Free Hearts on Fire by Roz Lee Page A

survived.
    “Tell me what happened.” He loosened his hold but kept her close. Her eyes and nose were red and swollen, her lips puffy. His heart ached to take the pain away from her.
    “I got a cab from the train station. All I remember are the lights. Lots and lots of red and blue lights flashing. More than I’d ever seen in one place. The driver let me out a few blocks from my house, and I walked the rest of the way. As I got closer, I could see the flames through the smoke.” She shuddered in his arms. “There was so much smoke. I tripped on a fire hose and someone helped me up. That’s when one of my neighbors saw me. I could tell by her expression that something was terribly wrong, but it still hadn’t registered that it was my house. She grabbed me in a big hug.”
     
    “Thank goodness you’re all right.” Rosemary backed up, her gaze darting around. “The kids are with you, aren’t they?”
    “No. Marguerite is at the house.”
    She didn’t know Rosemary well. She and Mike had been too busy building their careers to get to know anyone in the neighborhood, but she did know the woman holding her hands had children about the same age as Michael and Tessa. Still, the expression on the woman’s face needed no interpretation.
    “No. No. No!” Shannon shook her head. Tearing her gaze away from her neighbor, she looked in horror at the fire blazing down the block. She counted houses until she got to where their slate-gray Cape Cod should be.
     
    “As I said, I don’t remember much. The inspector told us the fire started in the laundry room—a clogged dryer vent or something. It spread fast. The kids’ bedrooms were right above the utility room.”
    He brought her close again, her next words muffled by his shirt. “They never had a chance.”
    Jesus. He didn’t know what to say. There were no words to make something like that right, so he did the only thing he could. He held her.
    After a while, he steered her toward an outcropping of rocks that shielded them from the wind. With his back to a boulder, he made a cradle for her with his legs. When she sat, he wrapped his arms around her once again. He wasn’t sure she needed the connection, but he did. He wanted to be there for her.
    The need to comfort was new to him. Yeah, Meggie had her moments when she needed a hug, but for the most part, he didn’t do the touchy feely thing. However, the last thing he wanted to do was let go of Shannon.
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    More people were arriving to take advantage of the warm day and calm surf. Families with children, teenagers with body boards and footballs, and the occasional sun worshiper began to dot the landscape. Steve was content to remain right there for as long as Shannon wanted to stay. Meggie was probably having the time of her life, being spoiled rotten by his mother and aunt. He had all the time in the world.
    “I went back to work the next week. Mike, my husband, went to the local bar. I don’t know which one of us handled it worse. He tried to find absolution in a bottle, and I…I don’t know what I was doing. I’d lost everything, and there I was, going through the motions as if getting another promotion would make a difference.”
    “But you quit?”
    She nodded. “I did. It took me about six months to realize I’d lost all interest in my job. If I’d been at home where I belonged instead of trying to impress people I’d never met into giving me a promotion…. But I wasn’t at home. I blamed myself. I blamed Mike for not being handyman enough to know the dryer vent needed to be cleaned out. I blamed poor Marguerite, who had never done anything but love my children like they were her own.”
    “Understandable.”
    “Perhaps, but unproductive. We had a few things in a storage locker—mostly stuff I’d inherited from my grandmother. Antiques and things. I’d lost everything but the clothes on my back, so I went there one day to see if I could use some of the furniture for my new