Amongst The Flames: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Embers and Ashes Book 1) (11 page)

“Not any more than usual. Every time a call comes in, no matter if it’s been ten years or ten minutes, it sends your heart racing.”

He nodded. “Same here, I didn’t know it was the same for you guys.”

“Yep, sure is. Never get used to it.”

As we came over to the car, they were about to have Monica freed. We brought the gurney in close, the firefighters all moved out of the way. Kane and I slid the red stretcher off the gurney and pulled Monica out onto it. Then we transferred her directly onto the gurney.

Wheeling her back over to the ambulance, Kane said, “You’re lucky you didn’t die today ma’am.”

She smiled as her neck was held in a brace and her cheeks were pushed up to almost her eyes. She said to both of us, “Thank you!” as she was lifted up and into the ambulance.

The paramedics shut the back doors and flipped on their lights and sirens as they took off down the street. Kane patted me on the shoulder. “Not bad for your first day back. I think she was digging on you. She was cute.”

Shoving him in the shoulder away from me, I said, “You’re twisted, man… I’m married.”

“Woah, Taylor, I was just playing… Plus word around the station is you and Megan are having problems.”

Getting up in Kane’s face, I grabbed his jacket in a moment of anger. He looked terrified as I looked him in the eyes. Looking back towards the other firefighters, I released him and walked away. Taking off my helmet, I headed back towards the ladder truck.

“What’s gotten into you, man?” Kane asked, joining my side.

“I just can’t take your twisted humor right now… You can’t talk about my wife like that.”

“I didn’t mean any disrespect. You know that… I’m just trying to lighten the tension I know is going on in your life.”

I stopped and looked at him. “Well, I don’t need it.”

“Whatever man… You can be there for me, but I can’t be there for you?” he replied turning and walking away from me. He headed back over to Rick and the others as I continued walking to the truck. They were all staring at me while I sat in my seat waiting to leave.

I felt like an idiot for snapping on Kane, but it caught me off guard. I knew the rookie blabbed about Megan and me, but I didn’t expect to hear about it. I never brought up his mother to him. I punched the back of the driver seat in front of me.

Back at the station, I kept pretty much to myself outside of dinner. Meals weren’t something to mess around with. We ate together, no matter how tense things became between the guys. It was just an unwritten rule I wasn’t going to ignore. After the meal, I headed into the workout room to get a light workout in to help get that strength back I had lost. As I was on the butterfly machine, Micah came in.

“You okay, Taylor?” he asked as he took a seat on the bench next to my machine. I stopped and wiped my brow with the towel that hung around my neck and nodded.

“I’m fine. I’m just a little agitated that people know about Megan and me.”

“We’re all brothers here. You know that…” He placed his hands on my shoulders and I glanced at his face. “McCormick went through that messy relationship a year ago and we helped him through it… That’s what we do. We poke a little bit at each other, but that’s just part of being one of the guys. You taught McCormick that when he showed up here. And he confided in you about his mother not too long ago.”

I nodded. “I know…” I sighed as I turned around and began wiping my machine down of the sweat I had left behind. “I just feel on edge for some reason.”

“It’s okay, Brother. You just started back up at the station. You’re missing your wife, missing your kids and your boss is trying to get you fired. It’s understandable to be a little on edge right now.”

“Yeah,” I replied, turning around to him. “She doesn’t understand what we do… we save lives and risk our own to protect complete strangers. But she doesn’t even care.”

He shook his head. “Don’t lose focus, Brother. The issue isn’t about what you do here. The real issue between you two is about what you haven’t been doing at home and what you need to do. You got to lead that family!”

I raised my hands up. “There’s nobody at home to do anything for! My house is empty!”

He nodded. “Just keep praying and reading your Bible. God will come through for you.”

I felt my tension ease at his encouraging words. “Thanks, Freeman. I’ll go apologize to McCormick.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

I left the workout room and I found Kane out on the balcony off the dining hall by himself throwing a baseball up in the air and catching it. I took a seat next to him in a lounge chair. “Hey.”

“Taylor,” he said, keeping his eyes focused on the ball he was tossing up. I reached over and caught the ball, causing him to sit up and look at me. “What do you want?”

“I’m sorry about earlier, man. I was caught off guard… But that’s no excuse. The way I handled it was wrong.”

“It’s cool,” he replied. He looked down for a moment before re-establishing eye contact with me. “I could have gone about it differently… but things are pretty rough with ya two?”

“Yeah… she’s in Seattle with the kids… I don’t know when… or if she’ll ever return, and it’s really hard.”

“That’s jacked,” he replied.

“I know,” I said, lying down onto the lounge chair as I continued, “I tried to get her to come home and we could work on things but she said she’s done trying.”

“I didn’t even know you guys were having issues,” Kane replied as he lay down in his lounge chair beside me.

“Me either!” I laughed. “She’s done when I barely realize there is even an issue…”

“One thing I know about you, Taylor, is you don’t give up. Remember that fire down on Francis at that grocery store?”

Grinning, I replied, “Yeah…”

“You brought two people out, one over each shoulder and went back for more!”

“I know, and ignored Sherwood’s command to not go back in.”

“He was so upset that day,” Kane laughed. “But you wouldn’t give up on those people inside.”

Nodding, I said, “I know… It’s not in me to give up.”

“That’s right. Failure is not part of our vocabulary in the brotherhood at station 9.” He raised his head to look off the balcony in the distance as he continued, “I don’t know Megan a whole heck of a lot, but I know you, Taylor, and this fire won’t kill you.”

Smiling, I said, “Thanks, man. How’s your Mom?”

He shrugged. “She’s living… I try to get up there on my days off. It’s hard… but Ashley’s really being there for me.”

“The bakery chick?” I asked.

He nodded. “She’s unusually easy to open up to. I don’t see her being a long term relationship or anything, but I definitely enjoy the companionship right now in my life.”

“Does your sister get up to see your mom?” I asked.

“Yeah. She’s up there right now.”

I nodded. “That’s good.”

My comrades at the station were thicker than blood. My own brother who lives twenty minutes outside of town knew less about me than even the rookie did. That’s just how the brotherhood at Station 9 works, though. I just lost sight of that in a moment of weakness. We weren’t just a group of guys who worked together. We were putting our lives in each others’ hands every day, and that brought a closeness you just don’t find very often in life.

T
he crisp morning air was refreshing as I stepped out onto the balcony at the fire station with my cup of coffee in hand. It had already been four weeks since my return back to work and everything was back to a normal routine for me, as far as work was concerned. As I came outside that morning, I found Micah, as usual, deep in his Bible. He was already out at one of the tables on the balcony, so I joined him there with my cup of coffee.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Micah asked, shooting a glance over the balcony railing at the sunrise that was coming up over the Spokane cityscape. There were blues, pinks, and reds all woven elegantly across the early morning sky.

“So far, so good,” I replied, taking a sip of my coffee.

“So much evidence of God’s beautiful design when we only look for it,” Micah said with a smile.

“I agree,” I replied with a nod. Hearing the sliding door behind us, I looked back to see Greg walk out with Gus. “Good morning, Phillips and Vance,” I said with a nod their direction.

“Morning,” they replied. They both went over to the checkerboard table a few tables down from us and began to set up a game of checkers.

“What’s the latest with you and Megan?” Micah asked. “Yesterday was pretty busy with drills and all. Didn’t get much of a chance to ask how the weekly call went.”

Shaking my head, I replied, “Nothing new. She’s still in Seattle… But I’m just working on myself and trying to get closer to God right now. That’s all I can do and I’m really okay with that.”

“Well, at least you got the right thinking going.”

I nodded in agreement as I took another swig of my coffee. “How are you doing with Jasmine’s new boyfriend?”

Shaking his head, Micah said, “I met the kid the other night. Had him over for dinner…” His lips tightened as he shook his head again. “I don’t like him.”

“Was he rude or something?” I asked.

“Nah, it wasn’t that… I just know how it is to be a thirteen-year-old boy… And I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.” Micah’s serious look continued as he paused for a moment, then his face relaxed and he sighed. “But I raised her with morals, God and the truth of the scriptures. Now I have to hope and pray we sowed the proper seeds, because this will be the reaping.”

“Well, you and Denise can keep tabs on her and curb anything bad she might want to do, can’t you?”

Micah shrugged. “To a degree we can… but if a child wishes to rebel, they’ll find a way.”

I nodded. “And she has a cell phone?”

Setting his coffee down, he nodded. “Oh yeah… she’s had that for a couple years now.”

Shaking my head, I tried to picture in my mind little Bradley or Justin with a cell phone and being that old. “I can’t even imagine my boys being that old…” I said.

“It’ll happen in a blink of an eye; just you wait!” he replied.

“It’s crazy how fast kids grow up,” I replied.

“Blink again,” Tom said from behind us as he walked out from the sliding glass door. “And they’re graduating high school, another blink, they’re getting married.” Tom joined us at the table. Sitting down, he took a deep breath and said, “Another blink, you have grandchildren… The funny part is it seems just like yesterday Cindy and I were just a couple kids in love.”

“Grandchildren… I bet you feel old, Cap,” Micah said.

“I do,” he replied with a hearty laugh. Looking over at me, he said, “Our children are the world to us and that doesn’t stop after we give them away.” Micah must have sensed something because he got up and left Tom and me alone to talk at the table. As he went back inside, Tom turned more to me and said, “I know we don’t like each other very much…”

“Uh huh…” I said softly, turning my eyes over the railing towards the cityscape.

“But I’m worried about my girls.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking over at him.

“Mike called me last night and told me that Megan and Amanda were out until three in the morning. He was stuck with all the kids.”

“What on earth were they doing?” I asked. My heart rate shot up as I worried about Megan being away from the kids.

“He said bar hopping, but I don’t really know…”

Leaning in, I quieted my voice. “Come on Tom, why would Mike lie about that? What else do you think they could have been doing?”

He nodded. “I just don’t know what I did wrong in raising these girls. They are both moms… and just off going to bars and living selfishly… I thought I raised them better than that.”

Unbeknownst to me, my heart swelled with empathy for Tom in that moment. “Don’t blame yourself. They’re adults and they make their own decisions.”

“I can’t help but feel responsible, though,” he said, looking up at me. His soft blue eyes had a hint of worry and concern. The creases around his eyes were weighted like he hadn’t slept much the night before. He tilted his head back and forth a little as he said, “Maybe I should have spanked them more and not always only grounded them.”

“What’s wrong with grounding kids?” I asked.

“Well, I grounded them out of pure laziness I think. I didn’t want to deal with them or talk about what or why they were doing what they did wrong… I would just send them off to their room and say they were grounded. I don’t know… maybe I really shouldn’t have meddled with your and Megan’s marriage. I’m beginning to question everything.” He sighed heavily.

I remained quiet in my response. The meddling he did in our relationship wasn’t right and I wasn’t about to condone that behavior.

Looking up at me, his eyes looked to be a little watery as he said, “I thought giving them away was the worst days of my life… but hearing them carry on the way that they did trumped it by a long shot. I would feel embarrassed if one of my friends called me up and said they saw my daughters drunk at a bar!”

“So it’s a pride thing?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.

He shook his head. “It’s just not the way women should carry on… but I suppose times have changed. The Bible does talk about how women lose their way in the end times…”

“Why are you saying all this stuff to me? We don’t talk like this.”

“I’m worried about them and I know you were the last one to have Megan’s heart… maybe you can say something to her or talk to her? I just need my baby girls to get back on track.”

“They’re full-grown women… I don’t see what I could do.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know… but something has to be done.”

My curiosity couldn’t help but get the best of me. What were they up to, anyway? Why was my wife bar hopping? She rarely drank but on occasion and wouldn’t be caught in a bar for as long as I’ve known her.

“Captain, the Chief needs to talk to you,” Brian said from the sliding glass door.

“We gotta figure something out,” Tom said as he rose to his feet. Looking over at the rookie, he said, “I’m on my way.”

As he left through the door my thoughts drifted to Megan again. Every day that passed it seemed that Megan was revealing more and more that she wasn’t the perfect little stay-at-home mother and wife that I once thought she was. I said a prayer for God to help me not worry and to bring peace over my mind.

After my shift was over, I was on the way out to the parking lot and Tom was a few paces ahead of me when we suddenly heard the alarms sound off behind us in the station. He stopped and turned back to me, “They’re short-handed. Two of the guys are at a school teaching fire safety this morning for a couple hours.”

Turning, I looked back and said, “Let’s go.”

We rushed back into the station and began suiting up as the other crew slid down the fire pole. “Thank goodness you two hadn’t left yet,” Captain Hinley said. “There’s a big house fire on Assembly Road. Guess that’s what happens when you think it’ll be okay to be missing a couple guys for an hour or two.”

“Glad to help,” I said. I slid my gloves on as I continued, “It’s been relatively slow on the B-shift. So a little action isn’t a bad thing.”

He patted my shoulder. “You have a good son-in-law here, Sherwood.”

Tom nodded, but remained silent as he finished putting on his gear. We loaded up into the trucks and headed down to the fire. My heart was pounding as adrenaline coursed through my veins. Since I had been back from leave, I hadn’t been to a real fire yet. There were a few burning popcorn calls and false alarms, but no real fires.

As the truck began to slow down on the approach to the scene, my eyes widened as I watched the flames reaching out of the second story windows, dancing across the early morning’s sky.

“Sherwood, take Gomer and get the ventilation cuts up top,” Captain Hinley said from up in the front passenger seat of the ladder truck. “McCormick, cut the power.”

Coming to a complete stop, we got out of the truck and a woman was screaming at the cops who were holding her back from running towards the house. “Kelsey is in there still!” the woman cried out.

“Ma’am,” I said, approaching her. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know! I thought she came with her father out the back, but she wasn’t with him when he came around the side of the house. And he thought she was with me!”

I glanced up at the fire and then back to her. “How old is she?”

“She’s twelve, please save my baby girl!” the woman screamed.

“I will,” I replied. Going back over to Captain Hinley, I said, “We got a little girl in there, twelve-years-old.” Grabbing my axe and halligan off the truck, I turned and said, “I’m going in.”

“No, I’ll go,” Tom said. “Go help the rookie on the roof.”

Glancing over, I saw Brian setting up the ladder against the house. “I want to do the rescue. I can do it!”

“Let me take this, Taylor,” Tom insisted.

My jaw clenched as I nodded. I couldn’t be insubordinate to my captain. So I went over and began climbing the ladder to get on the roof. Looking back, I saw Tom strapping on his oxygen tank.

Getting up top, Brian and I got the ventilation cuts made and black smoke billowed from the hole on the roof. Looking back down across the ground, I didn’t see Tom anywhere yet. He was still inside. I hurried down the ladder and over to captain Hinley. “Where’s Sherwood?” I asked.

“He’s still in there looking for the girl,” he replied. The fire suddenly took a turn for the worse and part of the structure’s roof collapsed instantly. My heart skipped knowing that Tom was still there.

Suddenly Sherwood came across on captain Hinley’s radio. “I’m trapped, I need help. Repeat—I’m trapped! I’m on the second level, in the first bedroom.”

“I’ll go,” I said, darting over to the truck to grab my oxygen. Strapping on my air tank, I slid my mask on and darted for the burning house. Rick was outside, waiting with a fire hose in hand. He couldn’t start extinguishing the fire until everyone was out. Rushing by him, I went inside to find Tom.

Finding the bedroom he was trapped in, flames were climbing up the walls on all sides and the smoke was thick. “Call out!” I shouted through the flames.

“Over here!” Tom shouted.

My eyes scanned the room. There he was, trapped under a burnt support beam. The little girl was right under his arm that seemed to be somehow holding up the beam. “Tom!” I shouted as I rushed over to him and dropped to my knees.

“Grab the girl!” he demanded.

I pulled the girl out from under his arm. The beam suddenly shifted again and pinned Tom to the ground even more than before. The flames grew overhead as I set her down behind me.

“No! Get her out of here! Now!” he shouted. His eyes reflected the flames that were lingering nearby in the room.

“But that other support beam from the room above us is about to collapse. You’ll die! No man left behind, ever!” I shouted as I began trying to dislodge the beam.

“Get that girl to her mother right now, Taylor!”

Shaking my head, I realized he already knew he was going to die. “I can’t leave you behind!” I cried out as I tried with all my might to shift the beam up.

“You have to!” He said, shaking his head as he swatted over at me. “Don’t get the girl killed because of some stupid honor code!” I looked back at the little girl and let go of trying. He grabbed onto my coat and said, “Cole… Take care of my girls.”