Cole looked skeptical. “Better than Avery at school?”
“Yes.” Landon stood to his full height again and shared a look with Ashley. “Better even than Avery.”
Brooke turned her face into Peter’s shoulder. The things their kids said . . .
Landon wasn’t finished. “When you’re eighty years old, your siblings and your cousins will still be your best friends.” The adults had agreed long ago what came next. “Now you and Maddie go into the kitchen by yourselves and stay there until you can act like best friends.”
Cole’s expression fell, but he knew better than to argue. He nodded at Maddie. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
With a last helpless look at Brooke, Maddie followed Cole. Their voices faded as they turned the corner and moved down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Well done.” Brooke beamed at Landon. “I love how that boy listens to you.”
“He’s a good kid.” Peter chuckled. “Maddie just has a way of bringing out the worst in him.”
“For now.” Ashley took her place once more beside Landon. “One day they really will be best friends. All Cole’s buddies will think Maddie’s the cutest girl at school.”
“It’s so fun—” Kari kept her voice quieter than the others, since Annie was still sleeping—“watching them grow up and go to school together.”
Again Brooke checked Ashley’s expression, but her sister’s smile didn’t waver.
“I only wish Erin and Sam and the girls were here too. Dad would love it if we were all in one place.”
“Speaking of Dad . . .” Kari glanced from Ashley to Brooke. “Has he talked to you . . . about Elaine?”
“He called me yesterday.” Brooke took hold of Peter’s hand and gave him a knowing look. “We weren’t really surprised by what he had to say.”
“We’ve been expecting it too.” Ryan put his arm around Kari’s shoulders and gave the others a sad smile. “I’m happy for him.”
Only Ashley looked confused. She faced Landon. “Has he called us?”
“I didn’t tell you? Sorry, Ash . . . I thought I told you.” Landon cleared his throat. “He called to say he’d been talking to Elaine again, and as long as we didn’t object . . . he was thinking of asking her to marry him.”
Ashley’s face went blank. She tossed her hands in the air. “Great. I’m the last one to know.”
“Of course, you’re usually the first.” Kari grinned at her. “Remember how you knew about Dayne long before the rest of us.”
“True.” Ashley giggled. “Besides, I knew about this too.” She paused, and her silliness faded some. “I had a serious talk with Dad a few weeks ago.”
“Don’t tell me you talked him into it?” Kari sounded as glad as she did surprised. “He’s been moping around since his and Mom’s anniversary. I wondered what changed his mind.”
Ashley’s expression grew tender. “I couldn’t stand the thought of him being alone for the next twenty years. That wouldn’t bring Mom back.”
“And she wouldn’t have wanted that for him.” Brooke’s tone was kind, sympathetic. A year ago, this conversation would’ve been heated and full of emotion. But enough time had passed now. Their father and Elaine’s relationship was something they’d all come to accept.
“So is this the weekend?” Ashley crossed her arms. “Since you’re all up to speed on things.”
“No.” Ryan laughed. Next to him, Annie stirred in Kari’s arms. “I don’t think he’ll move that fast. He told us he still has a lot to consider.”
“I guess just the fact that they’re dating again is something he wanted to run by us.” Peter nodded. “We told him we’re all okay with it.”
From the kitchen, they heard Maddie giggling. “Stop it, Coley.” The two kids appeared in the doorway, holding hands. “Okay, Mommy.” Maddie flashed her sweetest smile. “Me and Coley are best friends again. Only he keeps tickling me.”
Cole grinned at Landon. “Because making girls laugh is the best way to make up.”
The guys in the room mumbled their agreement.
Brooke pointed to the adjacent room. “Okay, how about you join the others.”
“And this time she can have every shade of sunset she wants.” Cole wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Girls are so much work.”
“You got that right.” Peter’s response was quick. Then just as fast, he gave Brooke a worried look.
Everyone in the room laughed, including Brooke. She couldn’t be upset with him. Instead she could only look at him and marvel at how far they’d come since the days after Hayley’s near drowning. Back then she had been convinced that she and Peter would never again share an easy night of love and laughter like this one. It was proof that God hadn’t only spared their daughter with the miracle of her life.
He had spared their entire family.
They were still laughing when the phone rang. Kari was sitting next to the end table, so she handed Annie to Ryan and reached for the receiver. With one hand pressed against her ear, she brought the phone to the other. “Hello?”
There was a pause on the other end. “Sounds like everyone’s having a pretty good time without me.” Happiness rang in Erin’s tone, and she laughed too. “You have the whole gang over?”
“Pretty much.” Kari motioned to the others. “It’s Erin!”
A chorus of hellos broke out across the room.
“We had dinner together. Now we’re refereeing for the kids.”
“Ah . . . my full-time job!”
“Exactly.” Kari laughed again. With all the noise, Annie stirred once more, and this time she opened her eyes. “Oops. I woke the baby.”
“Glad to know I’m not the only one.” Erin sounded easygoing and full of joy. “So . . . I have a question.”
“Okay.” The others quieted down. “Want me to put you on speakerphone?”
“Sure.” Erin seemed like she could barely contain herself.
Kari pushed a button on the base of the phone, then hung up the receiver. “You’re on.”
“All right, here’s my question.” Erin hesitated. “If you have these big dinner parties next year, can you add another table for the kids?”
Kari met Ashley’s eyes, then Brooke’s. “Meaning what? You have us all on the edge of our seats.”
“Meaning . . .” Erin let out a squeal. “Sam’s been transferred to the office in Indianapolis—effective June 1, next year!”
She barely got her sentence out before the room burst into cheers and applause. Ashley and Brooke jumped up and hurried across the room so they could be closer to the phone.
“You’re serious?” Ashley tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned over the table. “That isn’t something to joke about.”
“Of course I’m serious. I’ve been praying about this since the day we left!”
Ashley let out a happy scream, and she threw her arms around Brooke’s shoulders and then Kari’s. In the confusion of the moment, Annie began to cry, and that quickly became an all-out piercing wail.
“Well, I better let you go. We can talk more later.” Erin’s laughter rang out loud and clear on the tinny telephone speaker. “Couldn’t wait to share the news!”
Despite Annie’s cries, the room erupted into more shouts of congratulations.
Kari took Annie into her arms once more. “I have a hungry one. Be back in a little while.” She cradled Annie against her chest and hurried down the hall to the bedroom she shared with Ryan. She enjoyed nursing her babies, and Annie was an especially good eater. She situated herself in the rocking chair near the window and helped Annie get comfortable.
Kari touched her daughter’s cheeks. “God’s working out all the details, little girl. Even the ones we can’t see.”
She thought about Ashley. Her sister was handling the absence of Sarah better than any of them could’ve imagined. She doted on Annie and was genuinely happy for Kari and Ryan. One day, if God so willed, Ashley would have another little gir
l. Kari prayed every morning for that to happen. She also prayed for her brothers—both of whom were struggling in different ways. But here was one prayer definitely answered. Erin and Sam were moving back to the area next summer!
Kari was so happy she had to blink back tears. Somewhere in heaven, she could only hope her mother might share in the joy of all that was happening. There were details that needed to fall into place, babies that were hopefully yet to be born, and marriages that needed some work. Maybe even a wedding somewhere in the future. But today Kari could do nothing but rejoice. Because though they didn’t quite have the happy ending they were praying for, one thing was very clear tonight.
It was within view.
Landon was playing hearts with three other firemen at the Bloomington fire station and trying to get off the phone.
“Come on, Blake,” Seth, his buddy across from him, raised his hand in the air and let it fall to the table, exasperated. “You’re on the phone more than a teenager.”
Landon covered the receiver and whispered, “Wait a minute.” Then he shot the other two a similar look. “I’m almost off!”
“Sure . . . sure.” The fireman to his right set his cards facedown, stood, and stretched. “I’m getting a cup of coffee. Five o’clock puts me to sleep.”
On the other end of the line were Ryan and Peter, Landon’s brothers-in-law. The three of them were trying to work out the details of a fishing trip. John was joining them, but he’d already given his input. Any Saturday in the next month worked fine for him.
“I say we go this week.” Peter laughed. “Otherwise it gets too cold for Ryan.”
“Are you kidding?” Ryan was quick with his response. “I’ve spent half my life on the gridiron. You don’t know cold until you’ve been laid out on a frozen football field.”
“Okay, but we’re not talking about ice fishing.” Peter hesitated, and there was the faint sound of calendar pages turning. “Let’s not take this thing into November.”
Landon was about to say that he agreed with Peter. The coming weekend would work best, and if they made the trip later in the day, Cole could come with them. His soccer game was at ten o’clock, which meant they could be on the shore of Lake Monroe by noon with the whole afternoon ahead of them.
But before he could say anything, the fire alarm went off. The whir of the siren and its rhythm told them immediately what they were up against.
“Structure fire, gentlemen.” One of the guys at the table dropped his cards and pulled his radio from his pocket. On the other end a dispatcher was already giving out the address.
“Gotta go.” Landon shut his phone and hurried with the others out the door and into the garage, where their turnouts hung on hooks adjacent to the fire trucks. The call was for both units, so at the same time four firefighters from the other side of the firehouse were streaming into the garage.
Landon was the designated paramedic tonight, and even though so far the call didn’t involve medical, he would need to be one of the first at the scene. His fingers moved nimbly, securing his uniform and tightening his chin strap. He climbed into the driver’s side as the heavy-duty garage door lifted. “Where are we going?”
Seth took the seat beside him. He was the lieutenant on duty, the one in charge of corresponding with dispatch and making sure they knew where they were headed. “Walnut south toward Ruel Highway.” They had a GPS, but the firefighters at the Bloomington station had worked there for years. They knew the roads faster without punching in the address.
Already the siren was blaring, and Landon whipped the fire truck west down 4th Street. He was turning left on College when Seth barked a few more questions at dispatch. Then he turned to Landon. “It’s one of the old farmhouses on Dillman Road. Make a left just before the highway.”
Dillman Road? Landon’s heart skipped a beat, then slammed into double time. The Baxter house was on Dillman Road. But it couldn’t be. . . . The old road had dozens of homes on acreages. There was no reason to think the call was for—
Seth rattled off the street number and stopped short. “Blake, that’s the Baxter place. I’m sure of it.”
The address was still screaming through Landon’s mind. “Yes. It is.” The Baxter house, the one Ashley and her siblings had grown up in, was on fire. At this hour, John Baxter might be home. Ashley might even be inside, working on her painting. If she was, the kids would be there too. Downstairs watching TV, no doubt. Dear God, help us. He tightened his hold on the steering wheel and did the only thing he could do without actually being on the scene.
He prayed.
John’s shift at the hospital had been lighter than usual. Mondays were rounds at the hospital and only a handful of patients in the office. A flu was going around, and a few newborns needed checkups. At the hospital he stopped in to see Brooke’s patient Ethan Teeple. The boy was still in grave condition, but his smile always warmed John’s heart. If anyone could fight leukemia, it was Ethan. John prayed for the boy often.
He headed out of the hospital parking lot and turned east on 2nd Street. He was just reaching College when two fire trucks tore through the intersection headed south. John pulled over, waiting until the emergency vehicles had cleared the path. Be with them, God. Please be with them.
He’d always prayed for the city’s firemen because they needed all the help they could get. But he prayed especially now that he had a son-in-law who worked for the department. He tried to remember if Landon was on duty today.
The traffic moved back into the various lanes, and John turned right on College. He settled into a steady pace and stretched his left leg out. The weekend had been nice—better than he could’ve hoped, really. He and Elaine had gone out to dinner both Friday night and Saturday. He smiled at the memory. She forgave him. Maybe that was the strangest part of all.
After Ashley’s talk, he had called Elaine and explained that he was sorry. “I’m confused. There’s no other way to say it,” he told her.
John held the steering wheel with one hand and stayed even with the traffic around him. The fire trucks and sirens were too far ahead to be seen. Again he smiled to himself. He still couldn’t believe Elaine’s reaction to his apology that night. One other time he’d tried to back out of their friendship, and she’d reacted the same way. That time it had also been Ashley who found a way to bring them together during the final stages of the project to bring Katy and Dayne’s house up to par.
Since then, things had been great until his and Elizabeth’s anniversary. “I guess I started second-guessing myself,” he told Elaine.
Instead of being angry, she had nothing but compassion in her tone. “I understand. I would wonder about you if you weren’t second-guessing yourself. You’ve already loved so fully in your life. Maybe once is enough.” Her empathy filled his heart and doubled his feelings for her.
John kept his eyes on the road, enjoying the familiar drive. It wasn’t dark yet, and the leaves were brilliant oranges and reds. Against the blue sky, the picture was stunning. Only then did John notice a plume of black smoke in the distance.
He kept on, past Winslow Road, and as he neared Rhorer, he could see the smoke more clearly, in the direction of his house. He felt the first ripple of concern. Was it one of his neighbors? The black plume was thick enough that it was most definitely a house fire. John had seen a few of them over the years, enough to recognize the volume and height of the rush of smoke.
He drove by Church Lane, and as Walnut curved to the right, he kept his peripheral vision on the billowing smoke. Dear God, protect the people inside. Please . . .
But there was no comforting response this time, only the pressing urgency to drive faster, to get home and see how close the fire was to his house. He took the shortcut down Empire Road and turned left onto Dillman. What he saw then took his breath. The fire trucks were barely visible, up the road a quarter mile or so. But there was no mistaking which house was on fire.
It was his.
He pressed his foot harder o
n the gas pedal and sped into his driveway in time to see red flames pushing through the roof near the back of the house. Two fire trucks were angled into the end of the driveway, and as John drove up and parked, he saw that half a dozen men were dousing the house with water.
His heart thudded against his chest, pounding out a rhythm of barely controlled panic. In his role as doctor, John had been in too many emergency situations to count. But here . . . with his house and all he held dear going up in flames before his eyes, he could barely breathe as he raced up the driveway.
He was halfway to the house when Landon came running toward him. He ripped off his helmet, his face stricken. “I can’t reach Ashley. I’ve already been through the house, but I can’t find her.”
“She isn’t here.” John was certain. He’d talked to her half an hour ago. “She’s at the mall getting clothes for Devin.”
Landon’s body sagged with visible relief, but his face was grim. “I need you to stay here by your car, okay?” He lifted his helmet and took a few backward steps. “We’re doing the best we can. It looks like it’s contained in the attic.” He hurried off toward the others.
Please, God. John’s prayer was more of a desperate cry. Help them save the place. He stared at the house, at the thick, dark smoke pouring out of the far section of the roof. That was the area over the garage, so maybe . . . maybe the structure could be saved.
His eyes never left the building, but he wasn’t seeing his house in flames on a perfect fall evening. He was seeing it the way it would always look—alive and warm with light and laughter and conversation. With Elizabeth and him walking around the back near the creek and Cole stooping low near the pond catching tadpoles. With a Christmas tree in the front window and carols being sung from the living room.
John had no idea how much time passed, but with every minute the flames lessened and then finally disappeared altogether. Still the firefighters poured water on the roof, two of them from positions high on ladders that extended from their trucks.