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He stood and walked out of the kitchen.
Autumn didn’t know which emotion she felt first, resignation or sadness. Both
feelings filled her eyes with tears and her heart with regret. Did Jack know what was
happening? Did he experience the same heart-bursting need to cry out in pain at what
would never be again?
Mom shifted in the chair, her eyes dark with anger. “I can’t believe this is
happening.”
With a sigh, Autumn reached over and touched Mom’s hand. Under Autumn’s touch
her fingers felt cold. “Mom, what are you going to do?” She could barely get the next
words passed her lips. “How far along are you?”
“Four months.”
Four months. Four months ago, Mom had slept with Mitchell Dillon and now the
world changed. Autumn’s little family would grow to a new baby brother or sister, but
she couldn’t be happy about it at this time and place. Remorse for things she couldn’t
change, but wished she could, reared up and blasted her security into a thousand bits.
Mom stood, her expression wooden. “I can’t talk now. We’ll discuss this more in the
morning.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Can you do the dishes, darling?”
“Sure, Mom.”
When her mother left the kitchen nook, Autumn stared at the table for an eternity,
trying to feel her way around the ache in her heart and failing. After she did the dishes,
she headed straight for her room and collapsed on the bed. Tears choked her, her throat
aching from trying to hold back sobs. Tonight’s events tore at her soul, exhausting her
reserves as she allowed fresh pain to swallow her whole. Her despair deepened, drawing
her under like quicksand as she imagined a future without her small family together.
Then she thought of Jack, and her heart contracted. God, what would he do? Would he
return to eating too much? Would he get into trouble and forget everything about reading
that she’d taught him?
How had all this happened? First George’s molestation, and now her parents
divorcing and a baby on the way?
Face it. You’ve had a charmed life, up until now. How long did you expect it to last?
Forever.
Later that night, perhaps around ten o’clock, Autumn awakened and realized she’d
fallen asleep in her clothes. She sat up and listened. At first she couldn’t identify the
bizarre sound she heard.
A strange crackling.
She sniffed. Her mind didn’t want to believe it for a moment. “No way.”
She breathed deeply, and this time the unmistakable scent of smoke hit her. But the
smoke detectors didn’t shriek. She flipped on the light and saw smoke drifting under her
doorway.
Fire.
Disbelief ruled her actions for a few seconds, then she bolted from the bed. She raced
to the door and touched it and the doorknob at the same time. Cool to the touch, thank
you, God. Snatching open the door, she stared outside. Fire danced like a dragon,
consuming the hallway toward the staircase.
Oh, God. Oh, my God. The entire side of the house burned, flames leaping against
the walls and rippling across the floor. Terror slammed into her. Heat scorched as the
temperature rose.
“Mom! Dad! Mom! Dad!”
Smoked entered her lungs and she gasped and coughed.
Not good. Not good.
She had to get to the stairway. No time to soak a towel in the hall bathroom. She ran
toward the flames, aware they could reach her before she made the stairway. Tongues of
flame reached for her, and she screamed as she backed toward the second-floor landing
railing. Panic sent deadly fingers straight at her.
No time.
She thought she heard a siren in the distance, then someone calling her name.
Through the roaring heat consuming one side of the house, she heard the voice again and
looked over the railing.
Mr. Dillon stood in the doorway. It looked like he’d broken down the door. He raced
toward her until he stood beneath her.
“Jump, Autumn! For God’s sake, jump! I’ll catch you!”
“My parents!” She held a hand out toward him, as if he could save them.
“Help is on the way! Jump!”
She knew she had no choice. The flames were almost on her. She hefted herself over
the wood railing and stood on the ledge.
Mr. Dillon held up his arms. “Now!”
She jumped.
Mr. Dillon caught her in his arms and staggered back, then fell. Her breath whooshed
from her, and without another word, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up. “Come on!”
As they raced outside, a fire engine roared to a stop at the curb. She grabbed at Mr.
Dillon’s arm, but he ran back into the house. Terror galloped over her skin in great
waves. He’s gone back in. Oh, God. Oh, God.
As firefighters raced toward the conflagration, a paramedic wrapped her in a blanket.
Stunned, she didn’t answer his questions about her condition. Mute with fear, she barely
noticed when Jack ran up with his mother hot on his heels.
“Where’s Dad?” Jack asked, his eyes wide and glassy with fear.
Autumn opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Bitsie gasped and then cried out. “He’s in there. Oh, my Lord, he went in there for
her.”
A huge sucking sound, rumbling deep and ominous, issued through the air a second
before the front of her house burst into a rolling, angry red and yellow wall.
“Dad!” Jack’s terrified cry pierced the night.
Bitsie knelt down and swept her son into her arms, pressing his face against her. Pale
as paper and her eyes wide, Bitsie let out a small, helpless whimper.
A fine trembling rolled through Autumn’s entire body as the paramedic urged her
toward the ambulance. As her entire world went up in flames, she realized Jack and
Bitsie wouldn’t see Mr. Dillon again.
Her parents must be dead.
Things had changed forever.
* * * *
Autumn launched from her horrible dream with a gasp. She sat upright, quivering
and cold.
“Autumn?” Jack shifted in bed and reached for the bedside lamp. “What’s wrong?
Are you all right?”
As his strong arms went around her, she felt his comforting presence deep into her
heart. She buried her head against his naked chest. “I was … I dreamed about the night
they died.”
“Oh, babe.” He touched her gently, holding her tight as he caressed her shoulders
and back. The agony in his voice showed her how well he understood. “Oh, man.”
Tears refused to be contained, pouring from her eyes as she took a gasp of air. “Why
now? I haven’t dreamed about that night in years.”
He pressed a kiss against her forehead, then her nose. “It’s everything that’s been
happening lately. The arson fires. The accident at the old building this week. It would
destroy anyone’s nerves.”
“I remembered how the smoke alarms didn’t work. We’d forgotten to change the
batteries. Dad was a firefighter and he forgot to change the batteries.” She sobbed. “It
was horrible, Jack. I—it was all the same. Not like a dream at all, but a memory.” She
sniffed and clutched at his shoulders as she looked up at him. “I couldn’t bear to lose you
like that.”
“You won’t.” His voice roughened, choked with emotion. “Now you know how I
feel whenever I think of you facing a wildfire again.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]