6

 

Maxi fought her way through dense fog, battling for breath. She had to find Drew. He was in this maze somewhere. She coughed, unable to find air. Heat singed her eyelids.

Fire!

She shot up as a scream ripped from her throat. Strong arms pulled her close where a steady heart thumped under her cheek.

“It’s OK. You’re safe.”

Jason. Relief spilled through her. Everything would be all right now.

“Where’s Drew?”

She felt him go still and pulled back to look at his face. Under his tousled mop of hair, sympathetic eyes watched her.

“You were dreaming, Max. Drew died a long time ago, remember?”

The confusion in her brain refused to clear. “Where are we? What happened?”

Jason held her shoulders. “You’re in the hospital.” His voice was low and calm. “A fire started in the barn and spread to the house.”

Oh God, no. Not another fire.

Adrenaline surged through her veins. Where was her mother? She tried to push Jason away and get out of bed, but he kept a hand on her shoulder.

“Your mom’s going to be fine,” he said, as though reading her mind. “She suffered some smoke inhalation. Not as much as you, but because of her illness, they want to keep her for a day or two.”

Tears blurred her eyes, partly from gratitude, partly from the force of what they had escaped. They both could’ve died. “How—how did we get out?”

She fought to recall any detail, any tiny scrap about it. All she remembered was waking up on the grass with someone pushing an oxygen mask over her nose.

“I got you out.”

She wiped the moisture from her cheeks and stared at him. His face was grim; his jaw clenched tight.

Jason had saved them?

“You? How?” Her throat burned with every word.

“I was on my way home and saw the flames in the distance. I didn’t realize it was your place until I got closer.” He shrugged but the look on his face told her just how bad it had been.

“So you came and got us out?”

Jason looked uncomfortable. He shifted on the bed beside her. “It’s what I’m trained for.”

Maxi tried to comprehend the magnitude of what he had done, scrambled to find the words to express her gratitude, but all she could do was cough. It was an effort to get the air into her lungs.

“You saved our lives,” she murmured. Her body began to shake, as though she was cold, which she wasn’t. It was most likely from the shock of almost losing her life. Of almost losing her mother so soon after her father.

Jason pressed her back against the pillows and rang for the nurse. A heavy-set, middle-aged woman appeared at the door seconds later.

“Our patient’s awake, I see.” She bustled over to check Maxi’s vital signs. “Back on the oxygen you go, miss,” she ordered, and attempted to replace Maxi’s nose tube, which had come out during her struggles.

Maxi put up a hand to stop her. “I want to see my mother first.” She couldn’t rest until she saw Mama’s condition for herself.

The woman darted a look at Jason who nodded.

“I’ll take her.”

“Only five minutes. Then I want her back here.”

In the room down the hall, Bernice lay still beneath the sheets of her hospital bed. A little too still for Maxi’s liking. Jason wheeled her chair to the side of the bed, and Maxi reached to take her mother’s hand. The skin was paper thin and cool to the touch. Bernice’s lips had a bluish tinge, her cheeks looked almost gray. Maxi swallowed hard to quell the tears that threatened again.

“I want to talk to her doctor.” It hurt her raw throat to speak.

“I’ll see if I can find someone.”

It registered in the dim recesses of her brain that Jason was being far too accommodating. He usually argued with her about everything. Did that mean her mother’s condition was worse than everyone was letting on?

When Jason left, she laid her head on her mother’s arm, longing for her to wake up and tell her everything would be all right. “Please be OK, Mama. I can’t lose you, too,” she whispered.

A few minutes later, Jason returned with a different nurse. This woman was tall and slim with short dark hair and a kind air about her.

“Your mother will be fine,” she assured Maxi. “We’ve sedated her, so she’ll rest. Because of her illness, though, we’re going to keep her for a couple of days of observation.”

Maxi sensed no deception, just honesty. The tension in her shoulders eased a fraction. “Thank you.”

“If there’s any change, I’ll come and let you know.” The woman flashed a warm smile. “Now I think you should get back to bed yourself.”

The last bit of energy drained from Maxi’s body. All she could do was nod. She felt the wheelchair moving, was vaguely aware of being lifted into bed and the oxygen tubes attached before she succumbed to oblivion.