Country Wishes

by RaeAnne Hadley

  “And the second.”

  How hokey was I going to sound? “I wished to marry you.”

  The End

  Burning Wishes

  Pamela Jane Larson

  Chapter One

  Her unease grew. Hannah Blake had agreed to babysit her twin nieces, but when she checked on them, the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Nothing was amiss – they both slept peacefully. So why did a nagging uneasiness stalk Hannah? Her friend, June, was missing. Something was wrong. Strange noises she couldn’t identify came from the old Victorian building that creaked whenever someone walked across the floor of their apartment. Heavy steps on the stairs had made the whole house creak and pop. Heavy objects had dropped. That was apartment living in an old building. Wasn’t it?

  However, that wasn’t what bothered her. This felt like the quiet before a storm, the stillness before an earthquake. When it suddenly got quiet and all the animals disappeared and the hairs rose on your neck and arms. That kind of wrong, seriously wrong.

  Hannah paced the apartment, past the twinkling Christmas tree with its lovely pine aroma and down the hall checking frequently on the girls to calm her fears. At 10 o’clock, she clicked on the TV.

  She tried listening to the news, but couldn’t focus. Hannah made her living as a newspaper reporter, trusting her instincts to follow a lead and know who to trust. She couldn’t turn off her uneasiness as it grew stronger with each passing minute. Hannah stood still and bowed her head to pray silently. Lord, give me wisdom to know what to do. I feel danger and only you know what it is. Help me keep all of us safe.

  Hannah paused to text Jake. They had been dating for a month then he had flown to Boston. His brother and sister told him their Mother’s dementia had grown worse and they needed his help putting her in a nursing facility and then cleaning out her apartment. She reported her day to Jake and the fact she was babysitting and how had his day gone? She was too nervous to wait for a response. She needed to be doing something, but what?

  She turned off the television and went over her day. Most of the day had been a blur of phone calls and racing the story about the robbery at the convenience store to deadline. And then, June. Earlier, Hannah climbed the stairs to the attic apartment of the same Victorian house her brother lived in, June had not come to the door. Hannah waited, then rang the doorbell again and then kicked the door. June wasn’t home. She said she would be home because she was afraid of her brother, Jeremy. She had sounded desperate and scared, but she refused to talk about anything over the phone.

  Hannah shuttered thinking of Jeremy. She had never felt comfortable around him, even in high school. He had come to Hannah and her twin, Bill, and told them he had the perfect plan. Hannah should marry him and Bill should marry his twin, June. They thought he was joking. But a week later Jeremy had approached their father at the newspaper to ask him for Hannah’s hand in Marriage.

  Harry Blake is normally a peaceful man. But not about Jeremy. He told Hannah and Bill the stories he’d heard about Jeremy torturing animals when he was younger. No telling what he was up to as a teenager. Harry made it clear to Jeremy to stay away from Hannah and Bill and that they definitely would never have a future with him.

  A smoke alarm beeped in one of the apartments above. Someone’s up late cooking. She heard a loud whack and the alarm stopped. Then another alarm sounded in a different part of the building. Then another and another.

  Oh, God. Was the building on fire? Old buildings burned fast. She went to the window and looked at the apartments across the street. Many of the lower windows glowed with Christmas tree lights. What she saw reflected in the upper windows stopped her heart. Flames and smoke billowed above her.

  She grabbed her coat on the way to the nursery. “Wake up, girls. I have a surprise.” She spoke softly, trying to keep her panic under control. “We’re going outside to watch a big fire.”

  She pushed shoes on their feet even before they sat up, and then she grabbed a blanket for each. No time to hunt for jackets.

  Hannah rushed the five-year-olds out the apartment door. She wanted to get them down out of the building before a mad rush of panicked residents started. Hannah could already hear commotion above, even though she couldn’t smell smoke yet.

  Hannah stopped abruptly at Mrs. Randall’s door. “Fire!” Hannah banged on the neighbor’s door. The elderly woman kept her television turned up loud because she was so hard of hearing.

  “The building is on fire! Get out of here!” Hannah yelled as she opened the door. The twins watched in wide-eyed wonder. The building’s heavy duty alarms blasted a steady warning to everyone in the building.

  She grabbed each girl by the hand and hurried down the stairs. Both girls followed willingly though frightened and crying. Smoke hung in the stairwell. Their eyes stung as they descended the stairs. They reached the street where sirens pierced the air. Lights flashed in the distance and the wail of the fire engines got louder as they neared.

  Hannah pulled the girls toward her car parked two blocks away, the only dry and safe place to put them. It had begun to snow and they slipped on the fresh snow, slowing their progress. She settled the girls in the back seat. Hannah wrapped them in blankets, pulled out her cell, and called her brother.

  He answered immediately, “What’s wrong?”

  “Your apartment building is on fire. We had to leave.”

  “What? Are the girls all right?”

  “We’re fine. They’re nice and warm in my car. We’re two blocks from the fire sitting in front of the newspaper office.”

  “We’ll be there as fast as we can. Did you save anything else?”

  “I woke up your deaf neighbor.”

  “Good. That’s good.”

  “I parked where I always do. You probably can’t get any closer than the newspaper office any way.”

  Mindy had stopped crying once they reached the car but Cindy still sniffled.

  “It’s going to be okay, hon. Mommy and Daddy are coming.”

  “Will Daddy put out the fire so we can go back to bed?” Mindy asked.

  “No, we’re going to watch the firemen do that.” Flames shot out of the top windows and glass shattered as they exploded. The acrid smoke reached their car.

  Bill and Sarah arrived within minutes. Hannah unlocked her car doors and they pulled their children into their arms. They smothered them with hugs and kisses. They turned and faced the fire standing in the snow on the sidewalk and watched the huge Victorian building burn like a torch in the night sky. Hannah took several photos with her phone, knowing they would run a front-page story on the very personal tragedy.

  “You’re welcome to stay at my place until you figure out what to do,” Hannah assured them.

  “Good idea.” Bill said. “Honey, you go with Hannah and get the girls settled. I’m going to see what I can find out from guys I know in the department.”

  Bill went for his car and as they pulled out he took the parking space Hannah left.

  Hannah pulled away from the curb, knowing she would come back the minute she got Sarah and the twins settled. She tried to remember the first feeling of unease that something was wrong. The whole building was strange to her, especially at night. Had she heard a truck come or men enter and lug something? Could she have heard laughing or smirking?

  When Hannah returned, she watched in horror as the once beautiful Victorian house became burned wood and ashes. Even though the fire started on the top floor, it had worked its way down quickly. She used her cell to snap several pictures, since her camera was at the newspaper office. The flames consumed everything as it went.

  God, I hope everyone got out. It happened so quickly.

  She hunted for Bill. He had been a year ahead of her in school. A fact he liked to tease her about since they were twins. She had struggled with a recurring illness when they were seven. By the time the doctor figured out it was her appendix, she had missed too much school to go on to the next grade.

  She foll
owed Bill into the police department but decided she preferred being a private detective. Later, she became a reporter. Bill had been a police officer until their father had disappeared two years before, then he quit when the police department decided to stop looking for him. Hannah needed help running the Hopeful Press. Bill and Hannah would never stop searching for their Father. He had disappeared while gold panning on Hunter Mountain.

  Hannah watched the firemen and thought of her father. He had been a firefighter until he bought the newspaper. Maybe that’s why they knew so much about fires. They seemed to gravitate toward them and watch the firefighters work. Horrified at what could happen but mostly just watching as they had when their father was a firefighter. He had been a real hero.

  Neither one of them had ever considered becoming a firefighter like their Dad. She stood looking up at the fire and watched the firefighters work. The smoke so strong that she held a handkerchief to her face so she could breathe.

  Hannah saw Bill talking with the fire chief and moved toward them. Most people in the Fire and Police Departments knew her. Some greeted her. None tried to stop her from moving closer to the scene.

  “Hannah, didn’t you say you were on the top floor earlier today?” Bill said as she approached.

  “Yes, June called and asked me to come by. She said she needed my help and would explain when I got there. But she never answered the door.”

  “June. Do I know her?”

  “You remember her from school. She had a crush on you. Followed you around like a puppy.”

  Bill turned red while Fire Chief Jim laughed. “Oh, her,” Bill said.

  “I hope she’s okay but she said she was afraid of Jeremy. I knocked and knocked but she didn’t answer.” Hannah was horrified to consider June might have been home and not able to answer.

  “Jeremy.” Bill was surprised. “I thought he was in prison.”

  “Me, too.” Hannah said. “June spoke about him as if he was out and she was afraid.”

  Bill and Hannah left the fire scene at 2:00 in the morning, the firefighters still fighting the blaze. The building had gone up fast, but the contents continued to burn. They wouldn’t be able to learn any more until morning.

  Sarah had waited up for them. “Did they get the fire out?”

  Bill drew Sarah into his arms. “It’s still going. Looks like we’ve lost everything, Hon. I’m sorry.”

  “You never liked my mother’s dishes anyway,” said Sarah, tears in her eyes. “I’m so grateful we got that bank box last year and put all our important papers in it. I’ve been going over how big our loss is, she said, holding up the yellow legal pad Hannah kept on her desk. “I have my flash drive with most of my documents on it. We’ll have to start over with clothes, furniture and the twin’s things. I’m so glad we kept the renter’s insurance,” she added, always the level-headed business woman.

  “That’s why I married you sweetheart, for your brains.” Bill wrapped his arms around her.

  “Lucky you,” Sarah said as she snuggled against him. “I’m sorry about your father’s awards.”

  Hannah froze. She had forgotten about those. She adored the wall where they hung and loved re-reading each one. Now they were gone. Another piece of Dad gone. Tears slid down her cheeks. A weariness encased her. She didn’t want to think anymore. She went in the bedroom and changed the sheets for her brother and Sarah. The twins were asleep on the cot beside the bed that Hannah kept just for them. She grabbed a blanket and pillow for herself and headed for the couch.

  “I can’t deal with this anymore.” She wiped away a tear. “Let’s get some sleep and regroup tomorrow.”

  “Hannah, thank you for keeping a level head and getting the girls out safe,” Bill said.

  “We’ll be grateful forever,” Sarah said. They both surrounded her with a group hug. That did it. Hannah and Sarah sobbed and knew they would cry themselves to sleep that night.

  Hannah rolled over, as she usually did in her king-sized bed when she woke, and slid off the couch to the floor. She lay on the floor looking at the ceiling. The first thing she would do today was buy some renter’s insurance. A policy couldn’t bring back memories, but it would help in rebuilding her life if her apartment burned up. The night’s horror flared in her mind. Lord God, please help us know what to do about all this. Give us your peace as we move forward from here. She got up to fix coffee. Bill was already in the kitchen with a freshly brewed pot.

  “Did you get any sleep?” she asked

  Bill shook his head. “Very little.”

  “Me, too. I just realized it’s 4:30, barely morning.” Hannah said. “Think I’ll shower and go to the store. I don’t have a thing to offer for breakfast. What kind of cereal do the girls like?”

  “They’re into Cheerios and sliced bananas right now.”

  “Oh, good. That’s easy.”

  “Don’t buy a bunch of stuff. Sarah will go to the store later and get what we need for supper. Sorry, but I can’t think past that.”

  “You guys are welcome to stay as long as you need. Tonight, I better push the two couches together so I don’t fall out of bed again.”

  Bill laughed, then sobered as he remembered his clothes were gone. “What am I going to wear? I’ve got nothing. And these clothes smell like a campfire.”

  “I took clothes to the cleaners yesterday,” Sarah said from the bedroom door, “so you have two suits to pick up.”

  “My wife the genius.” Bill gave her a hug and good morning kiss. “Did you have any of your clothes cleaned, too?”

  Sarah shook her head, tears brimming her eyes, “Nothing for the girls either.”

  “Then I guess today is shopping day. Use every cent of the rent money since we don’t owe it anymore.”

  Sarah slumped. “I can’t take the girls. They only have pajamas.”

  “I can watch the girls after I get back from the store.” Hannah said. “Help yourself to any of my clothes you want to wear while you wash yours. You could put the girls in some of my T-shirts after you give them a bath. But I’m first.” She headed for the shower.

  When she left the store, she picked up Bill’s clothes so he could go to work. The girls watched television in Hannah’s brightest tee shirts. She enjoyed having them in her home. Her phone chimed when Jake texted. He apologized for not answering the night before. His phone battery had run down while he cleaned his mother’s apartment carpets. He asked how her day was going. Hannah sat at the kitchen table and texted Jake about the fire. Her phone rang.

  “Wow. What a day you had,” Jake said. “Are you doing okay?”

  “I’m fine. Bill and his family are staying with me while they figure out what to do next.”

  “I bet your apartment is crowded. I might have an answer, though. The people renting your Dad’s house just gave me a 30-day notice.”

  Her Dad’s house! Hannah had planned to ask for Jake’s help because he was a realtor. This could be the answer. It would be after Christmas, but that was fine with her. She liked the idea of having all of them together for Christmas.

  Later that morning, Bill called to tell her firefighters found part of a body on what was left of the attic floor, and the police suspected it might be June. It would take a while to verify the exact identity.

  Horror filled Hannah. June had asked her for help and Hannah had failed June by not trying harder to find her.

  Now she was dead and burned up. Hannah feared Jeremy might be the reason.

  Chapter Two

  “Aunt Hannah?”

  Hannah woke feeling four small hands gently shaking her. She opened her eyes. Mindy and Cindy smiled down at her.

  “Time to get up.” They chimed.

  “But it’s still dark, girls. Go back to sleep,” She was grateful they hadn’t turned on the overhead light but had found her in the darkened living room.

  “Look out the window, Aunt Hannah.” Mindy pointed out the living room window. “The moon is full.

  “You said that
’s the best time to make wishes in the well, and we need to make wishes,” said Cindy.

  “Hey, girls, what are you doing out of bed?” Bill stood in the doorway. Sarah shuffled up beside him. “Get back to bed.”

  “We need to go to the wishing well, Daddy. Please,” Mindy’s eyes glistened. “You know it only works at night when there is a full moon.” Cindy stood behind her sister and began to weep.

  Sarah and Bill sat on the floor and pulled the girls into their arms. “We know how the wishing well works,” said Bill. “Why is that so important now?”

  “We got no home and no Christmas tree,” wailed Cindy,

  “Santa will never find us now,” Mindy sobbed.

  Sarah and Bill looked at each other over their daughters’ heads as understanding connected. “Santa will always be able to find you, no matter what,” said Sarah.

  “That’s right,” agreed Bill. “But would it make you feel better if we went to the wishing well?”

  “Yes.” they shouted together. They squiggled out of their parents arms to do a happy dance.

  The wishing well stood in the center of town, three blocks from Hannah’s apartment. The five of them set out on foot, with the twins in front decked out in their new snowsuits and boots. A price tag still hung from one coat arm. They tramped through the glittering, fresh-fallen snow that made the world around them bright and hushed. Christmas trees glowed in many windows. Christmas icicle lights dripped from the eaves.

  They stopped to admire the Christmas tree in the mayor’s house. The weight of the lights and decorations bowed its branches, just as a heavy snowstorm weighted the branches of the forest.

  “Can we get a tree like that?” The girls chimed together.

  “It’s beautiful!” Cindy exclaimed.

  “Let’s go make a wish.” Bill herded them toward the wishing well.

  Built during the gold rush, the stone well was the very first dug in Hopeful, Colorado over a hundred years ago. A natural spring fed the well with a constant flow of fresh water. Since the water still flowed, people considered the well to be good luck, even though the gold never flowed as easy as the water.