Nick turned toward her, his sooty forehead creased in a frown. “Go, damn it!”
Mary backed out of the tunnel, slipping around the water heater to stand in the basement of the store. The fireman came out first and between him and Nick, they wrestled her father through and laid him out on the floor.
Mary ran up the steps to the storage room and was met by Chris leading several medical technicians carrying a backboard. “Oh, thank God.”
They pushed her aside and descended into the basement. Mary leaned against a wall. Her strength gone and no adrenaline left to stiffen her legs, she sank to the floor and let her face fall into her hands. Sobs racked her body and she burst into a coughing fit. The coughing turned to wheezing.
“Mary?” Chris squatted next to her, his young face creased in a frown. “Are you all right?”
Unable to speak, she shook her head. Gray clouds crept into the sides of her vision. Gray clouds that had nothing to do with smoke.
“We need a medic here!” Chris’s voice came to her from a long way away. The alarms were mere beeps of noise as if muffled by giant pillows.
Pillows sounded good. She needed to rest her eyes. They stung from the smoke. Her eyelids drifted closed.
Chapter 18
Mary’s eyes fluttered open when emergency medical technicians hoisted her onto a stretcher, strapped an oxygen mask to her face and wheeled her out into the cold night air.
Every rescue vehicle in North Pole had to be there.
Silas Grentch hovered near another stretcher being loaded into an ambulance. “Is he awake? Can we get a statement from Santa?”
An EMT held his arm out to block Silas. “No, sir, please get back so we can do our jobs.”
Mary half sat up, but the medic attending her pressed a hand to her shoulder. “Please lie back.”
“Get him out of here,” she said, her voice sounding like a hoarse bullfrog.
The medic laughed, his breath raising a cloud of steam in the chill air. “You must be feeling better if you’re ready to tear into old Silas.”
Mary wanted nothing more than to pass out and let the world go on without her for a while, but she wanted Silas away from her father more. “Is my dad going to be all right?”
“He appears to have a concussion and suffering from smoke inhalation, but his vitals are strong.”
Not enough assurance for Mary.
Once they loaded her father into the ambulance and closed the door, Silas turned his attention to her and hurried across the snow-covered parking lot. “Mary Christmas, with the destruction of the store, the death of Mrs. Claus and your father being out of commission, will this mean the end of Christmas Towne store and year-round Christmas in North Pole?”
“Christmas Towne is smoke-damaged, not destroyed,” she said.
“How could a man who has just lost his wife possibly come back to rescue Christmas this late in the season?”
Mary pulled the oxygen mask from her face. “Christmas will happen as always. My father will recover and so will the Christmas Towne store and year-round Christmas in North Pole.”
“If you’re tired of all the hassle of the store, I know someone who would like to buy it, as is, smoke-damaged and all.” He waved toward a man standing on the fringes of the excitement. “Nelson, come over here, I want you to meet someone.”
The EMT tried to shove Silas out of the way, but the older man wouldn’t budge.
The man Silas had motioned over hurried forward and held out his hand to Mary. “Hi, name’s Nelson Bailey. I just want to tell you how sad I am that your family was attacked so viciously.”
“I don’t care who you are.” Mary refused to take the man’s hand. “My father isn’t selling and if the choice is up to me, neither will I.”
Norton gave her a gentle smile and dropped his hand. “I fully understand how you feel. And I wouldn’t dream of offering. It would be an insult to you, your father and everyone who cares about Christmas Towne and what you’ve built in this community through your work. It’s an honor and a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He sketched a slight bow and backed away.
Silas’s face puckered into a distressed frown that almost made Mary laugh. “But I thought you wanted to buy Christmas Towne.” He turned to Mary. “Mary, this would be best for you and your father. Sell the store. If not to Nelson, then to me. I’ll pay you top dollar.”
Mary held out her hand. “Give me the microphone, Silas. I have something to say to the people of Alaska.”
