The Baby Bond (22 page)

Even in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for He is with me. He is my fortress and strong tower. Even if I walk
through a fire, the Lord God of Israel, the Holy One, is with me. God is with me. God is with me.

A beam crashed in front of her. She screamed and jumped back. Sparks shot out, burning her arms.

With a sob, she turned, trying to get her bearings. The gray smoke was everywhere and growing darker by the minute.

Where could Nic be?

A dog barked. She started in that direction. From somewhere she heard the crackle of fire but could see little other than thick, stinking smoke—just like in the Philippines.

She had charged into her worst nightmare.

“Nic! Where are you? Nic?” She screamed until the smoke stole her voice, refusing to be driven back by the crawling, clawing terror. Nic was in here somewhere. She wouldn’t leave without him.

Nic jogged toward the curb to wait as Engine Four turned onto the street, lights and sirens in Code Three, and headed toward the burning house. The blast of noise brought people from their safe homes to gawk in curiosity. Nic paid them no mind.

From his cursory search, the blazing structure appeared empty, though for a minute there he’d been convinced he’d heard a voice.

The fire engine was still a couple of minutes away so he made his way to his truck to reassure Cassidy that all was well. Though she’d been terrified, he’d had no choice but to go against her wishes. With a heavy heart, he figured his decision was the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. He’d proven to her that he’d put himself in danger for someone else’s benefit. This was who he was and what he did. He was finally proud of that, a pride Cassidy couldn’t share. No amount of talking would change her mind now.

As he approached the vehicle, Nic slowed, squinting
through the darkness. Then he froze. His heart ricocheted against his rib cage.

Cassidy was not inside the truck.

Whirling, he searched the area. Her pale hair would be easy to spot, even at night.

“Cassidy?” he called, pulse starting to race in an ominous manner. He looked toward the dwelling. No way. She wouldn’t have gone in there. She was too afraid.

The truth slapped him in the face. When the roof rumbled, he’d escaped through a side door. She hadn’t seen him exit.

His knees went weak.

“Oh God,” he breathed the prayer. Cassidy was in there. He knew that with a certainty he could not explain.

He started to run. From behind him shouts went up. “Stay back! Stay back!”

The fire truck was still a block away.

“There’s a woman inside,” he yelled as his feet clattered onto the porch.

Sirens screamed closer but not close enough.

Praying as he’d never prayed before, Nic flung himself into the inferno.

C
assidy was lost. Total blackness encompassed her. She gagged at the stench of smoke everywhere.

Tears streamed down her face. Her eyes burned so badly she could barely keep them open. Even with her shirtsleeve over her mouth, rasping gasps issued from her throat.

She was in big trouble.

Vague memories of elementary school programs flickered in her head.

Smoke rose. Get down low. She went to her knees and then lower, pressing her face to the cooler, hard-surfaced floor. Better, but not much. Her heart pounded hard and fast, pleading for air. Belly crawling, she felt around her for a landmark of some kind to guide her out.

Her lungs screamed.

“Nic!” she called again.

Her head hurt, spinning with a gray fog as thick as the smoke. She couldn’t be sure where the dizziness ended and the smoke began.

“Nic,” she cried, though the effort cost her.

He was here somewhere, trapped and alone. She had to
save him. No more deaths. The room faded. She struggled to keep moving, her limbs heavier and heavier.

God is with me. God is with me.

She pressed her cheek against the floor to rest. A momentary reprieve. Only for minute. A minute’s rest.

Outward sound ceased. The sound inside her head roared loudly.

God is with me. I will not fear.

Peace flowed through her like cool water.

Then all went dark.

Nic wasn’t worried about losing his life, but he thought he might lose his mind.

Cassidy, that crazy, brave, incredible woman, was in here somewhere, facing the beast because of him.

He yanked his shirt over his nose and mouth and hit the floor, crawling on all fours through the acrid smoke. For the moment, the flames appeared confined to the kitchen to his left, but smoke filled the residence. Whatever had started the blaze had smoldered for a while.

“Cassidy! Where are you? Talk to me, Cass.”

He was certain he’d heard her calling his name from this direction. “Cass.”

No answer.

Prickles of fear crawled over his skin. He fought them off. Panic used precious air.

Pray, Mama
, he thought,
and this time I’ll pray, too.

God, you know where she is. Show me. Not for me. For her. For baby Alex.

She’d come in here to rescue him. He could barely wrap his mind around that precious, foolish act.

With rigid discipline that would impress his chief, he kept
moving, searching along walls, sweeping his arms toward the center, praying every minute for contact.

Time was passing, seconds or minutes, he wasn’t sure which. Little time remained before the smoke would be too much. Already tears streamed down his cheeks. His eyes burned ferociously.

One more pass, Lord. Give me strength.

“Cassidy!” he called, expecting nothing but hoping with all his being.

The sweetest sound echoed back, weak and raspy, a mere whimper, but close. “Nic.”

From out of the smoke and darkness, Cassidy fell toward him. His heart surged. He gripped her arm. It was her. It was really her.

“Thank you, Lord,” he croaked and felt Cassidy’s answering nod. To her, he whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”

Upon entry, he’d mentally marked his escape route. Now, he began to backtrack, tugging Cassidy with him. Outside he could hear the calls of his fellow firefighters doing their jobs. A spray of water pummeled the side of the house.

A window popped. He heard glass shatter. Cassidy jerked. Her ragged breathing had worsened. She coughed.

Nic could take no more. Sucking in the thin air near the floor, he stood, pulling Cassidy up with him. Light beckoned to his right. Chest bursting, he swept her into his arms and raced toward what he hoped was a door.

Stumbling out onto the grass, Nic fell to his knees with Cassidy in his arms. Shouts went up from the bystanders. Footsteps pounded the grass. People ran toward them.

Sucking in great gulps of fresh night air, Nic tenderly cradled Cassidy against his chest. Gratitude welled inside him to the point of overflowing. They were safe.
She
was safe.

He gazed down at the woman he loved, the woman who’d
faced death to save him. Emergency lights rotated like strobes, bathing Cassidy’s soot-covered skin in alternates of red and blue and white. Nic thought she’d never been more beautiful.

Still fighting for breath, he stroked back her tangled hair and pressed his lips to her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open and then closed again. The knot below Nic’s rib cage tightened.

Paramedics, rattling with gear, reached his side.

“I’m okay,” Nic said, waving away the woman with a stethoscope. His smoke-scourged voice sounded rough but he’d live. Cassidy was the one who mattered. “Take care of Cassidy.”

Cassidy’s eyes flew open, wildly seeking his face. Her fingers clutched his shirt. “No. I’m fine. Nic.”

She struggled weakly against him as though she wanted to stand. Knowing how impossible that was, Nic held tight. “Shh. It’s okay now. You’re safe. We’re both safe.”

The reassurance seemed to be what she needed because she went limp, unresisting.

“We got her, Carano.” Strong arms lifted her from him. It was all Nic could do to let her go. He remained on his knees on the grass, watching with heartfelt thanks as the paramedics placed Cassidy on a gurney and administered oxygen.

His head reeled with what had occurred this night. Cassidy had almost died because she’d thought he was inside a collapsing house. She’d faced her greatest fear for his sake. The impact of that silent statement filled him with wonder. He closed his eyes and sucked in more of the precious clean air.

I love her, Lord. I don’t want to lose her. Show me what to do now.

Someone clapped a hand on his back. He looked up into the sculpted face of Sam Ridge. “Good job, buddy.”

Sam had no idea that this incident had been his fault. If not for him, Cassidy would never have gone inside that house.

Hands on his thighs, Nic kept his gaze trained on Cassidy. “She’s the hero.”

Sam, in bunker gear, pivoted toward the ambulance. His reflective stripes glowed in the half-light, giving him an eerie quality. “That your woman?”

Reality dropped down upon Nic heavier than a boulder. Cassidy would never be his woman. Not now. If he’d had any hope at all to see her free of fear, tonight had stolen the last chance once and forever.

As the ambulance pulled away with Cassidy and his heart inside, Nic dropped his head. “Not anymore, Sam. Not anymore.”

Cassidy was treated and released from the hospital, anxiously insisting on getting home to Alex. The teenagers had been worried, certain something had happened, but her baby boy had slept through it all.

“Are you sure you’re all right, Cassidy?” Angie asked, her thin face worried.

Cassidy swallowed, throat raw. “I will be, but thanks for spending the night.”

The teen shrugged. “No problem. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Cassidy stood at Alex’s crib, filthy and stinking of smoke. Her head hurt, but her heart hurt more. At the emergency room, she’d hoped for a chance to talk to Nic, but he’d never appeared.

She supposed he’d finally gotten the message that she didn’t want him in her life.

“I’m such a coward,” she whispered.

“Huh?” Angie shifted toward her, stirring the scent of her recent shower and Cassidy’s borrowed shampoo.

“Nothing. Talking to myself.”

“About Nic?”

She turned incredulous eyes on the fresh-scrubbed teen. “How did you know?”

Angie shrugged, a sly smile spreading over her lips. “If I had a guy like that, I would talk to myself all the time.”

The comment amused Cassidy. “I admit to being a blubbering idiot, but that wasn’t what I meant.”

“I know. I was kidding. What gives with you two anyway?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you love him?”

Discussing Nic with a fifteen-year-old seemed ridiculous, but Angie and the other girls had poured their hearts out to her more times than she could count. “I do.”

“So what’s the issue?”

Teenagers saw everything in black and white. They thought love was the answer to everything. If you loved a guy, that was enough. Cassidy knew better.

“I messed everything up.” Cassidy raised a hand to her forehead, rubbing the ache between her eyebrows. “The situation is too complicated.”

Angie made a rude sound of disbelief. “Don’t be a dill weed, Cassidy. The guy is a hunk. He’s crazy in love with you. Do something about it.”

“If only the solution was that easy.”

Angie tilted her head as if certain Cassidy was off-center.

Maybe she was.

The mistakes had been hers. The problem was hers. Maybe the solution
was
that easy.

She spun toward Angie, headache suddenly unimportant. “Would you mind keeping an eye on Alex while I run downstairs?”

Angie pointed a hot-pink fingernail at the doorway. “Go. Now.”

She was still grinning when Cassidy rushed out the door.

Somebody was knocking.

Nic struggled up from sleep. A tune played in his head. “Somebody’s knocking, should I let ’em in?”

He chuckled and snuggled his face into the soft leather. When he’d arrived home, he’d collapsed in the recliner, too tired and distressed to undress. He must have fallen asleep instantly.

The pounding came again.

With a growl, he struggled to sit up. The old recliner squeaked into an upright position.

Somebody
was
knocking.

Curious but seriously dead-headed, he staggered to the door and wrenched it open.

A gray-faced version of Cassidy spoke in a scratchy whisper. “I was wrong.”

He stared for two beats. Nah, couldn’t be. He must still be asleep. He closed the door and stumbled back toward the recliner. Halfway there, he stopped. He rubbed a hand down his face, shook the cobwebs out. His hands stunk of smoke. Oh man. He wasn’t asleep.

“Cassidy?” he said to the dark room.

His heart jump-started. Spinning so fast his head swam, Nic yanked the door open again. She was still there. He wilted against the jamb. “I thought you were a dream.”

“I know it’s late. Maybe I should have waited until tomorrow, but—” She stopped and bit down on that fascinating bottom lip.

Nic reached out and snagged her arm. “Get in here.”

She obeyed. Fancy that.

“Did I wake you?”

“Nah.” He tripped over his shoes. “Well, actually yes, but it’s all good. What’s up?”

He snapped on a lamp. A yellow cone of light flooded the floor, leaving the perimeter in shadows.

Cassidy fidgeted, twisting her hands in front of her. “I need to talk to you.”

Right. Been there, done that. Still had the gaping wound in his chest. “We talked already. You gave me the boot.”

Keep it light and breezy, Carano. One heart-stomping in twenty-four hours is enough for anyone.

“Can I take it back?”

He blinked, then scratched the back of his head. “Am I still asleep?”

“I hope not.” She took a step. Approximately three feet separated them but she was definitely moving into his space. He didn’t want to be happy about that but what could he do? He was a sucker for the woman upstairs.