, he pushed it open.
Under twin circles of light from his and Cory’s flashlights was a room that had been reduced to a jumble of building materials and fallen debris. Another whimper drew both of their spots of light farther into the room.
In the far corner, Dinah sat, her legs trapped under a collapsed beam. She cradled an apparently unconscious Chelsea in her arms. Alex and Cory rushed forward, both trying to shoulder the beam up and off her. At first it didn’t budge, and from Dinah’s cries he could tell they’d only compounded her pain, but Alex wasn’t about to give up easily. Not now. Not when they were this close.
Finally, the beam lifted, and they set it aside. Cory gathered Chelsea into his arms. He pulled his mask away from his face and pressed it to the child’s nose and mouth.
“She still has a pulse, but she just went unconscious,” Dinah said before a coughing fit struck her.
Alex touched her mouth with his gloved hand to still her. “Don’t try to talk.” He pulled his own mask away and shared it with the woman he loved. When the mask was back in place, he lifted her as gently as possible so as not to cause her pain, and he and Cory began retracing the line of the hose that had become their safety line back out of the building.
With her arms around his neck, Dinah leaned her head close to his ear. “I prayed for you to find us.”
Alex pulled her even closer to his heart. “Good thing for you I was praying for the same thing.”
Unforgiving fluorescent lights greeted Dinah when she opened her eyes either hours or weeks later. She squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again to bring the scene into focus. The sterile setting reminded her that the paramedic had told her they were taking her to Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital. Strange, she didn’t remember anything after that.
She glanced down at the unattractive medical gown they’d dressed her in and the IV attached to her arm. It must have been a painkiller filtering through that drip because she couldn’t feel her casted leg that was suspended in front of her. She hadn’t known whether it was broken or not, but the cast confirmed it.
And Chelsea…Dinah’s head jerked as she thought of the child who had collapsed in her arms before Alex and his friend had shown up like a two-man cavalry to carry them out of the building. Where was Chelsea now? Was she okay? Did she need her?
“Well, there she is, back among us.”
At the doorway, John Fraser stood, his trademark grin as comforting as always.
“Are you going to move out of the way and let me see our daughter or not?” Naomi Fraser pushed past him and came into the room.
Reverend Fraser joined his wife by the bed. “We were wondering when you were going to finish your little nap.”
“How long have I been sleeping?”
“Just a few hours, probably from the painkiller,” he told her.
“Where’s Chelsea? Is she okay?”
Naomi stepped forward and started brushing back Dinah’s hair from her face the way she used to when Dinah was a girl. Her touch felt comforting.
“She’s just fine, sweetie,” Naomi told her. “She suffered some smoke inhalation, and they’re keeping her in the pediatrics department overnight, but she’s going to be fine.”
“Because of you,” her ever-supportive father said.
“Probably in spite of me.” Dinah chuckled, but that only made her chest ache.
At a knock on the door, the three of them turned to see Alex standing there. He was in jeans now, and his hair looked damp.
“Well, look who’s here, Dinah.” Reverend Fraser stepped to Alex and shook his hand.
Alex crossed the room, grabbed one of the chairs by the wall and set it next to Dinah’s bed.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“The fire, remember?” He grinned as he took a seat. “Captain Nevins insisted that I help put out the thing before I went to visit my friends at the hospital.”
“How do you ever survive, working for such a tough boss?” Dinah said with a smile.
Reverend Fraser stepped closer to the bed, resting his hand on Naomi’s shoulder. “Did you learn anything about the fire yet?”
“It started in the computer room. A circuit was overloaded. It appears to have been accidental. I might have found out more, but I was in a hurry to get here.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Dinah told him.
“It seems that about half of our church is here tonight,” Reverend Fraser said.
Dinah tried to sit up higher in bed, but she couldn’t manage it with her leg suspended. “Was somebody else injured? I thought everyone else got out of the fire.”
Alex answered for the minister. “No other injuries. There was only one kid who took a bathroom break at a most unfortunate time and only one teacher who swooped in to save her.”
Dinah’s cheeks warmed, but she didn’t want to think about her embarrassment now. “Then who else is here?” Dinah asked.
“Didn’t you hear?” Naomi said. “Another one of the belly buddies dropped out of the club this afternoon. Pilar Fletcher is downstairs in the obstetrics ward. Little Noah, or rather not-so-little Noah, weighed in at over nine pounds.”
“Zach probably won’t stop grinning for a week,” Reverend Fraser said, continuing the story for his wife. “The adoption for Adriana and Eduardo became final three days ago, and now Noah has decided to make an appearance.”
“Their family is really blessed,” Dinah said, smiling.
“They’re not the only ones.”
At Alex’s words, Dinah glanced over at him. He was staring at her, raw emotion clear in his gaze. A knot formed in her throat, and she couldn’t look away from him.
Until her father cleared his throat. “You know, I promised to say a prayer of thanksgiving with the Fletchers.”
“And I’m sure they need someone to hold that new baby for them,” Naomi chimed in.
With that, her parents took turns kissing Dinah’s cheek and then slipped out of the room whispering something about belly buddies and their growing church. Dinah waited until they closed the door behind them before she turned back to the man she loved. The man who couldn’t know how she felt.
“I was so angry with you today,” he said simply, his arms crossed over his chest.
She started shaking her head. “I know. I shouldn’t have gone back in for Chelsea, but I had to. I couldn’t leave her inside that building, scared and maybe hurt.”
“You could have both been killed.”
Dinah wrung her hands together. “I know, but I—”
“But nothing.” He was shaking his head, hard, as if he were trying to shake away horrible images from his mind.
“You said you were praying today when you found us.”
“I never stopped praying and promising God whatever it took to make the two of you all right. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you both.” He reached over and covered both of her hands with his.
“I don’t understand. When you said you wanted to take a break, I thought you meant—”
“I think I know what you thought, but you were wrong. If you’d died today, I never would have been able to tell you that I love you.”
All Dinah could do was stare. Had he really just spoken the words that she’d only dreamed he would say?
The sides of his mouth softened into a smile. “How could you not have known?”
As soon as he said it, Dinah began to wonder herself. He’d done everything he could think of to make her feel valued and precious. How could she have allowed her past to color what had been happening between them?
“We missed our meeting today after school. You said we had a lot to talk about, that you thought I had the wrong idea about something and t
hat there were a few things we could agree upon.”
“Remind me never to say anything to you that I don’t want you to remember. You have a great memory.”
She laughed but only ended up coughing into the shoulder of her gown again, making her chest ache.
“You’ll probably have reminders for a while of why people shouldn’t run into burning buildings,” he told her.
“You do it all the time.”
“I’m trained and properly equipped for the job.”
“I promise never to do it again.” When he nodded, she returned to the earlier subject. “You were going to tell me…”
He lifted one of his hands away from hers and ticked off items on his fingers. “One, we had to talk about why our relationship was so much more significant than a few dates, even if we haven’t made any promises.
“Two, you had the wrong idea if you believed that my wanting to take a break had to do with anything but my own identity crisis. Three, you and I can agree on the fact that there’s something real between us, and it would be a mistake not to pursue it.”
Dinah’s eyes burned more than they had in the fire, and she knew tears weren’t far behind. Was she ready to tell him? Could she trust herself and him to reveal the feelings she harbored in her heart? “It sounds like you have all the answers.”
“Far from it,” he said with a chuckle. “But I do know that meeting you was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”
Her chest tightened, this time for reasons other than exposure to toxic smoke, and she couldn’t hold back any longer. “I love you, Alex. I think I have since that first day when you came to that conference about Chelsea.”
Immediately, Alex leaned over the bed rail and covered her mouth with his own. She felt warmth and a sense of rightness that she’d never experienced outside her personal prayer time.
He brushed his lips over hers once more and pulled back. “I want so much to ask you to marry me, but I don’t feel as if I should until I figure out who I am. Can you wait for me until I have the matter of my adoption settled?”
Dinah started shaking her head. When he raised an eyebrow, she shifted her shoulder. “I’m afraid that offer isn’t good enough.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled. “I don’t mind long engagements. In fact, I’m pretty sure my daddy, the reverend, would have a coronary if I rushed into marriage, no matter how right it is. But I don’t want to wait until you find answers to all your questions.
“I love you for who you are. I know your heart, and that’s enough for me.”
He shook his head, not convinced. “Are you sure that’s what you want, even when I still have no idea how long I’ll have guardianship of Brandon and Chelsea? When so much of my life is up in the air?”
“I said before that we hadn’t made any promises. I want us to make promises.”
Alex laughed as he brushed Dinah’s hair back from her face just as her mother had done. “Never let it be said that I wouldn’t give a lady what she wanted.”
He glanced down at the floor and then up at her again. “I would get down on one knee, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to see me.”
“Improvise then.”
He lowered the rail that separated them. When their faces were only inches apart, he smiled at her. “Dinah, I love you. Will you do me the honor of, someday soon, becoming my wife?”
“Absolutely. I thought you’d never ask.”
He kissed her then, sealing the promise of two hearts. They were still kissing when the familiar sound of Reverend Fraser clearing his throat caused them to pull back with a start.
Alex pushed his chair back, but he kept his hand resting lovingly on hers.
Dinah’s cheeks warmed because not only had her parents witnessed at least part or all of Alex’s marriage proposal, but Brandon and Chelsea were there, too, Chelsea sitting in a wheelchair, a blanket over her lap.
“Uncle Alex and Miss Fraser are getting married,” Chelsea announced with glee. She wore the gloating expression of the matchmaker who’d been right all along.
Unlike his sister, Brandon looked stricken rather than happy for them. Dinah was about to ask why when the boy rushed over to his guardian. Alex stood to face him, and the boy grabbed him for a fierce hug. When he pulled away, Alex stared at him, surprised.
“I’m so sorry. For everything.” Brandon’s voice cracked on the last. “Thank you for taking care of us. For bringing Chelsea and Dinah out. I can’t believe we almost lost—”
He stopped then, sobbing into Alex’s arms. When he pulled back again, he continued, seeming to have something important to say. “You’re like a second dad to me. We don’t need blood ties to connect us. We’re family.”
Alex hugged him again. “That’s right, buddy, we’re family.”
Dinah smiled at all the people in the room, all of them she had come to love in so many ways. “And sometime soon, we’ll all be family.”
On the last evening of October, Alex sat next to Dinah at his kitchen table, with Ross and Kelly Van Zandt on the other side. He didn’t realize how tightly he was holding her hand until the solitaire engagement ring he’d presented her just the night before cut into his hand.
He eased his hold and glanced at her with his side vision. She smiled and squeezed his hand, offering silent support.
“As I told you on the phone earlier,” Ross began, “Reverend Fraser’s suggestion to speak to Neal and Helene Harcourt about the identity of your birth mother, clearly a long shot, gave us a great lead.”
“Did Neal know this Cynthia?” Dinah asked, shifting to find a comfortable position for her casted leg.
Kelly shook her head. “They were only distant relatives. But Barnaby Harcourt was fiercely proud of family history. He’d kept a book that had been printed after a huge Harcourt family reunion a few years ago. It recorded births, deaths, marriages and divorces. That book was still in the library at the Harcourt mansion.”
Alex shifted in his chair. These details were all well and good, but he wanted, no, needed, to know more right now. “What did the book say?” he asked when it was apparent no one would tell him without prodding.
“We found the wedding date for Cynthia Harcourt and Lyle Roberts,” Ross told him.
“Roberts? That’s probably more common than even Harcourt.” Frustration welled in Alex’s heart. After all this time, the search for this woman was still going to be all but impossible. He sighed and used his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose where a headache was forming.
“That’s just the thing,” Kelly said with a grin. “This reunion book had something else in the back—an address and telephone directory for most of the still-living family members. Including Cynthia Harcourt Roberts.”
“Are you kidding?” The wheels in Alex’s mind were spinning at a furious pace, possibilities and pitfalls colliding. “Have you called her? She probably moved, right?”
“Yes and no,” Ross answered, his own grin contagious. “Yes, we called her. And no, she hasn’t moved.”
Kelly set her coffee cup aside and started to explain. “Right away, Cynthia acknowledged that as a teenager, she had given up a baby for adoption. That was thirty-four years ago. She said she let her parents and Barnaby Harcourt convince her it was the best thing for her to do in the case of her unplanned pregnancy, but she’s always regretted it.”
“Regretted it?” Alex hated the way his voice cracked as he said it. He sounded more like an adolescent boy than a grown man.
Ross nodded. “She never forgave herself, even after she married and had two other daughters. They’re adults now.”
“Daughters?” Alex said.
“Uncle Alex, you have sisters.”
Until Chelsea spoke up, Alex hadn’t noticed that she and Brandon had joined the four adults in the kitchen. He didn’t mind sharing this meeting with the children, especially since he’d shared details of his adoption with them these last few days. Through their conversat
ion he’d learned that Karla hadn’t told Brandon the secret before Alex was ready. The boy had only overheard Alex’s conversation with his mother.
His heart beating faster, Alex asked the last, most important question. “Does she have any interest in making contact with me?”
If possible, Kelly’s smile widened. “As a matter of fact, she does.” She pushed a small piece of paper across the table to him. It had Cynthia’s name on it, followed by a phone number. “She’s waiting for your call.”
“Right now?”
Kelly nodded.
“That’s cool, Uncle Alex,” Brandon said, turning and grabbing the wall phone.
Alex didn’t allow himself to think about when Brandon had started calling him “uncle.” Releasing Dinah’s hand, Alex reached for the phone, probably holding it tighter than he’d squeezed her hand.
For several seconds, he stared at the phone, wondering if he should dial. Was it a blow to his adoptive parents’ memory? No, he decided. He’d finally come to a place where he could honor George and Edie Donovan, understanding even if he couldn’t approve of their choice not to tell him about his adoption. Should he wait until Karla was better and Mike was stateside? No, they’d tell him to go for it and be thrilled about his discovering his new family.
So what was holding him back?
“Whatever happens, we’re together,” Dinah said in a quiet voice.
“Yeah, Uncle Alex, we’re together,” Brandon chimed.
A knot formed in his throat. They were together—him, Dinah, Chelsea and Brandon.
He’d taken it for granted, but he realized now how blessed he’d been, knowing love all his life—from his adoptive family to the woman he’d chosen to share his life. Now he could be open to loving the rest of his family.
Clicking on the phone, he dialed the number in front of him. She answered on the first ring.
“Is this Cynthia…uh…Roberts?”
“Yes,” she said in a shaky voice.
“This is Alex Donovan…your son.”
The sob he heard through the phone line brought tears to his eyes. When she could finally speak again, she said, “My son. I’ve waited all my life to hear those words.”