Page 83 of Silos and Sabotage

It was like a war zone with all the barking, screaming, and mini fires igniting everywhere the burning ashes hit the ground. He squinted through the smoke, trying to get Johnny and Cassie in his sights, but it was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead of him.

The sprinkling of mini fires around them spread and billowed into bigger fires.

More sirens sounded in the distance. Gage pushed to his feet and scooped up Ella and the puppy again. Their best chance of survival would be submerging themselves in the lake. He just needed to get there before their path was cut off by the fire.

He plodded through the smoke, with his eyes and lungs burning, using his inner compass to keep them headed in the right direction. It felt like hours, though it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, before his feet splashed into the shallow water at the lake’s edge.

He waded deeper with Ella clasped tightly in his arms.

“We made it,” she sobbed, burying her face against his chest. The puppy in her arms whimpered in relief and lapped at the water.

“Yeah, baby, we made it.” He kissed the top of her head.

They stood there coughing, laughing, and weeping until help arrived.

Epilogue

Three months later

Ella jogged up the back porch steps of Gage’s home. She had so many shopping bags looped over her arms that she had to edge sideways through the door he pushed open for her.

He immediately started sliding handles off her arms and helped her carry the bags to the kitchen. “If I’d known you wanted to go grocery shopping, I would’ve offered to drive you.” He leaned closer to brush his mouth against hers.

She kissed him back, not wanting to admit that she’d purposely gone shopping without him, so he wouldn’t try to talk her out of what she was about to do.

“These aren’t groceries,” she chuckled. “They’re for your living room.” She’d already decorated his guest house for Christmas, whereas he hadn’t done more than hang a red dish towel on the handle of his stove. Granted, he’d been swamped with cases at work, but that was no excuse for skipping Christmas. Since it was their first Christmas together, she wanted it to be spectacular.

A quick glance around the living room proved that Johnny and Rock hadn’t held up their part of the deal. Dismay clogged her throat.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Gage hastily set her shopping bags on the coffee table and swung back in her direction.

With a moan of defeat, she wilted against him. “I was going to decorate a Christmas tree for you, but?—”

The front door swung open, and the pointy top of a bushy evergreen poked through the opening. It was followed by lots of male grunting and heaving sounds.

“Oh! They made it!” She gave a hoot of delight and threw her arms around Gage’s neck in a celebratory hug.

He lifted her off her feet and swung her in a full circle before setting her down. “If it makes you happy to have those two goofballs rub all the new paint off the front door frame, then I reckon I’m happy about it, too.” Despite his grumping, his gaze twinkled into hers.

Ella winced as Johnny’s elbow slammed into the hall tree bench and sent it careening sideways.

Gage leaped forward to catch it before it crashed into the lamp on the end table closest to the door.

Johnny finally waded into the room with his upper body buried in the branches of an impressively full evergreen.

Ella muffled a snort of laughter as the tree with legs stumbled its way toward the agreed-upon corner of the room.

Rock marched into the living room behind the walking tree and shut the door behind them with the tip of his cane. “Mission accomplished.” He dusted his hands in satisfaction.

“All you did was brandish your cane like a cattle prod,” Johnny howled from the depths of the tree branches. Gage squatted down to help him set it on the tree stand and anchor it in place.

Rock spread his hands as he faced Ella. “Obviously, my methods worked, because my Grinch of an older brother has his first Christmas tree set up.”

Johnny muttered something about wrapping Rock’s cane around his ears as he stomped past him into the kitchen. He returned with a pitcher of water to fill the pan beneath the tree.

“Is it really your first tree?” Ella clasped her hands rapturously as she pictured what it was going to look like after transferring all the ornaments in her bags to its lush green branches.

“What can I say? It’s been a year of firsts.” Gage leaned out from beneath the base of the tree to lock gazes with her for a moment charged with infinite tenderness. “We make quite a team, don’t we?”

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