And why did Ethan claim that everyone likely got outside?
“The daycare you use—the one you recommended for Scott’s kids,” Ethan said. He left a hand on my leg to keep me from springing up in the rapidly accelerating vehicle.
I froze. Was fate so cruel that it would not only kill Derrick’s father in a fire, but then force him to suffer another? “It’s at Derrick’s daycare?”
I couldn’t breathe. All the oxygen fled the truck as I considered my boy’s pain. “You need to calm down, or you’ll have a panic attack. The daycares around here have escape routes that they practice with the kids, so I’m sure everyone is okay.” It wasn’t an answer to my question, but it was enough of one. Ethan appeared entirely confident in his statement. He had no reason to believe there was a person inside the fire. After all, the fire department had saved all but one person in the past ten years. The odds of the second person being related to the first were nearly impossible.
I tried to use odds to convince myself, but until I saw Derrick, I wouldn’t be able to curb my panic. “Are we about there?” I shouted at Garrett as he drove the truck. I knew the role was typically Scott’s, but we couldn’t wait for him—especially not when it was Derrick’s daycare in question.
“Thirty second.” The roaring of the firetruck’s sirens nearly drowned out his voice.
The thirty seconds were the longest of my life. And as soon as we came to a stop, I sprung from the back of the truck. A soothing relief coursed through me as I noticed the daycare instructor, Suzan, and a few kids standing on the street, but as I scanned their faces, Derrick wasn’t in sight. Suzan rushed toward me and the firefighters. “They’re still inside. Derrick and Faith. I thought I had all the kids. I did have all the kids, but Faith left her doll. She must have run back inside while I was getting everyone else outside.”
“How could you leave them?” I shouted, my voice hoarse and broken. I turned and looked at the blaze that heated my face from across the street. Fire swept through most of the structure, and it pushed through upper level windows. “Derrick,” I screamed. Tears flooded my vision and I wiped them away quickly. Ethan put down his mask and started running toward the fire.
And the other three followed him without hesitation. All were entirely smitten with my son, and all would risk their lives going into a burning structure to save him. Ethan turned. “Garrett, you’re with me. Nehemiah and Benji, get some water on this.”
Everyone followed orders, and I held my breath and Ethan didn’t hesitate to rush inside the front door of the house. “He wasn’t left behind,” Suzan said. “He went back for Faith.”
My anguish tore through my chest. My lungs burned as they begged for air, but I couldn’t fill them. My breaking sobs turned ragged as I considered what could easily happen to everyone inside the building. I watched the front door, waiting for Ethan and Garrett to come back outside—to tell me that everyone was okay. Without Derrick, there was nothing left in my life to live for. The fact didn’t escape me that once again my son and the man I loved were trapped inside a blazing building.
And once again, it was increasingly likely that one or both of them wouldn’t come back outside. “I gave them wet rags when the smoke started seeping into the basement,” Suzan added. “They should still have their rags.”
“What are rags going to do inside that?” I gestured to the burning house before us. “Did you leave something on the stove? What did you do?”
She shook her head vigorously but didn’t respond. She was a great lady, and I knew the fire was likely at no fault to her. In fact, she had been nothing but the perfect daycare provider from the beginning. How could this have happened? How could she have let two children run back into the fire without going back inside herself? As I continued to watch the fire, I grew more hopeless with each passing second.
The top of the house collapsed with a crash, sending debris through the yard and causing the fire to expand to the sky. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing escaped my lips. Seconds later, Garrett rushed through the front door with a little girl in his arms. His smoke mask was secured over her lips as her long brunette hair cascaded over his smoke darkened suit. She held onto what I assumed to be the doll for which she risked her life.
I wanted to be angry at her ignorance, but she couldn’t have been older that Derrick, and she was much tinier. I understood immediately why he thought he’d stand a better chance than her. He had been taught, after all, to protect and help women at all costs.
I hadn’t noticed the ambulance pulling up, but Garrett brought the girl to the paramedics, who spread her on a gurney immediately, checking her vitals and ensuring that she was healthy. Her mother rushed to her and hugged her tightly. It felt like a dream as a few dozen vehicles and people surrounded the area—people who I hadn’t noticed. A half a dozen police officers stood around their cars, and the parents to the children held them with all the ferocity that I wanted to hug my son.
Garrett, instead of helping Nehemiah and Benji hose down the house, tried to rush back inside. One of the paramedics stopped him and examined his arm for what
