Page 59 of Saving Shepperd

When I scooped her up, I was thankful she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her face into my shoulder.

We hustled across the lawn toward the house as the old tree creaked one last time and fell to the ground in a shower of sparks and ash. Half the leaves landed in the pool with a loud hiss as the flames were extinguished.

Firefighters passed us as we reached the sliding glass door and one yelled in our direction, “Get inside. Is anyone else out here?”

“Not that I know of. I wasn’t looking past these two, though,” Elijah responded.

“EMTs are on their way. If the women need to be looked at, just let someone know,” he advised and then dashed off to join his team fight the blaze on the lawn.

Inside the house, far fewer people lingered than I expected. Families probably wanted to get out of harm’s way and left for home. Who could blame them?

“Holy shit, Law,” my brother gasped as he approached, “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, man, I think so. Physically at least,” I replied with a pointed look at the woman tucked under my arm beside me on the sofa. “How’s your crew?”

“Pia’s with Cecile and the girls in Vela’s room. They needed a quiet space to calm down,” he answered while scanning the backyard disaster from the sliding glass door. “Christ, this is like a bad YouTube prank,” he muttered to no one in particular.

I turned my attention to Shepperd. Her entire body was shaking, and holding her close wasn’t fixing it. I pressed a kiss into the side of her head. The poor thing’s beautiful hair smelled of smoke, and her palms were scraped with dried blood. I took her lifeless hand in mine and turned it over to inspect if she needed medical attention. They needed to be cleaned, but none of the cuts were deep enough to need stitches.

“Do you want to get out of here?” I asked gently.

She didn’t react in any way. She just kept staring at the ground and trembling.

“Jake?” I said a bit louder to get my brother’s attention. “Do you have a blanket?”

He turned from watching the fire department make quick work of extinguishing the blaze. “Huh?”

“Blanket? I think she’s in shock,” I said as calmly as possible.

“Oh, yeah, one sec,” he said and dashed off toward the bedrooms. He was back with two fuzzy blankets—one with cartoon unicorns and the other striped in rainbow colors. He helped drape them over Shepperd’s shoulders while I cradled her on my lap.

“Where did Elijah go with her sister?” I asked my brother. “Did you see?”

“Yeah, they’re in our room at the end of the hall. She looks a lot like this.” He motioned to Shepperd with his chin while standing over us. “What the hell happened to them?”

“They were trapped on the other side of the playset. They both had childhood trauma, so they completely locked up in the face of danger. Elijah and I used the garden hose to cut the flames down low enough to get them to safety. Where the hell are the EMTs? The one firefighter said they were on their way, and that was at least ten minutes ago.”

“I’m sure they’ll be here any minute,” my sibling reassured. “Let’s lay her down and raise her feet. That should help blood flow get back to normal.”

I eased my body away from Shep and spoke quietly to her. “Baby, can you lie down here on the sofa? I’ll stay right here, but I think your body is in shock.”

She allowed me to maneuver her into a supine position. Jacob stuffed a throw pillow under her legs while I covered her with both blankets.

When she was settled, I asked my brother, “When did you become the house doctor?”

“Dude, we’ve been through so much shit since Vela was abducted. On top of that, my soon-to-be-wife is diabetic. It made sense for me to learn some basic first aid.” He shrugged like these were common problems in every household.

“Man.” I shook my head. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” he snapped.

“You’ve been through so much, obviously still going through so much shit, and I’ve been so wrapped up in myself and my own life, I didn’t even know. I’m shit for a brother.” I studied the ground, feeling ashamed of how little I’d been there to support my brother while he no doubt needed it.

“Law, shut up. There’s no way you would’ve known unless I told you. And I didn’t. On top of all that, there’s not much anyone can do to help us anyway. We just get through one day at a time.”

“Are you guys going to therapy at least?” I asked. I might have been prying into his home life too deeply, but I was genuinely concerned.

“Oh, hell yes we are. We all go separately, as a family, and as a couple. I think I pay more to that damn office each month than our mortgage payment,” he said with a laugh.

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