The Firefighter's Family Secret

by Shirley Jump

  There was a lot of work left to be done, for sure, but the transformation was astounding.

  She parked the car across the street, then she and her father got out. A table saw whined, punctuated by the pounding of a hammer. There was a low hum of voices, the occasional sprinkle of laughter. The sun was shining and the entire shop, while still half assembled, was taking on an air of a new beginning.

  “Who did all this?” Ernie said.

  “I don’t know.” As they crossed into the parking lot, Luke came up to them. His fiancée, Peyton, was beside him, along with a little girl wearing a bandanna and carrying a child-size hammer.

  “Hey, Rachel. Ernie.” Luke grinned. “Have you met my daughter, Madelyne?”

  Rachel bent down to the little girl. “Hello, Madelyne. Are you helping today?”

  The little girl nodded. “Uh-huh. Daddy’s got me my own hammer. I’m gonna build a store.”

  Luke ruffled her hair. “Or at least part of one. Anyway, welcome to the madhouse.”

  “How...” Ernie turned and took in the busy scene. “When? Who...? I don’t even know what to ask.”

  “Well, first of all, you’re asking the wrong Barlow. This was all Colton’s doing. He’s the one who called us all and dragged us out of bed to put us to work.” Luke pointed across the lot toward Colton, who was building a set of shelves with his father.

  “Luke, why don’t you show me what all you guys have been doing,” her father said. “And Rachel, you go talk to Colton.”

  She arched a brow. Her father couldn’t have been more obvious if he tried. But he walked off with Luke, leaving her to either tag along or do as he said. As she approached, Bobby wandered off, muttering something about going to get some more wood and nails, leaving her and Colton alone.

  He looked so good, standing there in the sun, his face set with concentration as he measured and marked the shelving unit they had started. One of several they were working on, if the pile of cut wood beside him was any indication.

  A faint dusting of sawdust covered his skin, powdered his dark hair and caught in the stubble on his cheeks. She thought of being in her bed with him last night, having his warm, long body against hers. It hadn’t just been the lovemaking that she had enjoyed—because that had been outstanding—it had been the after, when Colton held her to his chest and pressed soft kisses to her temples. That was the man she was falling for—the man who would hold her in the dark then come here the next day and rebuild her father’s shop without being asked.

  And falling for him was a very dangerous proposition. He wasn’t staying, and she wasn’t sure where she was going. It was the worst possible time to get involved, to build a connection.

  “What are you doing, Colton Barlow?” she asked.

  He glanced up at her, and that lopsided smile she had grown to love filled his face. “Making up for last night.”

  “Last night? That was...amazing.” She blushed. Damn, she was like a schoolgirl.

  He put down the tape measure and closed the distance between them. “I’m not talking about that part of last night. And I agree, yes, it was...incredible. I was talking about what happened to the shop. I...I didn’t drive by soon enough or I would have seen the lightning strike, gotten your father out sooner. This—” he waved toward the pile of rubble filling the Dumpster “—wouldn’t be like this if I had just been here at the right time.”

  “But you were here at the right time.” She pressed a hand to his cheek. “You got my dad out safe and sound and got the fire department here fast enough to keep the entire building from going up. Not to mention, the whole block.”

  He looked away as if he was embarrassed by her praise. “I only did what anyone would have done.”

  “No, Colton, you did more. Much more.” She released him, then looked around at the hive of activity. “I don’t know how you got all this arranged and moving so fast. What about the insurance adjuster and paperwork and all that stuff?”

  “I called Luke, and he called in a favor. There are some benefits to a small town. Like one insurance agent for everybody. We got Mike Simpson out of bed early this morning. He came over, did his analysis and took his pictures and is submitting the report today. Your dad should have his insurance money very soon.”

  “But then you did all this...” She waved toward the Dumpster, the wood, the supplies. “Did you pay for this yourself?”

  He shrugged. “What’s a Home Depot credit card for if you’re not using it? Jack donated most of the supplies, and I filled in the gaps.”

  He’d done too much, Rachel thought, and she didn’t know how to undo it. Everything her father had worked for, gone in a single night, until Colton came along and decided to make it right. “Colton, I can’t let you do all this.”

  “Too late. It’s done.” He grinned. “Now, if you really want to thank me, then hold this end up while I fasten the board to the back.”

  She did as he asked, watching Colton work the screw gun to connect the shelf to the backer. He had done an incredible thing, and as much as she appreciated it, she was pretty sure there was some part of the story he was leaving out. And as much as her heart yearned to love him, her brain threw up a caution flag. She’d do well to listen.

  She knew too well the damage that secrets and lies could do.

  Chapter Eleven

  There were few things in life that gave Bobby Barlow more joy than working with his sons. Even when they were little, he’d loved having the boys underfoot in the garage, or out in his workshop. Jack and Luke had followed in his footsteps, with Jack turning to woodworking and remodeling and Luke taking over the auto repair business, while Mac tinkered in his free time.

  But working with Colton had been an entirely different experience. For one, the two of them didn’t have decades of common language to draw from, like Bobby had with the other boys. For another, he was almost starting from scratch with Colton. For the ten thousandth time, regret filled Bobby that he hadn’t been there during Colton’s childhood. Would things have been different? Would Colton have lived here, been raised like one of the others? Or would they have a distant, difficult relationship, complicated by the miles apart and their different mothers?

  He was proud of his sons, each and every one of them. Proud to be their father. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have a few million regrets about the kind of father he’d been.

  And now there was Colton, who didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave town. A part of Bobby was happy—he really wanted to fill in the gaps of the last three decades. But as he talked to one neighbor after another during the rebuilding, and explained how Colton was related to the other boys, Bobby began to wonder if this whole thing was such a good idea. Maybe he shouldn’t have come down here to help out. Maybe he shouldn’t have drawn so much attention to the biggest mistake he’d ever made.

  Della’s Taurus pulled up and she got out of the car. They’d been married nearly thirty-five years now—just a few days from that landmark anniversary—but every time he saw her, his heart still leaped. She was curvy in all the right places, and though the red in her hair had dimmed a bit, she remained the sweet, loving, amazing woman he had married. He had been stupid when he’d been young, too scared of the prospect of forever to realize what he might have lost when he began that brief affair in Atlanta, but now, he knew he had hit the jackpot when it came to wives.

  She was carrying a cloth grocery bag in one hand and a small cooler in the other. Bobby put down the drill he was using and crossed to her. “Here, let me get that,” he said.

  She giggled—even all these years later, she’d still giggle like a schoolgirl and for a moment he’d feel fifteen again—and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, my knight in shining armor.”

  “I’m your knight in sawdust,” he said, swiping some of the construction debris off the front
of his T-shirt. “I wouldn’t recommend getting too close.”

  “Oh, when has you being messy ever bothered me?” She swatted at some of the sawdust then gave him a second kiss. “I’ve brought some sandwiches and cookies for everyone. And a bunch of water bottles. It’s hot out today.”

  “Thanks, honey. We can use it.” He glanced over at the three boys, their heads together as they collaborated on something they were building. It was a nice sight, one that warmed his heart. Still, he worried about Della, about the ripples that were impacting her, the last woman to deserve this kind of thing. “Do you want to stay? You don’t have to. I mean, we have this more or less under control.”

  “I...” She looked at her sons, gave them a little wave then returned her attention to Bobby. “I don’t know what good I’d be. You know me and tools. I’m liable to break something before I fix it.”

  He saw Harry Washington heading their way. He liked the fire chief, but he could be a long-winded man, and the last thing Bobby wanted was to subject Della to a conversation about Colton. As much as possible, Bobby wanted to shield her from the subject. She’d done nothing wrong, yet he could see the neighbors even now, glancing between Colton and Della, whispering about the state of the Barlow marriage. His wife’s reputation was tarnished merely by wearing his ring, and that wasn’t something Bobby liked at all. “You don’t have to stay,” he said again.

  “Okay.” She laid a hand on his arm. “I have something else I need to do, anyway.”

  This was the third time this week that his wife had said something vague about where she was going and what she was doing. Bobby waved off Harry, signaling that he’d be back in a second, then left the food on the workbench and followed Della to her car. “Where are you going?”

  She shrugged. “I have an appointment.”

  “With a...divorce lawyer?” He said the words as a joke, but frankly, ever since the truth had come out about his affair and the son that relationship had produced, Bobby had been worried Della would leave him. She’d be justified. What could he possibly say to make her stay? Yes, the entire foundation of our marriage is a lie. But I never meant to hurt you. I still love you. I always have.

  She’d surely stop listening after the first sentence, and he couldn’t blame her. They had barely talked about this whole thing in the days since she found out about Colton. Every time Bobby tried to get up the courage to broach the topic, his resolve faded again. What if Della said that she was done?

  So he pretended the topic didn’t exist and made stupid jokes because he was a total idiot six out of seven days a week.

  Della didn’t answer him until she reached her car. His heart damned near fractured waiting for her to tell him he was being silly. She got to the Taurus, put her back to it and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m doing something for myself, Robert.”

  “Okay. Like...a facial or something?”

  “No. Something bigger than that. I don’t want to say anything until I figure out if this is what I want.” She let out a sigh and toyed with her car keys. “This whole thing with Colton really threw me for a loop. Everything I thought I knew about us, about you, was based on a lie.”

  Bobby wished the ground would just open him up and eat him whole. The last thing he ever wanted to do was cause pain to the only woman he had ever loved. “I don’t know how many ways I can say I’m sorry, Della. I was a moron. I didn’t realize how good I had it until I almost lost you.”

  “You best keep that in mind, Robert Barlow.” She wagged a finger at him. “Women like me don’t come along every day.”

  “Trust me, I know that.” He gave her a grin, hoping it would lighten her mood, but if anything the line in her lips tightened.

  “I think...maybe it’s time I stopped being Mom and wife and maid and cook. I think it’s high time I did something for me.”

  “Uh...okay.” He could feel it in his bones. This wasn’t going to end well. His heart was already starting to break, and he readied a thousand pleading sentences in his head. “Della—”

  “Stop.” She put up a hand. “Just hear me out.”

  “Okay.” He nodded.

  “You did a terrible thing years ago. The worst thing you could have ever done. And even though it’s more than thirty years in the past, it’s only a few days in the past for me. I’m still dealing with it and trying to see my way back to loving you.”

  Damn it. “Della—”

  “Let me finish, please.” She let out a breath and stared down at the keys in her palm. “I’ll get there, Bobby, but it’s going to take me some time. As for Colton, he’s a wonderful young man, and I welcome him into our family. He did nothing wrong, and it wasn’t his fault how he came to be or who he was born to. We can’t undo the last thirty years, but we can’t pretend they didn’t happen, either.”

  “I know that. I just want to make it easier on you.” He ached to reach out to her, but she was holding herself stiff, in that way that told him that touching her would only make it worse.

  “By ignoring a son who needs you, even if he’s grown?” She shook her head. “No, Bobby. That’s not the way to do it. We are going to have this family the same way we always have—out loud. We’ve never been quiet people, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some busybodies make me feel like I can’t keep my family just the way it is, warts and all.”

  That sounded good to Bobby. Except for the unspoken but he heard in her words. “Okay. We’ll make Colton feel as much a part of the family as the other boys.”

  “And at the same time, I am going to start carving out my own little corner. I need that, Bobby. My boys are grown, my husband is busy with his own things—”

  “Della, don’t do this.” Dread churned in his stomach. He wanted to rewind the clock three decades, be a better father, a better husband, a better man. “God, please, don’t—”

  She put up a hand. “After thirty-five years, Robert Barlow, one would think you would have learned not to try to guess what a woman is thinking. Especially this woman.”

  “You’re right, but...” He didn’t finish the sentence. He needed to let her say what she was going to say. Putting it off wasn’t going to make the words any easier to take. “Go ahead.”

  “It’s time for me, Bobby. To figure out what I want and where I’m going to go from here. So my appointment is something to do with that. I don’t know how it’s going to work out, and I don’t want to tell you about it because I want this decision to be entirely my own. Not Della the mother or Della the wife. Just me.”

  “Will you...” He let out a long breath. “Will you be home tonight?”

  A smile crossed her face, and she pressed a hand to his cheek. “Of course. You aren’t getting rid of me that easily. Now go back to helping your sons and don’t worry so much. We’re Barlows. We’re going to be just fine.”

  Then Della got in her car and pulled away. Bobby watched her go, until the taillights flickered and the car disappeared around a curve. He wasn’t sure what Della had just told him. Didn’t know whether to be sad or hopeful.

  He loped back over to his sons and sat on overturned buckets with them, eating sandwiches and drinking water, and praying for a miracle.

  * * *

  Colton knocked off for the day a little after six, as the sun began to sink in the sky and it got too dark to work safely. They cleaned up, then the three Barlow boys stood back to assess their progress. Bobby had gone home a little while earlier, but Luke and Mac had stayed, waving off Colton’s offer to finish up on his own. They were good men, his brothers, and he was proud to be related to them.

  “It’s coming along nicely,” Colton said.

  “Yup. Glad Dad was here to make sure we did it right. He knows more than all of us put together.” Luke let out a breath then turned to Mac. “Speaking of Dad, do you think he seemed a little...distract
ed today?”

  Mac shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe he was just tired. This was a lot of work for him, and he’s still recovering from his knee surgery.”

  “Yeah.” Luke thought about that for a second longer. Didn’t seem to come to a conclusion. He turned to his brothers and brightened. “Okay, well, I better get home.”

  “You do realize you look like a complete fool when you say that, don’t you?” Mac said. “All grins and sighs. Oh, I better get home.”

  “Hey, I have an amazing fiancée and daughter waiting for me. Of course I’m glad to get home. And you’re the same way when it comes to Savannah, you big lug, so don’t pretend you’re any less in love than the rest of us.”

  “Colton’s not in love. The only smart one in the family. We’re all getting married, and he’s still doing his own thing.” Mac grinned. “Lucky stiff.”

  Luke scoffed. “I’ve seen the way he looks at Rachel Morris. And besides, look at what he did today. That’s a man in love, mark my words.”

  “Hey, guys? I’m right here, you know,” Colton said.

  “Yeah, and you’re a Barlow. Which means sometimes you need a wake-up call to see an amazing woman is right—” Luke pointed across the parking lot “—there.”

  Colton turned and saw Rachel standing there with a smile on her face. She was wearing jeans that hugged her thighs and outlined her amazing shape, and a pair of spaghetti strap tank tops, pink over white. He could see the pale pink straps of her bra beneath, and for some reason, it struck him as one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen. She had her hair down, loose around her shoulders, and he wanted nothing more than to bury his hands in those golden locks and kiss her senseless.