America's Bravest (15 page)

Cocking his head, Brody frowned. It hurt to
look at his slumped posture and the desperate expression on his
face. “You saw my family after we broke up?”

“Of course.” His dad again. “She came over on
college vacations, and then when she moved back to town, we saw her
until we left Camden Cove.”

“I didn’t know any of that.”

Timmy pointed to his watch. “Brody, it’s
yours and Danny’s turn to go inside.”

“Do you want to come, Emma?” Brody asked.

“No, you go ahead.”

“Okay, but don’t leave.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

The rest of them sat as someone else walked
into the waiting area and up to them. Timmy stood and shook his
hand. “Hey, Tony, thanks for coming.”

“No problem. How’s Ryan?”

His dad gave the man the somber news. “Seems
to be resting easily, though.”

“It’s nice of Brody’s group to take turns
coming here on a day off,” Mary told him.

Emma asked, “You’re from the firehouse?”

“Yeah.” He held out his hand. “Tony
Ramirez.”

His dad grinned. “This is Brody’s old
girlfriend.”

“Emma?”

Startled, she stared at the handsome man.
“How would you know that? We were sweethearts fifteen years
ago.”

“Sometimes on late shifts, me and Brody stay
up and talk about stuff. I met my wife in high school, too, only we
got married.”

“Lucky you.” The words were out of Emma’s
mouth before she could censor herself.

A knowing glint came to Mary’s eyes. And the
brothers’ who heard the comment. She had to try harder to keep her
emotions hidden. Hell, she didn’t even know what they were.

When Brody returned, he looked even worse.
Emma kept vigil by his side. She talked him into eating—he was the
only one who hadn’t—and they watched some TV. As the night wore on,
Mary stretched out on a double couch and the brothers busied
themselves on their iPhones. Tony talked to Brody alone, sat
awhile, then left. At a table, she and Brody set out a puzzle of an
Irish Wolf Hound someone had brought in.

“Remember Wolfy?” he asked as he scattered
the contents of the box.

“How could I not? You loved that dog.”

“My parents have Wolfy the Third, now.”

She chuckled and picked up a piece of what
could be a nose. “They were on Wolfy the Second when they
moved.”

“It was nice of you to keep in touch with
them.”

“I loved them, Brody.”

“I know. They thought I was crazy when we
broke up.”

“Let’s not talk about anything bad tonight.
Let’s catch up while we work the puzzle. These things always calmed
you down. Tell me about college. Why you went into the fire
department, became a paramedic, that kind of thing.”

They traded stories till four in the morning,
getting coffee, assembling half the dog. Finally, at five, when
Emma knew she had to leave to go to school, the doctor came out
again. The news was evident on her face. “He can move his legs,”
she said with a big grin. “He’ll be walking in no time.”

His father jumped up. “Hot damn! Holy
hell!”

His mother had come awake minutes before and
held the rosary to her chest. “Thank the dear Lord.”

Blesses and curses abounded.

A couple of his brothers cried, and his dad’s
eyes got moist. Brody let a few tears fall.

When his parents went in to see their son,
Emma took Brody aside. “Listen, I have to leave.”

“Leave?”

“Yes, the worst is over. I have to go to
work.”

“Work? Oh. I didn’t think… You haven’t had
any sleep. And you never did finish telling me about your
sorority.”

She smiled. “Some other time.”

“Can you take the day off?”

“I’d rather not on such short notice.”

Brody didn’t really need her now that they’d
gotten the news they’d been praying for. But more so, Emma wanted
to get away from this group who were treating her like family
again. And this man who was acting as if nothing had changed in
fifteen years.

Holding her hand, he walked her out of the
waiting area and down the hall, where he pulled her into a little
alcove. The hospital was waking up; nurses buzzed around, and pages
sounded over the PA.

Brody’s navy blue uniform was wrinkled and
his eyes bloodshot; a night’s growth of beard stubbled his jaw.
“Emma, I need to know something. Mark came to see me last
night.”

Her throat got tight at the memory of the man
she hurt. “Why did he do that?”

“To warn me off pursuing you.”

Her eyes teared. “He came to see me,
too.”

Brody picked up her hand. “No ring?”

She shook her head, sending auburn locks into
her eyes. He brushed them back. “How come?”

“Because I’m not in love with Mark. I thought
I was, but when he asked me to marry him, I knew I wasn’t.”

She wouldn’t tell Brody how he’d figured into
the decision.

She didn’t have to. He gave her the same
knowing look of his mother’s. “When this all settles down, can I
call you?”

Unable to ignore the feel of his arms around
her, Emma felt herself slipping under his spell again. She hadn’t
thought much about where to go after last night. She’d blindly
rushed to the hospital because she knew she’d be a comfort to Brody
and damn the consequences. But now she needed to be careful. Very
careful.

“Give me some time, Brody. I have to think
things through.”

His face tensed and she could tell it was
hard for him not to bulldoze her like he used to. Though she wasn’t
so easily bulldozed anymore, she was glad he held back. “All right.
But think about this while you take your time.”

Grasping her arms gently, he drew her to him.
He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers with intention.
He increased the pressure by increments, then drew her even closer
and nipped and bit and brushed some more. By the time he let her
go, she was breathless.

“Good-bye, pretty lady.” With that, he turned
and walked down the hall.

His fingers on her lips, Emma watched him go.
She’d think about him, all right, probably more than she wanted to,
but the notion didn’t make her sad anymore.

“You’re being a baby. Buck up, Rye.” Brody
spoke the words from the foot of a bed in the spare room of his
parents’ home on Hidden Lake. They’d brought Ryan here to recover
and he’d been a terrible patient.

Ryan’s face flushed. His brother’s feelings
had always been easy to pinpoint. “You’re right. But I can, you
know, let go with you.”

Already regretting his words, Brody sat on
the bed opposite Rye’s, where he’d been sleeping, or trying to, for
four days. “I know. I shouldn’t have snapped. I’d be doing the same
thing.”

Leaning back, Ryan stared at his brother. “I
think I know why I’m so grumpy.”

“Tell me. It might help to get it out.”

“I almost died, Brody. Or I could have been
in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.” He looked away, but not
before Brody saw his eyes glistening with moisture. “I’ve been
thinking about my attitude toward life, what I’ve done with
mine.”

The two of them had shown emotion in front of
the other before. But Ryan’s reaction rocked Brody this time.
Probably because he was tired and cranky, too. Still, he answered
candidly, “Nothing wrong with that, Rye. We all need to reassess
once in a while.”

Ryan shook his head. His hair was a limp and
his skin was pale, indicating he was still early in his recovery.
“I haven’t lived as good of a life as you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not…I don’t know, as nice as you are. I
always admired how you treated women better than me.”

Felicia White and Mark Adams had both said
the same thing. And he knew secrets about Ryan and a couple of
girls that really painted his brother in a bad light.

“How come we never talked about this?”

“Maybe I didn’t want to believe you were a
better person.”

He never lied to Ryan even when the truth
hurt. “Then start being nicer.”

“I’m not sure I know how.”

“Of course you do.” He got up and socked Ryan
on the arm. “If you need any pointers, I’ll help.”

Ryan laughed, which was Brody’s intention.
“I’ll start by telling you to go home.”

“You want me to stay. It’s okay.”

“I do. But you’ve been here your whole time
off. Go sleep in your own bed. I’ll be fine now.” He arched a brow.
“I heard Emma Walsh came to the hospital.”

“I didn’t want to tell you. You never liked
her.”

Glancing out at the lake, which shone in the
rare November sun, Ryan shook his head. “I was jealous that she
took you away from me so much.”

“I didn’t know that!”

“Listen, go home. Or go see her.”

Brody nodded. When he finally did leave his
parents’ house, he thought about Emma all the way back to his
place. He hadn’t heard anything from her and he’d been run so
ragged by Ryan’s demands, he didn’t have much time to worry about
where they stood. Besides, he said he’d give her more time. Now he
wondered where she was, what she was thinking and if she’d decided
anything about seeing him. When he got home, he crashed on his bed
face first. His last thought was he wanted another chance with
her.

oOo

When school started in September, Emma had
organized a yoga class in the elementary school gym, where she now
sat on her tie-dyed mat. The hour and a half began at three-thirty
to accommodate all district personnel. The teacher, who
demonstrated up front, was a retired yoga instructor, which was why
she’d offered classes here at school. Lights down, about twenty
people were in attendance.

In a true lotus position—it had taken her
years to be able to execute one—she closed her eyes and breathed in
deeply. Exhaled out slowly. Told herself not to think about
Brody.

Good luck with that
. Tired blue eyes
and disheveled sandy-colored hair intruded on her meditation. On
most everything these days.

She stood when instructed to and slipped into
a downward dog. As she pushed back on her hands, her arm muscles
strained, so she tried to transfer her weight to her legs. More
comfortable now, she admitted some things to herself. She wanted
Brody back in her life. So what was she waiting for?

Well, for one thing, she vowed to save face
for Mark. He’d been gracious about her refusal to marry him, and
she wouldn’t run into Brody’s arms as soon as she was free.

You could keep it on the QT for a
while.

But she hated the thought of sneaking
around.

Pressing into a lunge, she sneaked her leg
under for pigeon pose and held it. As others achieved the difficult
pose, groans rumbled through the class. And honesty came fast and
furious to Emma. Okay, she admitted to herself, her hesitancy
wasn’t only about Mark. She was afraid to let Brody back into her
life. She was terrified that he might leave her as he had the last
time she’d fallen in love with him. She didn’t really know what
kind of man he was, yet somehow she believed he still had that
inner core he’d shown her in high school. But as a man, was he
ready for a relationship? She didn’t want to be a fling for
him—again.

By the end of class, one thing was
clear—there was no sure way to determine if Brody O’Malley would
break her heart again.

oOo

Most people didn’t know that seasoned
firefighters were required to train in fire situations off the fire
ground. Brody stood outside the Academy training tower, a
four-storey concrete structure where administrators simulated fires
using mist functioning as the smoke. He was glad to be busy today
because giving Emma time to decide whether or not to see him again
was harder than he guessed it would be. A week had gone by. He was
a man not used to waiting for anything, especially a woman. But he
forced himself to give her the space.

Fully dressed in turnout gear, and assigned
only an ax to carry into the building, Brody was waiting for orders
when he heard Gabe’s voice over their radios. “Trapped woman on
floor five. Firefighters O’Malley and Sands respond. Victim’s
having breathing problems.”

The
trapped victim
was a training
dummy named Harriet, who they used for various maneuvers. This
would be a simple search and rescue. Pulling on his face mask, he
said to Sands, the rookie he’d been paired up with, “Let’s go.”

“Right behind ya.”

The house was full of thick, white mist, but
he could see a hazy outline of the stairs. When he reached them, he
dropped to his knees to climb up. It was cooler this low to the
ground—they’d cranked up the heat—but it was slow going, and he
didn’t know how much air was in his tank. The trainees had turned
their equipment over to the cap who’d drained a few tanks, fiddled
with the breathing masks and literally broke equipment—all things
that could happen during a real fire. Brody knew from experience
none of those situations was fun. The brass had probably gone for
Sands, though, because she was still learning.

Despite their snail’s pace ascension, they
were both breathing hard when they reached the top floor. Up here,
it was completely dark. Every window had been covered, and the mist
was thicker, making it impossible to see anything.

They heard a loud moan from a room to the
right, which would be made by an officer observing them. Once
inside, the sound was repeated from over in the corner. Using the
wall, Brody felt his way to the “body.” Another moan in front of
him, so he dropped down and searched for a victim. “Got her,” he
told Sands. “Pick up an arm on your side, and we’ll drag her out.”
No movement. Huh! Harriet was stuck. He felt her lower body and
found it had been covered with heavy timber. A lot of it. They’d
have to dig her out. His heartbeat escalated, which was odd because
he’d dug out victims before. Being watched, evaluated and tested
increased blood pressure and heart rate, he guessed.