Page 38 of Heart of a Hero

“He said it was okay, but that he’d had to think of the boy in class he thought was cute in order to get hard. That pretty much said everything. I told him if I’d known that ahead of time, I could have told him he was gay without sleeping with him.”

Dawson snorted. “No joke. I take it you didn’t use a condom?”

“We did, but he’d gotten it from the bathroom drawer in his parents’ room. Apparently it had expired. We didn’t even know about expiration dates on condoms. For that matter, we barely figured out how to get it on.”

Dawson bit his lip. “Sorry, I’m not laughing, but… you have to admit that part’s a little funny. So what happened to Donovan? Even if he’s gay, shouldn’t he want to be part of Taylor’s life? What made him run out on you?”

“When our parents found out, they had similar reactions. Mine yelled about him taking advantage of me, his said I’d seduced him. Of course, Donovan told them that wasn’t possible since he was gay, which just made everything so much worse.” I closed my eyes a moment, remembering that day clearly. “His parents packed up everything they had within three days and were gone. Since he never contacted me again, I figured he wasn’t interested in our child. After that, my parents threw me out.”

“But… I mean, how did you manage with a baby on the way?”

“A friend’s mom let me stay with them until I finished school. Afterward, I got a job and moved out. And that’s when the cycle of shitty boyfriends started. As for Donovan, his boyfriend got in touch me a few years ago.”

“And?” he asked. “What happened?”

My throat felt tight and I blinked back tears. “Donovan had confessed everything to him, told him he had a baby he’d never seen before. But it was too late.”

“He’s gone then?” Dawson asked softly.

“Yeah. He’d been in a car accident and held on for about two days before he passed away. The boyfriend managed to track me down somehow and wanted to let me know Donovan had thought about me and Taylor in his final moments. I told him about her, and how sorry I was to hear about Donovan. We cried on the phone together.”

Dawson put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to his side. “I’m so sorry, baby. Has Taylor ever asked about him? Does she know who he is or anything?”

I shook my head. Sure, she’d asked me a few times why she didn’t have a dad like everyone else, but after the third time, she’d stopped and acted like she’d just never had one. I wondered if she told her friends she hatched from an egg, got dropped off by a stork, or was grown in a cabbage patch. We hadn’t really discussed it again, even though I probably should have.

“Sorry to dampen the mood,” I said. “We really did have a good day with your parents.”

He kissed my temple. “I’m glad. Mom seems to like you. Dad too, for that matter. And I wouldn’t have brought up such a sad topic, but Mom hinted that I should ask about it. I worried something awful happened, like…”

Ah. He’d worried I’d been raped like the women he’d mentioned to me before, when he’d told me about the Dixie Reapers helping people. I could see where his mom’s insistence that we talk about Taylor’s dad might have made him think such a thing.

“Well, if Taylor needs to tell anyone about her dad, she can tell them he’s a fireman.”

I looked up at him. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Yeah. You’re mine now, Nora. Which means Taylor and the baby are too. If she’s going to call my mom Grandma, why can’t she call me Dad? Or is it too soon?”

“I’ll talk to her about it. Thank you, Dawson. I seem to be telling you that a lot.”

He leaned down to kiss me softly. “So stop thanking me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Nora. For all three of you. From now on, we’re family.”

Chapter Twelve

Dawson

The shrill alarm pierced the air, jolting me from my fitful slumber. I leapt out of bed, my heart pounding, and raced to put on my bunker gear. The dispatcher’s voice crackled over the intercom. “All units respond. High-rise fire, corner of 5th and Main. Multiple civilians trapped.”

I pulled on my heavy boots and bunker pants, fumbling with the suspenders in my haste. The acrid scent of smoke from hundreds of fires past still clung to the gear. My hands shook slightly as I zipped up my coat and grabbed my helmet.

“Move it, Dawson!” Captain Briggs shouted as he jogged past. “This one’s gonna be bad.”

I fell into step behind him, my muscles tensing in anticipation. The rest of the crew piled into the truck, faces grim and focused.

I slid into my seat, strapped on my air tank, and tried to quiet my mind. But dark thoughts crept in unbidden. Would this be the fire that finally broke me? The one where I wasn’t fast enough, or strong enough to save them all?

The engine roared to life and we sped into the predawn darkness, sirens wailing. The town was counting on us. We were the only hope the trapped civilians had.

As the first orange glimmers of flame came into view against the skyline, I clenched my jaw and braced myself. It was time to do what I had trained for, what I lived for.

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