Under the Midnight Stars (25 page)

Colt stumbled from the barn with Jack lying limp in his arms.

“COOLT!” Brielle screamed with relief.

Just then the fire-ravaged doorway moaned and snapped, sounding as if a mighty evergreen were about to crash furiously to the earth. A metal bucket rolled out from the upper barn window and fell directly on top of Colt’s head, knocking him forward.

“NOOOO!” Brielle shrieked and rushed to the two unconscious men. She began to cough profusely from the deadly black cloud choking the air from her lungs.

Ignoring the heat from the flames as they flicked dangerously near, she grabbed both of their arms and leaned back with the weight of her body, trying with all of her might to drag them to safety.

Suddenly two firefighters appeared and gathered each of the men into their arms and rushed them away from the engulfed barn.

Brielle stumbled backward as dizziness overcame her. The sounds of whooshing flames and sirens swirled like a tornado in her head. A shadowy figure appeared and effortlessly whisked her off her feet and carried her away from the thick plume of gray and the scorching heat of hell. She stared in shock at the blurry face of the firefighter looking down at her with worry, before darkness engulfed her.

Brielle opened her eyes, squinting from the bright fluorescents above. Her throat and lungs burned as she took in a deep breath. Within an instant, all the memories of Jack and Colt and the barn fire flooded her mind.

Panicked, she grabbed the arm of the nurse checking her vitals. “Jack? Colt?” she croaked through her parched throat. “Are they alive? Are they okay?”

The nurse pulled back the curtain and called out to the doctor standing nearby. “She’s awake, doctor.”

He entered the cubicle-sized space and closed the curtain behind him.

“Doctor?” she pleaded. “My brother Jack and my boyfriend Colt — how are they?”

The doctor pulled out a pen light and shined it into her left eye. Then her right. “You know, you being back here so soon saved me the trouble of having to call you with your test results,” he said casually.

Brielle stared at him blankly.

He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry — it’s been a long night … Anyway, your brother has a slight concussion and needed some stitches, but he’ll be okay. We’re keeping him overnight.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was two thirty in the morning. “I mean through the rest of the morning for observation. He suffered a pretty hard blow to the head. Any idea of how it happened?”

“Thank God.” She placed a shaky hand over her pounding heart. “No, I don’t know how it happened. I just saw the barn on fire. But what about Colt? How is he?” she asked, fearing the worst.

“He’s still unconscious. We think his head trauma was more severe. We’re running tests and should know more shortly.”

“Oh no,” she replied with dread. Her chin began to quiver and tears flooded her eyes. “Is he gonna live?”

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We’ll know more when the results come back. Do you know of any family of his we can contact?”

She shook her head. The tears slid down her face. “No. There’s no one.”

“There is good news,” he replied kindly. “You and your baby are going to be fine. You just suffered minor smoke inhalation.” He glanced at her chart. “But you can go home tonight. Or, early this morning.” He glanced at the clock on the wall again.

Brielle sniffed back her tears, holding her breath momentarily. She was sure she’d heard him wrong. “I’m sorry?” She was confused. “Did you just say my
baby
is fine?”

“Yes.” He smiled.

She shook her head. “But I’m not pregnant. I got my period already.”

The doctor furrowed his brow and referred back to her chart, and after what seemed to be the longest thirty seconds of Brielle’s life, smiled. “You’re pregnant. How heavy was the bleeding?”

Her jaw dropped open. “Uhhh.” She tried to concentrate on the doctor’s question, finding the simple task nearly impossible. “Uh, just a little spotting. That’s how I usually start. Slight spotting for a couple of days before it gets heavier.” Now that the doctor knew the details, she was sure he’d realize his mistake.

“That explains it. Slight spotting in the first month is quite normal. There should be no bleeding now.”

Brielle recalled the last few days. She’d been so sick and broken-hearted that she hadn’t even noticed the spotting had stopped and her period never started. Shock took over. She squished her eyes shut and opened them again, hoping to awaken from her nightmare. But nothing had changed.

The doctor watched her curiously before he spoke again. “You’re right at four to five weeks along. Your ribs should be completely healed before your waistline starts to expand. You’re a very lucky woman. Your baby has survived a serious car accident, dehydration, and a fire. This one’s determined to be a part of this world. As a matter of fact, you were all very lucky that none of you suffered any burns other than some singed arm hair. And the ends of your hair, I’m afraid.”

Brielle looked down at a few crimped ends of brittle hair resting on her chest. She didn’t care. It could be easily fixed with a pair of scissors. Colt on the other hand, if he even lived through this nightmare, might be damaged forever.

“The nurse will bring your discharge papers in shortly. Get plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids, and follow up with your doctor in a few days. You can get dressed. The clothes you wore in here smell of smoke. They’re in a plastic bag under the bed.” He reached under the bed and handed her a folded gray T-shirt, black sweatpants, and a pair of gray-and-purple running shoes.

Confused, she stared at her clothing. “How’d these get here?”

“Some firefighters came to check on all of you and brought y’all some clothes.” He patted her on the arm and left the cramped, non-private space.

Brielle sat quietly, holding her neatly folded clothing topped with shoes, as the words “you and your baby are going to be fine” flooded her thoughts. Colt’s suspicions had been right. She was pregnant. One hundred percent full-fledged pregnant.

She recalled Colt’s disappointment when she’d told him that she was sure she wasn’t. That it was just the flu. An ache filled her heart. She wanted to go to him and tell him he was going to be a father. That the woman he loved with all his heart was going to give him a child. But she might never get the chance. He might never know of the miracle he created.

Her shoulders began to shake as she cried quietly into her hands. She couldn’t take another death. Especially not Colt’s. He had to live. He
had
to … Unable to just sit around and wait to hear of his condition, she decided to see for herself.

Quickly, she tossed the covers aside and dressed. When she’d finished, she went straight to the nurses’ station to find out where Jack and Colt were. When the nurse told her that she couldn’t see Colt yet, she was sure it was a bad sign.

Holding back her tears, she found Jack’s room.

Jack was sleeping peacefully.

She quietly made her way to the cushioned chair in the corner and cried herself to sleep.

The sound of a door closing jarred her from her slumber. She sat up and looked around.

“Brielle?” Jack whispered hoarsely from the bed.

She sat up straight and smiled. “Oh Jack. How do you feel?”

“Like I was hit by a train on fire,” he croaked. He rubbed the back of his head. “What in the hell happened exactly? I woke up in the middle of being stitched up, but no one could give me any real answers.”

Brielle went to his bedside and poured him a cup of water from the blue pitcher. She noticed his car remote sitting next to it. “Here.” She handed it to him. “Is your car here?”

He took a sip of water before he answered. “Yep. Some pals from the station dropped it off so we’d have a way home.”

“Oh, that was nice of them.”

He gave a quick nod and raised his eyebrows. “Yep. Now are you gonna tell me what happened or not?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what happened. All I know is that I took a shower and when I opened my bedroom door I started choking on smoke. I looked out the window and the barn was on fire.”

Her eyes filled with tears as she relieved the haunting event. She prayed Colt had survived through the night. “Colt came just as I was going in after you. He went in instead. He went right into the fire to save you.”

She sucked in a ragged breath as pain engulfed her heart once again. She started to cry. “He might not make it, Jack. He’s still unconscious. He might die. And I’m pregnant. I’m gonna have his baby and he might never know.”

Jack’s eyes widened before they filled with sympathy. “Aw, Brielle.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “He’ll make it through this. You’ll see. He’s strong.”

She nodded and pulled away, sniffling. “I hope so, Jack.”

“Not
I hope so —
he
is
gonna make it,” he said confidently.

She managed a weak smile and nodded. “He
is
gonna make it.”

He grinned. “That’s more like it … So, I’m gonna be an uncle, huh? I have to say, that’s pretty good news. How do you feel about it?”

“Well,” she sniffed again, “I was kind of shocked at first. But now … now a part of Colt is growing inside of me and I can’t wait to see him … or her.” She forced a smile. “I just hope Colt gets a chance to see his baby too.”

Jack took her hand in his and patted the back of it. “Hey, what’d I tell you … he’ll see his baby. I know it.” He coughed and then took a sip of water. “So how did we get out anyhow? Did you pull us out?”

She shook her head. “Colt pulled you out. He shielded you from the flames as much as he could with his own body. He’d just stepped through the doorway when a bucket — a
bucket
of all things — fell on his head. It knocked you two forward enough to escape the flames. I tried to pull you both away, but you were too heavy. Then the firemen came and carried us out of there. That’s when I passed out.” She threw herself against his chest and cried. “I couldn’t take it if he died, Jack! I couldn’t!”

He rubbed her back soothingly, just as their parents had done to ease away their childhood woes. “He’s not gonna die, Brielle.” His voice was strong and confident. “Colt’s a survivor. He just found out he has a son. And now he has another baby on the way — with
you.
He’s gonna pull through. Plus, he’s crazy about you. There’s no way in hell he’s gonna leave you so soon. He’ll fight tooth and nail. You’ll see.”

Tears continued to flow. “You don’t understand. I told him to go. That I didn’t wanna be with him. That I thought he should try to be a family with his son and Miranda. I told him to stay the night with her.”

Jack frowned. “Now why in the hell would you go and do something foolish like that? Colt loves
you.
He doesn’t love Miranda. And besides, she’s engaged to the fire chief. They seem to be crazy about each other.”

“What? She is?” Shocked, she pulled out of his arms to face him. She sucked in a deep ragged breath to stay her tears as anger took over. “Why didn’t you tell me that when I told you about her?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. It didn’t cross my mind that you needed to be told. I didn’t think you’d go off and tell Colt to marry her. I just thought you’d work it out together. I don’t know what goes on in that pea-sized brain of yours sometimes, Brielle.” He sighed. “Sometimes you just leap before you look. For once you need to sit back consider all logical solutions to all parties involved.”

She placed both hands on hips, ready to give him a piece of her mind. Instead, she considered the wisdom of his words. “You’re right, Jack,” she replied dismally. “I do leap before I look … I’ll try to work on that.” She bit her trembling lip as her heart broke all over again for causing Colt such unnecessary, undeserving pain.

“Come here, brat.” He hugged her again. Then he pulled away to look her in the eyes. “How’d the fire start anyway?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Huh.” Jack took a minute to think. “Maybe it was an electrical short of some kind. They’ll figure it out. Anyway, don’t you think it’s time to get out of here and go tell Colt how you really feel about him?”

“He’s unconscious.” She sucked in another ragged breath, trying to hold back her tears.

“He’ll hear you, Brielle,” he replied softly. “He’ll hear you.”

“Okay.” She sniffed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She left Jack’s room and went to the nurses’ station, determined to see Colt whether they said it was okay or not. The nurse there pointed her in the right direction to Colt’s room. Her heart pounded fearfully as she made her way down the corridor to his room. “Please let him be okay … Please let him be okay…” she whispered unsteadily before she entered.

All was quiet except for the low repetitive beeping of his heart rate monitor. And aside from the sunlight trying to push its way over the top of the closed navy curtains, the room was dark.

Slowly, quietly, she made her way to his bedside. Silent tears trickled down her cheeks. “Oh Colt,” she whispered through hiccup-like sucks of breath to keep from sobbing. Staring at his unresponsive form, she gently placed her hand in his. It was warm and soft. She wanted to hold onto it forever.

“I’m so sorry for everything. I’m sorry I pushed you away. I was wrong. So wrong. I hope you get a chance to forgive me. Please don’t die, Colt.” She cried as quietly as she could. “I’m pregnant. You’re gonna be a daddy. Our baby needs you. I need you. Please, please wake up.” She carefully laid her head on his chest.

“I knew it,” Colt croaked hoarsely as he reached up to gently stroke her cheek with his thumb.

“Uh.” Brielle snapped her head up and stared at him in disbelief.

“I knew you were pregnant,” he croaked again through a proud grin.

“You’re awake! You’re gonna be okay!” She giggled quietly. “I’ll get the nurse.” She turned to leave but Colt tightened his grip on her hand.

“No,” he whispered hoarsely. “Don’t go yet. They were in here half the morning sticking me and taking me for x-rays. I just wanna be with you.”

“Oh Colt,” she whispered lovingly, crying tears of joy. “The doctor told me you were seriously injured and unconscious. I was so afraid that I’d lose you.”