One Thousand Years to Forever (10 page)

Colum brought her hand to his lips
and smelled her frustration. “Let’s just say he won’t be a threat
any more... ” He kissed her hand one more time, letting his lips
brush the top of her knuckles. He smelled the rise of her
attraction and arousal but anger still simmered.

Katherine couldn’t believe this.
She was mad and aroused all that the same time. “I wanted this to
be my fight... even though I thought it would never come... ” She
shook her head as Colum let go of her hand to get on the radio. She
now noticed the changing weather outside; it was getting worse. The
helicopter was starting to act like a small toy.

Colum started talking to the tower
at Owls Head.

Turning slightly to Katherine. “We
are going to have to put down in Wiscasset. The wind has picked up
too much. We can put down behind the public safety
building.”

Katherine felt the wind buffet the
helicopter. She tried not to be scared but she was not the best
passenger on normal airline flight but this was beyond hairy. “Are
we going to be OK?”

Colum took her hand. Kissing it, he
then put it on the other side of the control. “Hold on and know
that if you’re with me, everything will always be fine. You’re
always safe with me.”

She tried to believe that. After
all he had saved her once before. They were flying low over an open
area. She could see a brick building that looked like a large place
to house fire trucks.

Colum could feel the wind changing
even as they attempted to land. He felt the copter being buffeted
by the strong wind gusts. Bringing the bird down, he glanced over
at Katherine and saw that her hands had gone to white-knuckled and
she had closed her eyes tightly.

Taking his hand he touched her
lightly and felt her jump. “It’s OK, we’re down.”

Katherine opened her eyes and
looked around quickly. She felt her breath come out in a quick rush
of air as she exhaled.

Colum brought her hands up to his
lips and kissed them. Then letting his hand go around her neck he
brought her in for a kiss. Feeling her hand come up behind his head
and hold onto it, he was aware of all the sensations as her lips
opened up to his, his tongue finding hers, and enjoying the little
taste of her. If only she knew how she hadn’t changed much over the
years. “Like honey... ”

Katherine opened her eyes as Colum
kissed her. She let her hand touch his face. “Funny I haven’t had
any honey since this morning... at your house.”

Colum let his lips trail kisses on
her face. “I’m having some now.” He let his lips slide down her
neck and found her pulse, which made him that much more aroused. He
felt her blood and heard it sing to him. She was calling to him and
she didn’t even know it.

Katherine felt so drawn to him. She
never thought that would happen again after John but she felt like
even with all the strangeness, maybe they could be more then
friends.

She caught something out of
peripheral vision. “Company coming.”

They straightened up and saw some
men coming out of the building and a police cruiser pulling
up.

Colum handed his flight jacket to
her. “ Here put this on, you are going to need it.”

He opened his
door and climbed out. Slamming the door shut sent a flurry of
snowflakes towards Katherine. Katherine put Colum’s B-3 flight
jacket on over her leather coat. It was all shearling inside and
she pulled the sleeves over her hands. She opened her door and was
met by the snowstorm. The wind gust hit her full in the face and
she felt the snow sting her face. She instantly wanted to be
snuggled by a warm fire with a cup of tea or glass of wine.
“God, this weather wasn’t supposed to start until
tonight.”
She kicked herself a few times
as she walked up to the men.

Colum turned to Katherine. Wrapping
his arm around her he brought her into the group. “Let me introduce
you to the everyone here, if I can remember their
names.”

Katherine saw four fire fighters,
one town police officer and a Sheriff’s Deputy.

“
Katherine this is Deputy Smith,
Officer Palmer and here is the crew for the Wisscasset Fire
Department.” Turning to the men he said, “You’ll have to remind me
of your names. This is Katherine MacNamara formally of NYC, now of
Rockport.”

Katherine could see it took about a
New York second and the light of recognition lit in the guys’ eyes.
“Wow, Katherine MacNamara... it’s an honor to meet you. Come on,
let’s get out of this weather.”

She felt Colum’s arm wrap
protectively around her as they ran for the building. They all ran
in and the door slammed, bringing snow in with them.

One younger man came up and took
her hand. “Mrs. MacNamara, you are a hero and so was your husband.
The Chief will be upset he wasn’t here to meet you. God, what can
we do for you?”

Katherine looked up at Colum.
“Well, we were going back to Rockport when the storm hit us. We
have family on the road, if we could just wait for them, that is if
you don’t mind.”

One of the guys spoke up, “Who does
the helicopter belong to?”

“
The helicopter is Colum’s,
Katherine said.

The rest of the guys looked up at
Colum. The same young man turned and shook Colum’s hand. “You were
the one who saved Mrs. MacNamara weren’t you? I read about it, that
is, we all read about it in the newspapers and Firehouse Magazine
had an article about you and your husband. There wasn’t one of us
left untouched by what happened and what you went through. What you
said, you spoke for many of us on that day. I am sure many were
touched by what you said at your husband’s funeral.”

Colum squeezed Katherine’s
shoulders. “She’s a fighter that’s for sure. Though it wasn’t easy,
even for me being the size I am and her as little as she is, to
rescue her that day.”

All the men laughed. “The fighting
Irish,” someone said.

“
We just need to stay here till my
men come and can pick us up. Then I or someone from my family will
be back to pick up the copter, as soon as the weather clears.” He
looked down into Katherine’s eyes. Saw her smile and felt her take
his hand. Looking up, “If you will excuse me, I am going to make
sure the copter is secure and then could someone take us into town?
I want to get Katherine something to eat. I thought maybe Sarah’s
Café.”

All the men nodded and a few
volunteered to help Colum.

“
We’ll give you a ride down to
Sarah’s after you finish.”

“
Great, I’ll phone the men to let
them know where to pick us up, since they will be driving by here
and see the copter and wonder where we have gone.”

“
It’s great having cell phones,”
someone said.

Katherine talked with one young man
while Colum and the other three were out securing the copter. She
found out the young man’s name was Bryan. He had been a fire
fighter since he was fifteen, as were his father and
grandfather.

“
Wow, it’s great to see families
like that. My father was second generation. I was in EMS. My
brother is a firefighter too.”

The door opened and in came Colum
with the men behind him along with more snow. “Let’s go to
Sarah’s... ”

They all piled into a couple
booths, talking as if they’d known each other forever. Colum,
easily being the largest man in the group, fit right in though. The
guys enjoyed hearing his war stories. Bryan turned to him. “What
was it like in the North Tower? Were you ever scared?”

Colum took Katherine’s hand from
under the table and squeezed it. “I didn’t give that a thought. I
just knew I had to get her and as many people out as fast as I
could. Something kicked into overdrive and any fear that might have
been there, was gone.”

Katherine was
enjoying the interaction of the firefighters. It had been a long
time since she had been around any and she realized she missed it.
It had been part of her life since she’d been born. She had grown
up around her
borough
’s station. It had
been like a small town fire department even though it was part of
the greater FDNY.

They talked, ate chowder and
homemade bread. Once in a while Katherine glanced out the window
and saw the snow piling up. The building’s windows would shake a
bit as the big plows drove by. A few hardy customers came in.
People greeted the men as they came and went. Colum wrapped his arm
around Katherine.

Bryan, who seemed to be comfortable
around Katherine, cleared his throat, “So are you two
dating?”

“
No,” said Katherine

“
Yes,” said Colum. “Well, at least
I hope we are.” He smiled down at her.

“
We will talk about it.” She felt
herself being hugged. “Yes.” She smiled up at him and all the guys
cheered.

An older firefighter in the group
seemed to sum it up for all of them as he looked over at
Colum.

“
You embodied our spirit on that
day, Colum. You did what each of us is trained to do. Each and
every time we go out, we don’t know if that will be the day we will
be called upon to rescue someone from a burning building or one of
our own. You headed for danger while others were trying to get out
and your sole purpose of heading into that building was to rescue.
You are one of us. I have seen the little blurbs from brothers down
in the city. If they knew who you were, they would have been
telling you the same thing. You did a very brave thing on that day.
Thank you!”

Then Bryan spoke again, “He seems
like a good man, gosh he saved your life and he ends up living in
the same town as you did... ”

All of a sudden the room got quiet
and Katherine could see everyone’s attention was focused behind
her. She turned and there stood Travis, her daughter, Olivia and
the two men who had followed her to keep her safe. Those two were
almost as big as Colum, so she knew the men from the fire
department and the police officer along with the Sheriff’s Deputy
must be wondering if a ship of Vikings had arrived.

“
Sir, the road conditions are
worsening, we should get going.” Travis said.

Colum stood. “Let me take care of
this lunch and we will get going.” The guys all protested saying
they would pick up the tab but Colum was gone faster than they
could catch him.

“
Miss Katherine...”

Katherine turned her attention to
Travis. “Yes, Travis?”

“
Colum told us to pick up a ski
jacket and boots for you, so we stopped at LL Bean and I picked up
things for you and the girls.”

Katherine looked down at her soaked
sneakers. “Wow, thank you, Travis.” She saw the girls looking all
happy.

“
I got them lunch too, so they are
all set.”

Katherine took off her sneakers and
put them in the box that her boots came from. She put the boots on
with a fresh pair of socks and then took off her leather jacket,
which had offered no warmth at all, and put on the ski
jacket.

“
Here Miss, some mittens and a
hat.”

Katherine was all bundled up by the
time Colum returned from paying the tab. She felt his gaze as she
zipped up her jacket to the top. Looking up, she was met by very
warm violet eyes.

Colum walked up to her and loosened
the zipper. “Just in case I want to kiss that neck on the ride
home,” he whispered in her ear.

As Katherine turned her cheek, her
lips caught his.

All the guys from the fire
department walked to the restaurant door to say good-bye as they
got ready to walk out. Bryan walked up to Katherine.

“
I just want you to know I felt
honored to have lunch with you and Colum.”

Katherine hugged the young man and
gave him a kiss on the cheek. When she pulled away she could see
him turning a few shades of red.

“
Come up to Rockport any time. The
door is always open.”

“
Thank you.” Bryan
said.

Going out the door of the
restaurant they were met by the snowstorm.

The girls ran ahead to the Rover,
got in the back. Travis went to the Humvee and Katherine went to
the passenger’s side of the Rover, with Colum getting in the
driver’s seat.

They got underway and Katherine
could see that the normal forty-five minute drive to home was going
to be a lot longer.

Colum turned to Katherine for a
minute as they waited for traffic to turn. “The girls don’t seem to
mind the storm.”

Katherine laughed, looked in the
back and then smiled at Colum. She wasn’t fond of storms herself
unless she was tucked in the house. “I think it’s all an adventure
to them.” She could hear Olivia talking with her mother on the
phone and then whispering something to Sally.

“
It’s just a matter of time...
”

Colum smiled knowing the girls
would be asking for a pajama party. That worked for him.

“
Mom, can I sleep over at
Olivia’s? Her Mom can come pick us up.”