Page 29 of Charlotte's Reckoning
“Yes,”she said. “We should go too.”
The combination of the smoke, heat, and a week with little food and no sleep, not to mention her ordeal with Augustine, had left her physically and mentally exhausted. Rubber-kneed and unsteady on her feet, she missed the next step. To keep from tumbling down the stairs and breaking her neck, she reached out blindly for the handrail. Her hero came to her rescue once more, sweeping her up and holding her close to his broad chest as he descended. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clung to him tightly, feeling safer in this stranger’s arms than she had in days.
Outside, the air seemed cooler, even though it was July, but compared to the oven she’d just left, it was. He crossed the street before setting her down on the boardwalk in front of Berta’s Bathhouse.
“You should be safe from sparks and smoke here. Catch your breath, but don’t linger. The entire block could go up if the fire brigade doesn’t get here soon.”
“I won’t,”she assured him, although she had nowhere to go. “Thank you for saving me.”
His answer was a nod, and then he turned to face Heloise’s burning palace, the glow illuminating his striking profile. “I need to go back for Judd,”he murmured.
Suddenly, there was an explosion and a shower of glass as windows on the third floor exploded. Flames licked up the outside walls and were visible on the roof.
“You can’t mean to go back in there,”Rowie exclaimed. “The fire is spreading too fast.”
“He’s my brother. I can’t leave him there.”His voice was strained but not from the smoke, like hers.
On wobbly legs, wheezing every breath and coughing with every other, she asked, “How do you know he didn’t get out safely?”
“Impossible,”he said quietly, still staring at the blaze. “He’s on the second floor. So there’s a chance.”
“I’ll go with you and help you carry him,”she offered, which was insane.
“No, you won’t!”he replied sharply.
“It will go faster if there are two of us. Besides, I know my way around.”
“You’re unsteady on your feet and can barely breathe from coughing.”
More glass rained down on the street as the fire roared. She grabbed his arm. “Please don’t go back in there. Stay here with me.”
“Standing here arguing wastes precious time I don’t have,”he grumbled.
Her gaze shifted to the roof, which was now fully engulfed. He’d never make it out. But to have any chance at all, he had to go now.
She let go of his arm, urging, “Be careful.”
He ran across the street and disappeared into the smoke billowing from the front door. Rowie said a quick prayer, which she hadn’t done since the day Carson was killed. She hoped He was paying attention better than the day on the train.
Patrons of the surrounding businesses came outside to watch the spectacle of the Pleasure Palace going up in flames. The boardwalk soon became too crowded for her comfort. Keeping to the shadows, she hurried farther down the block and dashed into the alley beside Hurdy Gurdy’s Dime-a-Dance Club that sat catty-corner from the Palace or what was left of it.
The club was silent and dark at this time of night, as was the alley. From there, Rowie could still watch for her tall, handsome hero to emerge.
The seconds ticked by, and the fire continued to spread. About five minutes after the smoke had enveloped him, the roof collapsed with a deafening crash. Sparks and flames shot thirty feet into the air.
“Such a waste,”she whispered, her heart heavy for the life of someone so young, with so much promise and so unselfish—a rare commodity in her world.
When, a moment later, the dark shadow of a man carrying someone in his arms staggered through the front door, she exhaled in relief, only to begin coughing again.
“A friend of yours?”
Rowie twisted to find a woman in her late forties, perhaps early fifties, standing beside her, watching the blaze. Her perfectly coiffed hair and elegant dress looked out of place in this part of town.
“No, I…uh…he was helping people get out. I didn’t see anyone else doing that. I’m glad he’s all right, is all.”
“Heloise’s customers high-tailed it out of there, leaving the girls behind, did they? That sounds like her clientele.”
“You know her?”
