Heartward

by Andrew Grey

  “I’d appreciate that,” Tyler said, and flashed him an amazing smile as he got out of the truck.

  Alan drove away, praying that a cache of mission furniture walked in his back door really soon, because he wanted to see Tyler again.

  Chapter 3

  “PAPA,” ABEY whispered, the way kids did that really wasn’t all that soft. He jumped on the bed and crawled under the covers.

  Tyler blinked, trying to understand why Abey was suddenly in bed with him, shaking. Then light flashed outside the window and thunder boomed, splitting the night. “It’s okay,” he whispered, hugging Abey, who snuggled down next to him, quivering like a leaf. “You’re safe, and I’m here.”

  Thunder boomed again. “Tell it stop, Papa.”

  “I wish I could, but it won’t last long and then it will be quiet. I promise.” Tyler comforted Abey as best he could, wondering just what he had been through. He and the Red Cross team he’d worked with had pieced together what was possible of Abey and his family’s situation and their fate, but Tyler was aware that there were many things that would never be known, and he would always wonder what Abey had endured before he reached three.

  The thunder receded and began to grow softer. “Do you want to go back to your car bed?” Tyler asked, but got no answer. Abey was asleep. Tyler thought of taking him back to his own bed. He thought it best that Abey get used to sleeping on his own. But he didn’t want to wake him, so he rolled over, going back to sleep. He had a big day ahead of him.

  TYLER HAD to rush to get out of the house so he wouldn’t be late, and Abey was not cooperating. He knew his papa was going to be gone and was in the middle of a full-throated meltdown, complete with rolling tears and shaking of epic proportions.

  “It’s okay. I’ll be back, and you’re going to spend the day with Grandma.” She was taking care of Abey for one day before the day care Tyler had arranged could get him in.

  His mother met him outside the house and took a still-crying Abey into her arms, making soothing sounds.

  “Thanks so much. He just….”

  “It’s okay. He’s afraid.” She rubbed Abey’s back. “It will be okay, sweetheart. Papa is just going to work, and he’ll be home after you and I have a fun day.” She waved as Tyler got back into the car. He wanted to comfort Abey and hated to leave him. Still, he had a new job and was looking forward to it.

  The trip to the station took all of three minutes. He parked and went inside. “I’m Tyler Banik, the new captain. I’m looking for Chief Coburn,” he said to one of the men in uniform as soon as he arrived.

  “Jerry Malvern,” the man said, extending his hand. “The chief isn’t in yet.” He swallowed and seemed a little tentative. “We’re glad you’re here.” His welcome seemed genuine. “Did the chief know you were coming?”

  “I’m supposed to start today.” This was not sounding particularly good. Just as he was really starting to wonder what was up with the chief and perhaps the department, Jerry pulled out his phone.

  “It’s the chief. He says he’ll be here in an hour and asked me to show you around,” he explained, putting his phone back in his pocket.

  “Why aren’t you surprised?” Tyler asked.

  Jerry paused and then shrugged. “The little incident at Steve’s the other night has made its way around to all the guys.” He glanced to each side. “There are people at the station who are not going to be happy that you may not see eye to eye with the chief, and others are going to be thrilled and looking for an ally.”

  “I see….”

  Jerry shook his head. “I doubt it. The department has good people, and everyone knows their job and wants to do their best for the town.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot, and it was very clear that this conversation was uncomfortable for him.

  “You don’t need to go any further. Why don’t you let me meet everyone, and I can then decide things for myself. That way you aren’t going to be caught in the middle.” Tyler had hoped coming home and working for the local department would be great, and instead he appeared to be stepping into the middle of a divided department… and the source of the division seemed to be the chief.

  “Awesome.” Jerry looked relieved, and he led the way inside. “We aren’t a very large department, but we serve much of the center of the county. A lot of our personnel are volunteers who often take regular shifts and then are available if needed.”

  “I’ve worked with volunteer organizations before, and they are wonderful. I assume they train regularly.”

  “Yes, and most love it. The guys see it as a way to better themselves and aid the community. But….” Jerry grew quiet. “You have to know that some of the volunteers are cronies of the chief, and often… decide that training should include bar time and good-old-boy backslapping.”

  “Okay. We can review the schedule so I know what’s expected and who I’m going to be working with, and you can make introductions.” It was too early to push the panic button about how the department was run and what went on.

  Jerry took him to the chief’s office, where the schedule was posted. Tyler immediately noticed that he and the chief rarely worked at the same time. There were two captains and six other full-time, professional firefighters. He and Gregory Munson, the other captain, overlapped somewhat, but that looked like turnover times more than entire shifts, with the chief working the times the others didn’t.

  “Gregory is about to end his shift….” Jerry motioned down the hall as a tall, broad man came toward them, smiling. “Gregory, this is Tyler Banik, our new captain.”

  They shook hands. “Thank God you’re here. I thought I’d work with you today to get you settled in.” Gregory was definitely haggard, and Tyler wondered just how much the teams had been working to make up for the shortage of manpower. “We understand that you have a lot of experience.”

  Tyler nodded. “I worked with the St. Louis Fire Department, and before that, one of the suburbs there.” He paused for a second and swallowed. “After some issues in my personal life, I spent the last three years with the Red Cross, doing disaster relief. With them, I helped fight fires, and rescued people from buildings both after and before collapse. I worked with refugees and rescued people whose boats didn’t make it quite as far as they had hoped.”

  Gregory’s eyes widened. “I see. I wonder if our little department is going to be enough for you. I know you grew up here, but why did you come back?”

  Tyler chuckled. “I could give you the long answer, and maybe someday we can do that over a beer… or three. But the short answer is that I wanted to give my son a chance to take things at a little slower pace so he can have the opportunity to catch up and be a kid. A big city wasn’t the kind of place that I wanted for him. I’d like Abey to be able to run in the backyard, climb trees, and go swimming in the channel out at the state park. I want him to have dogs and cats, and learn to ride horses.” Tyler couldn’t help chuckling a little. “After I graduated and went to college, I couldn’t get out of this town fast enough. And now I’m back.” That was something he never would have predicted.

  “That happens to more of us than you might think.” Gregory smiled and motioned forward. “Why don’t we start with the equipment? Then we can review personnel, and I can tell you something about each one and introduce you to those who are here. We can also review some of the department’s policies and procedures.”

  “Sounds good.” Tyler followed behind, ready to get up to speed.

  BY THE end of the shift, which involved two calls—thankfully they weren’t major and were quickly handled—Tyler was both exhausted and exhilarated. It was good to be back on the job, knowing he was helping people. Especially when his skills had come in handy on the second call. A little girl had gotten trapped in a shed on one of the outlying farms. The building should have been torn down a while ago, and part of it had collapsed on the girl. She was lucky enough to have been located in a pocket of space, and Tyler had managed to get her out, unharmed, within a few m
inutes.

  “You should have waited for the rest of the team,” the chief had told him in front of the others.

  Tyler stepped away. “I disagree,” he had said. “The rest of the wall was going to come down, and the weight would have broken the beam that was protecting her. I got her out without disturbing the rest of the structure, and she’s safe. I wasn’t taking any risk that I wasn’t aware of and hadn’t done at least a dozen times before.” He kept calm and collected. “Also, note that I disagreed with you in private instead of in front of the men—a courtesy I’m sure you’ll appreciate.” He wasn’t going to be a dick, but Tyler knew what he was doing and what his skills were.

  “This is my department and you work for me.”

  “Actually, we all work for the people of this area, and Valerie’s parents weren’t going to thank any of us if we waited around for more help and something happened to their daughter.” Yes, he was playing the victim card, combined with the fact that everything had turned out all right. “I’d be glad to work with you to update the department procedures. I have a lot of experience in search and rescue, so I can help.” He was offering an olive branch, and the chief actually nodded, but didn’t take him up on his offer, at least not immediately.

  They had returned to the station, and now that his shift was over, Tyler had a set of policies and procedures to go over, most of which looked vastly out of date. At a cursory level, the department was going to need a lot of training.

  Tyler went to his parents’ house and found his mom feeding Abey dinner. “He likes his chicken.”

  “Yes, he does,” Tyler agreed.

  His mom brought him over a dish of pot pie with her patented crust lying over the top. It had always been one of his favorites, and even though he had her recipe, he had never been able to make it the way she did. Abey seemed to agree, judging by the empty bowl in front of him and the way he munched on her pie crust as though it was his favorite cookie.

  “Alan called from Second Chances. He said he got something in that you might like and asked if you might stop in or call him. He said he knew you were working and didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “How about that?” Tyler said, turning to Abey. “Maybe he has a sofa or another chair for us. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

  Abey took another bite, eyeing him as though he thought Tyler was going to take his food.

  His mom stood and motioned with her head to the other room. “What aren’t you telling me about Abey?” She sat on the sofa.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Today I tried to help him with the pot pie crust, and he bit me. I scolded him and he seemed remorseful, but….”

  Tyler sighed and sat down next to her. “Mom, he was starving when we found him, okay? The doctors said he was just a few days from not coming back. It was that bad. So he’s protective of his food and scared there isn’t going to be any again.” He had tried to shield her from the harsh reality, but he could see that wasn’t a good idea. “Abey was rescued and nearly died. He had no family and no one to look after him. I took care of him for months while the entire team looked and came up empty. The Italians didn’t want another refugee child entering their system, so they were going to send him back.” Tyler found himself on the edge of tears. “I’m trying not to go into too much detail because there are images I don’t want you to have. Just know that it’s going to take time for him to act like a normal child his age.”

  She nodded and blew her nose in a tissue. “Then I should….”

  “Treat him as normally as you possibly can. His food issues will recede in time, especially when he starts to talk and understand more. But for now, feed him as often as he wants and let him eat. His little body will tell him when to stop, and eventually he’ll trust that food will be there and that he can count on all of us.” Tyler lowered his gaze. “No using food as punishment in any way.” He remembered the whole “go to bed without supper” routine. “He’s getting better, but it’s a very slow process.”

  His mom wiped her eyes. “To think of him….” She blew her nose again, and this was why he’d tried to spare her.

  “Mom, Abey is happy now and he’s with me. I love him, and he is my son. I will fight for him the same way you fought for me when it was needed.” Tyler half smiled. “I knew the first time he looked up at me—with his big eyes filled with fear and hurt, and I saw a ghost of a smile on his lips—that he would be mine to care for. I felt it in my heart and I knew right then.” He took a deep breath. “Do you remember how you felt the first time you held me?”

  “Like it was yesterday. You were so small, and you opened those pretty blue eyes of yours and looked at me, and that was it. I was going to love you forever and ever.”

  “I don’t think I understood that until him.” That was the truth. It was hard to know that feeling until one became a parent.

  “You know, I wonder if he likes animals? Some of the kids I work with at the elementary school have challenges, and some of them go to a farm outside of town that does—”

  “Therapy riding…?” Tyler said, and his mom nodded.

  “How did you know?”

  “A friend told me about it the other day, and I think it’s a great idea. I’m going to look into it for him. If I can find anything at all that will make him laugh and smile and let him forget what he’s been through for just a little while, I’m going to do it.”

  The back door opened and closed. “Lois,” his dad said as he came in the house. “Are those good?” he asked more softly, followed by a yip.

  Tyler was on his feet, but his mother was already heading in.

  “He bit me.”

  “Samuel Everett,” she snapped. Boy, everyone knew as soon as she used the middle name, they were in trouble. “What did you do? You couldn’t wait for your own dinner and had to take food from a three-year-old.” The two of them came in the living room, his mother looking at his dad’s finger. “There are barely any marks at all.” She released his hand. “Stop being a baby.”

  “He needs to learn to share,” his father retorted, half sulking.

  “And you need to learn that his food is not yours. Now sit down and watch the news. I’ll have your dinner dished up in a few minutes. Tyler is going to stay and eat with us, and then he has an appointment with the man at the furniture store.” She blew out of the room like a breeze, and a pall slipped in at her absence.

  His dad turned on the television, staring at the screen. “How was work?” He didn’t look away from the screen. “You know you need to play the game if you want to get ahead.” He changed the channel.

  “Whose game?” Tyler asked.

  His dad flipped up the footstool of his recliner. “You know that there are folks in this town who can make things easy or hard for you. And it isn’t good to cross them. Especially your boss on the first day.”

  Tyler nodded. “I see. So you’re one of Chief Coburn’s cronies.” He’d sort of figured that was his father’s speed but had hoped he would have better taste than that. “You know, Dad, he wanted to leave a little girl’s life in jeopardy while he waited for more volunteers to help. I’m sure you know Valerie Jacobs and her family. How would you like to be the one to tell the parents that their daughter is dead because Chief Coburn wanted to wait? I got that little girl out, and we were both well away before what was left of the building collapsed.” Tyler wasn’t backing down. Yeah, he might have gotten up on his high horse. That sort of thing was simply unforgiveable in his opinion, though.

  “Well, Chief—”

  “Is my boss, but I work for the people of this town, and if I can save them, I will. I have experience that no one else has here. I’ve rescued people from earthquake piles and pulled out bodies that could have been alive if we had gotten to them sooner. I’ve known success and failure, and I’ve been trained to recognize what the limits of my skills are. That is why I was hired. Not to stroke the ego of a chief who sits at the bar drinking while still in uniform.”

  His da
d finally looked from the television. “I was going to say that he’s been with the department for many years and knows this town and these people.”

  Tyler bit his lip and turned away. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with his father. His dad was always right, and Tyler had never been able to please him no matter what. He could argue until he was blue in the face and his dad wasn’t going to change his mind.

  “Tread lightly,” his dad added, and all Tyler could think was the battle cry of the good old boys who are afraid of any sort of change or progress. It was always what they stood behind, using that motto as a shield. His father lowered his legs and sat upright. “Look, the chief and I don’t really get along and we aren’t best buddies, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He narrowed his eyes. “But the chief is—”

  “Yes, Dad, I’m aware of what the chief is. I promise I’ll play the game. But I won’t let anyone put another person’s life in danger. I can’t. That isn’t part of who I am.” He stood and left the room to join Abey in the kitchen, where his mother was washing him up. Abey squirmed out of her arms, and Tyler picked him up, cradling him and turning him in a circle.

  “Did you have a good dinner?” Tyler asked.

  “Grampy steals,” he said seriously, his eyes narrow, trying to be menacing and serious.