Page 30 of Guarding Colton’s Witness

Aiden opened the driver’s side door and helped Sam up onto the seat. “Put your hands on the wheel.”

Sam did and then tried to sit up tall. “I can’t see over it. I wish I was big so I could.”

“Let’s make that happen.” Aiden stepped up on the running board, lifted Sam, and then sat with Sam on his lap. “Better?”

“Yes. I wish I could drive it.”

Aiden chuckled. “Come back when you’re eighteen, buddy, and we’ll make a firefighter out of you. Then you can drive it.” He reached forward and flipped a switch.

Startled, Matti jumped when the siren blasted. “Warn a person when you’re going to do that.”

He glanced at her and laughed. “What’s the fun in that, Matticake?” He flipped the switch to Off.

“I think my ears will be ringing all day,” she said. But it was worth it to see the joy on Sam’s face. Aiden took them on a tour of the station, and when it was time to leave, he gave Sam a plastic child’s fire helmet, a tin badge that said Junior Firefighter on it, an orange silicone bracelet with Red Grove Fire House stamped on it, and a mug with the station’s logo.

Sam was in heaven. He spent the rest of the day wearing his helmet and talking about Aiden, the fire trucks he saw, and that he wished he was big already and could be a firefighter. If she’d let him, he would have worn the helmet to bed.

The gifts from Aiden, the fire truck from Ryan, and his new books were carefully placed on the dresser near his bed because, “When I wake up in the morning and open my eyes, I’ll see everything.” The teddy bear was, of course, in bed with him.

She’d been blessed to have parents who loved and cared for their children, who gave them anything they wanted within reason, and she could only try to imagine what this new life he was living meant to him.

“All your new things will be right where they are when you wake up, so don’t be getting up and playing with them. Close your eyes and go to sleep.”

“Can I ask you something, Matti?”

There was something in his voice that grabbed her attention. “You can ask me anything.”

He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “I didn’t wish my mommy and daddy would die, but I wasn’t happy when I lived with them. Now I’m happy. Is it bad that I’m happy when they’re dead? Should I try not to be happy?”

This boy apparently had a hundred ways of breaking her heart, and he’d just gone and done it again. He was also a deep thinker for a six-year-old. She sat on the edge of his bed.

“No matter what happened in the past, it’s okay to feel happy now. Listen to me, Sam. You don’t have to be sad because of what happened to your parents, okay? I think they’re in a better place now and are also happy, so you can be, too.”

“Are they really in heaven?”

That was questionable, but she wouldn’t say that to him. “Yes. Now go to sleep.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

“Night, Matti.” He closed his eyes.

Later that night, she called her mother to thank her for being an awesome mom.

“What brought this on?” Emily said. “Not that I don’t love hearing how wonderful I was…still am.”

After Matti repeated the conversation she’d had with Sam, they both cried, their hearts hurting for the lost little boy. When she finished talking to her mother, she stared at her cell phone a moment and debated with herself. “Why not?” she murmured, then called Ryan.

Chapter 14

Ryan was exhausted by the time he arrived home. It was after ten, and although he was starving because he’d missed dinner, he headed straight for the shower to wash the day off.

Twenty minutes before he was off duty, a multicar crash sent six victims to the emergency room, two in critical condition, one in serious, and three with non-serious injuries. He’d stayed on to help out the overwhelmed night staff.

After his shower, he stuck a frozen dinner in the microwave, and when it was hot, he ate the Mediterranean rice bowl while standing at the kitchen counter. He followed that with one scoop of caramel salted ice cream. He could eat the whole carton if he let himself, but he never did.

With his stomach happy, he headed straight for his bed. His head had just hit the pillow when his phone buzzed. He’d put it in the charger on his nightstand, and he glanced over at it to see Matti’s name on the screen.

“Matti, is everything okay?” She’d never called him before, so his first thought was that something was wrong with Sam.

“Yes, well, kind of. Am I calling too late?”