Riverbend Road (3 page)

“If I live to be a hundred and three like my great-grandmother LuLu, I will never forget what you've done here today,” LG said through her tears.

He knew just what Wyn was thinking when she arched an eyebrow at him.
See?
Not everybody thinks I screwed up.

She hugged Lindy-Grace for a moment before deftly extricating herself. “It wasn't a big deal. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Any other officer on the Haven Point Police Department would have done exactly the same thing. Isn't that right, Chief Emmett?”

He was spared from having to answer that by Lindy-Grace's effusive gratitude.

“I don't care. They weren't there. You were. Cade, I sure hope you're going to give Wynnie a medal!”

His jaw clenched and he opened his mouth to answer but one of the EMTs spoke up before he could get the words out.

“Actually, he suspended her for a week without pay,” Terri Michaels offered, with a dark look in his direction.

The women in Haven Point apparently stuck together.

“What?” Lindy-Grace exclaimed. “Suspended her! Are you kidding?”

Cade ground his back teeth. How was he supposed to defend his position to the mother of the two boys Wynona had risked her life to rescue? Yes, he was glad everything had turned out relatively okay except for Caleb's broken ankle. But procedures were in place for a reason.

“It's an internal police matter,” he finally said. “If you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to the scene. Boys, we're not done talking about this. But now that your mom and dad have had a chance to make sure you're okay, you need to be checked out at the hospital. I'll come by later to ask you a few more questions about what happened here and I'm sure Chief Gallegos will have a word or two for you as well.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison, looking chastened at his stern tone.

He walked away without risking another look at Wynona, wondering how he seemed to have lost control of the entire situation.

CHAPTER THREE

W
YN
WATCHED
C
ADE
walk away, tension radiating from him with every step.

She had worked with him for nearly three years but had never seen him like this. Usually he was calm, coolheaded, no matter the crisis. He was acting very unlike himself—being abrupt to two scared little boys, suspending her for actions he certainly would have taken himself in the same situation.

It left her feeling off balance, as if she were trying to hike up to the top of Mount Solace wearing high heels.

“Seriously, Wyn. How can we ever thank you?”

She shifted back to Lindy-Grace and Ron. She had a sudden feeling this was going to get old really quickly.

Her father had been the hero around town and people revered him accordingly. Twenty-five years as the police chief of Haven Point had earned him a reputation as a decent, caring man who would do anything for the people he served. The last difficult two years of his life had only solidified that love and respect. His funeral five months earlier had to be moved to the gymnasium at Haven Point High School to hold the crowds of people who wanted to come pay their respects.

She was no hero, just a police officer doing her job.

Her mother was going to
freak
. It was a wonder Charlene hadn't hitched a ride to the fire with Lindy-Grace to make sure her oldest daughter was okay.

“I'm just happy everything worked out,” she said now to her friend.

“But a week's suspension! You saved two lives. You shouldn't be punished for that! What is
wrong
with that man?”

She couldn't begin to guess—nor did she want to discuss it with Lindy-Grace.

“It doesn't matter.” She forced a smile. “The boys are safe and that's the important thing. And they're
not
going to go around starting any more fires to roast hot dogs without a grown-up present, right?”

Both boys shook their heads vigorously.

“We really need to go now,” Ed said. “The docs at the emergency department have called three times trying to find out what the heck is taking so long. LG, you can ride along if you want. Ron, just follow behind at a safe speed and meet us at the hospital.”

“Right.”

“So I'm good here?” Wyn pressed.

Ed nodded as he took the oxygen mask from her. “Yeah. Your levels are great and I think Chief Gallegos would be fine with me releasing you. Just promise you'll go straight to the hospital if you notice any shortness of breath or feel light-headed.”

“You got it.”

She signed the paperwork releasing her from their care, then waved off the ambulance as it backed away through the fire crew.

By the looks of it, the entire Haven Point volunteer fire department had turned out for the excitement, though it looked like the barn was going to be a total loss. At this point, they seemed to be trying to contain the fire to only the barn and make sure it didn't spread to the surrounding vegetation.

She spotted Cade helping uncoil hose from one of the water trucks. No, it wasn't his job, but that never stopped him before. He always jumped in to do whatever necessary.

With a sigh, she headed for her patrol car. When she started the engine, he looked over. He wore sunglasses that concealed his expression but she had a feeling he was still glowering at her as she drove away.

She had left her phone inside the vehicle when she responded to the fire, what felt like another lifetime ago. It rang before she even made her way past the last fire truck and when she glanced at the screen, she saw she had missed six calls—all from her mother. She had to talk to Charlene eventually but she wasn't quite ready for that.

Just as she turned onto Riverbend Road, it rang again. This time the caller ID had her reaching to answer.

“Hey, Kat,” she said as she pulled over to the shoulder of the road, grimly aware she was too shaky to talk on the phone and drive safely at the same time.

She was greeted by an excited shriek that nearly pierced her eardrums.

“Is it true?” her sister, Katrina, demanded.

As usual, her sister's bubbly energy made her feel about a hundred years older, though less than five years separated them.

“I'm going to say yes, though I'm not sure what you're talking about.”

“Sam just texted me that Michelle Hunter came into the store and said she heard from her mom who heard on the police scanner that you ran into a burning building and saved about twelve people.”

Oh, the fun rumor mill in Haven Point. You had to love it.

“Don't forget all the babies and kittens. There had to be at least a hundred of them.”

“Seriously?”

For about half a second, Katrina actually bought it. Wyn swallowed a laugh. She adored her sister, she really did, but sometimes Kat was a little too gullible—not a good trait in a second-grade teacher.

“No,” she finally admitted. “No babies or kittens. Or puppies, for that matter. I didn't rescue a dozen people either. As usual, the facts tend to get a little distorted once the rumors start flying.”

“Why bother with facts when they only get in the way of a good story?”

It was another of their dad's little sayings and she had to smile. Both she and her sister seemed to be quoting John Bailey more often now that he was gone. Maybe they were finally able to remember him as he once was instead of the distorted version they had lived with for the last two years of his life.

“It was only two little boys,” she answered. “Lindy-Grace Keegan's pair. And I was only a few minutes ahead of the fire crew.”

“My sister, the hero! That's amazing. I'm so proud of you. Dad would have been too.”

“Thanks,” she answered, a little catch in her throat at the words.

“I mean it. Wait until Marsh hears.”

Their oldest brother, Marshall, was the sheriff of Lake Haven County. What would he think about her suspension? He would probably support it wholeheartedly, especially since Cade was his best friend.

“Can I bring you dinner tonight?” Kat asked. “I was thinking about trying out a new recipe for chicken divan.”

Her stomach gave a long, greasy roll at the offer. Kat was a fantastic, dedicated teacher, a good friend and a sweet, kindhearted person. She was also a terrible cook.

“I think I'm good. Thanks, though. I just need a little downtime, you know?”

“Are you sure? I'd love to bring you something. What about dessert? I've got more fresh rhubarb out back and was thinking about rhubarb-cherry tarts.”

Her mouth puckered. Kat was on a no-sugar kick these days and Wyn could only imagine rhubarb-cherry tarts without it. No thanks. She had an emergency Snickers bar hidden away inside her house that was calling her name right now.

“You're so sweet, but really. It's been a crazy day and I need to chill.”

It felt like another lifetime ago that she had been rescuing Aunt Jenny from the cow moose and her baby camping out in her driveway.

“I totally get that. After teaching twenty-five seven-year-olds all day, sometimes when I get home from school I just want to sink into a chair and not move until the next morning. I don't know how I would survive without summers. Fine. But can we grab lunch or something this week? Don't tell me you're working double shifts! I won't hear any excuses.”

“Okay. I won't tell you that.” She didn't add that she wasn't working
any
shifts for several days. Kat would have no problem marching right down to the fire scene and giving Cade a piece of her mind. Her sister tended to lump Cade into the same category as Marshall and Elliot, just one more troublesome older brother.

She
had never looked at him that way, but her sister did.

With the experience of long practice, she shied away from considering exactly
how
she looked at Cade.

“I could do lunch,” she said instead. “Let's plan on it tomorrow.”

“Perfect. Oh, and you're going to have to talk to Mom. She's already called me three times, trying to see if I know anything about what happened to you.”

“Do I have to teach you again how to hit Ignore on your phone?”

“I wouldn't have to hit Ignore, if you would just man up and talk to her,” Kat retorted.

“Yeah, yeah,” she answered.

She and her sister exchanged
love you
s
and ended the call.

She did love Kat. They had always been close, the only two girls in a family of rambunctious, wild boys—just not quite as close as Wyn had been to her twin brother.

Her heart twisted with the familiar sharp ache she always felt when she thought of Wyatt, gone five years now.

He would have run into that burning barn too. She knew it in her bones. He wouldn't have hesitated for a
second
and would have told his boss to screw off if the word
suspension
was even mentioned.

She would never be Wyatt—funny, brave, compassionate. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fill her twin's shoes.

Yeah, Charlene was going to be freaking out.

She would call her mother the moment she was home, she told herself.

She turned the patrol car onto Riverbend Road, the long, winding road that ran parallel to the Hell's Fury before it dead-ended.

As she neared her house, she spotted an unfamiliar minivan with Oregon plates parked in the driveway of a nearby house.

Oh, it would be lovely if someone moved in. The house had been cold and empty for too long, since before the river flooded the previous summer. She had always loved the little tan Craftsman house with the wide front porch and the cheery red shutters.

Moving to this area of town had been largely an accident. She had intended to rent something on the lake, similar to the house where she had grown up, but around the time she came back to help after her dad was injured and to take a job at the Haven Point PD, the renters who had been living in her grandmother's house moved out. Her mother suggested she move in as a stopgap until she could find something else she liked, and Wyn had fallen in love with the whimsical charm of the stone cottage and this eclectic neighborhood along the river.

She loved that none of the houses were the same. Her house, constructed a century earlier of stucco and stones pulled from the river, seemed very different from the Craftsman just down the street, which in turn was nothing like Cade's log house just across the road.

Somehow they all seemed to work together.

She spied a bike and a tricycle propped against the side of the Craftsman and a soccer ball resting in the grass. Despite the toys in the yard, the curtains were tightly drawn at the house and she couldn't see any sign of activity, which she found a little weird.

The curtains at her own front window were wide-open, though, and a familiar face peered out, as if he had been perched exactly there in the deep window seat, waiting all day for her return—which was very likely.

When she turned into the driveway, that face—and the furry body it was attached to in the form of her yellow Labrador retriever—lit up with excitement.

When she unlocked the door, Young Pete waited for her just inside, his tail wagging with eagerness. “Hold,” she told him, then took two minutes to unhook her service revolver and her badge and lock them in the fingerprint safe in the hall closet before she rewarded Pete's patience with a hug.

“There's my favorite guy,” she said. “How was your day?”

Her dog nudged his head against hers and the quiet, steady affection made her throat burn even as she felt some of the stress of the day seep away.

What would have happened to Pete if she hadn't made it out of that barn in time? She had to think Marshall or Katrina would have taken him in. He'd been their dad's dog, after all, a link to the man John had been before his traumatic brain injury two years before he died.

“Need to go out? Do you?”

The dog gave one quick bark and she opened the back door for him and walked out onto the stone patio overlooking the river.

She needed to change out of her smoky uniform and shower but right now she wasn't sure she could move from this spot.

After a moment, Young Pete finished his business then came back to sit beside her. The dog was ten years old and not young anymore but she still stuck the modifier on his name. Her dad had always called him that, in contrast to Old Pete, John's previous dog.

Birds flitted through the branches of one of the big elms in her backyard, their song mingling with the breeze rustling the leaves and the river's endless, soothing song.

She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the late afternoon sun.

She could have died today.

She wanted to think she'd had the situation fully in hand but Cade had it right. She had been foolish and arrogant to think she could take on that fire and win, especially without following protocol and keeping her radio on. It had been sheer dumb luck that she was here enjoying the beauty of a June afternoon.

The realization was sobering yet oddly invigorating, as if the heat and smoke had burned away something hard and confining.

She felt as if she had been encased in ice since her father's death in January. Longer, really. Maybe some part of her had been suspended, frozen since the terrible succession of events five years ago that culminated in Wyatt's death, when she had made the decision to go to the academy in his stead.

Each of her brothers loved law enforcement, just as their father and grandfather and great-grandfather before them. A Bailey had been keeping the peace here since the first settlers moved into the area the Native Americans considered a place of mystical strength and healing.

Her father and Wyatt had given their lives for the job. If she loved it as they had, she might have been willing to die in the line of duty. She didn't. She never had.