With Valor And Devotion

With a shake of her head that set her dangling earrings in motion, Emma Jean Witkowsky, the dispatcher, said, “I knew the minute I saw that picture in yesterday’s paper something good would happen. They’re setting up a trust fund for that sweet little boy so he can go to college.”

“We can always count on your psychic ability to tell us what’s going to happen—right after it happens,” Mike teased.

Lifting her chin, she set her jewelry in motion again. “It’s my Gypsy blood.”

Given her dark eyes and nearly black hair, it was entirely possible Emma Jean was a Gypsy, but Mike didn’t believe the psychic business for a minute. She was more often wrong than right, not that she’d admit it.

Crossing the room, Logan presented Mike with the photo. “I bet you made a deal with the photographer so you’d get the really big bucks at the bachelor auction this week.”

“Some of us hero-types don’t need any extra help. The ladies are crazy about me.”

“Yeah, and the feeling is mutual.”

Everyone in the room hooted and hollered, but Mike couldn’t deny that was true. He liked women, liked to see their eyes light up when he flirted with them—old ones, young ones, it didn’t matter. But he made it a point not to let any relationship go too far. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt a woman by leading her to expect more than he could give.

Ray Gainer, a fireplug of a man, arrived, duffle slung over his shoulder.

“Hey, you’re late,” Logan pointed out.

Gainer shrugged and gave everyone a sheepish grin. “Long ride back from Vegas.”

“Hot dog! That means Gainer’s buying the ice cream today,” someone shouted.

“No way! I lost my shirt this trip, and my wife’s gonna skin my hide if she finds out about it.”

The friendly bantering back and forth continued for a few more minutes, then the guys from B-shift headed home and Mike took the photo and his duffle into his room, stowing them both in his locker. Arnie Switzer, who slept in the room during B-shift, had left the place spotless as usual. Firefighters were good about that, neat and tidy, at least at the station house.

Firefighters also worked hours that were different from the rest of the world. Typically, they pulled three twenty-four-hour shifts a week with a day off in between, then they had four days off in a row. That meant a firefighter had plenty of time to moonlight on another job, or in Mike’s case, go scuba diving or hang out at the marina.

Closing the door on the locker, Mike gave some thought to the bachelor auction that was coming up. It was for a good cause, the burn unit at the hospital. Giving up a few hours of his free time wasn’t a hardship.

He smiled to himself. Maybe he ought to invite Kristin McCoy to the event and slip her a few extra bucks to bid on him.

Then again, she hadn’t exactly warmed to him. Given his luck, she’d use his money to run up the bid on Logan, a quiet, serious guy women couldn’t seem to resist. Mike didn’t want to waste his money promoting Logan’s love life.

KRISTIN KNELT in front of Randy, her heart nearly melting at the sad look on his face. His arms were wrapped tightly around a paper sack filled with clothing she’d dug up from the emergency supply—pants and shirts that were probably too big for his slender frame. He’d look like a lost waif, which is exactly what he was. The police hadn’t been able to trace the couple he’d been living with in the vacant house, the neighbors hadn’t had a clue who they were, and Randy still wasn’t talking.

The fire department had determined, however, that burning candles in the kitchen had started the fire. There hadn’t been any electricity in the house. Mike Gables had been right—whomever Randy had been living with were squatters. And they’d endangered a child. The worst kind of public enemies in Kristin’s view.

If she could take the boy home with her, she’d do it in a second. But that was against the rules. Besides, she couldn’t take in all the children she worked with no matter how much she might want to. There were simply too many.

“You’ll be staying here for a few days,” she tried to explain again. “Bud and Alice Gramercy are great foster parents. I know you’ll like living with them, and you’ll have lots of kids to play with.” The Gramercys operated a small group home for up to six kids at time, all of them loud and rambunctious as evidenced by the cacophony going on in the backyard.

“What about Suzie? Can she come too?”

“I’m afraid not, honey. The Gramercys already have two dogs. You can play with them.”

His lower lip jutted out about a mile. “Suzie’s my dog.”

“I know, but there isn’t enough room—”

“Where is she?”

“They’re keeping her at the pound. She’s fine, I’m sure.”

He was losing the battle to keep his chin from trembling. “Can I go see her? Please. I promised I’d come back for her.” A sob caught in his throat, and tears edged down his cheeks. “She’ll think I forgot!”

“Oh, Randy… “Unable to help herself, she pulled the child into her arms. “If you could just tell me if you have any relatives, who you were living with—”

“They didn’t want Suzie neither,” he said glumly, and Kristin could almost hear the unspoken words, They didn’t want me.

He rested his head on her shoulder, so sweet and needy it made Kristin want to bawl like a baby too. Who in the name of heaven would walk away from a child like this? Leave him alone in a vacant house with only a dog for company? If she could get her hands on—

Gritting her teeth, she forced her emotions aside and concentrated on her job, what needed to be done to protect Randy.

Surely somewhere she could find a foster family who would take both the boy and his pet. It was a crime to separate them. Boys and puppy-dog tails went together. And if someone didn’t claim Suzie within seven days, the pound would have to euthanize the dog. Kristin couldn’t bear the thought of telling Randy his dog had been put to sleep. It would break her heart as well as the boy’s.

Alice came out of the kitchen where she’d been fixing dinner for the mob of children. “Come on, Randy. Tell Ms. McCoy goodbye. It’s almost time for supper. I’ll show you where to put your things. You’re going to be sharing your bedroom with Shane and Toby. Won’t that be nice?”

Taking the boy by his shoulders, Alice gently pulled him away from Kristin.

His big, brown eyes locked on Kristin. “Can you go see Suzie? Tell her I didn’t forget her.”

Kristin nodded, though nowhere in her job description did it say she had to drop by a pound to visit a client’s dog, nor was there any time in her hectic schedule for that kind of an excursion. But maybe she’d go anyway. Maybe she could convince the animal shelter to hold off any final decision about the dog’s fate long enough for her to find a suitable family.

Then again, as firefighter Mike Gables had suggested, bureaucrats often made decisions based solely on rules they felt compelled to follow. Kristin could defend the system until she was blue in the face, but she acknowledged there were times when it simply didn’t work to the benefit of her young clients.

From the vehemence of Mike’s reaction, perhaps he had learned that lesson in a very personal way. She couldn’t help but wonder where and how.

WHEN THE PHONE rang, Kristin had been back in her office only long enough to note that the pile of case files on her desk had grown by a foot in her absence. The darn things multiplied faster than rabbits!

She picked up the phone. “McCoy.”

“Hey, girlfriend, what’re you doin’ Wednesday night?”

Kristin rolled her eyes. “Well, let me think, Addy. I’ve scheduled a quick flight to the Riviera. Thought I’d drop a few thousand dollars on the roulette tables then buzz back home in time to get to work the next morning. Of course, Las Vegas would be closer and cheaper, but you know me—a party girl at heart.”

“Which is why I called you. Your social life sucks big time.”

“I like my quiet life—”

“We’re all going out Wednesday night and there’s no way I’m going to accept a no from you unless, heaven forbid, there’s a death in your family.”

“Addy, I don’t do blind dates.” She rarely dated at all, and then only reluctantly, when one of her brothers absolutely forced a buddy on her and she couldn’t refuse.

“Who said anything about a date? It’s us girls—Connie, Janice, Holly Mae, you and me. We’re gonna have us a high ol’ time out on the town.”

They were her friends, too, all of them employed by the hospital in one capacity or another. Still, Kristin stalled. “Well…”