A Fire That Burns

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  “What about?” Austin asked him plainly. She studied her father’s expression for a second as he looked more disappointed in himself than anything else.

  “Aus, I would never have done that to you. I would never have shunned you for being pregnant before you and Tyler got married.” Nicolas replied feeling like the most heartless man alive. “I would have been pissed, but I wouldn’t have cared. I would have looked after my little girl and then whatever grandchild she graced me with.”

  Austin looked at her dad – a man that was always her voice of reason in any chaos – and she knew she was truly loved by him. He was the best father she could have been given and she was more than a little appreciative that she had him here with her once more.

  “I would have never let you suffer like that. I know that I said that, but if it actually happened I wouldn’t have cared if you were happy,” he told her sincerely and he watched her look down. “Aus?”

  “What else did Tom and mom tell you?” Austin asked, she had seen her brother talking to her dad and he had literally looked like he was pouring his heart out across the hospital floors. She had only heard part of her father’s words, but none of her brother’s.

  “That looking back you think it’s a good thing you lost the baby,” Nicolas admitted painfully to his daughter.

  “Isn’t it?” she asked him, her entire voice void of emotions.

  “I think it would have made Tyler realize what the hell he was doing wrong with his life,” Nicolas replied determinedly, “He needed a kick to wake him up and it’s taken six long years, but I think he finally has it.

  “What do I do about Tyler?” she asked him as she began to tire again, “He told me he loved me still and that he’s lost without me, but he told me he hated me yesterday,” she sucked in a breath and looked at her father intently. “Tom told me I’m lost without him too. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

  “You trust you heart, Princess,” Nicolas soothed her immediately with the simplest of explanations possible.

  “Dad...” Austin began to doubt that it was ever going to be this simple when the road to this place was so treacherous.

  “The best help I can give now is to tell you to give Tyler the benefit of the doubt and see how he surprises you. If he is serious about this then he will make it right between you. He will do anything to prove that you leaving really hit his heart hard. I know him; he’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “But I don’t want to just let him back in,” Austin told her father and sniffed. “I did that once already and look where it’s got me. Scarred for life.”

  “You won’t be scarred,” Nicolas surmised and he saw his daughter’s doubt. He knew minor burns alone scarred, but he couldn’t let her sink easily just yet into thinking about scars and disfigurement. “You need to have some optimism, Aus.”

  “It’s hard to be optimistic,” Austin admitted dejectedly. “No one’s ever going to want me like this now. Who’s going to want the scarred girl?”

  “I know one person who will want you whatever,” Nicolas told his daughter and smiled. “Just trust it, Austin and everything will happen how it’s meant to.”

  A knock disrupted the father-daughter moment and Nicolas looked up with a smile as a nurse stood in the doorway expectantly. “Sorry, we have to clean Austin’s wounds,” the nurse said as she came into the room. “I’ve just got to grab some more bandages and then I’ll have to ask you to leave I’m afraid.”

  Immediately Austin took her father’s hand and he looked at her, “Will you stay with me?” she asked timidly and she felt scared all of a sudden. She didn’t want to deal with this alone and she wanted to rely on her father for strength seeing as he was embracing her with so much of it. “I’m scared.”

  “I’ll stick around as long as you need me to stay for,” Nicolas vowed to her gave her a loving smile. “Just don’t push anyone out. I know it’s been difficult and right now shutting down is the best option, but you need to accepted the fact that we are here now and we aren’t going anywhere.”

  Austin finally realized she felt liberated by the truth coming out. She felt like a ten ton weight had been lifted from her chest just by admitting defeat and asking her father to be her pillar of support.

  Nicolas waited for the nurse to come back in before he told her he wasn’t leaving. He could see she wasn’t impressed, but he issued the one thing that he knew would work. “My daughter needs someone in here with her.”

  The nurse smiled, it obviously went against her practice as a nurse, but she wasn’t one to upset patients, “Okay, that’s fine.” She spoke politely and then prepared Austin to get a change of bandages. “This is going to be sore, Austin, but we need to continually clean the burns to keep away infections and make sure there’s no rejection to any of the skin grafts carried out already.”

  Austin nodded and just closed her eyes as she felt the bandage loosen around her burnt arm and then she felt the immediate pull of the gauze as it was pulled away entirely from her damaged skin. Feeling the nurse tend to the wounds she felt tears prick as the pain magnified for a moment.

  Nicolas, having looked from his daughter to the burns inflicted, squeezed her hand and leaned in, “You’re doing good, Austin.” He heard her whimper a little, “Just look at me, Sweetheart. You know I’m not leaving you so look at me for a moment.” Watching, Nicolas saw all the pain she had been trying to hold back now sat pronouncedly in her gaze as she willed her eyes to remain open. He knew the tears were necessary for her as a release, but it didn’t mean he had to like them.

  He smiled at her, and with his other hand gently moved her hair from her face. “Remember when you were little and you fell from the tree house?” he asked her and she nodded, “And you broke your arm?” he continued to ask her and she nodded again, “You made no fuss at the hospital. You were so brave there. Do you remember why?”

  “Because otherwise Dean would never have let me live it down for being such a baby,” Austin replied in a pained whisper.

  Smiling at her, Nicolas nodded, “Think what he would say right now.” He watched Austin huff a little laugh, “That’s what I like to see.” He mentioned as he saw her lips smile a little. “You just need to give in a little more.”

  Austin looked at her dad and knew he was right. She had to accept that she now had people that loved her back in her life and she had to allow them to take the reins for a little while and look after her.

  “I think I already have,” Austin admitted softly.

  “Me too,” Nicolas said and dropped a kiss onto her forehead then started to relive more childhood memories in an attempt to distract her from the pain.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “TYLER!” Dean called out to Tyler as he saw the man get out of his truck outside his parents house. They had all separated from the hospital only a few hours earlier but, now he needed to approach Tyler about the sensitive subject that had them all together.

  “What’s up man?” he asked and suddenly his eyes bulged, “Is Austin okay?”

  “She’s fine, I guess,” Dean replied almost sadly, “Still in surgery, but fine. I just thought I’d let you know that I got a call. Apparently McMillan, from across the road, saw Natasha coming out of the house the morning of the fire. Were you there at all before Austin was?”

  Tyler looked confused, “No, I was dealing with a misdemeanor at the station until early afternoon and then I was in the house alone with Aus until,” he ran a hand over his neck thoughtfully, “God, until about six when we had an argument and I stormed out.”

  “And everything was good?” Dean asked, ignoring the minor comment about the argument. “I mean with the house.”

  Nodding, Tyler looked at Dean, “It was a little hot in the house, but nothing that was alarming. It was hot, we were working. I thought it was the heat from outside and the fact the windows were all closed. All the windows were locked tight. I mean, shit,” Tyler paused and then almost growled, “I could have stopped her from
getting hurt.”

  “We don’t know that,” Dean responded flatly. “It could have been both of you in there.”

  Putting his hands on his head, Tyler shook his head. “I told her I hated her and the next thing I know I’m carrying her out of a burning house. That house was supposed to be mine and Austin’s release. I was supposed to give Austin the house she wanted all that time ago when I said I didn’t have time.”

  “Well that’s gone now. I think Austin’s thinking of leaving when she’s better.” Dean told Tyler and watched the man’s face ignite with fear. It had been a few days since the fire, and Austin was not yet getting an optimistic fight in her. “She might have gotten her family back, but she still lost you, Tyler. She feels like you didn’t mean what you said because of everything that led to her being in the hospital. She never wanted to lose you, but I guess losing that baby was more damaging than any one of us could have predicted, and then to come back to see you with Natasha, when all she’s ever going to know is to love you, it’s just too much.”

  “But I didn’t know,” Tyler confirmed helplessly, the fact that he hadn’t been by the hospital was a case of being terrified to go. He was a coward and now he saw that. “If I had known what Natasha had done I would have never have gotten together with her, but she was there after Austin left, she was loving me, it felt right to move on after three years.” Tyler closed his eyes, “I hate this!”

  Dean reached for Tyler’s shoulder, as a friend he would support him. “Well only you can change it, Tyler. I know you, you will.” Dean replied honestly, “I know Aussie would love a clean slate with you, Tyler. That’s all she’s ever wanted, and that is all she’ll ever want. You were teenage sweethearts,” Dean shrugged, “I guess Natasha could never fill that status.”

  “I know,” Tyler said with a regrettable tone. He knew Dean was right, whole-heartedly right in fact.

  “So where’s Natasha now? She’s been a little quiet,” Dean said as his phone went off in his pocket.

  Tyler watched him get his phone out as he spoke, “She texted me to tell me she was getting out of town for a few days. Everything got to be too much.”

  “Right,” Dean responded as he looked back up, “I gotta shoot off, Tyler. Austin just got out of surgery.”

  “Is she okay?” Tyler asked immediately, his worry about her escalating.

  “Mom didn’t say much. She’s sleepy, and out of it due to the drugs, but she’s awake and that’s enough for me right now,” Dean informed Tyler in a friendly manner, he could see the man breaking before him as he stood stuck between the right thing to do. “Come by in couple of hours if you want to.”

  Tyler nodded wistfully. “I guess you better go,” he told him and Dean quickly agreed and watched Tyler turn to leave.

  “Just remember one thing,” Dean started and Tyler turned back to face him. His expression was drawn and serious, “The guilty always run. I know Austin ran, but all she as guilty of was loving you.”

  Taking those words to heart, Tyler knew he needed answers and right now he would draw blood to get them. Austin had run because she was guilty of not being able to tell him about the baby, tell him the truth. Natasha, however, seemed to be guilty of murder.

  And that was when everything hit him like a freight train. Tyler needed to talk to his fiancée, if he could call her that anymore. He couldn’t see himself getting married to her ever. He wanted out of the toxic relationship he had become a captive in and he wanted a clean slate with Austin like Dean had proposed.

  Making his way to Natasha’s parent’s house, he felt nothing but dread filling his every cell in his being. He wanted to go and sit with Austin, to talk to her and understand everything that was in her head all those years ago so that he could finally do right by the one person that had been suffering in silence for years.

  Not only that, but Tyler knew that if the truth came out that Natasha had really lied about everything then he was going to expose her as the fraud she was and he was going to make sure that the whole town of Point Arena apologised to Austin for their behavior.

  He used his key and entered the house, immediately seeking out the woman in question right now. “Where is she?” Tyler asked as he barged into the kitchen and found Diane making a drink.

  “Who?” she asked looking over at him, stalling her actions for a moment.

  Tyler laughed in disbelief, “Don’t play dumb, Diane. Where’s Natasha?”

  “Now you care about your fiancée, I see,” she scoffed at him and put the spoon she was using down. “I sent her away, Tyler. I sent her away from you, from Austin, away from all of the stress. After everything that’s happened I would hope that you would have had her back.”

  “Away from Austin?” Tyler questioned back, “Austin’s in the hospital right now in serious condition because someone started a fire. The only other person seen going in and out of that house, other than the usual, was Natasha, Diane. So explain that one to me. Please.”

  Diane snorted a short laugh, “Those imbeciles burnt that house down. Her brothers are amateurs and they certainly got what was coming to them.”

  Something seemed to snap in Tyler at that. “I was one of those imbeciles that checked that house over!” Tyler bellowed at the woman who was supposed to become his mother-in-law. “So don’t you dare say they missed it, because the night before, that heater was in the middle of the room doing its job. Uncovered. Austin didn’t go upstairs for anything; she was finishing the downstairs before she focused on those rooms. Now she’s in the hospital getting surgery for severe burns and Natasha was seen coming out of that house. I want to know where my fiancée is, and I want to know now.”

  “Oh, so she is still your fiancée?” Diane asked him incredulously and eyed him up and down with insult. “You’ve been a great support for her lately.”

  Tyler looked up to the ceiling for a moment as his frustration doubled. “Fine! She’s not my fiancée anymore!” He finalized at her. “I want answers and I want answers now.” Tyler’s anger began to boil as his thoughts cast back to Austin. “I will find out what really happened and if I find out that you’ve done anything to stop us from finding out the truth, Diane, I will take you down with Natasha.”

  “I think you better leave,” Diane said as she stepped towards him to go and open the front door for him to leave.

  Blocking the way, Tyler narrowed his gaze on her, “I am not leaving without answers.”

  “If you don’t leave, Tyler, I will call the police. I will call my husband. Natasha isn’t here and you’re getting too dominating for my liking,” Diane defended as she realized that Tyler’s anger wasn’t going to just disappear. “I’m not afraid to call the police.”

  “You’re going to call the police?” Tyler asked her plainly. “On me? I am the police and I’ve done nothing wrong! Your daughter’s the one that’s missing after an arson attack just occurred around the fucking corner!”

  “She felt unloved, Tyler. Pushed out and unloved all because of you and that, that Pearson whore!” Diane shouted back, “If you ever loved Natasha you would have been there for her instead of in that house. You wouldn’t have been loving a woman that had left you.”

  “I will always love Austin. I don’t know why I ever got with Natasha because ever since it’s been one problem after another.” Tyler responded truthfully, “I should never have gone there and look what’s happened now. Austin could have died!”

  “Well she was dead to this town a long time ago,” Diane bit back nastily, not hating herself at all for her use of words.

  Tyler was astounded how this woman really didn’t hold anything back and he felt sick to his stomach how alike Natasha was becoming to her mother. He didn’t want to be acquainted with them, nor did he want to embrace this life with them at all.

  “I think I’ve just gotten my lucky escape,” Tyler told her fiercely as he began to leave. As he reached the front door he turned back to face Diane, “I will be back for her and I will get those
answers.” Tyler slammed the door as he left, more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this right away.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  AUSTIN knew she should be resting, but the more she slept the more she got worked up over what had happened. The more she lay awake, the more her thoughts transferred to seeing flames and hearing Tyler tell her he hated her.

  This was a heart wrenching lose-lose situation.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked towards the door at the end of her bed and saw Natasha’s mother walking towards her room from the nurses’ station. Her heart began to pound harshly in her chest. She could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate at what could happen, and she sat silent prayer after silent prayer that her family would come back. God, she knew there was reason letting one of them stick around was a good idea. Now she wished she had made her mother stay with her and not go off to lunch. She would know how to handle this. Hell, her father would too. Who was she kidding? Everyone would know how to handle this, but not her, not right now.

  She knew her parents weren’t far, but right now they felt a million miles away. She had pressured them to go once she woke up from the surgery and was back in her room. Selflessly, she felt they needed fresh air and she needed sleep. There was no need to sit around. If she was being realistic and honest with herself, she knew that she wasn’t at the point of understanding why her family was back. She couldn’t wrap her brain around the fact that she was no longer alone in life. Clearly that would be the death of her.

  As the door opened, Austin tried to breathe calmly but, she knew this couldn’t end well. Diane Truman had never been an Austin fan which was probably why it was so easy for Natasha to continue her the lifelong goal of making her life hell.

  The pair had always been the devil and his advocate. It seemed that forethought hadn’t changed.

  “Austin,” Diane started to speak as she stepped in from the doorway sympathetically. “We need to talk,” she continued, her tone poised, shutting the door behind her.