by C. C. Coburn
Adam rubbed his eyes again and started to sit up. He needed to get out of there, but found himself pushed back down as the paramedic washed out his eyes again. “I’m fine,” he protested.
“I decide when you’re fine,” she said, placing the oxygen mask over his face again. “Breathe,” she commanded. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’ve got other firefighters to see. It’s not all about you, Adam—you dog-rescuer, you.” He could hear the gentle sarcasm in her voice.
“Don’t hurry back,” he muttered, and closed his eyes, breathing in the cool air, feeling it surge into his lungs, restoring the O2 levels to his bloodstream. He coughed again and sat up, then removed his mask and coughed up black goop that had gotten into his lungs. He spat it out.
Only it landed on a pair of white sneakers. He looked up into the pale blue eyes of the mother of all those children.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“No problem,” he gasped between more coughing. “Anything else you want me to spit on?”
“Do you always do that?” she asked.
“Do what?”
She crouched beside him. “Deflect a compliment. I was thanking you for saving my son. And Molly. What you did was extraordinarily brave. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
He gave her a tiny salute, muttered, “All in the line of work,” and lay back down. He didn’t want to talk to this woman. To anyone. He wanted a long shower and clean sheets. Cool, clean sheets.
CARLY SPENCER STOOD for a moment watching the firefighter who’d saved her son Charlie’s life, knowing he’d shut his eyes to get rid of her.
She’d wept as he carried Charlie out of the burning building. She’d been so sure he wouldn’t be found. Jessica, the babysitter she’d hired to care for her children after school, had been sick today and sent a friend to fill in for her.
Since today, the last day of school before the February break, had been declared a snow day, although the weather had turned unexpectedly mild, so it was actually more of a slush day, her three oldest children were home. And since Carly had back-to-back massage appointments booked at the Spruce Lodge spa—and God knew, she needed the money—she’d had to get moving and hadn’t taken enough time to run through the children’s routines with Tiffany. The girl had obviously panicked and forgotten all about eighteen-month-old Charlie sleeping in the bedroom that was farthest from the living room.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Spencer!” she’d cried as Carly pulled up in her vehicle in front of the burning building. “There was this huge explosion and all I could think about was getting the kids out.... But then when we got down here, I remembered the baby was sleeping in the back room.”
Her words had sliced into Carly’s heart. Without hesitating, she’d raced into the building and collided with a firefighter who was coming out with Mrs. Polinski in his arms.
He’d handed the old woman to a colleague and grabbed Carly by the arms.
“You’re not going in there!” he’d yelled through his mask.
“My baby’s inside!” she screamed. “I have to get him out!”
“Which floor?”
“Third. First door on your right!”
The words had scarcely left her mouth when he released her and ran back into the building as another firefighter carried Mr. Polinski outside.
Someone grasped her by the shoulders. “Come over here away from the danger, ma’am,” he said. “Adam will find your baby.”
The man seemed confident of Adam’s ability to find one tiny little boy in a huge inferno, but the sound of the building disintegrating and the amount of smoke billowing from the windows and doorways eroded her hope that the firefighter would get to Charlie in time.
Alex, Jake and Maddy had huddled around her, trembling with fear and shock. Carly hugged them close and waited.
She’d felt a prickle of apprehension go up her spine—as if someone was watching her. She glanced around at the crowd. Of course people are watching you, she chastised herself. Still, the sensation was so weird.... She searched the faces, but saw no one familiar. Shrugging it off, she put it down to her fears for Charlie.
When the firefighter returned, holding Charlie protectively beneath his coat, she’d rushed to take her son from him.
But then Alex had raced back toward the building to find Molly. Carly hadn’t had time to wonder about the Polinskis leaving her behind; maybe everything had happened too quickly for anyone to think rationally. The fact that her babysitter had left Charlie behind was evidence enough of that.
The firefighter had charged into the building to rescue Molly. Carly had held her breath, fearing for his and Molly’s lives. And then she’d heard the glass shattering as he’d kicked out the window. The smoke was so thick as it poured out of the window that she couldn’t see him clearly. But Carly knew without a doubt it was the heroic firefighter who’d saved her son, and now he’d saved Molly.
She’d needed to thank him and had waited until he’d been checked out by the EMT before approaching. But then an older woman had come by and made a fuss over him. She’d soon realized the woman was his mom. And she was annoying her son. Carly smiled. She would’ve acted in exactly the same way had it been one of her children who’d acted so fearlessly.
“ADAM? WHAT THE…?”
He opened one eye to find Dr. Lucy Cochrane on the other side of the stretcher.
Lucy knelt beside him, opened his jacket and put her stethoscope to his chest. The EMT had already checked his signs and was now working on some of his colleagues. Adam didn’t have the energy to point that out to Lucy so he let her examine him. She was an old school buddy of his brother Matt’s. Bossy, but a good friend to the family. And if Lucy was around, the woman with too many kids might leave him alone. She made him uncomfortable.
Made him yearn for things he’d denied himself for too long.
“I heard you’d come back to town. Just as well, or that dog might not have survived. Brave boy.” She patted his cheek.
Adam resisted the urge to groan. His older brothers’ friends still acted like he was a kid. And they all wondered why he couldn’t wait to get out of town once he’d finished high school. If they’d known the truth, they sure wouldn’t think he was so heroic.
Lucy listened to his chest and nodded. “Keep breathing,” she said, and put the mask back on his face.
“Thanks. I intend to,” Adam said with a note of gentle sarcasm as Lucy did a thorough exam under the watchful eyes of the toddler’s mother. He thought again that she looked way too young to have so many kids. She resembled Meg Ryan—skinny legs, flyaway blond hair—and she seemed so vulnerable that Adam experienced an unwanted but overwhelming urge to protect her.
He wondered where all her kids were now. Had she managed to misplace one of them again? And where exactly was her husband?
Lucy departed with a promise to return again soon. Adam closed his eyes, then jumped as something wet and slimy collided with his cheek. He opened his eyes. Louella, Mayor Frank Farquar’s pet pig, was standing over him. He wiped the slobber with the back of his hand. What the hell was Louella doing at a fire?
She grunted at him and went to shove her snout against his face again, but Adam pulled away in time. That was when he noticed Louella’s feet. She was wearing bright red rubber booties.
“What the hell?”
“Who knew old Lou doesn’t like the feel of snow between her dear little trotters?” his brother Will said from behind Louella.
“A pig in rubber boots. Now I’ve seen everything,” Adam said. Could this day get any weirder?
“You did good, little brother,” Will told him. “Lou was only showing her appreciation.”
Adam groaned. Will and Louella had, in Adam’s opinion, an unnatural relationship. Will didn’t mind hanging out with
Louella and, stranger still, she didn’t mind hanging out with him.
He and Will were opposites. Will loved everyone and they all loved him. So did their animals. Adam had always found social situations difficult and preferred his own company, much like his older brother Luke, who ran the family ranch.
A camera flash went off in his face just as Louella swooped in again. “You put that in the paper, Ken, and you’re dead,” Adam growled through clenched teeth.
“Hey, your ugly mug will be all over the paper tomorrow,” Ken said. “Human interest, you know.”
“Or porcine…” Will said with a grin.
“Go away. Both of you,” Adam said. “And take her with you.”
“Come on, Lou. I’m sure we can find someone who appreciates your affectionate advances.”
Adam watched as Louella trotted off behind Will, her bright red boots contrasting with the snow. She paused and glanced back at him. “Don’t even think about it!”
Louella snorted and turned to follow Will.
“Darling!”
It was his mom again. Adam sighed. “Spare me from women,” he begged skyward.
“You don’t like women?” the mother with too many kids asked. She was holding one of her kids—the toddler he’d rescued. He was perched on her hip, but looked way too heavy for someone as small as her to be carrying around.
“He comes from a family of brothers,” his mother said, completely ignoring the fact that Adam was about to answer for himself. “Unfortunately, he doesn’t relate to the opposite sex very well.” She offered her hand to the woman. “I’m Sarah O’Malley, by the way.”
Adam wasn’t about to tell her he related perfectly well to women. Just not to bossy ones. Like his mom. And Lucy. And now this nosy woman with black spit all over her sneakers.
“Carly Spencer,” the woman said, giving her own hand to his mom to shake.
“So nice to meet you, dear, in spite of the circumstances,” Sarah said. “Of course I blame his father,” she continued. “The male decides the sex of the baby. After five boys I said enough!”
Lucy had returned to check on Molly, since the vet hadn’t arrived yet, and chuckled at his mom’s remark. Adam saw Carly Spencer’s mouth turn up in a smile. She’d be even prettier if she smiled more often. Still, she didn’t have much to be happy about, since her home had just gone up in flames.
“Ouch!” he yelped as Lucy reached over and prodded him.
“She’s only trying to help, darling,” his mother pointed out. “If you can’t be more civil, you’ll never find anyone to marry you.”
“Sometimes your conversation defies logic, Mom,” he muttered through the mask. He pulled it away from his face so she couldn’t mistake his words. “And I’m not looking for a wife,” he said, hoping she’d go away. And take the Carly woman with her.
“Oh, my God, you’re gay!” his mom said, as if this was a revelation that explained everything—his unmarried state, his aversion to moving back to his hometown, possibly even the cause of global warming.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course,” she added quickly.
“I’m not gay.”
“You’ve never had a relationship.”
“Trust me, Mom, I’ve had relationships.”
“With women?”
“Of course with women! Mom, seriously, you’re acting weird.”
“I just want to ensure the continuation of the O’Malley line.”
“Last count, you had seven grandkids. The O’Malley line is safe.”
“But…”
Adam forced himself to sit up. “Once and for all, Mom. I am not gay!”
Everything seemed to freeze—the chattering of bystanders, the whine of emergency vehicles, even the sound of water gushing from the fire hoses.
Heads swiveled in Adam’s direction. His colleagues, several of whom had stood down now the blaze was under control, turned toward him and stared. Louella snorted.
The television crews zeroed in on a developing human interest story. The Carly woman shifted her kid to the other hip and smiled.
Adam groaned.
His mom looked as if she wanted to argue further. Adam lay back down, replaced the oxygen mask over his face and closed his eyes.
Moments later, he heard his mother huff and go off in search of someone else to pester.
“Your mom seems concerned about you.”
“She’s concerned about everyone. Unfortunately, she’s insanely overprotective of me.” He wanted to assure her he wasn’t gay, but what was she to him? No one important. Just the mom of a kid he’d rescued. He’d never see her again after today. What did it matter what she thought about his sexuality? What did it matter what anyone thought? Even his mom.
“You’re the youngest?”
He opened an eye. “How’d you guess?” He felt he had to at least try to be polite, since this woman had just lost her home. In reality, he didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. Especially anyone of the female sex. Between his mom’s nagging, this woman’s nosiness, Lucy’s brutal treatment, Molly the dog and Louella the pig slobbering on him, he’d had his fill of females for the day. What he really wanted was to take a long shower, have a beer and maybe watch a hockey game on TV with his dad. His dad rarely talked, never nagged. Mac O’Malley, patriarch of the O’Malley clan, was probably his best friend in the world. Pity Adam would never be able to talk about the night Rory Bennett died, even with Mac.
“Mothers have a special place in their hearts for the baby of the family.”
Did this woman ever shut up? Adam wondered. He was so sick of being called the baby of the family.
“Ma’am?” Adam was thankful when his captain’s voice intruded. He wanted to sleep instead of being surrounded by chattering people. Most of them women. “Your kids have all been cleared by the paramedics. You’re good to go.”
“Thank you. Thank you for everything,” she said. Then her lip quivered.
Oh, no, here come the tears, Adam thought.
Sure enough, the woman started to cry.
“Hey, there,” Lucy said, patting her back. “Your children are fine.” She pulled out her cell. “Who can I call for you? Do you have family nearby or friends you can stay with?”
The woman shook her head and staggered away.
Adam had never seen anyone look so desolate in his life. And he’d seen a lot of sorrow during his years in this job.
“Oh, my goodness.” His mom appeared out of nowhere and went to comfort the woman. She glared at Adam over her shoulder, as if he was the cause of her misery.
Adam strained to hear what they said to each other, then gave up. Lucy had given him the all clear, and Martin had released him from duty for the rest of his shift. It was time to head home and hit the shower. He sat up and glanced around. There were even more spectators than when he’d brought the dog down the ladder.
He could see his brother Matt conferring with the television crew. Matt was nodding his head. He turned in Adam’s direction and waved. Then he smiled. Matt rarely smiled.
As a youngster, Adam had held out for praise and encouragement from his big brother. He’d come to learn that exuberance wasn’t Matt’s way. A wave and smile would be all the compliment Adam could expect.
He stood too quickly and stumbled, but was caught by Matt’s strong arms before he hit the ground. “Hey, easy there, kid,” he said. “Sit down for a bit.”
Exhausted, Adam could only shake his head. “Need to get out of here. Take a shower.”
Molly was still lying on her back playing dead—except her tail was wagging. Matt bent down and rubbed her tummy. She rewarded him with a squirm of pleasure.
“The television people want to interview you.
” Matt indicated the crew he’d been speaking to behind the police cordon.
“What for?” Adam looked away from their prying cameras. “I was just doing my job.”
He felt Matt’s hand on his shoulder and welcomed its warmth. “You’re a hero, little brother.”
He hated that word. He was no hero. “Like I said, I was just doing my job. Do you do interviews every time you arrest some bad guy?”
“You saved the life of a child and a dog. You know how this town loves dogs.”
“Then tell ’em to donate generously to the pound.” Adam was fed up with talking. “Where’s your vehicle?” he asked. “Can you drive me home?”
Matt crossed his arms in a gesture that said he wasn’t pleased. “Since you live at home, why don’t you have Mom take you?”
“Because I want peace and quiet, not Mom alternating between singing my praises and getting hysterical about how risky my job is.”
“Mom is never hysterical.”
“You didn’t see her earlier.”
“Darling!”
“Speak of the devil,” Adam muttered as their mother returned.
“Could you drive Adam home?” she said to Matt. “Carly and her children don’t have anyone to stay with, so I’ve offered them the apartment over the stables for as long as they need it. Molly’s coming, too.”
What am I? Chopped liver? Adam felt like asking. Instead, he said, “In case you’ve forgotten, Mom, I’m living in the apartment over the stables.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that, darling, but I’m moving you into the house so Carly and her little brood can have some privacy. You don’t mind, do you?” Without waiting for his answer, she turned away and directed the Carly woman and her children toward her SUV.
Adam stared after her. “Is this the same person who, last week when I returned home, practically kissed the ground I walked on?”
“The very same,” Matt said. “You know Mom can’t resist a waif, and now she’s got five of them to care for. Correction—six.” Matt indicated Molly being lifted from her stretcher by one of the firefighters and carried to his mom’s vehicle.