Again and again throughout the past hours, Megan’s brain had flashed back to the firefighter who had found them in the bathtub, his firm, confident voice directing her. Her skin, her muscles and bones, still felt the phantom imprint of his hands, the strength of the way he’d lifted, moved, pulled her and Summer forward toward safety.
Susan sat with her on the nearby faded couch in the lobby. “He had just helped me and Larry out onto the sidewalk when I looked around and realized you and Summer weren’t standing there with the rest of us.” Her mouth trembled. “I’d seen you come in just a little while before. I knew something was wrong.”
Megan swallowed hard, reaching out to cover the other woman’s hand. “Thank you so much,” she whispered. “If you hadn’t told him—”
No, she thought as she shot a glance at Summer, who was happily unwrapping her doll, Megan couldn’t finish the sentence. Her daughter seemed to be totally engrossed in her toy, but Megan knew darn well that she was actually taking in every little thing around her. Every expression, every word. Megan didn’t want Summer to turn what had almost happened into a fear that she’d take forward with her.
But Mrs. Thompson was shaking her head. “That firefighter was the real hero. They didn’t want to let anyone else into the building, but he didn’t hesitate to run in to save you. I just hope he’s all right after what happened to him.”
Megan looked up at her friend in horror. “He was hurt?”
Susan frowned. “You didn’t know?”
“No.” She couldn’t remember anything after they’d made it down the stairs.
“Mommy?”
Megan knew she should be pulling it together for her daughter, that it was the most important thing for her to do, but instead, all she could do was ask, “How badly?”
Her friend sighed, looking even more upset. “They had to carry him out on a stretcher.”
Megan felt just as she had when they were stuck in the bathtub—like she could hardly breathe, like the darkness was coming down over her again.
She jumped up from the couch. “I have to call the hospital. I have to find out how he’s doing.” Susan stood with her and followed her to the front desk. “I need to use your phone. Please.”
The young man behind the counter nodded quickly and she realized he must have overheard their conversation. “Of course. No problem.”
Her hand was shaking on the receiver as she called Information for the phone number of fire dispatch. She asked them to transfer her to the firehouse in her neighborhood.
By the time the call went through, she was near frantic. A man’s low voice barely said hello before she was saying, “I’m the woman the firefighter saved yesterday. Me and my daughter. I just heard he was hurt. I need to know how he’s doing. If he was hurt badly? How long will it be until he’s okay again?”
The man on the line with her was silent for a long moment. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t give you that information.”
“He put himself in terrible danger to save me and my daughter. I need to thank him. I need him to know how much what he did means to us.”
“I understand how upset you are, but—” He stopped speaking and she heard another voice in the background. “Hold on a moment.”Another man came on the line. “Is this Ms. Harris?”
She was momentarily surprised the man knew her name. “Yes, this is Megan Harris.”
“My name is Todd Phillips. I’m the captain at Station 5. How are you and your daughter doing?”
“We left the hospital a few hours ago,” she quickly told him.
“I’m very glad to hear that. And I’m sorry about the fire in your apartment.”
Megan knew the time would come when she’d grieve the loss of all her precious mementos of her daughter’s baby years and of David. But the loss of their things paled in comparison to the horrifying knowledge that a firefighter had gotten hurt while saving them.
“I need to thank the firefighter in person for what he did to help me and my daughter.”
She could almost hear the fire captain shake his head across the line. “I’m sorry, Ms. Harris, but—”
“Please,” she begged. “I owe him everything.”
Everything.
After a short silence, he said, “I’ll need to check with Gabe first.”
“Thank you so much.”
She gave the fire captain the number for the phone at the front desk before hanging up, but even as she and Summer finally went upstairs to their new temporary home and her daughter zombied out again in front of the Disney channel, Megan couldn’t stop worrying about the man—Gabe—who had given up his own safety for theirs.
She was on the phone in her room, wading through more red tape with a representative from her bank, when there was a knock on her door. The young man from the front desk was there with a message.
“A fire captain called. He’ll meet you at the hospital in thirty minutes.”
Chapter Three
Out. Gabe Sullivan wanted out of the damn hospital bed. He wanted to yank the IV out of his arm, too, and was just about to do that when his mother walked in.
“Don’t you dare take that out.”
Mary Sullivan had already been in to see him earlier in the day, but this time she’d returned with two of his brothers and their significant others.
Nicola ran forward. “Oh my God, I was so worried about you!”