Page 55 of Keeping Happily Ever After

It was a child’s cry.But where?

He looked to the woman, who was unconscious, and quickly made his decision before moving to the bathroom.

“Stand back,” he yelled through his mask. “I need to get the door open.”

He heard a muffled response and hoped like hell whoever was on the other side was out of the way as he swung his ax and got the door open.

There, in the bathtub. A child.

Often children got scared in a fire and they’d hide. This little girl may have saved her life by doing that. Still, Jeremy needed to get her and her mother out quickly if any of them stood a chance. He held his hand out, and thankfully she took it. As soon as she was close enough, he scooped her up in his arm and went to her mother. Could he carry them both? He had to try.

The little girl clung to him like a monkey, so he was able to squat and, abandoning his ax, scoop the woman up with his other arm. It wasn’t ideal, but he draped her over his shoulder and went to the door.

He could hear Natalie on the radio. She’d found another guest of the hotel and was escorting them out.

He’d have no help.

It didn’t matter.

The little girl shifted on his arm in an effort to get to her mother. Jeremy tripped.

Shit.

He couldn’t carry them both. It would be faster to do one at a time. It wasn’t ideal, but he could do it. He’d have to move fast.

Once the decision was made, Jeremy moved quickly down the stairs, running as fast as his gear would allow him. The moment he hit the fresh, cold air, he thrust the little girl out of his arms to another firefighter. Theo, maybe. It didn’t matter. As long as she was safe.

“Jeremy!”

Someone—he didn’t know who—yelled out behind him.

“You can’t go back in there. Wait for the—”

A second later, he was back inside. The smoke was thicker. It was harder to breathe. Harder to see. But it didn’t matter. Adrenaline pumped through him, fueling him and pushing him back up the stairs. He moved on instinct, letting his memory guide him back to the hall outside of room twenty-four where he’d left the woman.

He’d never left anyone behind, and he didn’t plan to start today.

Beneath him, a stair gave way under his foot.

Shit.The flames had reached the stairs. He was running out of time.

A renewed push of energy drove him up the stairs where the woman lay.

“Come on,” he said to himself. “Time to go.”

He scooped her up in his arms and held her as tightly to his chest as he could.

The stairs were almost completely consumed. The flames licked the walls around them. But he couldn’t stop. It wasn’t an option. They’d both perish. And there was no way that was happening.

Not today. Not like this.

He made it down the stairs and there was a crash behind him. The crackling of the wooden hotel burning up around him grew louder in his ears.It was hot. So hot.He was running out of time.

Jeremy moved by memory and instinct alone, hoping desperately that the door to the outside would be right—

Something—falling debris—hit him in the back and flung him forward toward the door and the fresh air that would save them. Pain seared in back. His head. The woman tumbled from his arms. But the last thought he had before he lost consciousness was of another woman.

Bella.

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