by Rod Lee
“My daddy is a hero!” Veronica smiled up at him from his lap.
“Yes, he is dear.” His mother patted her on the head. “You know Chase, maybe you should think of getting another less dangerous job.”
“You know most of the time I don’t get called out on these types of things but maybe I’ll look into something else. Not out of the fire department though.” He had to admit today had shaken them up quite a bit.
When the floor had fallen almost immediately after he had gotten Kitty into his arms he knew he had gotten lucky. Someone up there was looking out for him and he didn’t want to keep pushing his luck.
“I know it will be tough for you to give up but really its better. You don’t want to leave Veronica all alone in the world.” His mother stated.
“What happened daddy? Did you almost get hurt?” Veronica asked.
“No munchkin but your grandma thinks that one day I may get hurt and she just wants me to be able to see you grow up.” He explained.
“I want that too daddy.” She kissed him and hugged him again.
His heart melted and he knew that soon he would be looking into another position in the department. He had too, he couldn’t leave this small child with his mother, and having no father or mother to raise her.
“Say Munchkin how would you like to go by the hospital with me and see the lady I saved?” Chase asked.
His mother gave him a questioning look.
“Yeah daddy, I want to meet her.” Veronica said enthusiastically.
“Go pack up your things and we’ll go.” Chase hurried her off.
“According to the old lady the woman was trying to be a model and she got burnt on her face. When she is no longer in shock she’s going to be upset and I figured that maybe a visit would help her.” Chase explained to his mother.
“How bad is it?” She asked.
Chase shook his head, “Let’s just say she may not be working as a model anymore, at least for the time being.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.”
“Yeah and the old lady also said that her parents were always against this career, so they’ll be more than happy that she was hurt and can’t continue it.” Chase said.
“She’s going to need a friend during this time period.” His mother commented. “You know I may not have liked the fact that you became a firefighter but I was always proud of you and supported your choices. The only reason I’m suggesting you stop is for Veronica. You don’t want her growing up without either of her parents.”
“I know mom, and you are right, it could go bad just one time and I might not come home. I can’t do that to her either, she doesn’t deserve to lose both of her parents.” Chase admitted.
“Good luck son, and help this woman through this time, she’ll need someone by her side that isn’t happy she is suffering.”
He kissed his mom goodbye and he and Veronica headed up to the hospital. On the way Veronica told him he should buy some flowers for the girl, “You know to make her smile.” Veronica said.
He stopped and picked up a small bunch and smiled at the girl, “Is this a good bunch?”
“Perfect daddy.” Veronica gave him a thumbs up.
Chapter 10
Chase walked into her room with Veronica and Kitty looked up from the bed, she had no clue who he was. “You must have the wrong room.” She said to the attractive looking man she wouldn’t mind talking too!
“My daddy saved you from the fire.” Veronica announced.
Chase laughed, “Hi I’m Chase Daniels and this little bundle of energy is my daughter Veronica. I told her about you and she said we should visit you.” He smiled at her warmly.
“Oh, that’s very nice of you. I’m sorry, you look a lot different without all that gear on, and I didn’t recognize you.” Kitty said, touching the bandage on her cheek. He was a lot sexier up close, she had noticed his hard muscles earlier, but really hadn’t thought much about it through the pain of her broken leg.
He could see the sadness in her eyes as she felt the spot.
“Thank you for saving me.” She said.
“It is my job but you’re welcome. I’m just glad your neighbor said something about you being home. We had done a couple of sweeps of the apartment already and the Captain wasn’t going to let us go back in. The building was about to collapse. We were lucky to get out.” He explained.
“I remember the floor falling in right after you had me on the ladder.” She admitted.
“How is the leg feeling?” He asked.
“Broken and sore but they have me pretty pumped up with meds, so I don’t feel it very often, only when I try and move too much.” She stated.
“Wow you’re really pretty, your eyes are so green.” Veronica stated as she stared at Kitty.
Kitty laughed, “Thank you. But if you saw me without this bandage you wouldn’t think I was so pretty.”
“You know my daddy always told me looks were only on the outside, what really counts is the person on the inside. You seem sweet.” Veronica said.
Chase couldn’t help but laugh, “She is pretty straight forward.”
“The lovely innocence of young children. They speak their mind. Honestly, I love that about kids. I wish more adults were the same way.” Kitty stated as she studied the hunk of man standing in front of her.
“You don’t mind that I stopped by to visit, do you?” Chase asked as he shuffled his feet.
“No, it’s nice to have someone visit and check up on me.” She responded.
“My mommy died during child birth.” Veronica blurted out.
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that sweetie.” Kitty patted the little girl’s head.
“I’m just telling you so you know my daddy is single!” Veronica smiled broadly.
Chase’s face turned red at her straight forward nature. “Veronica I’m sure Kitty doesn’t care.”
“She might, you’re a good-looking guy.”
Kitty couldn’t help but laugh at the little girl. Though she had to admit she was wondering if he was attached, surely if he had a wife he wouldn’t have come to visit her though.
“Enough Veronica.”
“She’s right you are a good-looking guy!” Kitty laughed.
“I know my teacher is always saying how good looking he is at school.” Veronica said.
“Does she now?” Kitty asked.
“Yep she’s always talking about the calendar he was in and that his picture was her absolute favorite!” The girl beamed, “Have you seen it?” She asked.
Kitty looked up and studied Chase once more. Taking in his medium length blonde hair and his blue eyes. His body was built like an athlete. She was sure under his clothes his body was all muscles and very little fat.
“He was holding a puppy and had his shirt off.” Veronica described the photo.
“Oh yes I remember that one, it was a very nice picture.” Kitty stated.
“Was it your favorite too?” Veronica asked.
“That’s enough Veronica. Why don’t you sit down and read a bit from that book your grandma gave you?” Chase said.
The girl waited for Kitty’s answer first before she would take the book and read it. Looking at Kitty like, come on already answer.
“Yeah it was.” She stated.
Chase got her over in the seat and came back to sit by the bed. “I’m sorry about all that, usually she isn’t so obvious about telling people all about me.” He apologized
“I think it’s cute.” Kitty smiled at him. “It was one of my favorites though honestly. But it’s hard to picture you with your shirt off when you have it on.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t tell me to take it off!” Chase laughed.
Veronica looked up from her book, “If she didn’t recognize you soon I would have told you to do it.”
Kitty and Chase both laughed hard at the girl’s words. Obviously, she had been listening to them instead of really reading her book.
“Well thank goodness I
recognized you than!” Kitty chuckled.
“Yes, I think I would have been pretty embarrassed to do that.” Chase said.
“You shouldn’t be. You have a very nice body, enjoy it before it ends.” Kitty said a bit sadly.
“Hey come on don’t be sad, it could have been much worse. At least you are still alive.” He told her.
“Yeah but alive and not able to go after my dream anymore. Who’s going to hire a model with a burn mark on her face?” She said bitterly.
“I guess I’ve always looked at things differently in life. Thankful for what I have, it can change too quickly and we are left reeling. I understand how you feel right now. Your life is in shambles and you doubt it will ever be good again. But believe me you will bounce back. Don’t think that everyone only sees the outside of you but think of what you can do to help out others. You are still a very lovely woman, and they can do skin grafts and maybe the scar won’t be very big.” Chase stated.
“Ha. I doubt it will be something small enough to hide with make-up. Well at least my mom and dad will be happy now.”
“Yeah your neighbor was saying something about them not supporting you. Why didn’t they? My mom has always supported me, and my father as well, until he died.” Chase said.
“They thought I was foolish and trying to not work hard for my money. But they didn’t realize how hard I worked to make it as far as I did. It’s not easy even getting to the amateur level where I am, there is a lot of discipline involved.” Kitty explained, “I’m always on a diet to help myself stay skinny.”
“Personally, I think girls with a little more meat on their bones are nice. But I know the industry likes to put out women who are small and very skinny. Are you really sure this is what you want to do? Starve yourself just to move into the upper ranks of the modeling career?”
“I never really thought about it much truthfully, I’ve just done it to be a success.” She admitted.
He sat beside her until her food came and then took Veronica out of the room, telling Kitty they would visit again tomorrow if that was okay with her.
“Sure, I’ll look forward to it. Maybe Veronica can even read me some of her book.” Kitty smiled and felt her heart beat speed up in anticipation to the coming visit
“I’ll read it to you but I don’t know all the words yet so you may have to help me.” Veronica smiled broadly.
“Not a problem sweetie.”
Veronica ran back over to the bed and gave Kitty a hug goodbye, “See you tomorrow.” Veronica leaned closer to Kitty and whispered, “If you want to hug my dad, it is okay, I don’t mind. He’s a really good hugger.”
Chase heard the words and turned bright red, “Come on munchkin let’s go.” He ordered her out of the room.
“I’m coming giant just hold your horses.”
They could hear Kitty laughing as they walked down the hall.
Chapter 11
“Where did all that come from in there, young lady?” Chase asked Veronica once they were in his jeep.
“I heard grandma talking to her neighbor, she was saying how you need a woman in your life. Kitty is sweet and she seems like someone who would be nice to both of us.” Veronica said.
“Oh, your grandma was saying all of this.”
“She didn’t know I could hear it daddy. But yes, she was saying you’ve been alone too long and that a woman would be nice to have. Someone who could help you out with me too.”
Chase made a note to talk to his mother about this the next day. “Well sweetie we can’t just have anyone come into our lives. I want to make sure whoever it is loves you and me both.” Chase explained.
“I know that daddy, I’m not a baby anymore, and I’ll be eight in a month now.” She reminded him of her birthday coming up soon.
“That’s right, you will be so old!” Chase laughed. “So, what do you want to do for your birthday?” He asked.
“I think you, me and Kitty should go out for pizza.” Veronica said.
“Oh really? You like Kitty a lot, don’t you?”
“Yeah she never looked at me like I was a little kid but like I was one of you guys. It was nice. Everyone always looks odd, like I don’t understand a lot of things.” Veronica explained.
“We can ask her tomorrow to see if she’s interested in that idea.” Chase said.
“Okay daddy.”
“Honey just out of curiosity, why didn’t you ever do this with your teacher, or one of the ladies at the gym?” He asked.
“Because when you aren’t around they are not near as nice to me. As soon as you leave they ignore me and act like I’m not even there.” Veronica told him honestly.
“I’m sorry honey.” He rubbed her head, messing up her hair.
“Daddy, the hair, come on.” She moved to the side.
He laughed at her new-found attitude and smiled at her. “Sorry honey, I guess my little munchkin is growing up.”
“Duh I keep telling you that!”
He busted out laughing, “Soon you’ll be too big for my hugs.”
“No daddy I’ll want you hugs forever, they make me feel safe.”
“I love you, munchkin.”
“I love you too giant.”
He was swept up by the memories of Jen and him at that moment. Recalling the first time they had admitted their feelings for one another.
They had been seeing each other for a couple of months by that time. But they had been both studying hard for exams so they hadn’t gotten a lot of time to just unwind.
He had taken her to the park and laid out a blanket for them to sit on and watch the stars. Jen was into constellations and would point them all out to him. Telling him little stories about each of them. “There’s Orion’s Belt and the big dipper is over there. Over there is my favorite Pegasus.” She had pointed them out to him.
Chase was completely head over heels in love with her by this point. He had pulled her down on the blanket and kissed her, “Jen I love you so much, you are so smart.”
“I love you to Chase, and you’re no dummy either.”
He had laughed at her compliment. “I can see us spending our lives together, watching the stars at night, and holding each other.” He had said.
“Hmm that sounds nice Chase.”
He had pulled out the ring he had bought that day and asked her, “Jennifer Collins will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She had thrown her arms around him and said, “Yes I will!”
***
“Daddy, do you think Kitty is nice?” Veronica pulled him from his memories.
“Well I don’t know her well but I think she might be nice. The old lady who lives beside her really cares about her. In my experience if you aren’t a nice person your neighbors usually don’t really care about you at all.”
“Yeah I think she’s nice. But it is sad about her parents. I’m sure she would be happier if they weren’t so against her.” Veronica said.
“Yes, I know sweetie.”
“Daddy I hope you always support me in what I want to do.” She added.
“What do you want to do?” He asked, never having this conversation with her, figuring she was far too young to have any thoughts of her future life and career.
“I want to be an astronomer.” She said proudly.
He smiled at her, “Your mother loved the stars too!”
“I know grandma showed me some of her old books. I don’t understand a lot of the words but I love the pictures.” Veronica said.
“Is that one of the other books you brought along from your grandma’s?” He asked.
“Yes, I have a couple of them in there. She said that mommy had left them one time but that was right before she had me. She also told me mommy used to read to me from them.” Veronica told him.
“Yes, I’m sure she did, she was always reading something to you, or talking to you before you were born.” Chase commented. “I think your mother would be very proud of you becoming an astronomer, and I w
ould fully support you in it too!”
“Great daddy. Should I bring one of these to the hospital tomorrow and see if Kitty likes the stars?” She asked.
“Take whatever you want to take along. I’m sure she won’t mind.”
Chapter 12
As Kitty picked at her food, she thought of Chase and his Veronica. The girl was a vibrant and very intelligent child. She seemed to understand a lot of things for someone so young.
Kitty thought it was cute how Veronica had told her that her daddy was available. She couldn’t help but laugh as she recalled the embarrassed look that had crossed his face when his daughter had said the words.
Then when she had told her about the calendar, she could see the girl was very proud of her father. She only wished she had the same type of relationship with her parents. But when she was younger they had often left her alone.
Her father had never been close to her as a child, and she often had wondered why this was. Maybe they weren’t ready for children when she had come along. She recalled how often her mom and dad would fight at night.
Their home had been far from a happy one, and both of her parents seemed to take out their dissatisfaction on Kitty. She was happy to note that Chase seemed to be very into raising his little girl and showing her love.
She wondered what her life would have been like now, had her parent’s been like him. Kitty wasn’t looking forward to seeing them but was sure they would visit her one day soon. They would gloat that she now would have to find a normal job and stop her nonsense about becoming a model. “Nonsense.” She said the word out loud.
It had been something they had said to her many times in the past when talking to her about her career choice. Never once had they complimented her on the magazine spreads she had been in, only saying, “You really need to find a better job, one that will support you.”
Kitty felt the tears come to her eyes. All she wanted was for them to be proud of her just once and tell her, “good job sweetie.”
But those words would never come from them. Even if she explained how hard she worked, they would scoff at her and not believe her.
