Chapter 56

It was the orange and blue flames, off in the distance, that caught her attention, heaved her stomach from hell to oh no. My dear god, no. We’re too late.

The utter darkness of the nighttime forest, along with the blackness of the sky was a perfect backdrop for the sinister sight. First she’d noticed fireflies. Did they ever fly that high? Wisping, pirouetting in the sky, high above the tops of the trees.

And her world went numb when she realized the fireflies were sparks from a fire gone mad.

She pressed the accelerator, kept her eyes on the road. She hadn’t been a tomboy for most of her life for nothing. She knew how to keep a vehicle well over the speed limit straight and on target.

Ryker whined by her side in the Jeep and her heart dipped for a second. She should have left him in his crate, not brought him out to who knew what.

Other vehicles in the distance joined her. A convoy, rushing to the old Hero cabin. The place everyone had avoided for years, didn’t even want to look at as they drove by. They’d wanted to forget the family with the odd name, the name they hadn’t lived up to.

Seemed they couldn’t get there fast enough tonight. For Nathan.

She swallowed, let Bob’s truck go ahead of her, gave him a nod. Followed him, too close.

And then suddenly, she came upon the clearing. Cars parked where they could, into the forest, ringing the perimeter. A crowd of folks already waiting, watching.

Watching as the one half of the cabin was engulfed in flames.

“Nathan!” She screamed, ran toward the cabin. Her arm caught, someone stopped her. Abby Logan, wordless.

Althea was there too, on her other side, grim. “His uncle’s at the front, trying to help the men. Seems he came by with a work crew, found the place on fire. Says he called it in, but in trying to get in to Nathan, he lost his cell. Fire blew up a few minutes ago. Apparently he’d been doing some bonfire work to burn refuse and it got out of hand.”

“Folks, we’re going to ask that you move back.” A cop cordoned the crowd off, moved them to the side. Amy watched in horror as a firefighter bashed through the front door.

Nathan.

Others in the reserve firefighting department worked on the cabin. It looked like they weren’t making headway at all, the flames fighting them back, even growing and then suddenly, they started to weaken, their breadth lower. Lower. Lower.

And they were out, the stench of burning wood everywhere.

Mason, the lead firefighter came out, a body in his arms. Austin, another firefighter, flanked him.

She ran forward, the two women by her side. But Austin ran forward, met her. “Amy. Don’t go.”

She raised her gaze to him, stricken. “Why?”

But her friends were holding her back now. “Don’t go, Amy. Don’t go.”

And she dissolved into a mess. Her muscles slack. Her friends holding her up.

Through the miasma, she watched. And by god, she’d seen it. Maybe others didn’t, in the mess and the excitement, and everyone’s hearts beating off the scale through the adrenaline rush.

But she’d seen it.

On that bastard, Mortimer’s, face.

A micro expression of joy.

She leapt forward, ran at the man.

“Horrible thing, horrible. Yes, he was young. Didn’t think. But he still shouldn’t have gone that way. For shit’s sake, he was my family. My nephew.”

A sincere look plastered on his face, a few sides of grief yet wisdom all etched in to give believability. The creep.

“You did this!”

She slapped at him, and hands pulled her away. They kept her away, held her back, and the man tossed her a diffident look. Again, a micro expression of get off me, you bug. Useless garbage.

And underneath it, the glee.

“You won’t get away with this,” she yelled. Past reason now, she didn’t care who heard her. She knew he’d done it. And she’d spend the rest of her life proving it.

But again, that look. Just a flash. And all it said was—Ha. I’ve won, you bitch.

“Let’s go, Amy. Let’s get back to the truck. Let’s wait until everyone leaves, and we’ll go see…Nathan.”

They herded her toward her Jeep. Someone opened the door, and Amy saw a blur leap out of the Jeep. Her heart fell. “Ryker! No! Someone grab him!”

But the pup had other ideas. He streaked by them all, made a beeline for the uncle. Through the tumultuous crowd, the throngs of people, that pup picked him out. Reached him, leapt at him suddenly. Barking, vicious. But…suddenly too, he didn’t look so much like a puppy.

The canine had grown, with the consistent, reliable, loving care of his master And he was a formidable opponent.

Jumping at Mortimer Hero, teeth bared, the dog was in a frenzy.

The man, alone at this point, tried to fend him off. “Help, someone! Get this thing off me!”

A couple moved, but not whole-heartedly. And they all watched the spectacle of the little dog attacking the old man, as hard as he could.

It was getting nonsensical. Mortimer was trying to dodge Ryker, but he just kept coming. Darted in and bit, and the man yelled. Hard bites drew blood. Yet Ryker kept going in for more.

“Get away from me!” And in his effort to get away, Mortimer flailed at the pup, ran a few stumbling steps backward. But the pup would not be dissuaded, pursued him relentlessly. And no one moved to help.

The old man stepped back again, as Ryker attacked. Again. Again. Lurched backward again, to get away from those teeth.

And then suddenly he slipped past the police tape at the tiny cordoned off area, stumbled at the edge of the covered hole and fell, screaming shrilly, backward.

And abruptly, he stopped screaming.

A hush emanated from the crowd.

And Ryker stood, finally quiet, at the edge of the hole, peering in.

Everyone burst into action. The crowd surged forward, while the puppy held his ground. Strong arms scooped him up first—she didn’t know who it was, they were all a blur. But someone did. And then…

“Oh god. Don’t look.” And variations of it, repeated scores of times, the words flying on the wind, becoming a chant nature itself took part in.

The crowd surged back, a cumulative groan erupting from them.

And she knew that fate—in the form of a furry little missile full of heart and life because of the love of one good man—had indicted and dispatched the man who’d brought such trouble and pain into all their lives.

Shaking, she moved forward. A smiling face, someone’s arms reaching out to her, Ryker there. “Here’s your dog.”

And the tenderness with which she took him couldn’t be mistaken for anything but love. Wordlessly, she accepted the dog.

But Ryker had other ideas. He jumped from her arms and made straight for Nathan’s body.

She felt her heart want to break.

Oh god, not her Nathan.

And his little dog. He wouldn’t understand.

She ran forward, to save the dog grief. To the side of the man, the beautiful soul she’d lost. Her handsome ex-SEAL, the most honest man she’d ever known.

Her heart.

But the dog was fast. Her heart clenched as she saw him bark at Nathan, then start to furiously lick his face.

Lick, lick.

She was almost there. She’d pull him off. Everyone was watching in horror, suddenly glued to the scene, but no one moved to grab Ryker.

So, she was on her own for this one. It was fitting.

This one was hers.

She was just about there, Ryker still furiously trying to wake Daddy.

And then a hand rose. Grasped the puppy, pulled him strongly into his side.

“Nathan!!”

She fell on him. “You’re alive! Oh god, baby. You’re alive! You’re alive!”

His voice was the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. Low and hoarse, but pure Hero. “Last time I checked, yeah. Still am.”

She was crying as she felt his arm around her, pull her close, and she fell against him on the ground, even as Ryker barked furiously at them both.

She heard the whoop of joy from the crowd, and they rushed forward, then stopped, stood back, to give them space. But they still stared at everything that went down.

“So…why? What was all that about?” She was still plastered to him but she’d raised her head to look at him. His eyes were closed, and he was still spent, but he was talking to her. The bastard.

God, she loved him.

“Told Mason to pretend I was a goner. Needed to draw Uncle into a fake sense of security. Who knows what he would have done to me, to you, or the town if he thought I was still alive.”

“And how long were you going to keep that up?”

“Don’t know. Just came to me. They busted in to get me. I was tied up, grabbed a wet rag with my mouth and was on the floor, bought myself a few minutes. If Rock hadn’t been watching out for me, if he hadn’t called in the fire…”

“What? Mortimer said he did.”

He snorted. “Uncle had a scheme to hurt a whole bunch of people. Was gonna make us all look like garbage again. But I called Rock before I came, told him everything. Didn’t care if I looked like shit again. Right? A man can rebuild.”

“What?”

“I can rebuild. Right? If I had to?”

Her heart leapt, for more than the man’s vibrant body, still alive, that she was hugging. “Yes.”

“Well, I’m bloody glad I did call. I’d be toast if I hadn’t. And when Mason and Austin came, I told them what to do and they did it.” He paused. “He’s gone, is he?”

There was only one person he could mean. “He is, Nathan.” Suddenly, she found it hard to swallow. “Ryker did it.”

And the grin that creased his face was beautiful. Handsome, soot-darkened, but this man, even prone and weak for the moment, was still her man. Her Hero.

“He did hate that dog, something fierce.” He chuckled, jolting her head as his chest rumbled with it. “Looks like he had reason.”

But now others had come. Hands were reaching down, grasping at her to help her get up, Nathan too.

The guy who’d been pulled from a burning house waved them off. Struggled a moment, then stood slowly, on his own two feet. Held his hands out for his dog. “Here.”

And then his dog was in his arms, and he held him, firm. And the licking and whining that erupted was worthy of a YouTube video. Ten.

Nathan bent to him, was lost in fur and puppy kisses. Then he looked up, weary, but smiled as he spoke to his dog. “Let’s go. Been carrying you a while now. Might as well continue.” He nuzzled him quickly, then walked slowly, still a bit unsteady on his feet, but straight ahead, his dog in his arms.

He took the help of others as they helped him limped him back to Amy’s Jeep.

“We’ll drive your car, meet you at the hospital.”

“The rest of us’ll come too.”

“I’ll drive, you get in the back. You’ve been through enough.”

“Someone stop and grab some Timmies. We’ll buy them out.” A quick laugh.

They reached the truck, and people were there to help him in, her too.

And as she did, and got ready to take them all to the hospital, get them all checked out, she realized something, and her heart swelled.

It seemed her man, Nathan, had finally, really, come home. And even better—his home had finally received him back.

A couple of statements, in amidst the din, floated to her. Brought by the ancient northern winds that blew through Jack’s Bay, and always would.

‘You know, that’s one hell of a man. And the dog too.”

“They are. Took a while for it to come out, but yeah. Both heroes.”