The Firefighter Daddy (2 page)

“I think that's a great suggestion, Ms. Blackburn.” Liam caught the woman's gaze and, for a brief few seconds, a connection sprang up between them.

“Please, I'm Sarah. You have saved me hours of worrying about Gabe.” She stuffed her hand into the large pocket of her light jacket and pulled out a leash. “I brought this to take him home with, but I see he managed to slip out of his collar again. It had all his information on it. Even when he wasn't on the porch, I thought for sure I would get him back right away.”

“Then you can't walk him home. Without a leash, he might run off.” Madison planted herself next to Liam.

“He'll be fine. He's well trained. He'll heel if I tell him,” Sarah said, again in that even tone.

Her eyes narrowed, Katie lifted her chin. “What's that?”

“He walks on my left side right next to me.”

Madison yanked on Liam's T-shirt. “Can we have a dog and teach him tricks like Gabe?”

He peered into Madison's pleading expression, meant to wrap him around her little finger. “I'll think about it, but first let's walk Sarah home. It's been a long day for all of us.” Definitely an understatement for him with six different calls during the twenty-four-hour shift at the station that had ended at eight this morning. Two of their runs had been serious with one cutting a man out of a wrecked car. “Let's go, girls.”

Madison hurried to be on one side of Gabe, sandwiching the dog between her and Sarah. Katie tried to walk right behind her older sister but kept running into Madison, who immediately swung around and pushed her back.

When Sarah stopped, her dog sat, and she looked at Katie. “Would you like to be over here with Gabe? You can be the one to tell him to heel if he tries to walk too fast or slow. I'll be right behind you with your dad.”

“He's our uncle,” Madison immediately said, frowning.

“Yeah and a firefighter. He helps people.” Katie took Sarah's place by Gabe.

Madison glanced at him. “And he helps animals.”

In that second all weariness from his last shift evaporated. Sarah and his nieces had reminded him of why he worked crazy hours. But, mostly, it reconfirmed why he'd left everything he had known and come to Buffalo. The girls needed time to adjust to him before he moved them to Dallas. He'd told his captain he would return in a year with his nieces.

* * *

There were times he felt he'd made several strides forward with Katie but not necessarily with Madison when it came to their accepting him as their guardian. He was afraid losing the dog would set their relationship back. The death of his younger brother had hit them all hard.

“I'll be with your uncle and tell you when we reach my house.”

Katie started forward, saying, “Heel,” to Gabe.

Still scowling, Madison skipped a few paces to catch up with them.

“Did I say something wrong?” Sarah fell into step next to Liam.

“Madison is the oldest, and she's having a hard time accepting that her dad died. Katie's younger and seems to have accepted me as their guardian, most of the time. I don't do everything like their dad did.” He'd tried, but he usually discovered he couldn't follow the same routine. His work schedule wasn't the same as Gareth's, who'd had an eight-to-five job with weekends off.

“Oh, I can imagine. My parents divorced, and when my father moved to Chicago, I rarely heard from him. What about their mother?”

“She died six years ago. Our aunt Betty helped Gareth with the girls and thankfully has been a lifesaver for me. She lives behind us, and when I'm working, she takes care of them.”

“Betty Colton?”

He nodded. “Do you know her?”

“Yes, she comes every week to the hair salon I work at. I just moved back to Buffalo a few months ago when my mom needed help with my grandmother. We all work in the salon. Snip and Cut. It's been in the family for three generations now.”

“Where were you before that?”

“Tulsa. How do you like Buffalo?”

“I haven't decided yet. I lived in Dallas all my life and love a big city.” Liam stopped at the corner and waited while the girls checked both ways before crossing the street.

“My house is the white brick one with pink shutters almost at the end of this block,” Sarah said as she and Liam trailed his nieces to the other side.

Madison twisted around and walked backward. “I love that house. Pink is my favorite color.”

“Mine is purple,” Katie said over her shoulder. “I hate pink.”

“I don't have a favorite color. I can't make up my mind,” Sarah said in spite of the glare Katie shot her way.

When Katie halted, Gabe did, too. “He stopped! Good boy.” She petted his head then whirled around, her ponytail whishing. “I thought everyone had a favorite color. Why don't cha?”

Sarah shrugged. “I guess I'm the exception. I love all colors.”

Liam wondered what else she was the exception to. Too bad he had little time to get to know Sarah. She seemed nice. But with his job and raising his two slightly rebellious nieces, he didn't. He'd always wanted to have children, and this would be the closest he would come to having a family.

“Uncle Liam, what's your favorite color?” Katie asked as she resumed walking.

“Blue.”

Madison giggled. “No wonder. You're a boy.”

A boy? He hadn't been one for years. At thirty-five he'd left his childhood behind in more ways than age. In his job he saw a lot of tragedy and was still trying to make sense of it. Look at all the deaths the two girls had dealt with in their short lives.

Sarah slanted him a look. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I was thinking about the last time I felt like a boy. Even as a kid, I was the man of the house. My dad was a firefighter, who died in an apartment fire when I was seven.”

“And you wanted to follow in his footsteps?”

“Yeah. I knew I would be a firefighter when I first rode on the ladder truck as a kid. Even after Dad died, the guys from his station would come around and help Mom as much as possible.” And he'd become a firefighter at that very station. When Terri had walked out on him, his buddies had been there to help him pick up the pieces.

“Girls, this is my house,” Sarah called out and then turned to Liam to ask, “Would you all like to come in?”

Liam started to decline, thinking about the dish he needed to make before he and the girls left for the single dads' meeting at Colt Remington's ranch. But before Liam could answer, his nieces both said, “Yes.”

As the others started toward Sarah's house, Liam hung back. He missed the guys from the fire station in Dallas. He hoped the Single Dads' Club would fill the void he'd experienced since coming to Buffalo. Even with Aunt Betty's assistance, he was alone, raising two girls who hadn't come with any instructions.

Chapter Two

W
hen Sarah entered her childhood home, Gabe barked then loped toward the kitchen, where his food, water and bed were located. She showed Liam and his nieces into the kitchen while Gabe settled himself in his doggy bed. She checked the garage and wondered where Mom and Nana had gone. It was probably for the best her mom wasn't here. One look at Liam and she would try to figure out how to match them up. Her mother wanted grandchildren. Sarah wanted children. She'd been pregnant almost five months—until she miscarried after the car accident.

“Have a seat at the table. I have lemonade or iced tea. Which would you like?” she asked as she closed the door to the garage.

“Lemonade,” Katie said while Madison replied, “Iced tea.”

Sarah glanced at Liam, sitting across from the girls, a look in his golden-brown eyes—perhaps sadness—that made her wonder why he'd given up everything to move to Buffalo instead of taking his nieces to Dallas. It couldn't be easy becoming the guardian of two girls and also dealing with his brother's death and a new town and job. “How about you?”

“Thanks, but I'm fine. We can't stay long. I need to make something for dinner.”

“Sure. I'll get their drinks then go find the photo.” She turned to the refrigerator for the lemonade and iced tea.

Liam McGregory had the same color hair—dark brown—as the girls, but the similarities stopped there. Their eyes were a crystalline blue, his a warm brown. His facial features were angular and hard, while theirs were soft and delicate. She peered back at him, intrigued by what little she'd learned today.

A minute later as Sarah set their glasses in front of the girls, she caught Liam studying her. She hurried from the kitchen before he saw her blush. Since coming home to Buffalo, she'd avoided her mother's attempts to fix her up with a son of one of her friends. Sarah wasn't interested in dating, especially when memories of Peter bombarded her everywhere she went in town. She hadn't thought about that when she'd quit her job at a high-end salon, left her friends and returned home. Maybe that was why she felt a connection with Liam. He had to be going through some of the same problems she was, since he'd done the same thing when he'd come to Buffalo.

When Sarah found the photo with Gabe, she made her way back to the kitchen and put the frame on the table between Madison and Katie. The photo was of her Lab standing in eight inches of snow next to her. “Mom took that six weeks ago during the last winter storm. Gabe loves to play in snow.”

“Me, too.” Katie gulped down half her lemonade. “But I like swimming more.”

“Yep, it's only...” Madison held her hand up and said, “April, May—” a finger popped up for each month “—two months to summer vacation. I can't wait.”

“Not until I know you two can swim.” Liam slid the picture frame across the table, looked at it and then gave it to Sarah.

She took it. “Did you know that the high school has an indoor swimming pool? In the evening, they have it open for swimming classes through their community outreach program.”

Liam's gaze snared hers. “At this time of year?”

“Yes, especially now. A friend I grew up with runs the program. I can give you her name. You can check to see if there are any openings left. Her next eight-week session starts in two weeks. I help her out two nights a week. I love to swim. It's better exercise than running.”

Katie bounced up and down in her chair. “Can we? Can we?”

“I'll look into it when Sarah gives me the number, but you two know my crazy schedule.”

“Ask Aunt Betty to take us.” Madison drained her glass.

“We'll see. We don't even know if there are openings.”

Although Madison didn't say anything else, her mouth tightened, and she stared down at her lap. For a couple of seconds it appeared as though Liam wanted to say more, but when he didn't, Sarah rose. “I'll write the number down for you.” She moved to the desk under the wall phone and jotted the contact information on a piece of paper.

Madison clapped her hands. “Oh, goody. I know how to swim, but Katie doesn't.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don't.” Madison glared at her.

The noise of the garage door opening sounded as Sarah returned to the table and passed the paper to Liam. Now she would spend all evening answering questions about Liam McGregory. She contemplated trying to hurry the trio out the front door before Nana and Mom came in the back, but dismissed that strategy because if it wasn't Liam, her mother would home in on someone else. She just wasn't ready yet. She needed to get that point across to her mother.

“It won't hurt for both of you to take classes,” Liam said as the door from the garage opened into the utility room. “Finish your drinks, girls. We need to leave.”

Her mom's gaze latched on to Liam then drifted to Madison and Katie. A gleam lit her eyes. Sarah could almost see the hundred questions flying through her mom's brain right now.

Sarah faced the two women entering from the utility room. “This is my mom, Tina Knapp, and my grandma, Carla Knapp.” She gestured to the trio. “This is Liam McGregory and his nieces, Madison and Katie. They live down the street and—” she swept her arm toward Gabe waking up and rising from his doggy bed “—they found Gabe. They put up posters. I saw one tacked to a telephone pole today.”

Her mother grinned, put her purse on the counter and shook Liam's hand. “That's great. Sarah has been so upset about Gabe being gone. We need to fix that hole in the fence better. Obviously what we did last time didn't work. I declare that dog of yours is like Houdini.”

Katie scrunched up her face in a thoughtful expression. “Hou—denny?”

“One of the best escape artists, child,” Nana said, her purse still hooked over her forearm. “My mother used to tell me about the time she saw Harry Houdini escape from a water container while handcuffed in a straitjacket and then lowered into it upside down. She said he was amazing.”

“How did he do it?” Madison asked.

“By holding his breath three minutes while under water.”

Madison's eyes widened. “Really?”

Nana nodded then took off her hat, something she insisted on wearing whenever she left the house. Sarah inspected her grandmother's legs that still showed a faint reminder of where the dyes splashed her. But the tennis shoes she wore were shiny white as if they'd just come out of their box.

“I took Mama to get a new pair for work. The others were ruined,” Sarah's mother said as she sat at the table.

Liam smiled at her mother next to him. Sarah had visions of her launching into her interrogation before he had a chance to escape. Sarah started to say something, but he stood.

“Girls, it's time to go. We still have to make something to take to the meeting.” Liam turned to Sarah's mother and grandmother. “It was nice to meet you both. I'm glad Gabe is back home.” Liam corralled his nieces toward the hallway so fast Sarah's mom could only blink.

Katie paused, signaled her uncle to bend down. She cupped her hand near his ear and whispered, loud enough that everyone heard, “I'm not glad. I'm gonna miss him.”

“Shh, Katie. He isn't our dog.” Liam was the last to disappear from view.

But Sarah heard Madison say, “We shouldn't have made those posters.”

Sarah's mother laughed. “He has his hands full with those two. I've heard some stories from Betty about her grandnieces. So that's Gareth's older brother. Betty has brought them to church, but I haven't seen much of him.”

Here come all the questions
. “Liam is a firefighter and has a crazy schedule.”

“Ah, yes.” Her mom tapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. “I remember Betty telling me that.”

“I'm going to my room,” her grandmother muttered as she shuffled toward the hallway.

Sarah's mom waited a minute after Nana left, then said, “I had to take her back to the shop and make sure there was enough food for Sammy on the stoop. She was worried he would get hungry.”

“That cat has to weigh twenty pounds.”

“And Mama put most of those pounds on him.” Her mother crossed to the fridge and poured herself some iced tea then retook her chair, peering at Sarah.

She sat across from her mom. Dark circles she insisted were from allergies highlighted the weariness in her mother's eyes. This was why she'd come home. She needed to remember that rather than get frustrated at her mother's attempts to play matchmaker. That first week back in Buffalo she wouldn't have stayed if she'd felt her mom hadn't really needed her. Not only had her health suffered, the salon had, too.

She sipped her tea. “It's a shame he can't join his nieces at church more. Gareth was there every Sunday.”

“I think Liam feels a little overwhelmed with everything that has happened, being a single dad, new job and town.”

“That's why he needs a woman.” Her mom eyed Sarah. “Someone like you who is organized and a hard worker. Loves children.”

Sarah held up her palm. “Stop right there, Mom. You'll get grandchildren when
I
find the right man, with no help from you.”

“I'm not going to say another word about Liam McGregory today,” her mother said. “I know it hasn't been easy coming back to Buffalo, but I appreciate your assistance.”

Today
was the only word Sarah really heard. What about tomorrow or the next day?

“Hon, I'm gonna need you to fill in for me on a committee I've been on the past five years. I don't think I would be very creative and helpful with all that has been happening with Mama these days.” Her mother pushed to her feet. “In fact, let's order pizza. Right after dinner I'm going to head to bed.”

“Nana had a bad day.” Thankfully Sarah hadn't seen in the past eleven weeks she'd been home too many of that type of day. “Did she give you any problems at the shoe store?”

Her mother put her glass in the sink then turned, her mouth twisted into a frown. “Other than insisting on buying a pair of heels for work? No.”

“I remember when I was a kid she always wore heels to the salon.”

“But in the past few years she's worn tennis shoes. She'd break her neck if she worked in heels. Can you fill in for me on the committee? It meets at noon at a restaurant downtown. For April and May once a week, or until everything is taken care of. The fund-raiser is June 4.”

“I'll get the dates from you and make sure I don't have any clients scheduled at that time.”

“We'll figure something out. The next meeting is this Tuesday.”

“What's it for?”

“It's for the day camp at our church. It gives needy children in the area who can't afford the cost a chance to go. The fund-raiser kicks off the camp, which the kids can attend for June and July. Money is tight. For many working parents it's a lifesaver.” Her mother headed for her room. “Will you order the pizza, please? I need to get off my feet.”

Sarah watched her leave, not surprised her mother was on a committee planning for a fund-raiser for children. Sarah was an only child, not because her mother hadn't wanted more children, but because she couldn't have them. She knew the kind of longing her mom felt because she did, too. She loved children and would love to be a mother.

* * *

Running fifteen minutes late for his second meeting with the Single Dads' Club, jokingly referred to by some of the men as the Lone Wolves, Liam had to stop at a restaurant to purchase shredded barbecued beef on the way to Colt's ranch. They had stayed longer at Sarah's than he'd realized. There had been no time to cook. He remembered one of the firefighters at his station, Brandon Moore, had requested his homemade macaroni and cheese after Liam had served it for lunch last week. He'd intended to do that.

“We're late,” Madison said from the backseat. “I hate to be late.”

“So do I. See, we have that in common.” Using the rearview mirror, he glanced at her and, as usual, she gave him a frown.

He sighed and kept his attention focused on the road leading out of Buffalo. When he'd first come to take care of them, Madison wouldn't even talk to him. At least now she did, although sometimes he wished she didn't, especially when she would point out that he wasn't her dad. He'd tried not to let those words hurt him, but they did.

“I like to be on time, too,” Katie said right behind him.

“We have that in common, then.” In the mirror he smiled at the six-year-old, who was missing one of her front teeth.

Why couldn't Madison be more like Katie? Earlier, when she hadn't wanted to give Gabe back to Sarah, had been one of the first times she had been difficult. The sisters argued all the time, but Katie hadn't argued with him. In fact, when he'd arrived to be their guardian, she'd latched onto him and had hardly left his side for the first month.

The main gate to the Remington Ranch came into view. Another car disappeared through it. Good, he wasn't the only one running late. As he turned into the ranch, a truck drove up behind him.

“It looks like others are late, too.” He followed the Jeep in front of him, the road winding in an S with tall pecan trees on each side lining their path.

As they emerged from the green canopy, a large white house appeared, a veranda running the length of the front.

Madison whistled. “This is a big house.”

“We're having a picnic out back, and then the kids can ride horses.”

The sounds of cheers and claps filled the car.

“I guess you all want to ride?”

“Yes,” they both said together.

Liam parked next to a white SUV and grabbed the food.

The girls hopped out before he had a chance to open his door and raced toward a group of kids. The last time they'd discovered several friends from school, so he'd hardly seen them the whole evening.