Amongst The Flames: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Embers and Ashes Book 1) (4 page)

T
he moment Dr. Reed cut the cast off my arm a week later I felt my hope come flooding back into me. My arm felt like it could finally breathe again without that hard exterior. I tried to move my arm around, but Doctor Reed was quick to touch my arm and lower it, stopping me.

“Be careful, Cole,” he said as he inspected my arm. He looked at the wound.

“Careful? It feels amazing,” I replied as I smiled.

“Maybe. But you aren’t healed up yet and you are still far too heavily medicated to use your arm regularly without injury. There’s quite a bit of this journey left for you. You can stay out of the sling as long as you feel comfortable, but keep it on if it’s bothering you. There’s no shame in having it.” The doctor turned around to the counter and grabbed a piece of paper. Handing it over to Megan who was by my side, he said, “Turning Point is an excellent physical therapy facility.” He looked over to me as he continued, “You can start going there. I already made the call and set up an appointment with Dr. Callan. She’ll take good care of you.”

“Thank you,” Megan said, folding the paper in half and placing it in her purse. She swung around and grabbed Bradley from the bed. He was attempting to pull a crayon away from Justin’s hand.

“No problem. And thank you for what you do, Mr. Taylor,” the doctor said, patting my good shoulder and shaking my hand.

I smiled as I replied, “Thank you for the work you do here and all the help you’ve given me.”

On the drive home, Megan asked, “How’s your arm feeling? I know it felt good back at the doctor’s office… but I’m wondering if it’s still feeling good.”

“It’s completely fine. I don’t get why I can’t just go back to work,” I replied, glaring out my window at the passing city blocks.

“The paper said you cannot even hold as much as a cell phone, let alone an axe, Cole.”

I sighed. “I just really want to get back out there… I feel like I’m letting everyone down at the station.”

“I know you do, but they understand you got hurt and need time to get healed up,” she replied.

“Maybe…” I responded. Looking back out my window as the kids were trying to sing along with the radio from the back seat, I watched the cars pass by our truck. Where’s everyone going? I wondered. It seemed like everyone in the world had somewhere to go or something to do besides me. I hated it.

Getting back home around noon, Megan fed the kids and put them down for a nap while I sat idly on the couch. As she came down the stairs from putting them down, she grabbed onto the banister slightly, letting her hand fall as she continued into our living room.

“The guys wanted me to go hit the greens with them.”

“You can’t golf, love,” she replied softly with a smile.

“I know that, but I could tag along and watch.”

“Oh, then why haven’t you gone lately? I know you’ve missed them…”

“It’s March… hasn’t been the best weather exactly. They wanted to tee off the season when my cast came off.”

Nodding slowly, she said, “I’m sure being out with the guys is exactly what you need. You’ve been complaining since that poker night about wanting to get out more.” She paused and smiled deeply as she continued, “This reminds me… the baths stop today, thank goodness.”

I grinned. “I agree… it was kind of awesome at first. But over time it became this emasculating task that made me feel like less than a man.”

She laughed. “Yeah… I love you, but I’m glad that part is over.”

Getting up, I went over to the counter and grabbed my phone.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Seeing when tee time is for tomorrow.”

“Oh. I thought you meant you were going to go today. I have a thing tomorrow, at nine, so you can’t have the truck.”

“Not having a second car anymore sure is annoying… What thing do you have? Can I drop you off?” I asked.

“Can’t you just get a ride or something? It would be easier. No use changing my plans because you decided you want to do something…” she asked.

“I’ll try…” I replied.

She headed into the back of the house past the kitchen and into the laundry room. As she changed the laundry from the washer to the dryer, I got a hold of Micah on my cell phone in the living room.

“Got the cast off! What time you want to do golf tomorrow? About ten? Like last year?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. We’ve been talking about your doctor’s appointment at the station. Few of them thought you weren’t going to get it off today.”

“Who thought I wasn’t going to get it off? Was it Alderman?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied.

Shaking my head, I said, “For a gambler, he’s sure dumb with some of his bets. Hey, could you pick me up tomorrow for golf?” I asked, slightly embarrassed.

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll see you at quarter to ten.” Micah and I hung up our phone call as Megan came back through the kitchen on her way to the living room with a basket full of clean clothes. “Micah’s giving me a ride.”

“I see,” she replied as she dropped the laundry onto the couch and began folding.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she replied as she sighed. “I’m just tired.”

I nodded in agreement. “I hear you on that one.” I got up off the couch and snatched an apple out of the basket of fruit on the counter. “You sure look nice today by the way,” I said as I took a bite.

I knew she couldn’t help but smile back at me from the couch. I came over to her. Setting my apple down on the coffee table, I brushed back her hair behind her ear to see that smile as she turned around. That smile and those lips were the ones that stole my heart away so long ago back at station 9 when I was just a rookie and she was the Captain’s daughter.

“There’s that gorgeous smile I fell in love with,” I said as I kissed her neck softly.

She giggled as she pulled away from my arms. “I need to get this laundry done before the boys get up from their nap.”

“They’ll be sleeping for a while. They barely went down…” I said, kissing the back of her neck.

“True, but I don’t have the time to fool around and you’re too brittle.” A jab to my heart and ego by those sweet lips sent the moment slipping away into eternity. I took a step back and picked my apple up from the coffee table.

“Okay,” I said, making my way over to the corner of the couch on the opposite side of her. Grabbing the remote, I turned the television on and kicked my feet up on the coffee table.

As we sat down for dinner that night, an unexpected knock came from the front door. Setting my silverware down, I watched Megan get up and go open the door. It was the Captain.

I set my napkin down on the table and went over to the door. “What’s going on? Something happen to one of the guys at the station?” I asked.

Tom put his hand up. “Just trying to have a word with my daughter, if that’s alright?”

I nodded and turned. What a jerk, I thought to myself as I headed back over to the table to continue eating.

“Ga-pa!” the boys shouted from their seats once they realized who it was at the door.

“Down! Down!” Bradley started yelling from his high chair.

“Eat your dinner,” I said. Looking past the high chair, I saw Tom hand Megan an envelope. It looked like one of those you get from the bank. Is that money? Why is she taking money from her dad? I’m on medical leave; we don’t need handouts.

Tom stepped inside and came over to greet the kids. Megan looked back from the doorway and mouthed ‘mom’ to me as she pointed outside. I nodded, acknowledging I understood and she stepped outside to go see her mom in the car. Tom didn’t say a word to me as he spoke with the boys. He set a couple lollipops on the counter for the boys and went back out the front door. He felt colder than his usual self.

After Tom left and Megan came back inside, I asked, “What’s that?” Looking at the envelope in her hand.

“What?” She was trying to play dumb with me as she slid the envelope into her purse that was hanging on the banister near the front door.

“That envelope your dad gave you.”

“It’s just his way of helping out.”

“What happened to my paychecks?” I demanded.

“They’re still coming in… but.” She paused as she hesitated. “I’m going to be going out of town for a little bit and needed the extra money.”

“So this had nothing to do with my paychecks?”

“No…” She was being short and sketchy.

“What is going on? Where do you need to go?”

“I was going to wait to tell you. But I want to go visit my sister in Seattle for a while.”

“For what?” I asked.

“To see her? Do I need more of a reason to visit my sister?” she demanded.

My wife was like a rose. Her beauty was breathtaking, her smells were intoxicating, but her thorns drew blood when they cut.

I immediately went on the defensive as her tone was sharp, rude and reckless. “Well, it would have just been nice to know what is going on. I can’t watch the kids in my condition… you know that.”

“And… that’s why I’m taking them with me. Plus, they would love to see their auntie and cousins,” she said, taking a seat back down at the table.

“And you needed an envelope of cash for that?”

“Oh my gosh, Cole, yes. I need to buy three airplane tickets.”

She had a point. Airplane tickets were expensive. “That’s true, round trip airfare isn’t cheap,” I replied. “Okay, how long are you going to be gone?”

“A couple of weeks…” she said.

“A couple of weeks? What?” I asked. “You can’t take our kids away for a couple weeks. When was this even decided? Why would you make this kind of decision without me? Why wouldn’t you wait until we all could go?”

“I don’t know, Cole. But I thought getting out of here with the kids would give you some time alone while you finish up healing. I thought you’d be happy. You’ll heal quicker without the accidental touching the kids do to you. Besides, you’ve never cared for my sister and have made it clear in the past you wouldn’t waste your time off visiting her.”

“The point of the matter is, this is a long trip and the boys are too young to be away from me that long. They’ll miss me and I’ll miss them. This should’ve been something talked about between us. And you all being gone doesn’t mean I will heal faster. And you know I love them! They aren’t that much trouble...”

She laughed. “Oh, yeah? You sure about that? You scolded Justin yesterday when he tried to give you a picture he colored.”

“Don’t do that to me!” I snapped back at her. “You know I was sleeping and didn’t know what he was doing! My eyes were barely open when he began shoving that picture in my face! And I’m not used to being around the boys but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them any less!”

Bradley started crying and Justin joined in on the hysterics. We began arguing louder to speak over the children, ignoring their grumblings. “Do you know how insane you sound?” she asked. “You’re not used to being around your own kids, your own family, and you’re complaining as you try to defend yourself. You should be happy since you can’t be bothered in your precious little world, Cole.”

“No matter how much they might bother me, that doesn’t change the fact that I love them. I’m going to be lonely without you and the boys if you go…”

“Oh, poor you!” she said.

“Who are you?” I asked, shaking my head. “This isn’t my wife!”

“This is your wife. She’s tired, she’s distraught and she hasn’t had a break in over three years. I need time to clear my head and relax and I am taking this opportunity. That’s the end of this conversation.”

Bradley stopped crying only long enough to dump his tray of meatballs and spaghetti all over the front of himself, and down his chest into his diaper. Megan got up and proceeded to get him out of the high chair. As she wiped off the food from his chest, she looked up at Bradley and then over at Justin and said, “Time for a bath, Boys.”

“Yay!” Justin began shouting as he lifted his hands up, waiting for Megan to grab him.

“I can take care of my children,” I defended myself as I stood up and tried to pick Justin up. A sharp pain shot through my arm and into my shoulder, causing me to drop Justin to the hardwood floor that lay a few feet below him. He began crying after hitting his butt on the floor.