He bobbed his head. “I love you, and I’m right up front,” she cried again, as the fireman pulled her away.
They walked around the side of the ambulance. He opened the passenger side door for her. “Up you go.”
She braced herself on the doorframe and tried hoisting herself up. With her adrenaline depleted, she was too weak. Hands came around her waist and pushed her forward. She gasped as she flopped onto the seat. Once she collected herself, she turned around.
The young fireman’s cheeks flushed crimson. “Sorry about that.”
“No, it’s okay. Thanks for the help.”
He grinned before slamming the door. Emma turned in her seat to watch the EMT’s working on Patrick. “See, I didn’t leave you,” she said.
The wail of the ambulance’s siren starting up caused Emma to shudder. Like an electrical storm in the summer, long buried memories flashed in her mind. Although she gripped the sides of her seat, she was miles away from the chaos surrounding her.
With her hand wrapped firmly in her mother’s, she skipped into the fire station. At the sight of her father, she squealed and ran forward. “Daddy! Daddy!”
“Hey baby,” he said, hoisting her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around him as he squeezed her tight. “So you’re finally getting to see my new station, huh?”
Emma nodded. She hadn’t quite understood why they had left the mountains to come to the city. In fact, she had cried big tears from the back window of the car when she watched Granddaddy and Grammy waving goodbye. But Daddy had tried to explain he could make more money if he worked as a fireman in Atlanta, rather than in Ellijay. They could have nicer things. He’d even gotten her a puppy to try to make things easier.
“Let me wear your hat! Please Daddy!”
He chuckled. “Of course you can.” When he sat the fireman’s visor on her head, Emma’s neck felt wobbly and weighted down. He walked her over to the gleaming red fire engine. “You want to hear the siren, angel?”
She squirmed in his arms. “Oh yes!”
He climbed onto the rig and sat her down on the seat. Her hands automatically went to the steering wheel, and she turned it back and forth, pretending to drive. He blared the horn. “Again, Daddy!” He grinned and honked it until the rest of the guys in the firehouse were ready to throttle him.
Like wispy shadows of fog swirling along rooftops and skylines, Emma’s mind unveiled another memory just a short year later. She was at school and sitting on the reading rug. With rapt attention, she listened to her teacher reading from a book about bears having a Halloween party where popcorn overflowed their house. The classroom door creaked opened, and Emma stared in surprise at Granddaddy standing in the doorway. She raced over to meet him, happily taking his hand. Out in the hallway, he pulled her into his arms and carried her outside. Grammy stood at the car hugging Nana, Daddy’s mother. Emma peppered him with questions. “What’s happened, Granddaddy? Why are you all here in Atlanta? Where’s Mommy and Daddy?”
For the first time she could ever remember, Granddaddy had tears in his dark eyes. “Emmie Lou, there was a bad fire, and your Daddy was trying to save these children. He got them out safely, but he…” His voice choked off with emotion. “Baby, your Daddy’s gone to live with the angels.”
That one statement sent her kicking and screaming out of his embrace. “No, no, no! Daddy wouldn’t leave me! He’s taking me to the circus this weekend.” Her fists beat into Granddaddy’s belly. “You tell the angels to bring Daddy back!” she cried.
The sound of the ambulance doors rattling open snapped Emma into another memory. Once again she clutched her mother’s hand as they weaved in between the tombstones in the cemetery. She had never seen so many people in all her life. People kept calling her daddy a hero. They sank down onto one of the velvet chairs under a green tent. Clinging to her mother’s side, she jumped with every rifle blast of the Twenty-One gun salute. Then a man knelt before her mother with a folded flag. He glanced over to Emma and gave her a sad smile. She would never forget his soulful brown eyes.
“Ma’am?”
Emma jolted back into the present. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Patrick’s stretcher had already been taken from the ambulance. The EMT, who had driven them to the hospital, stood with the passenger side door opened, beckoning her with his hand. “Here let me help you.”
“Thank you,” she murmured. After she hopped down, he led her through the automatic doors. Pointing down the hallway, he said, “They took him to room two.”
She nodded. “Thank you for everything.”
Emma staggered down the white tiled floor. An antiseptic smell assaulted her senses. Men and women in blue and green scrubs hustled between rooms and patients. She gave the nurses station a fleeting glance before cutting across the hall to where Patrick was. When Emma started for the door, a nurse blocked her. “No, ma’am. You can’t go in there. You’ll have to go to the waiting room.”
“How is he?”
“We don’t know anything yet. They’re running tests.” The nurse gripped Emma’s shoulder. “If you’ll just go have a seat, someone will—”
Emma shook her head furiously from side to side. “Please, let me stay here. I won’t get in the way, I promise. He didn’t want me to leave him!”
The nurse took in Emma’s swollen stomach, and her expression softened. She glanced over her shoulder before sighing. “Okay. Is there anyone else you should call?”
Emma had been so consumed by the ghosts of the past along with Patrick’s condition, she hadn’t even thought of calling Aidan or his sisters. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh God, I can’t believe I didn’t call his children!”
“It’s okay, honey. I’m sure you’ve had a lot to process. Why don’t you step right over there?” the nurse motioned to a table with a shiny black phone on top of it.
Emma nodded and walked away from Patrick’s door. She eased down into the uncomfortable plastic chair. With Becky and Liz in Disney World and Julia living out of state, Aidan and Angie were the closest in distance of getting to the hospital. She tried Angie first, hoping she could get her to call Aidan. But she didn’t pick up, so Emma was forced to leave her a voicemail asking her to call her as soon as she could.
With shaky fingers, she dialed Aidan’s cell number. He answered on the third ring. “This is Aidan Fitzgerald.”