St Piran's: The Fireman and Nurse Loveday (2 page)

Ice slid through his veins. The children were stranded.

Including Joey.

‘R
IGHT,
I’m going in,’ Tom said. ‘Gary, can you take this hose from me?’

Steve grabbed Tom’s shoulder to stop him. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

‘My nephew’s trapped in that room. No way in hell am I leaving him there!’ Tom snarled back.

‘Nobody’s saying that you have to leave him, Tom. But nobody’s going into that corridor until we’ve stabilised the area—otherwise the whole lot could come down. And we can’t afford to let the flames reach the really flammable stuff.’

Steve was making absolute sense. As an experienced fireman and the station manager, he knew exactly what he was doing. Tom was well aware of that. And yet every nerve in his body rebelled against his boss’s orders. How could he just wait outside when his nephew was trapped inside that room?

‘Tom, I know you think Joey might be in there, but you can’t afford to let emotion get in the way.’

Ordinarily, Tom didn’t. He was able to distance himself from things and stay focused, carrying others through a crisis situation with his calm strength. But this was different. This was Joey. The last link to his elder sister. No way could he let the little boy down.

‘You either keep doing your job as lead fireman and getting
the flames under control,’ Steve said softly, ‘or you’re off duty as of now, which means you go back to the station. ‘

And then it would be even longer before he could find out if Joey was safe. Waiting would drive him crazy. Tom dragged in a breath. ‘Right, Guv. I’m sticking to my post.’

The fire crew that had arrived as back-up started to get the supports up; Tom forced himself to concentrate on damping down the blaze. Abandoning his job wouldn’t help Joey. Focus, he told himself. Just
focus.

It felt like a lifetime, but at last the area was stabilised and they were in a position to rescue the trapped children and their teacher. Steve had already vetoed the door as the access point; although the flames were out, the corridor was still thick with smoke, and until the fire had been damped down properly it could reignite at any time. The window was the safest option, now the area was stabilised.

But there was no way Tom’s muscular frame would fit through the window. His colleagues, too, were brawny and would find it an equally tight fit.

‘Um, excuse me?’

Tom looked down at the woman standing next to him. She was a foot shorter than him, and her face was bright red—whether through embarrassment or the heat from the fire, he had no idea.

‘I’m the school nurse,’ she said. ‘Look, I know I’m a bit, um, round…’ her colour deepened and she looked at the floor ‘… and I’m not as strong as you, but the children are only little. Matty and I can lift them up between us and pass them through to you. And I can check them over while I’m in there and make sure they’re all right.’

‘I see where you’re coming from,’ he said, ‘but you’re a civilian. I can’t let you take that risk.’

‘But I know the children,’ she said, her voice earnest—though she still wasn’t looking at him, Tom noticed. ‘It’ll be
less frightening for them if I go in to help.’ She bit her lip. ‘I know it’s dangerous, but I won’t do anything reckless. And we need to get the children out quickly. ‘

True. And, the faster they did that, the sooner he’d see Joey. That was the clincher for him. ‘All right. Thank you.’

She nodded. ‘I’m sorry I’m, um, a bit heavy.’

He looked at her properly then. Yes, she was curvy. Plump, if he was brutally honest. But there was a sweetness and kindness in her face, a genuine desire to help—something that he knew had been missing from the other women he’d dated. Sure, they might have been tall and leggy and jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but they would’ve fussed about chipping a nail. And he knew who he’d rather have beside him in this crisis. Definitely the school nurse.

And she had the sweetest, softest mouth. A mouth that made him want to…

Whatever was the
matter
with him? His nephew was missing, he had a job to do, and he was thinking about what it would be like to kiss a complete stranger? For pity’s sake—he needed to concentrate!

‘You’re fine,’ he said, and proved it by lifting her up to the window as if she weighed no more than a feather.

She scrambled through, and Tom almost forgot to breathe while he waited. Were the children all right? Was Joey safe?

And then Matty Roper and the school nurse came to the window and started lifting the children through, and there just wasn’t time to ask about Joey as he took the children one by one and passed them over to the team of medics lining up behind him ready to check over the children.

Three.

Four.

He swallowed hard. The next one would be Joey.

Except the next person to come to the window was Matty Roper.

‘Where’s Joey?’ he asked urgently. ‘The head said there were five children missing—that they were in the quiet room with you.’

‘Only four,’ Matty said. ‘And Joey wasn’t one of them.’

‘But he
has
to be. There were five children missing. He was one of them.’

‘I’m sorry, Tom. I only took four children to the quiet room with me and they’re all accounted for.’

Panic flowed through him, making every muscle feel like lead. How could Joey be missing? How?

‘Please, Matty. Check again. Just in case he came in and you didn’t see him.’

‘Tom, I know he didn’t,’ Matty said gently. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Then where the hell is he?
‘ Tom burst out in desperation.

‘I don’t know.’ She looked nervously at the supports against the wall. ‘Is this going to hold?’

This was his job. He had to get Matty and the school nurse out. And then he could start to look for Joey.

Please, God, let it not be too late.

Grim-faced, he helped Matty through the window, and then the nurse.

Once they were both standing on safe ground, he leaned through the window. ‘Joey! Joey, where are you?’

No answer.

Was he trapped in one of the other classrooms? ‘Joey!’ he bellowed.

‘Do you mean Joey Barber?’ the nurse asked.

‘Yes.’ She’d seen the other children, Tom thought, so maybe she’d seen his nephew. ‘Have you seen him?’

She shook her head. ‘Not today.’ Again, she didn’t meet his
eyes. ‘He’s the little boy who lost his parents just after New Year, isn’t he?’

‘My sister and her husband,’ Tom confirmed. And it was beginning to look as if Joey might be joining his parents. No, no, no. It couldn’t happen. He couldn’t bear it. ‘The head said there were five children missing. Now it’s just Joey. Oh, hell, can’t he hear me? Why isn’t he answering?’ He yelled Joey’s name again.

The nurse squeezed his hand. ‘The noise of the explosion will have scared him and probably brought back memories of the car crash. Right now, even if he can hear you, he’s probably too scared to answer. ‘

He thought about it and realised that she was right. ‘Not that he speaks much anyway, since the accident,’ Tom said wryly. ‘He barely strings two words together now. It’s been so hard to reach him since Susie and Kevin died.’ He dragged in a breath. ‘If anything’s happened to him, I’ll never forgive myself.’ He’d never be able to live with the guilt: his sister had asked him to look after her precious child, and he’d failed. Big time.

‘This isn’t your fault,’ she said softly. ‘You can’t blame yourself.’

‘I need to find him.’ He handed over his damping-down duties to one of his colleagues and went in search of the station manager. ‘Guv, Joey’s still missing. I need to find him. Please.’

‘All right.’ Steve looked at him, grim-faced. ‘But you don’t take
any
risks, you hear me?’

‘I won’t,’ Tom promised. He wouldn’t put anyone in danger. But he’d take the buildings apart with his bare hands if he had to, to find his nephew.

‘I, um, could help you look for him, if you like.’ The nurse was by his side again. ‘He knows me, and a familiar face might help.’

‘Thank you.’ Tom looked at her. ‘I don’t even know your name,’ he blurted out.

‘Flora. Flora Loveday.’ Her face reddened again. ‘And I know it’s a stupid name. I’m not a delicate little flower.’

‘No.’ He was beginning to realise now that she was shy, like the proverbial violet—that was why she blushed and couldn’t quite get her words out and found it hard to look him in the eye—but he had a feeling that there was much more to Flora Loveday than that. She’d put herself in a dangerous situation to help the children. ‘No, you’re like a…a peony,’ Tom said, thinking of the flowers his mother had always grown in summer. ‘Brave and bright and strong.’

Her blush deepened to the point where she seriously resembled the flower.

‘I’m Tom. Tom Nicholson.’

She nodded but said nothing and looked away.

With Flora by his side, he checked with Rosemary Bailey and the rest of the fire crew. All the areas had been cleared, and nobody had seen Joey.

He eyed the wreckage. Fear tightened round his chest, to the point where he could barely breathe. Where was Joey? ‘Maybe he’s in the toilets,’ he said.

Flora shook her head. ‘They’ve been checked.’

‘He has to be here. He
has
to be.’ Desperately, he yelled Joey’s name again.

‘If he’s scared already, shouting is only going to make him panic more,’ she said quietly. She paused. ‘When I was Joey’s age, I hated going to school. I used to hide in the cloakrooms. ‘

Tom hardly dared hope that Joey would’ve done the same. But it was the best option he had right now. ‘Let’s have another look. I know they’ve been checked, but…’ He glanced over to the huddled children at the far end of the playground.
‘Joey’s tiny. If he was sitting among the coats and didn’t reply, whoever checked might have missed him. ‘

Together, they went over to the Reception cloakrooms.

‘I’ll start this end—can you start that end, Flora?’ Tom asked.

‘Sure.’

He’d checked under every coat at his end when he heard Flora call out, ‘He’s here.’

Huddled up at the far end of the cloakroom, beneath piles of coats, his nephew was white-faced. And Tom had never been so glad to see him in all his life. He dropped to his knees and hugged the little boy tightly, uncaring that he was covered in smoke and smuts and he would make Joey’s clothes filthy.

Joey squirmed. ‘You’re hurting me,’ he whispered.

The soft sound pierced Tom’s heart. Of course. The little boy didn’t like being touched, not since his parents had died. As a toddler, he’d adored riding on his uncle’s shoulders and playing football and going down the huge slide in the playground on Tom’s or his father’s lap, but since the accident he’d put huge barriers round himself.

Tom let his nephew go. ‘Sorry, Jojo. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just I was very scared when I couldn’t find you. I’m so glad you’re all right.’

Joey stared at him and said nothing.

‘I know this afternoon’s been scary, but it’s all going to be just fine,’ Tom said softly. ‘I promise. I’m going to have to stay here until the fire’s completely out and everything’s safe, but maybe Mrs Bailey will let you sit in her office and do some drawing until I can get in touch with the childminder and see if she can take you home. ‘

Joey said nothing, and Tom had absolutely no idea what the little boy was thinking. Did he feel abandoned, or could he understand that other people relied on Tom to do his job and keep them safe and he had to share Tom’s time?

Flora was sitting on the low bench by the coat rack. ‘Or,’ she said, ‘maybe you could come home with me until your uncle’s finished here. I live on a farm, and I’ve got the nicest dog in the world. ‘

Tom looked at her. ‘But I’ve only just met you.’ Did she really think he’d let his precious nephew go off with a complete stranger—even if she had been brilliant and helped to rescue him?

She bit her lip. ‘I know, but Joey knows me. And my boss is here—I take it you know Nick Tremayne?’ At Tom’s curt nod, she said, ‘He’ll vouch for me. And it’s no trouble. I just need to pick up my paperwork from the nursery next door—the children will all have gone home by now, so I’ll have to finish the clinic next week anyway. ‘

So she
did
think he’d let Joey go home with someone he didn’t know.

Then again, Tom was usually a good judge of character and he liked what he’d seen of Flora. She was kind, she was brave, and she’d thought of the children before herself.

‘Is that all right with you, Joey?’ Tom asked.

Joey looked wary, and Tom was about to refuse the offer when Flora said, ‘You can meet my dog and see around the farm.’

‘Dog,’ Joey said.

And, for the first time in a long, long time, he gave a smile. A smile that vanished the second after it started, but it was a proper smile. And it made Tom’s decision suddenly easy.

‘Do you want to go with Flora and see her dog, Jojo?’ Tom asked.

This time, Joey nodded.

‘I can borrow a car seat from the nursery—they have spares,’ Flora said. She took a notepad from her pocket and scribbled quickly on it. ‘That’s my address, my home phone and my mobile phone.’

‘Thank you.’ Tom dragged in a breath. ‘This is going to sound really ungrateful. My instincts tell me to trust you, but—’

‘I’m a stranger,’ she finished. ‘You can never take risks with children. They’re too precious.’ She bit her lip and looked away, and Tom felt like an utter heel. She was trying to help and he’d practically thrown the offer back in her face.

‘Talk to Nick,’ she said. ‘And then, if you’re happy for Joey to come with me, I’ll be next door at the nursery.’

Somehow, she’d understood that this wasn’t personal—that he’d be the same even if the offer had come from a teaching assistant he didn’t know. ‘Thank you,’ Tom said and, making sure Joey was right by his side, went to find Nick Tremayne.

At half past seven that evening, Flora heard the car tyres on the gravel and glanced across at Banjo, who was standing guard over the child asleep on the beanbag. ‘All right, boy. I heard him. Shh, now. Let Joey sleep. ‘

She’d opened the kitchen door before Tom could ring the doorbell. ‘Joey’s asleep in front of the fire,’ she whispered. ‘Come in. ‘