Raging Inferno

by Janine Infante Bosco

  Then, like the burning houses, Jimmy collapsed.

  His eyes closed, and he fell to the ground just before I could reach him.

  Thankfully, Gary was next to him and when the police tried to pull me away from Jimmy, he ordered for them to take their hands off me. Two paramedics ushered Jimmy onto a stretcher and Gary told them I was his girlfriend. As a result, they let me ride in the ambulance with Jimmy.

  Everything happened so fast, I couldn’t keep track and most of it I tried to block out. Like when they said he was in cardiac arrest and started to do compressions on his chest. All I could do was cry and pray.

  Prayers and apologies.

  They sometimes go hand in hand.

  When we arrived at the hospital, Jimmy was hurried into the emergency room and I wasn’t allowed to kiss him goodbye or tell him I forgive. I was escorted to the waiting room and asked if I was his next of kin. I didn’t know if Lisa was still his emergency contact or if he had named someone else. I just knew I wasn’t it. I was the girl that let him go and now I might never get a chance to tell him how much I love him or how much I want us to start over.

  Twenty minutes later, Gary and Frankie arrived and straightened out the hospital situation. I learned Frankie was listed as his emergency contact and Gary called Lisa to tell her what was going on. I remembered Gabby was a night school, and she said she would pick her up and take her back to her house.

  Another hour passed, and I used Frankie’s phone to call Amber. The moment she answered the phone I began to sob uncontrollably.

  “Melissa, shit, please calm down,” she pleaded. “Is he okay?”

  “It wasn’t him,” I hiccup. “He wasn’t trapped. I saw him. Oh my God, Amber. He had a heart attack. The doctor says, he inhaled too much smoke and because he couldn’t breathe, there was too much stress to his heart. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I can’t lose him. I can’t go through that again.”

  “Listen to me, Melissa, there is something I have to tell you.”

  Sniffling, I pause at the tone of her voice and wait for her to explain whatever it is she feels the need to share.

  “I went to the firehouse this morning,” she reveals. “I started yelling at him and well, it got ugly for a minute before he shut me up. He was supposed to go to your school today. He wanted to make it right between you. Melissa, are you listening to me? Jimmy loves you.”

  “I know that,” I hiss, wiping away at my tears.

  As sure as I am that life is too short, I’m also sure Jimmy loves me. The more I thought about it over the last few days, the more I realized the way he looked at me couldn’t be a lie. Every touch and tender moment, they were all true and the devastation in his eyes when Bea showed up, that couldn’t be fake. Jimmy Casale loves me.

  “But he doesn’t know I love him too,” I murmur.

  Amber doesn’t get a chance to reply as the phone falls from my hands and the doctor appears. He glances at me briefly before making his way towards Gary and Frankie and with a neutral expression, he delivers Jimmy’s fate.

  Apologies.

  His for lying.

  Mine for never expressing my love.

  Prayers.

  His and mine.

  Oh, dear God, give us one more chance.

  One final chance at forever.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Forever

  I woke up to the woman I love sleeping in the chair beside my bed and immediately thought I had died and gone to Heaven. However, the oxygen tubes in my nose and the heart monitor I was hooked up told me differently.

  Bits and pieces of the fire came rushing back to me. I remembered the burning sensation that filled my lungs every time I tried to draw in a breath and hear Melissa call my name. The last I recall before everything went black is her eyes, wild and full of love as they stared back at me.

  Not wanting to wake her but desperate to touch her, I slide my hand over hers. Under the calloused pads of my fingertips, her skin is just as soft as I remember.

  I know what you’re thinking, you’re probably rolling your eyes and saying it’s been barely two weeks but, let me ask you this, have you ever lived without a piece of your heart? Picture losing one of the four chambers of the organ—it doesn’t work. The blood doesn’t flow, and the beat loses its rhythm.

  But all it takes is one shock.

  One touch of my hand to hers and everything is right again.

  Suddenly her eyes flutter open and instead of looking at me, she stares at our hands. I curl my fingers around hers and weakly give them a squeeze, urging her to lift her gaze.

  “You’re really awake,” she murmurs, lifting her eyes to mine. We both stare at one another as if we’re not sure the other is real.

  “I am and you’re really here too,” I say hoarsely. My throat still burns from inhaling the so much smoke.

  She squeezes my hand and gives me a small smile.

  “I should go get the doctor.”

  “Don’t go yet,” I say, reaching to pull the oxygen from my nose. “We need to talk.”

  “Jimmy you just had a heart attack,” she whispers, bowing her head. “We can talk later.”

  “Can we or are you going to leave before I get the chance to say what I need to say?”

  She doesn’t answer right away and when she lifts her head, I watch a tear slide out of the corner of her eye.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Jimmy,” she whispers. “I’m right where I want to be.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Melissa.”

  “We can talk about it later. Right now, all that matters is you’re alive. We got forever to talk,” she says, intertwining our fingers.

  “Forever.”

  “I’m not letting you go, Jimmy Casale. Not when I came so close to losing you.”

  As much as I love the sound of it, I can’t help but wonder if she’s truly worried about losing me or having another man in her life pass. My thoughts are interrupted when she rises to her full height and inches closer to me. Bending her head, she touches her lips to mine gently.

  “I love you, Jimmy,” she says against my mouth. “I love you and whatever—”

  “I didn’t tell you about Chris because I didn’t want to be a reminder of what you lost,” I say, lifting my hand to her cheek. “It wasn’t about hiding the truth as much as it was about keeping you.”

  “I don’t look at you and see Chris,” she replies. “I loved him very much, and I was devastated when he died. For a long time, I didn’t think I could move on or that I even wanted to move on. I didn’t think a person could find love twice in a lifetime, but you came into my life and proved me wrong. Please don’t doubt that what I feel for you is anything less than what I felt for him. He was a great part of my life and I will always cherish my time with him. But, you, Jimmy, you’re my forever.”

  “Forever is a long time,” I croak, swallowing the lump despite the pain in my throat.

  “Yeah, it is. Which means you need to get better because I have big plans for you Mr. Casale.”

  “Oh yeah?” I question hoarsely as I run my fingers down her cheek.

  “As soon as you recover, I want you to meet Christopher. I want you to tell him the truth too. I think he’ll appreciate that the man who loves his mother also saved his father.”

  I love that.

  Almost as much as I love her.

  “Whatever you want,” I rasp.

  “Whatever I want, huh?” she teases softly, rubbing her nose against mine.

  “Anything, baby.”

  “Careful, Jimmy. I have a lot of dreams.”

  “Then I guess I have my work cut out for me because I’m going to make them all come true.”

  Whatever it takes.

  I got forever.

  THE END

  Epilogue

  Happily Ever After

  September 11th 2019

  “And this here, is where the Twin Towers stood,” Jimmy says, pointing to the footprints of the fallen to
wers that now act as memorial. The tranquil sound of the waterfalls rush over me as I lift my eyes and stare up at my son perched on Jimmy’s shoulders. “And that one there is where the South tower was.”

  “That’s where you rescued my dad?” Christopher asks as he stares at the waterfall. As he tilts his head and glances up at the sky, I imagine he’s trying to picture the tower standing tall, touching the sky.

  “It sure is.”

  “Mommy and Grandma said my dad couldn’t walk and you carried him out of the building, is that true?”

  “Yes,” Jimmy replies.

  “Like you’re carrying me now?”

  “Almost,” he says with a smile. “Your dad was a little to heavy to sit on top of my shoulders. Do you want to see the church I carried him to?”

  “It didn’t fall down?”

  “Nope,” Jimmy says. “It’s still standing and it’s only a few blocks away.”

  “Okay,” Christopher agrees.

  Jimmy turns his attention to me.

  “That good with you ladies?” he questions with a smile on his face. Simultaneously, we both glance down at the stroller and at our precious baby girl who is sleeping soundly.

  “Of course it is,” I reply, tucking the blanket around her before meeting Jimmy’s gaze. “We have an hour before we meet Gabby and Gianna for lunch.”

  A smirk ticks the corners of his lips and he shakes his head.

  “Knowing my girls, they’ll keep us waiting,”he retorts, wrapping his hands around Christopher’s calves, he bends his knees and brings us eyelevel before pressing a kiss to my mouth.

  After Jimmy recovered from the heart attack, he retired from the FDNY. Four months later, I found out I was pregnant and six weeks later we were married.

  Circumstance put Jimmy in Chris’s life.

  Fate brought him to me.

  And destiny kept us together, living a happily ever after neither of us thought we’d ever have.

  Life may be short, but love is for forever.

  Jimmy’s Cannoli Recipe

  Ingredients:

  SHELLS:

  3 cups of all-purpose flour

  ¼ cup of white sugar

  ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

  3 tablespoons of shortening

  1 egg

  1 egg yolk

  ½ cup of sweet Marsala wine

  1 tablespoon of distilled vinegar

  2 tablespoons of water

  1 egg white

  1 quart of oil for frying (or as much as needed)

  5inch circle cookie cutter

  Cannoli tubes (Metal for frying)

  FILLING:

  1 (32 ounce) container of Ricotta cheese

  ½ cup confectioner’s sugar

  1 teaspoon of lemon zest (or a dash more depending on taste)

  4 ounces of mini semisweet chocolate chips

  2 ounces of pistachio nuts (chopped)

  DIRECTIONS:

  In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in shortening until its in pea like pieces. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg, egg yolk, Marsala wine, vinegar and water. Mix with a fork until the dough becomes stiff, then kneed by hand on a clean surface. Add a bit more water if needed to incorporate all the ingredients. Continue to knead for 10-15minutes, then cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

  Now, if you’re Jimmy, you have a pasta roller and this next task will be easy and a great addition to your arm workout.

  Divide the cannoli dough into thirds, and flatten each one enough to slide through the pasta machine. Roll the dough through the thinner setting until you have reached the thinnest. Dust with flour and place the sheet of dough on a floured surface. Using the 5 inch circle cookie cutter, cut circles into the dough. Dust each circle with a light coating of flour and roll around the cannoli tube. Seal the edges with a bit of egg white.

  Heat the oil to 375 degrees F in a deep fryer or deep heavy skillet. Fry shells on the tubes a few at a time for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Use tongs to turn as needed and carefully remove from oil, placing them on a cooling rack. Cool just enough to handle the tubes then gently twist the tube to remove the shell. Reuse the tubes as needed and fill as you go.

  To make the filling, stir together the Ricotta cheese and confectioner’s sugar. Fold in lemon zest pistachio nuts and chocolate chips. Use a pastry bag to pipe the filling into the shells, from the center to one end and then repeat on the other side. Dust with additional confectioner’s sugar and enjoy!

  Other Books by Janine Infante Bosco

  The Tempted Series: *all can be read as standalone*

  Illicit Temptations (Book One)

  Forbidden Temptations (Book Two)

  Uncontrollable Temptations (Book Three)

  Reckless Temptations (Book Four)

  Lethal Temptations (Book Five)

  Eternal Temptations (Book Six)

  The Nomad Series: *all can be read as standalone*

  Drifter (Book One)

  Wanderer (Book Two)

  Roamer (Book Three)

  Loner (Book Four)

  Satan’s Knights novels: *all can be read as standalone*

  From the Ruins

  The Devil Don’t Sleep

  Riding the Edge

  Standalone novels

  Raging Inferno

  The Riverdale Series: *should be read in series order*

  Pieces – Book One

  Broken Pieces – Book Two

  Fitting the Pieces – Book Three

  Jake’s Journal (Book 3.5) novella – companion to the series

  About the Author

  Janine writes emotionally charged novels with an emphasis on family bonds, strong willed female characters, and alpha male men who will do anything for the women they love. She loves to interact with fans and fellow avid romance readers like herself.

  She is proud of her success as an author and the friendships she’s made in the book community but her greatest accomplishment to date would be her two sons Joseph and Paul.

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