Page 50 of One Last Night

He looks at me for a long moment. Then he curses. “Damn you. Fine. Two minutes. Not a second longer.”

That’s fine with me. Two minutes will be more than enough time to cover the ground floor of the barn. And if Luann and Kevin are on the upper floor…

No. I won’t think about that.

We begin the search, looking through the different storage areas of the barn. The dairy cow is bellowing madly for release, so Sean lets her out while I check the chicken coop. The chickens themselves have already fled outside through the little door cut into the wall.

Sean rejoins me when we begin looking through the feed stores. I am beginning to lose hope when I see a soft white hand lying outstretched behind a stack of grain sacks.

“There!” I call out. “Look!”

Sean turns to the hand. “Good eye, Mary. I’ll get her out of here. Keep looking for Kevin.”

“He might be with her,” I protest, following him to Luann.

I’m right. Kevin lies half atop Luann, arms splayed out to the side. Both of them are in an awkward position and neither of them are moving.

“They’re unconscious,” Sean says. “Take Luann. I’ll take Kevin.”

He hefts the young man over his shoulder. With somewhat more difficulty, I manage to lift Luann off of the ground, though I need Sean’s help to keep from losing my balance.

“Okay,” he says. “Out the way we came—”

Before he can finish that sentence, a loud groan sounds, and a moment later, a massive section of the flaming upper story crashes in front of us. Soot and smoke billow into our faces, causing us to choke and cough.

The heat is beyond unbearable now. It’s all-consuming. I can almost feel my skin blistering.

Sean grabs my arm and pulls me toward the back of the barn. Luann is a petite girl and not very heavy, but I am not a youngwoman, and my arms and legs burn when we finally reach the door.

A loud crack sounds behind us, but I don’t risk stopping to see how close we are to being crushed. It’s not until a loud thump sounds behind me and the ground shakes a little that I realize how near it was.

We keep running until firemen pop up in front of us and stop us. A light shines in my face, and a stern-faced but compassionate woman with a sturdy build asks my name.

I don’t answer her right away. I collapse to my knees, unable to hold onto Luann anymore. I look down at her, terrified that she’s not going to wake up, but just before the paramedics tend to her, she gasps and opens her eyes.

"Oh God," I breathe. "Oh, thank God."

She looks at me. “Mary? You came for us?”

“I’m so glad you’re all right.”

The paramedics rush her away, and two more sit me down and examine me. I look back at the barn just in time to see the engines start and begin to douse the flame.

It’s all right. The children will be okay. That’s all that matters.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

On the whole, the Cartwright house is just as impressive as the Bellamy house. It’s two stories rather than three, but it’s more spacious. The design is as modern as the Bellamy house is classic, with dark leather furniture and bright aluminum appliances sitting on granite tile floors. There is a den rather than a separate living room, and the great room is much larger, with a large flat-panel tv embedded into the wall above the fireplace and seating for at least a dozen on the massive sectional.

At the moment there are nine of us seated: The Bellamys, Sean and I, and the Cartwrights.

Sean and I are cleared by the paramedics on the property. Luann and Kevin were taken to the hospital for treatment. Robert, Victoria, and Julian spent the night with them at the hospital and returned here after the children were released.

Now everyone is here. It’s almost surreal to see the Bellamys and the Cartwrights in the same place without being at each other’s throats. Julian and Robert are talking in low voices, and looking at their faces, you wouldn’t know that they’re embroiled in a feud that has escalated into a police investigation and a lawsuit.

It appears that the lawsuit is a thing of the past. They are talking quietly, but I hear Julian say that the person who set the barn on fire is probably the same person who sabotaged Victoria’s vineyard.

I look over at Luann and see guilt in her eyes. I give her an encouraging smile, hoping to ease some of her worries. I’m quite sure she and Kevin didn’t try to burn the barn down on top of themselves, but I know she feels guilty for the sabotage. That’s less important than the fact that they’re both alive right now.

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