Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
RHETT
I saw the smoke before the flames. I slammed the gas pedal down and tore up the gravel drive. The carriage house was on fire. I pulled out my phone to call the fire department. Thankfully, Ella’s car wasn’t in the driveway. I wondered if a burning ember had somehow floated out of the chimney on the main house and settled somewhere in the old rafters of the carriage house. I hadn’t had a fire in the hearth since early morning, but that didn’t make my theory any less plausible. I’d heard stories of houses catching fire hours after a wildfire swept through because an ember had gotten through a vent. Either way, the carriage house would not be a big loss. I planned to tear it down anyway. It was a good distance from the house.
I called in the emergency and tried to figure out what to do next. I was no stranger to fire, and after my experience with it, I had no intention of getting too close to it or standing bravely with a garden hose trying to keep the embers and flames from the house. Most of the landscape on the property had been recently soaked with rain, so it seemed I might get lucky. The fire might be contained to just the carriage house.
I plucked the groceries out of the car and carried them inside. I froze in the entry at the scent of familiar perfume. My muscles tensed. “Christine,” I called. “I know you’re here. I can smell that perfume that always turns my stomach.”
I put the groceries down and followed the scent along with the earthy smell of a fire. Flames were roaring inside the hearth. I hadn’t seen the chimney smoke through the cloud of black smoke covering the property. Christine looked over the back of the couch. “Hope you don’t mind I started a fire.”
“Did you start both of them?”
She sat up with big blue eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“The carriage house is on fire.”
Her hand flew to her chest. “I didn’t realize. I did think this fire smelled awfully strong. Hope you don’t mind that I let myself in. The door was unlocked.”
“I see and you took that as an invite? And yes, I do mind.” I could hear sirens in the distance. Whisper Cove didn’t have their own department, which meant the trucks had to come from the next town. It would take them a few minutes to get here. By that time, the building would be burned to the ground.
“Wait, were you here when—did you see?—”
I hated her innocent blink because it was anything but innocent. “Who? Your little cottage dweller? Haven’t seen her. Maybe she decided you weren’t good enough.” Her laugh was harsh. I realized it was always the same laugh with her whether she was happy or just mean, like now.
“I want you out of my house.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket to call Ella. It rang … somewhere in the house. I looked back at Christine. She shrugged with a bat of her lashes. “Where is she?”
“Who? I told you I haven’t seen her.”
I raced through the house, following the sound of her phone. It led me to the closet in the entryway. I pulled open the door. Ella’s coat and scarf had been tossed inside.
“Where is she?” I bellowed. Then it struck me like a vat of hot oil being thrown in my face. I pushed out the door and raced across the yard to the carriage house. The sirens were getting closer. I could see the red swirling lights below. A crackling sound was followed by a burst of air that carried flames and embers into the smoky black sky. The roof was caving in.
My heart beat so hard I could feel it in my throat. I reached for the iron latch on the big sliding doors. I pulled my hand back. It was hot like molten lava.
“Ella!” I yelled through the door cracks. “Ella!” I felt sick with nausea as a past nightmare came back to me. Not this time. This was going to end differently. This had to end differently.
I raced around to the small door. The latch was burning hot. I backed up several steps and slammed the door with my shoulder. It took three good rams before it caved in. Smoke billowed out. I pulled my sweater up over my nose and mouth and dove through the smoke. Flames had taken over every wall, and the overhead beams glowed red as they fell one by one from the collapsing ceiling.
It was too dark and smoky to see. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. “Ella!”
And then I heard it. The tiniest mouse of a sound through the incredible clamor of the fire. “Rhett?”
I swung the light on the phone around, and the sight in front of me nearly brought me to my knees. I pushed aside a burning beam and lunged through a cloud of smoke and red-hot embers. Ella was on the ground, in a fetal position, holding her knees close to her chest. I dropped down next to her.
“I’m here, Ella. Put your arm around my neck.”
She was trembling uncontrollably as she put her arm around me. I swept her up into my arms. There was little time. I looked for the clearest path and carried her through the smoke and past the maze of fallen beams to the door.
The coughing started the second we reached fresh air. I still held Ella as I dropped to my knees. I lowered her to the grass. The red lights came up the gravel path. Minutes later, the fire crew got to work.
“Anyone inside?” one asked.
“Not anymore.”
He radioed to the paramedics that we needed assistance. Ella sat up weakly. Her face was covered in soot. “Thought I was a goner.”
I wanted to say something, but my throat was too tight thinking about how close we were to a terrible ending. I nearly lost her. I nearly lost Ella, and that thought terrified me. I needed her in my life.
I wrapped my arms around her.