Chasing the Fire (Backdraft, Fully Involved, Flashover) (14 page)

“I always knew that. I hated her for a long
time.”

“You should have hated me. I’m the one who
caused the debacle with our lives. Yours included.”

“Then make it up to me. Help my child.”

He raised his eyes to the ceiling. This would
hurt his pursuit of Lisa Beth. He knew it in his gut.

I’ve changed. Please believe that.

Had he really? Would he sacrifice himself for
these people? Risk what he’d come to Hidden Cove for? It wasn’t as
though no one else could do the surgery. But Juliet and Marcus both
wanted him.

“I’m scared, Linc. My child won’t be able to
walk eventually unless this problem is corrected. I want to know I
gave her the best.”

Marcus sat forward. “Please son, help us out.
We’ll never bother you again.”

He waited a long moment until the realization
came. He
had
changed. “All right, I’ll help you.”

And he prayed that God would help him, too,
in the end.

oOo

“
ALL RIGHT, I’M
ready.” Lisa Beth
waited by the abandoned well, ready to go into it.

Rocky Decarlo squeezed her arm. “You’re gonna
do fine, sweetheart.”

“I know.” Even though the sun was shining
mercilessly, the thirty-foot-deep hole was as dark as sin. “I’m
excited.”
She’d
been chosen for the rescue, in case the man
who’d fallen needed medical attention. And besides, the well was
only three feet around, and she had the smallest shoulders. The
victim was the twenty-five-year-old son of a farmer who, along with
two women, waited anxiously off to the right.

Sitting on the edge of the opening, she
grabbed on to one side and turned so she faced the inner wall.
Rocky, Riley and Jackson, on the other end of the rope connected to
the harness, gave her some slack and she braced her feet on the
wall, letting the harness take her full weight. Behind them, the
rope hooked up to the fire truck, in case they needed the extra
security. Her gloved hands gripping the burlap, she began the trek
down. It was then the jokes started.

“Hell, Lisa Beth, you’re heavy.”

“Man, no more ice cream for you.”

“What’d you gain? Ten?”

She smiled as she was lowered several
feet.

Evans spoke into the mic clipped to her
shirt. No turnout gear needed for this rescue. “Keep your feet on
the wall so you don’t swing.”

“Got it, Cap.”

Guided by the light on her helmet, she’d gone
halfway when a fetid smell hit her. Yuck. Then she heard a moan and
said into her mic, “The guy’s waking up.”

“That’s good, if he doesn’t panic.” Evans’s
calm voice gave her confidence.

“What? Panic in a smelly, dark hole three
feet wide and slippery?” As if to underscore her words, her foot
jerked and she dangled for a minute.

“Careful, Duncan, this isn’t the worst of
it.”

Step after step, with grueling slowness, she
finally landed on the bottom of the well, wedged in on one side of
the guy’s legs; he’d crumpled into a heap.

“What’s goin’ on?” the young man, Tim,
asked.

She stared at him. He had big shoulders,
which spanned from one side of the well to the other. Thankfully
he’d awakened. “Hi, there. I’m Firefighter Duncan. I’m going to get
this harness on you”—she held up the one attached to her belt—“and
my guys are going to pull you up.”

“Oh, good. The hole was covered by debris.
And I tripped trying to catch my dog. He ran away.”

She checked his head. “The bump doesn’t look
too bad, though you should watch for concussion.” She felt his
arms, chest, neck. Nothing broken there. Do your legs hurt?”

He nudged them against hers. “Right now they
feel great.”

She burst out laughing.

Over the mic she heard, “How’s it going down
there, Duncan?”

“Tim’s flirting with me, so he must be
okay.”

She held up the harness. “Watch as I show you
how it works. You’ll have to put this on by yourself. There isn’t
enough room for you to do it with me down here.”

Quickly, she demonstrated the use of the
contraption. “I’ll go back up. Then we’ll pull you to the top.”

Fear flashed in his eyes, illuminated by her
helmet light.

Reaching out, she squeezed his shoulder.
“You’ll be okay, Tim, I promise.”

He nodded.

Once she was sure he could manage, she said
into the mic, “Okay, he knows the drill. Pull me up.” She smiled at
him. “See you there.”

“Sure.”

Leaning over, she clipped the mic to the
collar of his shirt. “If you can’t for some reason do this, just
let us know and we’ll go with plan B.” Although there wasn’t one.
Yet.

He smiled. “I’ll do it.”

Lisa Beth began the climb back up. Her
shoulders were screaming by the time she made it over the edge.
Tumbling onto the ground, she lay flat out and stared up at Riley
and Decarlo. Riley quipped, “Jesus, Duncan, you got men falling at
your feet.”

And right then, she thought of Linc, and the
reappearance of the Bannings in their lives.

Jesus Christ.

oOo

LISA BETH RETURNED
to the firehouse
from the well rescue feeling revived some from the energy drink
Nick had given her. It was early in the shift, only eight p.m., and
she and Rocky went outside to have some of the pie they’d made for
dessert. “You did good, girl,” he told her around the first
bite.

“I’m glad. I’ve never done a well rescue
before. The guy was cute.”

“He asked for your phone number.”

“Yeah, everybody loves a firefighter,
especially after she saves their lives.” She took a taste of the
tart apples and really cold ice cream on top.

“You gonna make his day?”

“Nah.”

“Why?”

“Not good protocol to date a victim.”

They continued to eat in silence.

Then Rocky asked, “You sure it’s not because
of Dr. High-and-Mighty?”

An image of Juliet’s stunning face swam
before her and she set down the fork. “He’s changed. At least he
says he has.”
And I want to believe him.

“Leopards don’t change their spots,
sweetie.”

“He used to be a good man.”

Rocky’s eyebrows rose. “You gonna get back
with him?”

“No, but I’ll give credit where it’s
due.”

The door from the firehouse opened and
Jackson stuck his head outside. “Duncan, there’s somebody here to
see you.”

“Who is it?” Did she want it to be Linc?

“A beauty of a woman.”

She froze. The decision to flee was taken
from her when that woman appeared behind Jackson. “It’s me, Juliet
Krause. Please, Lisa Beth, talk to me.”

This was all she needed. Or maybe it was.
Maybe Juliet could remind her of the horrible things Linc had done.
Maybe she could dilute what Lisa Beth was feeling for Linc lately,
what was getting stronger every day. “All right.”

Jackson and Rocky left them alone, the latter
squeezing her arm before he went into the house. Juliet sat at the
picnic table across from Lisa Beth, who pushed both plates to the
side.

“So we meet again.” Juliet’s haughty carriage
and delicate bone structure made Lisa Beth feel awkward. It always
had.

“Yeah.” Hmm, the woman wasn’t nearly as
pretty as Lisa Beth remembered.

“I have to tell you something.”

“That you want Linc back.” She longed to say
You’re welcome to him
but couldn’t.

“No, I came to Hidden Cove to convince him to
operate on my daughter.” She explained the situation.

“Well, he is the best. I’m assuming he said
yes.”

“He did, which is why I came to see you.”

Lisa Beth braced herself. Nothing good could
come out of meeting with the woman who’d taken Linc away all those
years ago.

“He never got over you, you know that?”

She didn’t respond.

“Our marriage was doomed from the beginning.”
She bit her lip. “He’d call your name out when he slept. A couple
of times when we had sex.”

Oh, God.
“None of that’s my
fault.”

“No, it was mine and Linc’s. I knew he loved
you. I let Daddy manipulate him, anyway. I wanted him and the life
he could give me.”

“How’d that work out for you?” she said
sarcastically.

“It failed miserably. Both of us were wrong
to do what we did.”

She didn’t expect the concession, didn’t know
how to respond.

“I’m here to tell you something else.”

Lisa Beth waited.

“Do you remember when you called him about
six months after he left you?”

A clutch of pain shot through her. Still, she
managed in a light tone, “Silly me.”

“I don’t know what you wanted.”

“It doesn’t matter; he didn’t call me back.
End of story.”

But the message she’d left him replayed in
her mind despite her words.
Linc, it’s me. I need you. Something
horrible has happened. I need you here…”
She’d hung up after
she’d begged him to come to her.

“He didn’t call you back, because he didn’t
know you phoned him. Or hear the message.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had his cell phone by mistake. I listened
to your call. I knew from the sound of your voice he wouldn’t
ignore you. So I deleted the message and never told him.”

Oh my God
. All these years she’d
thought he’d blown her off at the very lowest point in her
life.

“I’m not proud of what I did.” Juliet shook
her head. “Taking him away from you and then hiding your attempt to
contact him.”

She sighed. “In the end it doesn’t matter,
Juliet.”

“I thought you should know. I’ve committed
sins against you, and I’m sorry.”

Lisa Beth was sorry, too. Juliet had no idea
what had happened that night. “Okay, I accept your apology, and it
was nice of you to come here.”

Juliet managed to get off of the picnic bench
gracefully. “All I wanted was for him to love me like he loved you,
like he still loves you. If there’s a chance for you two, you
should take it.”

“I’m not sure I can.”

“In any case, I wanted you to know. He’s
going to help me because he’s a good man, but that’s all there is
to it. I’m happily married, to a high school teacher. Things never
work out the way you think they will, I guess.”

Stately, always the princess, Juliet walked
back into the firehouse.

Lisa Beth sat outside for a while.

She went on two calls.

She didn’t sleep all night.

So when she pulled her car up to her
apartment building early the next morning, got out and found Linc
on the stoop, waiting for her, she knew what she was going to
do.

He stood when she exited the car and walked
toward her. “Lisa Beth, we have to talk.”

“Yes, Linc, we do. Come on inside.”

oOo

SHOCKED THAT SHE
let him in the door,
into her living room, Linc was no less determined to get this whole
thing with the Bannings straightened out. “I want to explain to you
why Juliet and Marcus came here.”

“I already know. Juliet visited me at the
firehouse.”

“Oh, shit. I don’t know what she told you,
but—”

“She said you never stopped loving me. You
never got over me. That I should take you back.”

“Wow, I never expected her support.”

“Me, either.”

He noticed then how monotone her voice was.
How stiff she was holding herself.

“Did it make a difference?”

“Yes. You need to know something.”

“All I need is you, love.”

She shook her head, and God Almighty, began
undoing her shorts. Slowly, she let them fall open at her hips and
lowered her panties a couple of inches. “Come closer, Linc.”

His heart practically beating out of his
chest, he moved toward her, looked down and saw…saw…” His gaze flew
back to hers. “That’s a C-section scar.”

“It is.”

“You had a baby? Whose?”

“Yours. Six months after you left me.”

His knees went weak. His head began to spin.
He had to grab on to the back of the couch. “Mine? I thought…”

“You were shooting blanks. Maybe with Juliet,
but we conceived a child when we were together.”

“I…” His emotions were a confused jumble.
“Did you know you were pregnant when I left?”

“No, I found out the next week.”

“And you never called me? Never let me know?”
He swallowed back the bile in his throat. “All this could have been
avoided. I would have come right back.”

“I didn’t want you to come to me under those
circumstances. But I did call, eventually.”

“No, no you didn’t.”

“Right before she was born.”

“She? We had a daughter?”

“Yes, and I named her Melody.”

A wave of sadness at the name threatened to
engulf him. “I never got your call.”

“No, Juliet told me last night that she had
your phone that day and listened to the message I left. She erased
it to keep you with her.”

“She had no right. No right to keep that from
me. Neither did you.”

“Maybe.”

His head felt as though it had been hit with
a thunderbolt. “Oh, my God, Lisa Beth. Where is she? Where is our
daughter?”

Slowly, she did up her shorts, turned from
him and crossed to the closet in the foyer. She came back with a
brightly colored box. “Look inside.”

“Just tell me.”

“
Look inside!!”

She set the box on the table, he sat and he
lifted the lid. In it were papers. A little pink rattle. A newborn
outfit embroidered with the name Melody. Other baby things.

“At the bottom is an envelope.” Lisa Beth’s
voice was monotone. “Open it.”

With shaky fingers he pulled up the flap.
Inside, he found a picture. Of a baby girl, with hair the color of
his. She was tiny. Too tiny. Attached to it was a paper. He
unfolded it. And swallowed hard. In his hands he held a death
certificate. His daughter’s death certificate.

“Oh, no, no, Lisa Beth.”