Firefighter With A Frozen Heart

CHAPTER TWO

“IT’S strange being back after all this time,” Julie said, dropping down into the chair across from Edie Corbett’s desk. “I have good memories of Lilly Lake, and I appreciate all the help you’ve been, helping me get settled here again.”

“I was new in town just about a year ago, so I know what it’s like trying to get yourself established, even if you did live here before.”

“It wasn’t for long … just a few years, but let’s just call them my formative years. And I really do want to thank you for letting me take a tour of Gracie House the other day. I didn’t mean to just stop on your doorstep and beg to be let in, but …” Julie smiled fondly. “But I couldn’t help myself. I needed a few minutes to come home.”

“And you’re welcome to come home any time you like. Our doors are always open.”

“I’ll bet I’m not the first.”

Edie laughed. “As a matter of fact, no, you’re not. Several of Grace’s children have stopped in, and Gracie House seems to be a focal point in their lives. For me, it’s interesting to meet the people who’ve passed through her life … and her doors.” She glanced fondly at a picture of Molly, her new daughter, and Grace’s former ward. “Interesting and life-changing.”

“Well, I spent the most important years of my life there. I was kind of a wild child, all my various adoptive parents threw me out, I had nowhere to go other than the juvenile home, and Grace stepped in and offered to take me. She made the difference, and it wasn’t always easy for her, dealing with me. But she had so much …”

“Patience?” Edie asked.

“That. But I think it was faith. She never saw the bad side or the difficulty in people. Whatever the situation, she always managed to turn it into something positive. Like the time I stole a couple hundred dollars from her and took a bus ride to New York City. I don’t think I really intended on running away so much as exploring the world, but the minute I stepped off that bus, aged sixteen, it was like all my small-town ways just wanted to pull me back. I was scared to death. Didn’t have enough money left for a decent meal. Nowhere to go. No one to help me. I mean, I was overwhelmed, and not as smart as I thought I was. So I called Grace, and she said she’d come get me. And she wasn’t angry, Edie. In fact, she told me it would take a few hours for her to get there, so I might as well wander around, see the sights while I could. She even suggested a couple places I should go. Julie, take advantage of your adventure … that’s what she told me. And when she finally picked me up, she asked me if I’d had a nice day. A nice day? I was expecting the wrath of God to fall down on me, and instead she took me to a very swanky restaurant, we spent the night in a glamorous hotel and the next morning she actually took me shopping. Then, when we got home, she asked me if I’d learned my lesson. To be honest, it took me a while to figure out what it was because to a crazy sixteen-year-old, it seemed like I’d been rewarded for my so-called crime.”

“So, what was the lesson?”

“To trust and rely on the people who love you when you have a problem. That they won’t let you down if you give them the chance to help. She told me if I’d have let her know how I was feeling, told her how much I wanted to go to the city, she could have taken me. But I didn’t give her that chance because I figured she would say no. I didn’t trust her enough to be honest with her.” Julie laughed. “A mistake I never made again. Oh, and she did require a little extra work from me in the stables to pay her back for the money I took … work in the form of a shovel and pitchfork. Which, actually, is why I’m here. I was wondering if the foundation could use an extra volunteer. I loved working with the horses when I was a teenager. I think that’s probably what grounded me more than anything else … being the person trusted with the care of another life. It certainly made me find things in myself I didn’t know were there. So now that I’m back—”

“Always!” Edie interrupted. “It seems like the more horses we take in, the further our reputation spreads. Rafe’s in the process of coordinating the building of another stable, one for the more critical horses. Sort of like an intensive care, I think. And we’re renovating both the old stables, enlarging them and modernizing the facilities. So we can use all the help we can get, and then some.”

“Well, I can still shovel …”

“There’s plenty of that to be done. And lots of other things, if you decide that shoveling isn’t quite the exciting time you remember.”

“Never exciting, definitely not the thing I wanted to be doing, but it was quite a character builder. Of course, Grace knew that when she put me on the task. And I’m not too proud to do that again, or anything else you need. I have a lot to pay back, and with the way Grace loved her horses …” A stray tear slid down Julie’s cheek. “Working with Grace’s horses again is one of the biggest reasons I applied for the job here in Lilly Lake. I’d just hoped to be doing it with Grace.”

“I miss her, too. And I didn’t know her for very long. But she made such an impact on my life in such a short time … brought me together with my husband, gave me my daughter. I owe her everything.”

“Me, too,” Julie whispered reverently. “Everything.”

On the verge of tears herself, Edie cleared her throat. “Well, then, why don’t you stop over this afternoon, after you get off work, and have a look at the horses we have right now? I’ll let Johnny Redmond know you’re coming, and I’m sure he’ll have some details and schedules for you to go over by then. Oh, and I’d love to have you stay for dinner, if you don’t have other plans. It’s spaghetti night at Gracie House. Nothing fancy. But it’s Molly’s favorite meal, so please, join us if you can.”

“I’d love to, if it won’t be an imposition.”

“No imposition. But bring an appetite. Molly helps cook, and let’s just say she cooks big.”

“Then I’ll see you later on, with a big appetite,” Julie said, standing to leave. “So, if I may ask, when are you due?”

Edie instinctively laid her hand on her belly. “Another month. A little girl. Do you have any children?” she asked.

“No. Never been married, never been a mom. I’m more of the career type, I think.”

“I was the career type, too, and look at me now.” She glanced again at Molly’s picture, then the one of the three of them—her, Rafe and Molly. “I’m into family in a huge way, and loving every minute of it. It’s everything I never knew I wanted,” Edie said, laughing. “And I wouldn’t have my life any other way.”

There was a time she’d thought that, too. But then she’d been a kid with enormous, romantic delusions. Luckily, she’d grown up. A little of it the hard way, maybe. She’d learned her lessons well, though, in large part thanks to Grace Corbett. “Well, I’d better get back to work. So I’ll see you later, Edie,” she said from the hall. Turning, she hurried back to the emergency department, where she was responsible for more things than she’d ever thought she’d be responsible for. Thanks, in part, to Grace Corbett, too. Actually, thanks in full, since it was Grace’s benevolence that had made paramedic training first, then nursing school afterward, possible.

“Looks like we’re feeding an army tonight,” Jess commented on his way into the dining room. The spaghetti bowl in the center of the kitchen table was heaped to overflowing, and the bread plate had enough garlic bread piled on to feed half the population of Lilly Lake. It reminded him of coming home to Aunt Grace for a meal.

“Uncle Jess!” Molly squealed, launching herself into his arms with such a force it nearly toppled him over backward. “I’ve been waiting for you to come visit us. I have a new pony … actually, I have two ponies now. Lucky, my old pony, and she’s not really that old. Johnny says she’s about two, so that really makes her my new pony, since Snowflake, my new pony, is really about six, which makes her my old pony.”

“Whoa, slow down,” Jess said, laughing. “You’re talking too fast, and I can’t keep up. So, your old pony has a new pony, and Lucky Snowflake is who?” he teased.

“Lucky is my pony, and so is Snowflake, silly,” Molly replied.

“Oh, now I get it. You have two ponies. Lucky is one, Snowflake Silly is the other.”

“Not Snowflake Silly,” she said. “His name is Snowflake.”

“Didn’t you tell me his name was Snowflake Silly? I’m positive that’s what I heard.” He looked at Rafe for support. “Isn’t that what she said? Snowflake Silly?”

Rafe smiled, threw his hands into the air in surrender and backed away. “I’m leaving this one up to you two while I go help my lovely wife toss the salad.” With that, he backed all the way into the kitchen, stopping short of Edie, who was wielding a large butcher’s knife, going at the lettuce with a vengeance. “It really is a lot of food,” he commented offhandedly.

“I invited someone else this evening,” she said, eyeing a big, juicy red tomato for her next chopping chore. “Someone from the hospital.”

“Anybody I know?”

“Maybe. She’s fairly new on staff. Very nice. Originally from Lilly Lake, so you might know her. Her name’s Julie Clark.”

Rafe, who had picked up a carrot to munch, nearly choked. “Well, this ought to be interesting.” “How so?”

“Julie and Jess have history.” “What kind of history?” “Big history.” He patted his wife’s belly. “You’re kidding. They were …?” He shook his head. “False alarm. But it had us all going for a while.”

“So, what should we do? I don’t want either of them being uncomfortable. Especially not Jess, with everything he’s been through—a war, the death of his fiancée, a career change.”

Rafe gave his wife an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

“Well, I’m sure eating spaghetti with a former girlfriend will shrink in comparison to all that.”

“You may be a great doctor, but you’re not so smart about relationships, are you?”

“I get ours right, don’t I?”

“You get ours perfect. But we don’t have history … torrid history.”

“I didn’t say it was torrid.”

“No, but …” She patted her own belly. “That sure implies it, don’t you think? Anyway, he’s here and Julie’s down at the stable, talking to Johnny, so she’ll be up in a few minutes. And you, my dear husband, are in charge of dealing with the situation.”

Rafe shrugged, then gave over to a smile. “Like I said, could be interesting. Jess needs something to shake him up, and Julie might be it.”

“What might be it?” Jess asked from the doorway.

“This might be it,” Edie hedged, holding up her butcher knife. “The best one I own. This one might be … it.”