by Lucy Gage
Suddenly, he stopped. That wasn’t a memory. The scent of wood smoke drifted on the breeze. It was too warm, too late in the year for the practical people of St. Roy to be running a wood stove and too early for campfires. Which meant something bad could be happening – forest fire, house fire – whatever it was, chances were better than average that it was not good. Even a kid of eight could understand that.
The breeze died and he saw the origin of the smoke, just above where he stood. Josh dropped his fishing gear and ran as fast as he could up the steep bank. Branches and brambles scratched at his clothes and skin, but he ignored them. The cuts would hurt later, but for now, he had to warn the people in that house. When he launched through the bushes, his chest heaving, he saw flames in the kitchen of the Daigles’ 1880’s farm house.
Pounding on the door, he tried to wake the family, but they didn’t hear him. Knowing the fire department needed to come quickly, he rushed to the LaPierres’ house next door and burst through the kitchen, where he knew he’d find Mrs. LaPierre baking bread like she did every morning.
“Joshua! What are you doing?” she asked in her French accent, stunned by his appearance at her kitchen door.
“Call the fire department! The Daigles’ house is on fire!”
He didn’t wait for a response, just ran back outside to the rear of the Daigles’ house. Grabbing their hose, he turned the water on and started spraying at the kitchen window, where flames licked through a crack in the rippled glass. The whole time, he screamed for the family to wake up. Every once in a while, he’d spray the windows above the kitchen, hoping that the bedroom’s occupant would hear the water hit the glass in time to get out.
Moments later, the sirens wailed and he saw the Daigle family stumble around to where Josh manned the hose. Mr. Killroy, one of the Volunteer Firefighters, took the hose from Josh.
“You did good, son. Looks like we’ve got seven Daigles in the yard. Everyone is out of the house. Take a break and let us handle it from here, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” he said, and he backed away, plopping down on a patch of grass near the edge of the bushes where he’d come upon the fire – was that only minutes ago?
After a few minutes, Maggie Daigle walked over and sat next to him. Without a word, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, her straight, shoulder-length brown hair tickling his nose. Even under the smoke, he could smell Johnson’s Baby Shampoo. She held on for dear life and it seemed like hours had passed.
When she leaned back, tears rimmed her smoke-smudged, blue eyes, as they engaged his own. Maggie Daigle never cried, even when she broke her arm in kindergarten. She was the toughest girl he knew.
“That was your bedroom,” Josh said. The room above the kitchen was the one he knew she had to herself. The only girl in a family of six children, Maggie had stopped sharing a room with her twin brothers earlier this year, when the eldest Daigle brother had married and moved into his own home.
She said nothing, but she nodded in reply.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” Josh said.
Maggie smiled, a rare sight. They sat for a while, silently listening to the roar of the fire and the pummeling noise of the water, the odor of wet and burning wood permeating the air. Nearby, Maggie’s parents held each other as they watched their home being destroyed by the flames.
“You saved me,” Maggie said when she finally spoke. “You saved us all.”
“Anyone would have done the same.”
“Not anyone. You’re special Josh.”
Maggie kissed his cheek and Josh blushed. He’d had a crush on her all year, since they sat side-by-side in Mrs. Belanger’s third-grade class on the first day of school. She took his hand in hers and from that point forward, she didn’t let it go, not for a long, long time.
It was right then and there, at the tender age of eight, that Josh Ricker knew he loved Maggie Daigle, and that he probably always would.
Author Bio
Lucy Gage started her writing career under another name, but the same vivid imagination and love of books still fuels her daily life. When she’s not writing, you can find her spending time with her family in her home state of Maine, experiencing a life that helps shape her writing.
She loves to hear from fans, and you can find Lucy at:
Facebook: Author Lucy Gage
Twitter:@LucyGageAuthor
Or send an email: [email protected]
Look for her website in 2016. A boxed set of the first four Ward Sisters books is currently available. Her fifth book, Time to Begin, is available now, both for individual sale and as part of the Affairs of the Heart boxed set. Book six in the Ward Sisters Series, Just Realized, will arrive in December 2015, and book 1 in the Vega Brothers Series – a Ward Sisters spinoff – launches in 2016.
