Page 111 of Derecho

She stared back at me with wide eyes.

“Listen to me,” I growled. “It’ll be better for you if you come clean. Behind one of those sirens is my son, Colt. And I know he’ll be itching to lock up the person who did this.”

“What?! Why would I start a fire and then get myself trapped in it?! Why would I be panicked the entire time we were stuck in there if I knew what was coming?”

I shrugged. “Figure that trapped part was a mistake.”

“The only mistake was ever coming out here. I could have lost my life!” she cried.

“Yeah, but you didn’t. How about you thank me by stepping back and waking up? You don’t want anything to do with Lainey or Reid. Quit trying to take my grandson away from the only family he’s ever known. A family that loves him. And put the blame where it belongs. With your husband.”

She looked at me, her eyes clearing. “I’ll…I’ll talk to the attorneys.”

“Good. You’re going to need to. Them, and the deputies. Because I was serious about those trespassing and harassment charges. You’ll probably want to get them on the line, pronto.”

She nodded, her eyes going unfocused again. “Greg won’t be a problem,” she whispered. “I won’t be a problem any more. Tell her, please. I’m done. I never want to be around your family ever again.”

“Sounds good to me, sweetheart,” I chuckled as I pushed up from the crouching position I’d been in, turning just in time to see two fire trucks pull up, with two ambulances behind them. Hayes hopped out of the first truck, running over to his brothers.

“I saw Lach and Lainey head to the first ambulance, so Birdie, you’re with the second one.” I looked over at the first ambulance, Lach and Lainey already getting Reid checked over.

“No. I’m fine,” Birdie answered, coughing before reaching out to hold onto Beau.

“Chickadee—”

“I’m fine. There are two ambulances, and Jasmine’s pregnant.”

“Jasmine’s here…as in—” Hayes’s eyes went over to the line of trees I’d just left her under.

“As in Greg’s wife. Yes,” Birdie said. “The medics need to get her to the hospital. I have to stay here with the house. To see…”

“Honey, you need to get checked out,” I said firmly.

“So do you. You were in there, too.”

“I’m good.”

“Right,” she crossed her arms. “So am I.”

“Fine. Pregnant lady and lady with baby to the ambulance. Every other Ford family member who was in a burning building today needs to stand back and get ready to go to the hospital for a check-up if I say so.”

“Sure thing, Lieutenant Ford.” Beau smirked.

I stayed with Beau and Birdie as the ambulances packed up and took off. The fire was out fifteen minutes after the tanker started spraying the place down. It looked like a complete loss, and my heart broke the instant Birdie seemed to realize it, too.

“It’s okay, baby. We’ll rebuild it. This is what insurance is for. We’ll figure out what the hell happened, and we’ll build it again.” Beau was right. This wasn’t anything they couldn’t recover from.

“We were so close to someone moving in. I can’t…I can’t imagine if this had happened with a family living here.”

“I’m gonna go talk to Hayes. You two, get your asses to the hospital. Birdie, I want Beau texting me within the hour that you’re being seen.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I’ll get there, too, when I’m good and ready.”

I waved them off, marching over to my second oldest son. He held out a water bottle to me, which I was happy to take. Damn air tasted like ash.

“Does Ma know?” I asked, taking a sip of the water.