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“Will you marry me?”
For the second time in minutes, there were not enough words to express her heart. But only one was needed. “Yes.”
His answering gaze heated, and he lowered his smiling lips to hers.
And then no words were needed at all.
###
GRACE THOMPSON CLOSED the book and hugged it to her chest. How she loved happy endings. Then again, what fifteen-year-old girl didn’t?
She snuggled deeper into her favorite chair in the loft, soothed by the murmured voices of her parents through the adjacent door. Somewhere downstairs in the bunk room, her younger brothers were likely swapping gross jokes with the Howard boys and plotting their next adventure while Mrs. Howard rocked the baby to sleep in the master bedroom.
Once Mr. Howard arrived in the morning after a last-minute business meeting, their annual Spring Break vacation to the Howards’ cabin would officially begin.
A smile curved her lips.
Her dad’s old college roommate and his clan were practically family and while other people might swarm to the beaches for suntans, she much preferred the mountains and if she were lucky, snowshoeing through the pines to reach majestic views. Followed by hot chocolate beside a crackling fire, then curling up under a soft blanket to read a book.
If only the rest of her life could be this perfect.
After a sudden yawn about unhinged her jaw, she rose to her feet, set her book on the small table, and blew out the candle. Time to join the Howards’ ten-year-old daughter on the pull-out sofa bed.
The tip of the still-hot wick glowed in the dark, but did not cast enough light to prevent her from knocking her leg against the corner of the table while stumbling her way to the railing. Something fell from the impact but it was too dark in the shadowed loft to see clearly.
Whatever it was, she’d have to pick it up in the morning.
Grace rubbed the sore spot on her thigh, then shuffled her feet across the wooden floor until she reached the top step. Between her past familiarity and the dim light from the kitchen’s oven clock, she easily made her way down to the living room.
Minutes later, she was in her pajamas with freshly brushed teeth and tucked in beside Charity’s warmth. As her eyes closed on the pillow, her mind drifted back to the story she’d just finished.
One day, she hoped God would send her a dreamy hero of her own.
Some time later, Grace awoke to a woman’s scream, then curled up in a violent coughing fit, vaguely aware of heat, smoke, and a crackling sound. Almost like a...
Fire!
She burst upright and blinked away the tears filling her stinging eyes. Bright light came from the back half of the cabin as flames consumed the loft and crawled down the walls leading to the other bedrooms.
The loft where she’d sat just hours before reading by candlelight.
When she knocked against the table, had she...? No. It was unthinkable.
Another coughing fit stole her breath, then spurred her into action. She shook her bedmate awake, then ran toward the flames. “Mom! Dad!”
She had one foot on the bottom step when the loft’s railing fell, breaking the top section of stairs loose in an explosion of sparks that cascaded down and ignited the rug beneath the dining table.
Her path upward was officially blocked. As was her parents’ escape.
With a sob, Grace covered her mouth with her arm, then pivoted toward the other bedrooms and the spreading inferno. Through the thick red-tinted smoke filling the hall, she thought she saw a shadowy figure in a doorway before it slammed shut. Mrs. Howard? But what about the—“Boys! Get up and break the window!” It was their only hope.
She sucked in a deep breath to yell again, but the overheated air scorched her lungs.
Dear God, please get them out!
Driven backward by the intense heat, Grace tripped over a chair and fell to the floor where the air was a bit easier to breathe. But from her new position, she spotted the flames already licking across the ceiling as the fire found new fuel and gained momentum.
There would be no saving the cabin with its thick beams and wood shingled roof.
Guilt clawed at her chest. Was it her fault?
Her parents didn’t deserve such a fiery fate...nor did her brothers or any of the others.
She heard a keening wail behind her.
The least she could do was rescue someone.
Grace swallowed another sob, then crawled her way back toward the couch and the girl who was coughing hard enough to gag. What had those elementary school visits from firefighters said to do?
“Come on, Cherry.” Grace forced the words out of a raw throat.
With a shaky hand, she pulled the girl down to the floor, then grabbed a T-shirt from her overnight bag beside the couch. After wrapping it around Charity’s head to block even more of the smoke, she dragged the girl behind her toward the front door.
Why was she so weak?
Just feet from the exit, the roaring overhead was interrupted by an even-louder cracking sound. Some dormant reflex had Grace throwing her body over that of the girl, curling around her a moment before a crushing weight landed on her right shoulder, forcing the joint into an unnatural position. The agonizing impact was followed an instant later by searing pain and the scent of burning flesh and singed hair.
A scream ripped from her lips.
Beneath her, Cherry whimpered.
They had to get out before it was too late. Grace grit her teeth and tried to push up against the weight, but it was too much and darkness crept in on the fringes of her vision.
God, please...
A blessed numbness spread around her shoulder, but the scalding continued down her arm and across her back as the sizzling from the burning beam echoed too close to her ear.
“Help!” The shouted plea hurt her already-damaged throat.
And then...
“Someone’s inside!” A deep voice on the other side of the door sparked hope to life. “Call for help.”
“Andy!” Another slightly-slurred voice joined the first. “You can’t go in there.”
“I have to.”
The door opened and although the fresh oxygen fueled the flames, it cleared enough of the smoke that she was able to draw a fresh breath. She blinked through tear-filled eyes to see a large back-lit silhouette an instant before a flashlight blinded her vision.
“Help...” Her throat spasmed.
The flashlight landed near her face and then a hand touched her head. “I’ve got you.”
“Save her.” Her strength was failing, but at least the girl crying and wiggling in her arms had a fighting chance now.
Their rescuer gasped. “There’s two of them.”
The weight on her body lifted slightly, then the man—Andy—hissed as if he’d burned himself before the beam settled back into place, forcing the breath from her lungs.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...
“Dear Jesus... Help us...”
“You did your part, now let me do mine.” She was vaguely aware of him whipping off his shirt and wrapping his hands in the fabric. “When I lift, can you try to crawl forward?”
She nodded. Time was running out and they only had one chance.
God, give me strength...
She drew her legs up, bare toes catching on the rough floor and bracing to push them toward freedom.
He counted down from three, then after a grunt, the weight on her back shifted again.
This time, she let the adrenaline flooding her veins empower a final surge as she scrambled toward the door, dragging Charity along with her.
Moments later, she was lifted in strong arms and carried into the dark night.
“You’re safe now.”
And then the world went black.