Feisty Firefighters Bundle

no matter what, but she knew what was holding her back. She was desperate for any clue that what they had together was precious for its own sake and not just because it bonded them into a set of parents for Megan.

‘Are you managing OK…with Megan?’

‘Oh, sure.’ Jason’s smile was as tender as his kiss had been. ‘You’ve taught me a lot, Laura.’

The tears were much harder to control now. Impossible, in fact. Laura held the door open and her voice was muffled.

‘Are you coming into work tomorrow?’

‘Of course. I’m going to need a day away from my unwelcome visitors.’ Jason managed a lopsided grin. ‘Besides, Mackie would have my guts for garters if she missed out on a day with Peanut.’

Jean McKendry wasn’t thrilled with the offer of help to care for Megan the next day.

‘What does she think she’s doing? She made a right pig’s ear of changing the bairn’s nappy.’

‘I guess she’s out of practice.’

‘She’s never been in practice, if you ask me.’ The sniff was scathing. ‘Why doesn’t she just go back where she came from?’

Laura turned to look at Shelley, sitting in the far corner of the commonroom, flicking the pages of a magazine. She smiled as she caught an audible muttering from Mrs Mack concerning the desirable location of a great many Sassenachs.

‘The problem is that she wants to take Megan back with her.’ Laura kept her voice as low as the whole conversation had been. ‘And Jason isn’t prepared to let her.’

‘I should think not,’ Jean hissed. ‘She’s no fit mother for the likes of our wee bairn.’

Shelley must have been able to feel the heat of the glare she was receiving. She sent back an ‘oh, whatever!’ expression and returned to her magazine with an audible and very bored sigh.

‘She’ll get sick of sitting around here, pretending to be interested in being a mother.’

‘I hope so,’ Laura murmured. The novelty of having Shelley on station might wear off for the rest of Green Watch as well. Despite even more obvious support for Jason and Laura than Maxine’s visit had inspired, there was no getting away from the fact that the men found Shelley astonishingly attractive.

Stick had been seen to poke Jason hard in the ribs as they’d left for their first callout that morning. ‘Didn’t you say she had an identical twin sister? Bring it on, mate!’

‘You don’t want to go there,’ Jason responded.

‘Are you kidding?’

‘She’s dead, mate.’ Jason’s voice had faded as the door swung shut. ‘But you’re welcome to the one that’s left. She’s dead keen on finding a New Zealand husband. Be my guest.’

Jean McKendry’s attitude took a turn for the worse that afternoon. Waves of righteous indignation met both Jason and Laura when they arrived back from separate jobs at almost the same time.

‘She just left her lying on the couch and walked off.’

‘Where did she go?’

‘Last I saw was her getting on a bus at the stop across the road. That’s when I went to check on Megan and found the puir lassie just lying on the couch.’

Jason looked worried. ‘Thank goodness she didn’t take Megan with her. We’re going to have to keep a closer eye on her when she comes back.’

‘I hope she’s no’ coming back at all,’ Jean snapped. ‘That bairn could have rolled off that couch and done herself a right mischief.’

But Shelley did come back. Laura groaned inwardly when she arrived along with Jason, Megan and Oscar again early the following morning. Jason looked tired and his grim expression deepened as the day got busier for his crew. Shelley looked sullen but determined, and totally ignored both Laura and Jean, who were not about to leave her alone with Megan.

Thankfully, she also ignored the baby and, other than disappearing for several hours in the middle of the day, spent her time watching television and reading magazines.

Laura and Tim had an unusually quiet day. The call that came in at four p.m. was only the third one for the shift. An hour later, they had treated a child’s asthma attack, transported the young girl to hospital and were returning to the station, planning to give the ambulance a wash down and check equipment stores.

The sight of Mrs McKendry standing at the door of the garage and practically wringing her hands sent a chill snaking down Laura’s spine.

‘What’s wrong? It’s not Megan, is it?’ The difficulty with which Jean was struggling to find words was unusual enough to hit panic buttons. ‘What’s happened? Is she-is she all right?’

‘We don’t know. She’s…she’s gone!’

‘Gone where?’ Laura’s tone sounded curiously blank. Her brain felt foggy, the thought processes slowing enough to make her feel stupid.

‘We don’t know,’ Jean repeated. ‘She’s just…gone. That woman has taken her.’ A stifled sob broke through. ‘It’s all my fault but I had to go and see about the water, didn’t I?’

‘Where’s Jason?’

‘They arrived back just a few minutes after I found she’d gone. They’ve taken the fire engine and the whole crew has gone looking for her. She wouldn’t have got far on foot. But…but Jason doesn’t know about that man yet.’

‘What man?’

‘The one that left the puir wee bairn on the doorstep in the first place.’

Jason learned about the man soon enough, and Laura heard enough to piece the whole sorry story together as she sat on station in the company of two fire and ambulance crews at shift changeover time.

‘It has to be her brother.’

‘It was no brother that I saw that morning. No’ the way they were kissing each other.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us that in the first place, Mackie?’

‘Because you wouldn’t have taken your wee girl home with you. That Shelley creature is no’ fit to be a mother.’

‘That was part of the reason I refused to leave Megan at home.’ Jason nodded. ‘She doesn’t know much about babies and she cares even less.’ He groaned. ‘I had a suspicion she might try and pull a stunt like this. We had an argument last night when her brother was backing her up and trying to intimidate me. They both went oddly quiet when I said we’d have to see what the courts had to say about custody.’

‘It’s my fault it happened.’ If Mrs Mack had been wearing an apron, it would have surprised no one if she’d thrown it over her head.

‘You were set up, Mackie. She must have plugged that basin and turned the taps on as soon as she saw Tim and Laura get called out. She had to know you’d go and see what was causing the flood. She was just waiting here long enough for us all to be out at the same time.’

‘What are we going to do?’ Laura said quietly.

‘We didn’t see any sign of them on the streets,’ Stick said unhappily.

‘What did your mate in the police force reckon, Jase?’ asked Bruce. ‘You did ring him, didn’t you?’

Jason nodded wearily. ‘He said that it would not be considered kidnapping and if there’s no evidence that she’s planning to harm the baby then there’s absolutely nothing they can do.’

‘She’s not going to leave town in a hurry.’ Stick gave Jason’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. ‘Let’s face it, mate. It’s you she wants, not the kid.’

‘But she can’t look after her. She only took her bottle and her blanket. She doesn’t even have any clean nappies.’

‘She’s a woman,’ Cliff said somewhat acidly. ‘She’ll find the shops.’

‘She must have looked after her for the first month of her life,’ someone from Red Watch added. ‘So she must have some idea what she’s doing.’

‘Ha!’ Both Jason and Mrs Mack made identical sounds of contempt.

‘She must be staying somewhere.’ Laura stood up. ‘Let’s get the phone book and start ringing motels.’

‘And backpackers’ hostels,’ Jason said. ‘Camping grounds, even. You’re right, Laura. They’re not going to be